Day 1: Saturday
Our convention was Sat-Mon. I believe it was due to a major holiday in Korea but I'm not sure. We woke up early, went down to the main lobby for breakfast and then we were told to go to our meeting place. We got there and it was complete and total craziness!! People were EVERYWHERE! Taking photos, waiting in long lines I wasn't even sure what they were for, yet there were smiles and laughter everywhere. Not knowing what to do, we just got in line, even though we didn't know what it was for lol we later found out it was to buy breakfast so we left and we were directed to our bus. The ride there was quick and we sat anxiously as we made our way to the Seoul World Cup Stadium. So we went into the convention site unsure of what to expect. Immediately we were greeted by a long line of brothers and sisters holding welcome signs. We were immediately attacked by gifts and warm welcomes. We went in and a brother helped us locate 2 seats right away. We sat behind an adorable family that took us in right away. They made is coffee and gave us snacks during the program. It was awesome ^_^
The friends here are so hospitable, that instead of the delegates waiting in line to receive their lunch each day, the decided to deliver our lunch directly to our seat each day! I was so incredibly nice for them. They always thought of us before themselves!
The best part of the program though, was when Bro. Splane of the Governing Body proudly announced the release of the revised edition of the New World Translation in Korean! Only the second language to be revised! We were so happy and felt so privileged to be here for this memorable and historical event for the Korean friends! He even went down and delivered them himself to all those sitting in the elderly and infirm section!
Here are some photos.
Day 2:
Sunday was the hottest and most humid day of the convention! It was crazy sticky, but the program was amazing! The amount of baptismal candidates blew my mind!! We had 6 other conventions throughout the country tied into ours. The entire country had their convention together, I'm assuming because of the release of the bible. Anyways, at our location there were over 600 baptized and a combined total of over 1,300 baptized!!! It was very exciting!! So Sunday, we ended up sitting around a bunch of delegates on Sunday which was nice to meet friends from all over the world, but we didn't get to experience what we did the day before with the local friends. We liked getting to know the families. So we decided the next day we would specifically look for an area where there weren't too many delegates haha! One brother on our bus suggested that we eat with everyone outside. Here in Korea some families eat at their seats but most have these big mats that they lay out on the floor. Everyone takes off their shoes and they have a big family meal together with all of the traditional side dishes and everything. It was so cool to see. It was like a sea of people all over the floor eating and laughing together. He said that he had been joining them on the floor so we decided to get the full Korean experience we definitively had to do that on Monday, the last day :(
After the convention a big group of people on our bus, and my friend Melvin from back home, who is also here for international, went to dinner for traditional "Chicken & Beer" we had a huge group and it was a blast!! It was so fun getting to know our friends a little better.
Day 3:
The saddest day ever.... The last day of convention was bitter sweet. We were so excited to meet new friends, and see everyone again, yet so sad because we knew we'd probably never see them again in this system, and that was really hard! We were still so tired from the night before and all of our activities and we ran so late Monday morning! We forgot everything! Including our radio... Which is the only way we were able to listen to the program in English :/ There was a little mall underneath so we tried there but they were sold out! So we just had to sit here but thankfully there were more English talks from Bro. Splane and another bethel speaker so it wasn't too bad. Then it was time for lunch! We grabbed our blankets to sit on, and our lunch and went to find a seat on the floor among the locals. Almost immediately after sitting down a family started pouring us tea, while a single mother sitting next to us started opening all of these Tupperware boxes of Korean dishes and insisting we eat! I shared my boxed lunch with her little boy and we loved her kimchi! Then a young girl came over with a plate of kimchi and homemade sushi and said that her mother made this and wanted us to try it. It was the bomb and we were so full, I never even touched the provided lunch because so much was being offered to us. They really took delight in seeing us try their food and drinks. So I went over to that family who was sitting pretty far away from us. They moved everything and insisted that I sit with them for fruit and tea (typical end to a meal) but then they wanted me to keep eating more sushi! I just did not have room to keep eating, these Koreans can eat!!! A LOT!! It really enhanced our entire experience. It's such a humble culture, I just fell in love. I looked around and just took it all in, never wanting that day to end. The end of the convention finally came and with a combined total of over 100,000 in attendance there was a great shout of joy, smiles and tears after the concluding prayer. Signs began to rise promising to see each other again in paradise, and my eyes were swimming in tears. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. To make it even better there were some Chinese delegates in attendance who can't even close their eyes when they pray in public, so to sing songs, be with this large of a group, and freely worship together was truly touching.
Hello my name is eunji,ko
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