A beautiful evening for a beautiful lady. Pastor Chung celebrates her 60's birthday. That is the BIG one in Korea. Families go all out and spare no expense to celebrate this important milestone. The first and 60's birthday are very big events in Korea. Pastor Chung is pastor of Ye Dalm (?)Church of the Nazarene which means Christlike. I go to her church every Wednesday night and preach every 4th week. Dr. Hong is my interpreter. He is also the chaplain and vice president at KNU. He is a very busy and respected man in the community. The church is small but lively with many students. I love attending there. I feel at home in the church although much of it is in Korean. Pastor's Chung's story is remarkable. I read of her history in Brent Cobb's book, Tried and Triumphant (1984, Beacon Hill). She was born in North Korea and both of her parents were killed in the war. She was orphaned and lived with her grandmother who also died from an illness. She had little chance of survival since there was no one to take care of her except for an uncle and aunt who were Buddhists. To make a long story short she discovered the Church of the Nazarene and as a child began attending Sunday School. Later, she received a scholarship from our Asian Bible college and as they say, "the rest is history." She and Dr. Hong have a beautiful daughter. Just 3 years ago they lost a son to leukemia. Pastor Chung was ordained by Dr. John Knight. The top pictures show more of the celebration with a choir from the church singing and a group picture of us English teachers who attend the church: Bob Bell and his wife, Linda and John Bondi, and the Thorntons. The food was great, buffet style. In church that morning "Happy birthday" was sung in Hongul (Korean), Chinese, Russian, and English. It was quite an experience. Each group sung separately in their own language. (Click on the pictures and they will enlarge, click again and they reduce.)