More from Korea

Korea was enjoyable in many ways spiritually, but it is also a country with much history. We had some time to explore and enjoy some of its culture, landscape and of course its food! Before we left for our trip we asked everyone who went to Korea what their favorite thing about Korea was and everyone would say: "THE FOOD". We thought there has to more to Korea than its food. There is more than food, but we have to say that food was a big part of their culture and our joy while in the country. 

The cities are very large with museums, parks, and and ancient city artifacts. At first it was very difficult to figure out the public transportation, but once we got used to not finding anything in English we came to appreciate the efficiency of their system both by bus and subway. Taxis were a little expensive, so we mainly stuck to the public transportation. 

We arrived a few days early and stayed a few extra days to enjoy this beautiful country and its people. We hope to return one day and see more of the interesting sites and learn more about its complex culture. 

Many private quaint farms.

Lots of creepy crawlies in Korea.

View from our accommodations.

Kathleen and her cats!

Our friends arrive for our graduation.
What do you do after a long day of travel
at 10:30 p.m.

Korean BBQ, of course.

A little crazy and

delirious.

After our graduation on November 29th we had time to visit and explore Seoul and it's many sights. We also were able to have our class with our friends and family visit our brothers in jail for their neutral stand. These brothers are sentenced to a year and half or longer for their strict stance. After waiting for a few hours we were only allowed to spend about 10 minutes with them. So we had to come up with a few questions to ask and then said a prayer together. I feel we were more encouraged than our brother who we visited. 

We were able to visit our brothers in prison.
Many of us waited hours to spend 10 minutes with them.

Museum artifacts.

Change of guards ceremony.

Time for a rest & some coffee.

Pork after coffee.... ready for slicing.

Streets of Seoul.

I am looking for  Korean BBQ. Can you
recommend a place?

Korean BBQ with Lanterns.

Yum...Korean Spam!

Super Hero Fluid?

Sumo wrestling milk?

Beer... Good

Korean Humor?

While in Korea we thought it would be good for a native English speaker to offer their services to check the English text on their signage and menus. But it is obvious you do not need a actual English translator when you have Microsoft translation available as you will see on the menu below. We all understand and know the expression Guaranteed Ma-pa Tofu. However, what does the rest of the translation mean, please explain! See the fourth entry below:

Late Post from January

This is a picture of our pioneers in the Chuukese congregation after the meeting of the pioneers with the elders in January. At that time we had 11 pioneers in our congregation. But since then we had one of them return to the Tagalog congregation. It is a great group of pioneers. Most of them have been in the Chuukese field for many years now and are still enjoying the ministry here on Guam. The group consist of four from the United States, four from the Philippines, one from here in Guam and two native Chuukese sisters. As with all of our brothers and sisters they work hard in their service to Jehovah.

Back Row: (Right to Left)
Jeff & Kayla Head, Kathleen & Curtis, Ruel & Nemia Grumo
Front Row: (Right to Left)
Melba Maysho, Alysa Otmar, Domilynn Simi,
Lot Lot Brin, Luz Dollahan

Off To Korea

Once the apartment was found we had two weeks to move in and get ready to fly off to Korea for SKE. It was a hectic two weeks to move and pack in order to attend the class in Gimpo, Korea for 8 weeks. But we made it and had a fantastic time! We enjoyed the study, instruction and encouragement from this wonderful provision. Our instructors are currently serving in the circuit work and originally come from Japan and the United States. Prior to their current assignments they were serving in New Zealand and South American.

Our classmates were from many different countries including: France, Canada, East Germany, Australia, Spain, England, New Zealand, Korea, United States, Hungary and Austria. It was truly an international class. The time we spent with each of them highlighted the beauty of Jehovah's worldwide organization. It was truly an unforgetable experience. 

The class was held at the local assembly hall and had resident buildings for the students, instructors  and care takers. On premises there was a building where the class room, dinning room and a Kingdom Hall were located. None of the students were assigned to attend the meetings at this Kingdom Hall but were assigned to two different English speaking congregations in Gimpo and Ilsan, a city outside of Seoul, which required a bus ride of either 20 or 45 minutes. 

Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses

Class rooms, dinning room,
and Kingdom Hall complex.

Warm Welcome!

Kathleen with the wife of one of the instructors.

The other instructor's wife. 

We enjoyed the generosity and hospitality from the local brothers and sisters. They invited us to join them for weekend service, meals and meetings. We also enjoyed the change of seasons, which is something we do not experience on the islands of the North Pacific ocean. We were grateful to arrive in the beginning of fall and were in Korea for the first snowfall of winter. 

The time spent here will stay with us for a very long time. We graduated on November 29, 2017. Afterwards we traveled back to the United States to be with Kathleen's family for 5 weeks. 

Waiting for the Bus to head to
meeting and field service.

In the Ministry on the weekends. 

Well fed three times a day!

Study time.

Fall has arrived which means a lot of
raking leaves at lunch time.  Just not on this day.

They even took care of our grooming needs.

Winter came along. Picture of the
dormitory for the students.

It's snowing........ awesome!

Some class room picts.

Assigned seating. 

Class room selfie.