This weekend Caitlyn, Samuel, Adriel, and I went on a Mission trip with our church G.E.M.. We traveled by bus to the far south of Korea and then crossed a bridge into Jindo Island. We stayed the night in Jindo and then traveled about 2 hrs by ferry to Kwansado Is. This sea is famous for having many small islands. Kwansado is the farthest Korean island. The island is so very small, but has 2 villages. Each village has about 35 people in it. We ministered in both villages. The villagers are seaweed harvesters. They are so very poor. Their yearly family income is about $2500. The sad thing is that most of the residents on the island are the elderly. The young people have left the island to seek an easier life on the main land.There are also about 9 children on the island that were orphaned by their parents and are being raised by the grandparents.
This is a tough life of hard labor and long hours. This is their busiest time of year. They work all day drying the seaweed and packing it up to ship out on the ferry. The Friday we were there they went out to the sea to gather the sea weed in the late afternoon. They returned around 7:00 p.m. with big carts of seaweed. We fed them dinner and then they sorted the seaweed and divided it evenly among each family. The head of each house took off one shoe and then the shoes were placed on a sack of seaweed. When they found their shoe that was their seaweed portion they would take home to dry. While they did this we sang to them English and Korean hymns and worship songs. A few joined in and sang with us. It was such a blessing for all of us. One village lady sang a traditional Korean Folk song and danced around the sea weed pile. We were told they would stay up to close to 3 a.m. spreading the seaweed on drying frames and laying it out to dry. They must do it at night so it can dry slow and not be ruined in the hot, hot sun. It must dry very slow. They had to also be watching the weather for rain. If it rained they would move it inside to a drying room. They did not sleep long, because they were already out working as I walked to the church at 7:30 a.m for morning chapel. They were very happy people and also thankful for our time and work on the island. They even gave us a half bag of fresh seaweed and some dried as well.
Kwansado Baptist Church is the only church on the Island. Pastor Joseph Kim has been pastoring there for 11 yrs. The church has about 35 members that attend Sunday worship service. The pastor ministers to everyone on the island. The church owns a van, which is the only vehicle on the island. He uses it as a free taxi service to take people from one side of the island to the other. The church also owns a boat that is used to take them to neighboring islands for business or to the mainland if someone needs emergency care. It is the only local island with a pastor. Pastor Joseph takes the boat each weekday to the neighboring islands and has a church service there. He is a God fearing devoted preacher who loves the island people and the return that love to him and his family.
Our group had 37 people and was split up into 8 teams. The different teams and services were : cooking team- They provided meals for all team members and for the villagers on Friday night. Evangelism team- witnessed to everyone on the island and had many make a confession of faith and a few rededicated their lives. I do not know the #s though. Wall paper team- Put wall paper up in the pastors home. Senior party team- sang songs and served dinner to the seniors. Skin care did facial masks and massages. Medical- Did check- ups and gave IVs with amino acids in it. V.B.S team- Bible, crafts, sports, nature walk, and had a hot dog party for the children.
I was on the V.B.S. team. Our theme was creation and we stressed that they were created and were wonderfully made.We were sort of an English camp/V.B.S. Most the children spoke no English, but we had some youth from our team translate. The children really had a good time. One little girl shared how she had lived on the island all her life , but as we talked to her and did a nature hunt, she learned to see Gods love for her and realised what a beautiful place God had made for her.How precious was that to me. It is so easy to miss the beauty of Gods creation as we go about our daily life. God created a beautiful world for us and we need to praise him and thank him for it daily. It was such a blessing too me and I am thankful God aloud me to go on this trip. I am more aware and thankful of how blessed my family truly is. What a blessing to see more of God's beautiful world and precious people.
I want to thank God for all He did on this trip. For the safe travel and protection of each member. For all that God allowed us to accomplish. We did all we had planned to do on our trip. God even redirected a typhoon around us. The typhoon hit areas around us , but totally missed our island and travel area. God is so good! I also want to thank everyone who prayed for our trip. God worked it all out for His honor and glory. Praise His Holy Name!
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