Sad Goodbyes and Happy Hellos

Dear friends and family-
We had such a wonderful time in Chungju Baptist church. The members there are amazing. Our last night included the Wednesday evening worship service. They sang songs in Korean that we knew. Brother Tommy preached on Isaiah 6 and the holiness of God. Miran (Debbie is her given American name) did a wonderful time translating. There were many "Amens" during the service, and the message was powerful for this congregation and us.
After preaching, Pastor Bae asked me to come up and speak to the church about our experience. I can't tell you all I said, but tears were in my eyes as I expressed the blessing they were to us as we came to serve with them. Then pastor asked the entire team to come up and speak. They all expressed how much love we felt and how wonderful the experience was. Pastor Bae was adamant that we come back again next year. As we all hugged and cried, the congregation formed a long line from the pulpit all the way down stairs to the offices where we sat and had dinner for the last time. They had bought us KFC (finger lickin' good!) and we sat around talking about all the good times. Loading into the van was very emotional for us all. They drove us to our motel, and we said goodnight.
This morning, Pastor Bae and Kim came and brought us our dry cleaning and said goodbye. Our rooms were very cheap (I will explain later :), so we paid up and hugged them for the last time. When I grabbed the pastor he did have tears in his eyes. It is not customary for Korean men to cry, so he quickly turned away and crossed the street.
We will never forget our days in this city. I pray God will bless them and their ministries and that He will continue to draw people to Himself. We have so much to learn from the Korean churches.
Pastor Sheen and his wife Young Me picked us up at our motel. Jerry and Betty were off to the train station and on to Suwan. We said goodbye to them as we loaded our luggage into two cars.
On the way to Daejeon we learned a little more of the Korean language, and got to know our new hosts. The church is five years old and has only 40 members. They love to share their faith, but they told us that many hearts are hardened because of Buddha and other world religions.
After a 40 minute drive they took us to their church. It is in a tall building and they meet on the second floor in a small but nicely quaint sanctuary. We all held hands and prayed. It was nice to be in one accord.
They brought us to our nice hotel (like a Hyatt), and we had a nice lunch here at a nice Chinese restaurant. After a 30 rest, they took us to a couple schools where we sat outside and drew some large crowds. They love Americans. When they asked why we were in Korea, we told them Jesus Christ and we were able to share the gospel with many. It was amazing as God is AMAZING!
We talked about how we could not do this in America. Isn't that sad. We have to come over 7000 miles to share in some schools.
I am sitting with Jean Ann in the hotel lobby as we await our new friends. They are taking us out to eat. A church deacon is feeding us tonight and we were told that we would be sitting on the floor. We are now accustomed to this custom, but let me tell you, it is hard on the old bones to get us off the floor all the time :)
Friends, I have left out so much, but we wanted to share a little of what we are doing. I know we will be at a university tomorrow and maybe another school.
Please keep us in your prayers.
I have a sinus infection. So does Rose and Tommy. We have medication so I hope it will start kicking in.
It is early morning there and 6:35pm here- weird!
We love you!
Please comment below this post and I can read them and share them with our team.
Debbie (Miran) has already made a comment.
Please keep her in your prayers. She is a growing Christian, but loves the Lord.
We all are so amazed how God can use us, simple folks from Tennessee and Mississippi.
How Great is Our God!

Wink and Jean Ann
Tommy and Rose (just walked up and say howdy!)