UCC

 This is the church we have been attending since getting here. I can't say that we are really involved in the church (for numerous reasons), but it's been a great church for us here in S. Korea. The church is on the 3rd floor of a building.

During the first part of the worship service, the kids stay with us. We sing several songs and the kids will sit and listen. Miriam sings the songs she knows, Levi Paul is either listening, drawing on paper or talking out loud. I usually hold Naomi and she bounces up and down and smiles at the people behind us. :-)  Then the kids head to children's church and we sing some more. We will sing all songs in English and some of the songs (especially the hymns), they alternate different verses singing them in English or Korean (as shown in the picture above). Whatever language is at the top, that is what is sung for that verse. I like that we can still know what is being sung since the other language is under the one being sung.

Let me say that my kids LOVE the children's church. They sing songs together and then go to their classrooms, being separated by age. Levi Paul has a hard time being separated from us if he can't sit near Miriam during their singing portion. That boy sure does love his sister and wants to sit by her, and of course she doesn't want him sitting by her because she wants her friends to sit by her. I am thankful for the children's program because each Sunday on the way home, Miriam and Levi Paul will tell us what they learned about. :-)

The pastor of the church is originally from Alabama. The sermons are spoken in English. During the times of prayer, it is spoken in English. When the announcements are made, if it is really important they will be done in Korean also. The majority of the people that have positions in the church (music, pastor/assistant pastor, children's ministry, etc) are all teachers and administrators at the local christian school, which was started after a chaplain in the Army asked for a school for dependent children. The church is connected to the school. The church reaches out to the community-the local Koreans, the soldiers and their families and to any other person that has come over to Korea for jobs. It is a great church!

Here is Naomi after church last week. It was the first week that she didn't cry when I dropped her off in the nursery. She still held on to me for dear life when I tried to hand her over, but she didn't cry! Of course she is all smiles when I get her.

Uijeongbu Community Church is where we are supposed to be in the season of our life (living in Korea in Uijeongbu). One of the neat things is that the girl I marched beside in marching band at Liberty University lives here and goes to the church (we lost contact after my semester on campus is 1998 and I had not clue she lived here and we have reconnected since moving here), a good number of the people in the church went to Liberty, another grew up near where Chris grew up in Virginia, an assistant pastor came here from Fairbanks, AK and knows our pastor and church back there and spoke highly it, which just made us smile, and we have met some other military families there. I am thankful for the chance to worship with others (Korean, Americans, Africans and others from other countries) for the short time while living here. The family of God is spread all around the world! It is great being with brothers and sisters in Christ while worshiping our Lord and Savior on Sundays!

Last week was our first time back after missing 2 Sundays with colds and sickness. We won't be going tomorrow with all the snow we are getting (no snow tires and Koreans don't really prepare for snow here), so we are sad, but hopefully we will be back next Sunday again to worship!