Day 8: Wednesday: Holy Ghost party

Hello and welcome to day 8, already!

We started this morning off with a chapel performance at Chongshin University. It was their very last chapel of the year so we were honored to be invited and welcomed by everyone! We were given some background on the university before we sang, and we were told that their service style is very liturgical and structured, so our type of worship would be something new for the students.  

Sitting in the chapel (before it started, of course!)

On the steps at Chongshin University

Stephen talking to a school administrator who welcomed us and translated the sermon into English for us!

Singing in chapel was really great, and we felt that we were able to connect to the students in spite of barriers of language and worship style. Even though we were told that the students had to go right to class as soon as we were done, many stayed to come talk to us and take pictures with us. We are always so grateful for everyone who shows their appreciation for us!

Next, we enjoyed a incredibly delicious lunch buffet, courtesy of Chongshin University. This was an especially delicious meal for those in the choir who are either vegetarians or gluten-free because they had plenty of options to choose from, but all of us enjoyed the array, including ice cream :)

Yum!

After lunch, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Garosu street, which is very fancy and has lots of cool stores and cafes on it. We split up into smaller groups for this bit of free time, so my group explored, and enjoyed strawberry shaved ice (which is made of strawberries, very finely shaved ice, and condensed milk), and did a little shopping!

Here's what the street looked like-check out the fancy pink car!

The incredible shaved ice that we had, We loved it so much that we ate another one the next day!

Another street view

We love Korea!

After a lovely afternoon, we had an even greater night. We sang at Jubilee church,  the church that GC President Stephen interned at last summer. It is an English speaking church with members from all over the world, and this blog is titled Holy Ghost Party because we had an amazing time of worship at Jubilee. We were singing "Greater" by Todd Dulaney together with Chris Tomlin's "Our God" and "How Great is our God", when we felt the strong presence of the Holy Spirit that invited everyone into expressive and liberating worship together. The pastor spoke about how what the people of Korea need is to be free, as they normally don't worship in this expressive way but desire to, so gospel music is a refreshing way to worship God for many. So, when we thought our concert and ended, it really didn't. Miss Tanya told us to go out into the crowd and say hello to someone, so we all walked off and talked to people and hugged them, but the band was still playing so we continued to rejoice, worship, clap, and sing "You are Good" (from the audience). As we continued in this jubilant worship, we began to chant "Ain't no party like the Holy Ghost Party cuz the Holy Ghost party don't stop". We not only had so much fun in this free expression of joy, we were amazed in the ways that God worked through us in touching the lives of those who worshipped with us. I think that this is a night that we will all remember, and we continue to give all the glory to God as we "bless the Lord at all times" (Psalm 34). 

Jubilee was a beautiful church

Giving our all to God

Thank you so much for reading today's blog, and please continue to pray for us as we go into our last 3 days. We believe that God will continue to use us mightily to do the work that he has already begun here in Korea. 

Love you with the love of the Lord,

Sarah Camillone

Day 6: Road Trip

Hello family and friends of the gospel choir community!

We are halfway through our trip and have already experienced so much! It has been amazing to see God working through this trip.

Today we woke up bright and early for a 5 hour road trip to Handong University where we would have a concert later that evening. Most of the driving consisted of sleeping and admiring the mountains that surrounded us.  

  

On our way, we stopped at a village called Hahoe. This is a traditional village from the Joseon Dynasty where we were able to see the architecture and traditions of a one-clan village of that time.  The town has been preserved over the years and still has people living in it. The people of the village had a strong respect for the nature around them. They made their houses out of the natural materials around them so that when the houses were deserted they would eventually return back to how the land was.

    

Once we arrived at the beautiful campus of Handong University we had a short rehearsal and then were released for dinner.  The university had graciously provided an incredible buffet of Korean food. 

Next came our concert at the university.  This was a truly memorable event and the presence of God filled the room as the crowd worshipped along with us.

We were so blessed by the hospitality of the students and administration of Handong.  They even had a reception after the concert for a chance to fellowship with those who had come to worship with us.  We met some new friends and were honored when the president of Handong spoke some kind words to close the night.

After a long day we headed near the shore where we would be staying for the night.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support and for tuning into our blog page once again!

Day 2: A Day of Seeing the City!

Today was a very eventful day! We started off our day at Gyeongbokgung Palace. We enjoyed the Changing of the Guard Ceremony and a tour of the palace. The original palace was built in 1395. It covers 107 acres and is full of beautiful, very detailed buildings and gardens.

After a few hours of exploring the palace, we had a quick but delicious lunch. Then we headed over to the Seodaemun Prison History Museum. This museum is not glorious like the palace.  In fact, this museum is compiled of the prison buildings and execution chambers that were used during the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945). It was important to us that we visited this site so that we could better understand the history of the people we are here to minister to and serve.

 

Later we took some time to rest and spend time in our family houses. We had Korean fried chicken and other traditional dishes for dinner in the houses. We ended the day with an exciting trip to the Namsan Seoul Tower.  We took a cable car to the top of the mountain on which the tower stands. At the top of the mountain there was a beautiful view of all of Seoul.  The city looked so big and bright!