Yesterday we arrived in Jeonju, a midsized city in the middle of the country. The city is the birth place of the first king of the Joseon Dynasty and has a lovely melding of ancient and modern. Our host was PROK pastor Rev. Soon Tae Lee and he worked diligently to give us the best overview of the region possible. Here are some highlights of our trip:
1. Jesus Hospital: this hospital was started in 1896 by a woman doctor from the United States connected to the Presbyterian Church. We toured the hospital's history museum with the chaplain (he is one of the few full time ministers in a specialized setting that we've met on this trip). The hospital has had several directors from the United States throughout its history, each bringing a particular medical expertise and focus to the institution. We also visited the missionaries grave-sites, a small chapel, and the location of the original hospital.
2. Royal grounds: we toured the historic grounds of the king during the Joseon dynasty. Interesting features included historic archives of the time period which were preserved for generations, including safe keeping through several wars. There were also ancient portraits on display of the various kings during this time period. A delightful visual were numerous school groups dressed in traditional Korean clothing roaming the grounds.
3. A Catholic Church: built in 1914 this church is one of the bedrock locations for Catholicism in the country. There were several catholic martyrs from this region.
4. Bibimbap: this is a traditional Korean meal which literally means mixed rice. Jeonju is famous for it, the meal comes with countless fresh vegetables and spices beautifully arranged in the bowl over rice which you then stir together and enjoy.
5. Sewol Ferry Memorial: most cities continue to have public memorials to the Sewol Ferry tragedy both to publicly remember the victims and to continue to call for government accountability.
5.5 City Gate: too much to remember! We also stopped at the primary city gate to Jeonju.
6. Peasant Uprising Memorial: we toured a museum dedicated to the peasant uprisings which stared in the region in the late 1890's. These uprisings began against the aristocracy of the Joseon dynasty but quickly shifted to resistance of the Japanese invasion in 1909. These activists played a key role in the March 19th Independence Movement.
7. Ice Cream: seriously, it's hot out, some where in the 90's and very humid, we needed ice cream.
8. Hike and nap: we walked far above the city to one of the most famous public pavilions in the region. The first king of the Joseon period build this pavilion as a place to celebrate victory on his return home from defeating Japanese pirates. The hike was quite strenuous and all of us dozed a little once we reached the shade of the pavilion.
9. Confucian School: We visited the site of a historic Confucian school where boys were taught the Confucius world view. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism). Jonathan was particularly intrigued by a 400 year old tree.
10. National Intangible Heritage Center: this is a museum dedicated to Korean traditions including bamboo weaving, metal working, instrument making, textiles, dance, song, and other crafts. We toured the permanent exhibits as well as the special exhibit on flowers.
11. Senior Restaurant: We stopped for a cold drink at a restaurant that provides jobs for senior citizens. Many seniors in Korea are forced to retire because of the incredibly competitive workforce, but are then faced with too little pension to live on. The pastor showing us around is the chair of the board for this restaurant which employs eleven seniors.
12: PROK church tour: the pastor took us for a tour of his congregation, he is not only the pastor of the church, and the chair of the senior support restaurant, he is also the chair of the interfaith human rights committee for Jeonju, he teaches Old Testament in the local university, and is a trained psychotherapist. (The only way Jonathan and I can figure out how PROK pastors can do so much is because of the incredible lay leadership of the congregations, the congregations are very supportive, in face expect, their pastors to be engaged in the community just as the church members are also engaged in the community).
13. Dinner: We met one of the church elders for a lovely Korean dinner (another elder treated us to dinner the evening before) both men have been elders in the congregation for over 50 years. The one from the first evening was the head of social work at the Jesus Hospital and the one this evening was a high school science teacher.
14. Quick! Change for church!
15. Wednesday Worship: I preached for Wednesday nigh worship. The pastor's son did the translation for me. He is currently doing his compulsory military service but requested leave for a few days to help translate for us. I preached on Matthew 17:1-3. I'll include the manuscript in a new blog post.
This was day one in Jeonju. It is a great town and one I would highly recommend exploring, perhaps at a bit more leisurely pace than us!
God, please bless those who are weary. Amen.
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