Korea delegates visit mission projects supported by the PROK church

The host committee of the East Seoul Presbytery of the PROK has created a very busy itinerary for our delegation. Their generosity in providing meals, transportation and coordination has been extraordinary and nothing short of overwhelming. We spent the day Friday visiting a preschool, a school for special needs children, a cemetery for missionaries which is considered the most sacred site for the Korean Christian church and an incredible program that ministers to undocumented foreign migrant workers. We also experienced extraordinary traffic jams. Seoul is a huge city of twelve million. Sometimes it feels like every person here drives a car, or motorcycle or bicycle. The traffic backups made us fashionably late to many scheduled appointments, and the driving can be ulcer producing. There appear to be very few older cars, attesting to the economic strength of the country.
The preschool program at the Children's House of Yang Moo Ri Church is impressive. The teacher to child ratio, depending on the child's age is any where from one to three, or one to five. The ratios are government mandated. Kathy Helseth from Yakima is a preschool educator and was delighted to view the program at the church.
The Soo Do Sarang School is a program created for special needs children and is referred to as a special missionary school for "disordered children." It is a school founded by the churches of the PROK (Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea)in response to an unmet need in the community, serving disabled and mentally challenged children. The descriptive term "Sarang" literally means Children's Home. The program is now supported by the government, which subsidizes more than fifty percent of the children.
Yangwhajin cemetery is considered the most sacred and holy place in Korea. Dozens of important and influential missionaries are buried at Yangwhajin. They're legacy includes creation of hospitals, schools and churches.
There are more than one million migrant workers who have come to Korea seeking a better life. They are from China, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and other Asian countries. However, many have overstayed their visas and are now undocumented aliens. (Sound familiar). There is no government support to help them. So the PROK churches stepped in to create a remarkable foreign mission worker support program that includes free medical and dental services, education, homeless shelters and even an Internet radio and television study to serve the needs of migrant workers. Even the migrant workers are high tech.
And of course, food. I'm posting a photo of this morning's breakfast table with my host family. It consisted of vegetable soup, beef, salad and fruit. I don't think it is typical Korean fare.