FIRST DAY IN KOREA!

We started our adventure for the day by visiting the Wheaton College Concert Choir and by watching them perform at Yonsei University! After they performed and we said our “hellos” we went our separate ways. We then went to lunch in the dining hall, where the seating was random, but we ended up finding some tables together.

Afterwards, we made our way to Baeksuk University and had a workshop with some of the students there! It was a very worshipful and exciting time to be able to sing some Korean and English together. Their band was also super awesome!

Baeksuk University fed us a massive buffet-style meal with rice, japchae (Korean-style cellophane noodles), beef, soup, kimchi, salad, fruit, and sandwiches! It was amazing, to say the least! Then we performed our first concert here in Korea by singing at an evening church service at Baeksuk University! Although the college students may not have understood all the words we were singing, they were still able to worship with us! God was definitely there with us! The university’s worship team also sang some, and they were great!

Although we were all very jetlagged (since it was our first full day), God’s presence was evident!

Traveling to Seoul!

After over twenty-four hours of traveling, Gospel Choir has safely arrived in Seoul, South Korea! We praise God for bringing us here, and we look forward to the next two weeks of meeting new people, bonding with each other, making music, and worshiping! Here’s a photo summary of our journey.

We transported ourselves with 35+ suitcases to O’Hare Airport with a little bit of time to spare for hanging out and playing card games before catching our 13-hour flight to Japan.

And we’re off!

A two-hour layover in Tokyo gave us enough time to explore Narita Airport and snap a few pictures before taking off again for Seoul.

And at last the weary travelers touched down in Seoul, our final destination, where Ms. Tanya (our director) and Stephen (our president) and other leadership were waiting to joyfully receive us.

Notice Stephen, Dr. Kim, and Hee-Jung busily conferring in the last picture, as the choir is heavily indebted to them and very appreciative of their hard work (along with the rest of our leadership, staff, and cabinet!) in making sure everyone was safe and all the details in order for as smooth a trip as possible. We praise God for His faithfulness so far and we’re excited for what He has for us in the next two weeks!

GC Tour to South Korea Begins!!

Greetings from the Wheaton College Gospel Choir!

It is Monday, May 15th and in just a few short hours, we will be stepping on a plane to Seoul, South Korea for our 2017 Tour. At 6:30 am we will be meeting at Saga O, board a bus and head to the airport. We will spend two weeks in Korea visiting churches and universities, worshipping God all the way. 

Be sure to check in here on this blog to be apart of our incredible journey. Each day, a different member of the choir will be sharing photos and stories of our experience in Seoul.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support that have brought us to this point. Please continue to pray for us as we travel and begin our tour. Check back in soon for stories of how God will and has already provided for us during this tour. 

Love always, 
Cristina Guevara

Day 4: A Little Louder

Hello friends! Happy Tuesday! Today, I think has been the craziest day of tour yet! (In a good way). Early this morning, some of the choir (myself included) went to sing at a K-8 Christian school!

We took the bus to the school! It was fun!

We went to Daystar School!

We got to the school and they told us that they had no guitar amps. So, "Gospel Choir: Unplugged" happened! Our musicians are super flexible and are just the best.

Sam Cho poses awkwardly when I tell him to "smile!"

We sang a few of our songs, like "This Little Light of Mine" and "Freedom"to get the kids up and dancing. Then, we sang one of their favorites, "My God is Awesome". At the school, the kids were taught sign language with songs because it would help them to read. So, I did my best to pick up the sign language while we were singing. It was super fun and overall, I think that we all felt really blessed by the children and the hearts that they had for God.

The children of Daystar School!

Since we had extra time before we had to be back for our workshop, the next event of the day, we took our time and walked back down on Michigan Avenue. The weather was beautiful-around 60-70 degrees, and we all enjoyed our lovely walk!

We got back to the hostel where we are staying and then proceeded to have our workshop with the Voices of Praise Choir from Baldwin Wallace University. Joining choirs with them was incredible. We learned new songs that were so powerful. We all definitely felt the holy spirit work mightily in the  middle of the hostel where we were practicing. We probably looked crazy to the people who were watching us, but I think it's amazing that we can worship God out in the open and that we don't have to hide our faith. We can sing in the middle of a hostel in Chicago with people that we just met that day and God will make his presence clear and touch everyone's hearts. I don't think that any of us will be forgetting this afternoon anytime soon.

Praising the Lord in a common area of the hostel

After praising, dancing, and lunch with our new friends in the choir who were so sweet to us, we had some free time! Woo! During this time, I got to go to the Bean with a few friends!

My "artsy" picture of the bean- look at those clouds!

The afternoon was nice and restful, considering what a busy morning we had. Soon, it was time to go to dinner at an alumni's house! They were SO sweet to us and they hosted us in the penthouse of their apartment building. Look at how nice it was!

the beautiful view from the roof!

They ordered a nice dinner for us, including the best guacamole I've had in a long time and some amazing freshly grilled chicken. They were so sweet and I can only hope to be somewhat near as generous as them in the future!

After that, we worked on our step routine for tomorrow. It was challenging but I think that we can do it! Today has been a revitalizing day that was overall a 10 out of 10. God is working in us and through us and fulfilling his purposes for his glory. Hallelujah be unto the Lord!

-Sarah Cam

Day 3: Here is our God!

Hello to anyone reading this!! Today we woke up to a lovely and generous breakfast of all sorts of stuff like blueberry pancakes prepared by our new friends Ara and Alina! Then Pastor Danny gave us a little pep talk on ministry and work ("Ya know how you spell ministry? W-O-R-K!"). I really appreciated all that Solution church had done for us and felt this need to give back. Then we were commissioned to help out around the church (the "work" part!)

These are my sweet friends, the cousin duo Sarah and Nina looking super cute...

so of course I had to snap some pics! (I'm the mom of the group).

 I was a part of the outside crew and we had a lot of fun together cleaning up trash around the church property and a little  retention pond on the side of the building. It was such a joy to be outside, even when it was rainy and windy because it was such a nice day!
When we finished picking up garbage around the church, we were still really determined to 

clean as much of the trash around the pond as possible, so we kept going! A few minutes in, I found a styrofoam cup that had in it an $100 bill in perfect condition! I prayed about what to do with it and I decided that I wanted to give it to the church as an offering from the choir. It felt good to have some way to give back to the church and I praised God for that miracle!

 

                   

Day 2: Freedom

Hi friends and family! Today's been a crazy but wonderful day. We woke up on Wheaton's campus bright and early this morning and headed down to Solutions Church in Matteson. We worshipped and took communion with our beautiful brothers and sisters in Christ. Immediately after the service, we went right to Freedom Church and casually sat spread apart in the congregation. Erin started to sing "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" as we all gradually walked on stage, flash-mob style. Then, we had a full 40 minutes of awesome worship with this body of believers! We even got to witness a man being saved. His name was Anthony, and it was so amazing to watch him be filled with the joy of the Lord. Here is a photo of a few choir members with our new brother and friend: 



Here is a picture of our table with the gospel choir merchandise -- we sold 16 CDs this morning!


Now we will answer the age old question, "What really happens on tour?" Besides for tons 
of singing and praising the lord and worshipping him, weird things like this happen:

GC guitar player Sam Cho furiously tries to avoid being drooled on by PJ.

(PJ is Miss Tanya's grandson for those of you who don't know. Around this time last year, on the tour in North Carolina, the GC am found out that Miss Tanya was expecting a grandson. And one year later, here he is!)

From there, our friends at Freedom Church took us out to "the best pizza in the world."

It was super delicious! But, as a Native New Yorker I cannot say that it was the best pizza in the world, even though it was thin crust. But we all had a great time talking to new people over lunch and of course, always learning new things about our GC fam! We got to lunch late in the afternoon, so by the time that we left the sun was setting, and it was beautiful! 

There is nothing quite like the Midwest

By this point in the day, we were all super tired. On the way back to Solutions Church, this is what one car of choir kids looked like:

(I am fake sleeping in this picture to fit in with my friends)

That night, we went to the young adult worship at Solutions Church because that is where we are staying the night. We were all super exhausted but we never miss the chance to sing a little and focus ourselves on the Cross. We even met some new friends who showed us some of their dance moves after! And of course, the Savidge twins did a face swap:

#whoswho???

Overall, we had an AWESOME day! We are feeling physically tired but re-energized and revitalized in spirit. What more could you ask for? 

Matthew 28:18 says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." He has risen from the dead and is omnipotent, which is why we proclaim "He is alive with all power in his name!" We are just at the beginning of our journey but I know that there is so much more that God has in store for us.

-Sarah Cam