Wednesday, February 1, 2006 It was nice to be able to sleep in today - getting up at 6:30. Breakfast at 7:00 and out the door by 7:30. Class went well today, though it was very long. We are all pretty weary, and Janice went home early as she wasn't feeling the very well. I'm getting over my cold (in the 'thick stage') and Chantal still had symptoms. JRC, DC and CB are still holding their own, for which we are thankful. Half way through we asked permission to take photos to say thanks to the folks back home that had a hand in getting us here. All agreed, and I'll post some of those today. We are a little ahead of schedule, and, not wanting to break in the middle of the death / burial / resurrection, the pastor's wife took Corrie and I to the airport where we got some GoodSeed Catalogues to hand out to the students. It was a long, hard, hot afternoon, but made it through ok I think. Morning Tea: 10:30, Lunch: 1:00 - 1:30, Afternoon Tea: 4:00, closed at 5:00. Checked the email and uploaded some more photos. I realized tonight that I didn't get the pictures up last time (sorry...) One note about the area here. Around supper time (well, 5:30 to 7:00 or so) it gets very smoky here. I personally think that if you get 1 billion people cooking supper on an open fire at the same time it would tend to get rather smoky, though I'm just not sure where it comes from. Supper was again a good thing, at 7:00 pm. After which I came and watched American Idol on channel 16. 2 weeks ago I watched it with the Iotts and Jim, and laughed at just the thought of that. Thursday, February 2, 2006 Same schedule for the AM hours as yesterday. And it worked just fine. We had classes all day, finishing up at 5:15. It was a long day again - but I don't think we were as tired as it was yesterday. Took more video today, and I think we got some good footage. One problem today was that the audio recorder I had quit on me today. As stated before (if I remember right) I mentioned that the power goes out quite frequently. Here at the conference center, they have a generator that runs when the power is out. The generator runs at about 210 volts, and the town power is around 240. When the town power came back on, I noticed that my recorder cease to record. I played with it for a long time, trying different things. It did record for about 18 min, but that was it. I tried rechargeable batteries, new Energizers, and AC, but it won't even turn on now. Chalk one up to experience. I guess I need to buy something that's twice as expensive for next time so hopefully it would be a little more reliable. One request for tomorrow is that the fight will still available. See, the leg to Dimapur often gets cancelled, and right now air traffic control within India is on strike. Up to today, the flight was still running, so that was a good sign. But it is still a real possibility. After class, Uncle took JRC and JC to the hotel, DC, CC, CB and I stayed behind to pack the visual aids, so we can leave at the crack of 10:30 tomorrow. We are scheduled to fly at 12:25 tomorrow. I'll try to get to the Internet Zone and upload this. Friday, February 3, 2006 Yes, still another long day. We started with breakfast as normal. Eggs, toast and coffee for me today. At the center, John did the teaching, for about an hour and a half - 8:30 to 10:00 am. The last half hour was time set aside for open-air testimony and thanks for what God has done for us. I was able to get a lot of that on video, but audio wasn't captured too well. I'll have to have a listen to see what can be done. At 10:00, we closed, and after Uncle and Shelly gave some closing announcements, it was almost quarter after. It seemed everyone wanted to come and shake our hands and say thank you for coming. It was a very special time. Just like last seminar, we basically closed and left. It would have been nice to be able to hang for a bit. But we raced out of there to the hotel, where we re-packed (mostly me - with all the gear.) And then it was off to the airport. The flight was not canceled, for which we all were thankful. And in all of Uncle's 8 years of coming to this part of India, he had never seen a flight leave Dimapur on time. But this one was right on schedule. We cleared security no problem (except, I took my usual time, with my bags being gone through by hand.) The flight was grand to Kulkota. And that's when we noticed the strike the most. No baggage handlers. I remember reading in the paper that hand carts were hard to find, and I'll understand a little clearly in a bit. But instead of the workers putting the bags on the conveyor belt, all the people stood out there and we all got our bags off the baggage truck directly. Wasn't too bad, but interesting. Then we hauled everything over to the International Terminal. As we were walking, we could hear this riot getting louder and louder - and not sure what to expect. Those on strike had loudspeakers strung up and they were hollering in them like nobody's business. Well, we parked our stuff, and Uncle and I went to get our 5 pieces that we had checked into baggage storage. With our 2 carts, we walked over to get our bags, which we did without incident. I'm not sure how much it cost, but I don't think it was too much. This was another praise for the day, because we just weren't sure that they would be there when we left. I asked if I could take a picture, one fellow said, "As you wish," but the other guy didn't let me. Once back with the group, we headed inside and had supper in a restaurant, as we had time to kill. It actually worked out great, because we were able to get rid of all our loose change. And I mean all of it. All I had left was 500 R. We can only clear security 3 hours before the flight, so we headed down a little early and got in line. This is where I really noticed that the baggage people aren't doing anything. It's also the janitorial people that are on strike. All the trash cans in the airport are over-flowing. But once we got the bags checked, we had to haul them through immigration and that's where they took them from us. The air-conditioning isn't working either. I guess there's one guy that runs that, and he's outside behind the microphone. Or something. It makes getting on the plane a much better deal. But once on the plane, things turned for the better. It was a new Boeing 777, and very nice indeed. The flight to Singapore was just over 3 hours, and made it in, through immigration / customs and in the taxi by 4:30 AM local time. Saturday, February 4, 2006 We dropped Derek / Chantal and Corrie off at one house, then back to Dave / Diann Younker's house for JRC, JC and myself. Slept in, hey? I think it was about 11:00 am or so before crawling out of bed. Not sure what to do, Dave took me to the Bus Stop and we took that down to the MRT. Over the edge, there was some drummers and a dragon dancing (to
ward off the evil spirits). We went down about 4 stops, and looked for some compressed air to clean off my camera, but didn't find any. So, we just came back and stopped at Mc Donalds for a hot-fudge sundae. They are only $1.50s, or about $1 US each. Once back, we met up with Derek / Chantal and Corrie by phone. The plan was to meet at Jack's place for supper. It was on Orchard Street, which was blocked off for a parade that started at around 7:00 or 8:00 pm. The plan was to meet at 6:30 at Jacks. It was 10 till 7:00 before the other three showed up. Apparently their taxi driver didn't get them as close as ours did us. No worries. We had a good time discussing the past 2 seminars and started gearing up for the third here in Singapore. Supper consisted of steak and catfish for me, and salmon, shrimp, steak for others. After supper we went out to watch the rest of the parade. Sure thankful I had some earplugs, as it was rather loud. JRC took some stills while I shot video. Interesting - though it would have been nicer to have a better place to view. Later I heard there were over 200,000 people down there. We did have some trouble getting a taxi to get home, but Derek finally called and ordered 2 for us. After that, it was a matter of minutes, really. So, be sure to bring your cell (er, hand phone) with you so you can order a taxi. Sunday, February 5, 2006 We didn't go to church this morning - for which I was thankful because I was so tired still. I think I'm getting over some heat exhaustion from back in India. JRC said I have all the symptoms - so just a matter of taking it a little easy and getting plenty of fluids and salt and whatnot. DC, CC, and CB came over by 10:00, and we had a time in the Word and prayer. By 11:30 we headed out to the church were we will be having the seminar, Grace (S.C.C.) Church - Singapore Chinese Christian Church. It is a nice facility, and should work out just fine. Right now we have about 30-35 people signed up. For lunch we went across the street and ate at a hawker center, and it was pretty good. They didn't have satay, though. After lunch, we split from the Michael and Dave, and went to Sim Lim Square - the electronics mecca of Singapore. We strolled around here for a couple hours, and didn't buy much of anything as a group - just an umbrella and a couple pairs of shoes. We took the MRT back home - the Other Three went to their place, and us three got on the train going the other direction. At home we took a nap, then caught a bus to go down to McDonalds for supper. I know it's not exciting, but it worked (fed us up at least.) This evening I put together the last 20 some photos and got them up on the web. Monday, February 6, 2006 Not a busy day. Going to bed late means getting up late. This is on purpose, because we are teaching from 7-10 pm in the evenings this week. But today was a day of rest, so as to be awake for tonight. I did a couple Sudokus and pretty well rested. We took a cab to the Church were we are hosting the seminar, leaving here at 3:30. That gave us plenty of time to set up the equipment before 7:00. We went to another hocker for supper. After I ordered, I realized they had satay, so I'll have to get that next time. The evening went well. There are about 40-45 people there, and it was a good time. Derek, however, is starting to get sick - looks like what I and Chantal had. If this is so, then I'll probably have to take his place, which is fine (and one of the reasons we all came - a little bit of redundancy.) Sorry - I only took 8 pictures today (wasn't out of the house, else setting things up.) Nothing worth posting! Tuesday, February 7, 2006 Heat is a factor here in Singapore. One of my colleagues said that the first place he got heat exhaustion was right here in Singapore. I still feel symtoms, and partly because of that we take it easy during the day. Besides, we want to be in the best shape for teaching in the evening. At 4:00 pm, we took the MRT to City Center, where we met up with the rest of the group at 5:00 (well, they were late because they didn't know right where it was.) But no worries, Subway was a good meal. Teaching went well tonight. The students here are very attentitive, and that makes teaching so much fun. I filled in for Derek today for about an hour, as he wasn't feeling the best, (but not too bad.) Wednesday, February 8, 2006 Well, Rosalie was in town today, so I though I better brave the streets of Singapore to go see her. Way back in 89, I went with her, her co-worker, and a team to build them a house in Papua New Guinea. Funny meeting up here of all places once again. So, I hopped the 48 bus right out front of my apartment, and rode it straight to where she was staying. It took about 45 minutes, but I didn't have to change busses or take the train. The train might have been a little faster, but then I have 2 busses to catch instead of one. We had a good time hanging out together. She was in good form (as usual.) I didn't get a picture of her - shes getting so old to the point it's not going to help anything if I did! (Yes, it's a joke, and if you knew Rosalie, it would be met with another in retort.) Before and after having lunch with John and Jerry, I was working with Derek on putting together a video for him to send home to his church. It was fun to be able to work on something like that out here, though I don't have all the tools that I would like. No worries, what I have is far better than what I had even 6 months ago. But through the day we were able to get something half decent - and will need to finish it up tomorrow. We took a cab to the seminar, as it's cheaper if you have 4 in a taxi. I think it cost us $10s, or about $6.50 US. The classes were again very good tonight. Many positive comments, and the students are very attentative. The 3 hours we teach seem to go by rather quickly! We (JRC, JC and I) took a taxi home, and it was only $6.50. Thursday, February 9, 2006 Another day of teaching - in the evening. I forget what transpired during the day because I'm writing this a few days later. If something comes to mind I'll add it in here. Friday, February 10, 2006 Basically a 'free' day - Dave took me to the Botanical Gardens here in Singapore. It was only 3 bus stops away, not very far. So we walked around there for a bit. I was hot - and it rained. But all in all I think I got some decent shots of the orchids and other landscapes and plants. Truly is amazing the complexity and diversity of creation. After a rest, we all (our team of 6) met a lucky plaza to do some shopping. I bought CD-R for tomorrow and some compressed air to clean my camera (forgot a can back in the States.) Then Corrie and I took the MRT / Bus to Gorenflo's while the other 4 went shopping. It took more than an hour to get home (and my hopes were sort of dashed - I wanted to get a good nap in there) arriving at 7:00. John and Jerry were going to the restaurant with all of us and other NTM folks for dinner by the sea at a sea-food place. They were leaving at 7:30. A ride came and picked us up, and we all wend down (well, Jerry, Corrie, an NTM fellow from Malaysia and myself). John was going to wait for Michael for a ride, and possibly for JRC and crew, as we didn't really know when / where they were going to arrive (they were supposed to meet at John & Jerry's.) So, we had supper. JRC/JC, DC/CC were about 45 min late, but that didn't really seem to matter. Supper was interesting - they brought a plate of food, it went around a lazy suzan and if you didn't get any that's because you were too slow. Once that plate was gone, another came along. And another. And another. I think we had noodles, shark fin soup, crab, fish, noodles, and rice. I'm sure I forgot a few, but you get the idea. All said and done, a couple brought JRC/JC and myself home, and that was today (more or less.) Saturday, February 11, 2006 We had classes all day - from 8:30 to 5:30, with a couple 'tea' brakes and lunch (Chicken Rice or Pork Rice). It was a long haul, especially for John, but it did go well and people stayed awake right to the end. After packing everything up (which is a big project, especially for Corrie - she packs all the visual aides, and nobody can really help with that) we all headed to John & Jerry's to drop our bags, then down to get some satay. It was right on the water, and it was good. I was beat, though, and was glad to get home. Sunday, February 12, 2006 Up at around 8:30, and had some breakfast. Dave went out to get more milk and came back with some mangos from Thailand. I hear that are very good, though it's not my favorite fruit! I did try it, though. The rest of the team came over today, and we had some time together. Spent some time in the Word, prayer, and discussing last week's seminar and preparing a bit for the coming adventure in Korea. It was a nice time, though through it we learned our new job descriptions (which, of course, meant more work!) At the time it was hard, because I was looking for a day to 'rest' somewhat. np After our delivery McDonalds arrived, we had lunch. Double Cheese Meal for yours truly. Not bad, but as you would expect, the fries were a little old, but edible. After that, JRC / JC had an appointment that afternoon, and the rest of us caught a cab and went to NGEE ANN CITY ("ignore the "G".) on Orchard. DC/CC met with a couple friends of theirs, and Corrie and I split up and roamed the streets for a hour and a half. I found the tallest building close by (and by chance it had a rotisserie restaurant on top) so I asked and went up to take photos. It really worked well. Only 39 floors up, but enough to do some damage to my flash cards. After that, we met together once again, and headed out to take some GoodSeed Photos. We filmed Chantal giving a testimony of how the message of the Bible presented this way helped her. Then off to China Town. Taking the MRT, we headed out to see if we could get some photos of them reading the STR (in Chinese). I think we got a couple, though I was getting rather tired. We finally headed home (via MRT) and forget what we did after that. Supper? If I remember I'll replace this PP. Monday, February 13, 2006 Another Long Day. We were going to meet with Derek and Chantal at 11:00, in the Chinese / Japanese Garden on the West side of town. It was a little late because Dave wanted to make breakfast. Not bad for being in the tropics - bacon, eggs, toast, coffee, jam, fried potatoes - the works. It was great. At the Chinese Gardens, DC and CC were a little late. It was expected, as the MRT takes a while from where they were - over an hour. But it wasn't a problem. We walked around a little, and went to the BONSAI garden, which was so cool. Here, we filmed Derek giving a testimony. It was a hot day. Plans changed again, as a meeting was called for Mike and Dave (who were with us as well as Diann.) So, Mike was drove us (DC, CC, and myself) to lunch, then dropped us off at the Hindu temple, close to Chinatown. We tried some more photos, but didn't do too well. Still tired from last couple days - but I did try. I walked around a bit (still a hot day, with a full pack - still / video cameras, lenses, tripod, etc.) Needless to say I drank a lot! I even got sunburned through all this. But I think I was able to pull off some neat city shots through it all. Caught a bus to take me to the Fullerton Hotel (famous hotel that used to be a public building {mail, etc.}) I walked around a bit here, shooting. I did take a lot, and you'll have to forgive me, because I don't know all the names and whatnot of what I shot. But if you know Singapore, please feel free to help me on my captions. I got hot and tired, so I went to Harry's Bar a little early. It's a small eatery/pub here on the banks. I was able to go upstairs and relax a bit in the AC, and was even able to drink down a $6 Coke. Interesting. Anyway, I stayed there for almost an hour, and just figured it as paying rent. Finally, around 5:00, I though I would go out and walk around a bit. The other 4 were sitting out there already (we were to meet at 6:00.) It was pretty funny, because they had been sitting there for about an hour. Apparently they arrived just after I went upstairs. And not too long after! Fish and chips for everyone except Janice, and then to McD for desert (McFlurry and HF Sundae.) We caught a cab home, and started packing. We made it home by 7:30, but took me till 11:30 something after getting my photos built / backed up to DVD and other things, as well as get the equipment and my personal stuff packed. Tuesday, February 14, 2006 Another Long Day! Up at 3:45 and get ready to have the stuff on the curb by 10 till 5:00. Our taxi driver was early, so we packed, and was rolling by around 5:00 am. We went to pick up the rest of the team before heading to the airport. Made it there in good time, but had some trouble putting our bags through. The lady wanted to charge us an extra $800 (s) for 'overweight.' Well, she was judging us by another weigh scale - 30kg each person. Leaving San Francisco, we were allowed 2 bags at 22kg each, and once she realized that we made it through with no problem. Flight was great from Singapore to Seoul, Korea - about a 6 hour journey. Got some sleep, but not enough. One hour time change - moving ahead. We arrived in Korea at 3:00 pm (touchdown - add a half hour for immigration / baggage.) Then we waited - our pickup contact thought we were to arrive at 4:15 not 3:15. Not a problem. They were filming a TV show right where we were, so it gave us something to do while we waited. We left the airport at 5:00 pm I think it was. About an hours' drive to the hotel - or so it should be without the traffic at rush-hour! I'm not sure the time, but by the time we waited 45 min in line for supper, I think we ate at around 8:00pm. ***THE STRANGER was printed yesterday in KOREAN. This is major news! Yes, Tom, we'll try to bring a few home with us. Supper was interesting. I forget the name, but they had all these chefs around and you just pick what you want and they start working it up. I had noodles (spaghetti) in a cream sauce with shrimp and onions and some other stuff. Oh, and the room we stayed at (in the hotel) was rather warm. Outside it is around 40°F (6°C), but inside our hotel room, it was 84 (28)! I woke up at 10:30, got dressed and went to the front desk to see if I could get the remote to turn on the AC, but they refused - saying the system was 'shut down' till March. Well, since my Korean is limited, I decided not to press the issue, give a smile and head back up. I already had the windows open, but also opened some other vents to help out. By morning it was down to 74, much more manageable. Wednesday, February 15, 2006 We rolled out to the continental breakfast by 9:00. HB eggs, toast, cereal, yogurt, bananas, coffee, juice and other stuff. It sure is plenty enough for us. We thought JRC had an interview at 11:00, so we headed down to the church for that. The church is only a few minutes walk from the hotel. We got there, and called Mr Yoon, to find out that the interview was at 11:30, and wanted us back at the hotel. Ok, well so much for trying to improvise! Mr Yoon came with Derek and Chantal, and a lot of food! We soon headed back to the church, but this time to the coffee shop across the street (which is run by the church.) This first interview went well. The fellow was a journalist from a daily Christian newspaper, and was very interested in what we did. Mr. Yoon said that he was 'on our side.' It's always helpful if you get a reporter that holds the same position that you do. I think overall the interview lasted an hour and a half. We had our own Journalist (Chantal) take notes and I recorded it on video, just for the record. For lunch today we did Burger King. Just down the street of the hotel. We went back to the hotel for a breather - just about an hour I think it ended up being. We had to leave by 2:45. Driving across the river (to the North), we arrived 15 min early for our 4:00 appointment. There were to be around 10 reporters, but I think about 5 showed up. These represented other Christian newspapers. The room was small, and wasn't room for extra people. DC, CB and JC went for a walk, I just hung around. When they got back, we waited for a table to sit at till the interview was over. Upon paying the bill (we had a couple Cokes and pastries) we found out that it cost us $5 a person to sit! Well, there goes $20 for nothing but experience. We drove though another traffic jam packed way home, stopping at a Korean Family Restaurant. We had the buffet, which was really good. Though the plates were relatively small, I only filled up twice. We made it home in decent time, though I stayed up typing the last few days and worked on getting photos up for the past several. Also had to man the clothes - need to pull a shirt so it doesn't get bled on. The room we are staying at here is a small, self-sufficent apartment (washer/dryer, stove, fridge/freezer, dish washer, 2 bedrooms (one queen, another 2 twins - I pulled a mattress out in the main area and that's where I sleep.) ***BEGINNING WITH MOSES was printed in KOREAN today. These will be available tomorrow for the BWM seminar. Yes, Ken, I'll try to bring some home with us! Thursday, February 16, 2006 The day started out well, with us being at the meeting place by 9:00. It was just right next door to where the first interview was yesterday, about a 3-5 min walk from the hotel. Again, this was a heavy packer - with all the equipment and visual aids needing to be carried, but we managed well. Classes started with the showing of EE-TAOW! in the morning. John spoke then for two 50 min. sessions, broke for lunch and then three more after, with a time of questions to follow. All in all I think there were around 120 people attending, and they were good students. JRC said they were easy to teach. The atmosphere here is different than the last few seminars we taught - this one being more formal. I prefer those that are more laid-back and relaxed over the formal approach. I'm not sure if it's just the culture here or if this seminar is just a higher-class type seminar. But not to worry, today went real well. For supper we went down the street to Spageteria - and had spaghetti. I had a cheese sauce with shrimp, which was very good. Evening came early today, and I sacked out by 9:00 I think it was, not getting up till about 8:00 the next day. Friday, February 17, 2006 Today was much the same as the one before, same schedule anyway. We got a lot of stories and testimonies, some on video, but mostly written (of which I've not seen yet.) Shooting photos in this room is a problem because there are 2 different (if not more) color lights, which makes my photos turn out funny. One side will be correct, the other having a greenish hue. But - do the best you can with what you got! Supper today was at a Korean Family Restaurant right next door to the hotel. It was good food, though I wouldn't have normally eaten what I had in front of me. I did well through the jellyfish and squid, but the seaweed didn't agree all that much with me. The beef and shrimp and rice all were good, as well as the rice cakes and puffed rice and an assortment of other things. The other day we ate Korean, it was buffet style, and I did well picking the beef and chicken and rice. We made it home and to bed in good time, partly because we had to leave the hotel by 7:00 am the next day. Saturday, February 18, 2006 Out the door by 7:00 am, and ready for a 2 hour drive to the next full-day seminar. It was a long drive, but survived ok. The church we went to was the biggest I've ever seen. The sanctuary holds over 1,500 people, though we were expecting up to 300. I counted around 135 half-way through. They had video projection - 4 cameras mounted and remotely controlled which was rather nice. They are providing us a copy of that as well as the audio - for which I was thankful because then I didn't have to record the whole thing. I did take some shots with our video camera, but nothing extensive. John did well, for which I was thankful. Lunch was interesting - we didn't know where to go, and sat down 4 different times before eating. Supper was interesting as well - traditional Korean style and food. Food was good for sure. The ride home was un-eventful. I was happy we had a bus, (mini-van type) because it allowed us to bypass some major traffic coming into the city. Sunday, February 19, 2006 Nice to be able to sleep in a little - woke up at around 8:00 I think it was. I had breakfast here while the other 3 went down and ate at the hotel continental breakfast. Mr. Yoon was here by 10:00 to take us the the Seoul International Baptist Church - on the other side of the river (not far from the US Military base.) There were lots of US citizens there, some teachers at a Christian School, others in the military. It was nice to have John speak without an interpreter - though they didn't have a connection where he could run the Powerpoint. That was my job this morning, and it worked well. Burger King for lunch - and we went for a quick walk to do some street shopping. We were back at the hotel for a nap - quick one at that - but a nap none the less. I think we got home at 2:30, and left by 3:50 - something like that. But we got in some good rest, especially since tomorrow is a full day. Mr. Yoon was here on time, and we piled up to go to the SF Military base just outside the city. Here we met with the General of the base for supper as well as attend church there with the SF soldiers afterwords. Dinner was interesting. We had a traditional style supper, much like the night before. It was nice to have that one (on Saturday) to help prepare for this one. After sitting on the floor like that for an hour or so, my legs tend to rebel a bit (as I'm not used to that.) But the food was good and the conversation was as well. The General is a committed Christian, and wants to be a light and testimony to his men. I was a little nervous at first (main reason is because I didn't wear my suite like everyone else) but also because of the respect the General commanded. I wasn't sure what to do or how to do what I wasn't sure of what to do. But we all made it through well I think. The General presented John with a photo of "The 3rd ROK Special Forces Brigade Taekwondo Demonstration Team" at "The 14th Asian Games Busan 2002" - signed with "Thank you for your ministry! Philemon 1:6" and his signature. He also gave him a coin for the brigade, and photos of our visit. After that, Corrie and I headed out early to set things up for John at the church. We took the General's car, and his men drove us. Didn't take too long to set up the visual aids / audio / video equipment, and I was thankful for that. John did primarily a gospel presentation, using creation / the Passover Lamb / weigh scales. Seemed to have a good response, as most of the men that came were probably unbelievers. This the last of Peter that we'll see, as he has work to do - I forget what it is, but SF stuff. On the way back home, piling in the van, I noticed 10 coins, 10 packs of photos, and 4 of the framed plaques! I thought that was too cool that we each got one. Half-way home we stopped at the NTM office, and piled some books in the van for tomorrow. But made it home with no other problems. It's an early day (leaving at 7:00 am) so I'll close for now. Sorry not photos yet - time permitting I'll put some up later. Monday, February 20, 2006 Another teaching day - a 6 hour seminar about an hour's drive away. This time there were about 415 people, and this seminar was just decided / announced a week ago. It was a really good time, but a tiring and long day. Tuesday, February 21, 2006 Yet another long day - this time it was at another church, with about 150 people attending. We had to leave at 7:00 am like before, and getting back late again. This was our last day, so this was nice in that sense. Wednesday, February 22, 2006 Though a free day, it still was long. We left the hotel by 10:00 and headed to the tour company. The goal was to visit the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) between North and South Korea. The bus ride up and back was about an hour each way - not too bad. On the way up, we stopped 3 times - once for the Human Bomb Memorial, then at a restaurant for lunch, then at the freedom bridge (?) where we were able to get some video footage. The next stop was the JSA - Joint Security Area - run by the UN. Here, we hopped onto a military bus which took us into the DMZ zone, right to the border, where they have their peace talks. Once here, we got out, walked around a bit, and actually set foot in North Korea. Then we came home, and Mr. & Mrs. Yoon, and Elaine were there to meet us, and we went to Costco for dinner! Then we went to the Yoon's house for tea and fellowship. I realize these last 3 days have short descriptions, but that's all for now. Photos might make up for some of what's lacking - so try them on for size! Thursday, February 23, 2006 Not a busy day, but full non-the-less. At 9:00 we headed out to NTM's office for a re-cap meeting with our small team. That lasted about an hour or so, then we stopped to pick up Elaine and Dane to go for lunch. Over an hour later we landed in the country at a little eating place. The owner was a friend of Mr. Yoon's so that was one of the connections. Lunch was good - traditional Korean, but we had a table to sit at. (There was a group at the tables, and the owner asked them to use the short table in the middle so we could have the chairs. Very thankful for that!) After lunch, we relaxed in another building by a small pond. The place here would have been decorated with flowers and all - it's a nice little garden place (sorry - no photos outside) but during the winter things are a little drab. No worries - it was a nice break. The ride home didn't seem as long, but was non-the-less. We stopped to do some shopping for an hour in a busy section of town. I picked up some chop sticks. Then we headed to a mall for more shopping and supper in the food court. Mr Yoon and I went across the street to Costco, where I we each had a hot dog (my stomach wasn't ready for more Korean food after all the driving!) Friday, February 24, 2006 One of the longest days of my life. The morning (the first morning of the day, that is) was spent packing. We had just about everything ready to go, when Mr. & Mrs. Yoon and Derek and Chantal came over and we had lunch. My stomach wasn't doing well this morning, but managed to get over it by the time we got on the plane. After lunch we finished packing, and headed to the airport. The drive was nice, about an hour long or so. The other Mr. Yoon was about 30 min late behind us (he had all our luggage in his mini-van.) Once together again, we checked in and waited. They didn't like us carrying our pictures that the General gave us (they were rather large) and we left those with Derek and Chantal to figure out. Worse case is they would come with the pallet of books. We flew out of Seoul at 5:20 that afternoon. We flew through the night, where we crossed the date line, and arrived in San Francisco at 11:00 am. From there was to Seattle and then to Spokane. Russ picked me up, and we went to IHOP for supper. I think it was 7:00pm before eventually getting home - but I did get my truck back! Saturday, February 25, 2006 So far, I've been in the office taking care of business. Not sure how long I'll stay today, but we'll see. Spent the day in the office, working on the video footage that we brought back from India. I transcribed the spot of JRC as well as a gal who gave a testimony at the end of one of the seminars. You'll be seing a copy of that here later on. Sunday, February 26, 2006 Still under the 'Jet Lag' curse, but not too bad. I got up at 04:00 and went back to sleep at 06:00, then Barney called and woke me up at 09:00. He didn't go to church because he was getting over Strep, so I went to his house and we watched church on the internet. It was a good time. After church, we went to Home Despot, and picked up a door for tomorrow's work. Seeing that I'll be out of the office most of next week, I spent the afternoon in the office, trying to get some things tied up before the work week. I was all geared up to get some things accomplised. The evening, I scanned in Barney's "Each Stick Had a Name" slides. Monday, February 27, 2006 Started in the office at 08:00, but made my way down to the office where we are setting up our servers. Barney needed me to install a security door, which took me the rest of the day. Wasn't too bad - just getting started was the biggest thing. I didn't have to cut a hole in a wall or anything, just basically close off a hallway, which included a little framing above the door. Which means sheetrock, tape, mud, texture, paint and trim. Small job but will probably last all week. I'll be glad when it's done. Supper at Barney's, then in the office this evening. Tuesday, February 28, 2006 Much of the same as yesterday, but after putting up the sheetrock / first coat of mud/tape, I came back to the office. One project working on today was getting the files needed for Mr. Yoon in Korea to translate The Stranger DVD into Korean. Wasn't a ton of work, just finding them, exporting to RTF and another set exported to TXT. This evening (at around 21:00) I went with Russ to pick up Derek and Chantal (who stayed a few days later in Korea.) It was good seeing them again. Once we dropped them off, I finished up the last few files needed for the Korean STR DVD. |
