Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Korean Church

This past week, I was invited to my friend 창선's church. I accepted and went. The church was inside a building next to some retail stores and restaurants. We walked into a hallway and to an elevator. My friend punched the number 7 and we began upwards. At this moment, I didn't really know what to expect. I was a little nervous. I was going to be the only foreigner.

We walked out of the elevator and walked over to some of his friends. We introduced ourselves in some Korean and some English. It seems most of the conversations that would occur would be in both languages as I only speak a little Korean. Sometimes, a person would find out I spoke a little Korean and would begin to speak to me as if I was going to know everything they said. It usually ends with me saying I don't know in Korean.

At this point, I am beginning to expect a very traditional church. I thought the worship would be old hymns or something to that effect. After a short time of meeting new people, we went into the sanctuary. They began to practice for the service. Boy was I in for a surprise. The worship was not that of a traditional Korean church. Then, the service started. Everyone began singing, including me. I didn't know what I was singing nor do I know if it was correct. I was simply following along the words and trying to do my best.

The funny thing is, I could feel God. I wasn't worshiping in English, but in a language I didn't know very well. But God knew my heart. He understood the words. And He thought it was beautiful.

After the service, they asked everyone to come closer. My friend and I moved a little closer and after one person speaking, they asked me to come up in introduce myself. I was not prepared for this. I was extremely nervous and I am quite sure my face turned bright red. I said, "안녕하세요. 제 이름은 자니입니다." Which means, "Hello, my name is Johnny." Then my friend took the mic. and told what he knew about me.

Afterwards, his parents invited me over to their house. They greeted me and made me some plume tea. At least, that is what I think it was. We spent a few minutes at the house before we left to go have dinner. They took us to a restaurant that served mainly fish. The fish was good, but too many bones.

This was a good day. I enjoyed the people I encountered and hope to spend more time with them.