While in Seoul, one of the absolute MUST DO’s for Adam was of course reconnecting with his wonderful mission president – President Junjongchul (who all the missionaries called President Jun). Getting to meet President Jun was also a real highlight for me as well because he was so full of love and so giving and kind to our family. He expressed concern at not knowing English better (even though his English is excellent!), but Adam said that he always knew that Pres. Jun and Sister Cha loved each missionary. He is a spiritual giant who has served in the temple for a long time as the recorder and recently as temple president. I loved getting to know him better.
President Jun was awesome as well and insisted on taking us on an hour long drive to visit the border of North Korea and the Imjingak memorial. This allowed us to see for the first time what North Korea looks like, and to learn more about the separation that occurred many years ago between the now two countries.
Driving with President Jun to North Korea
The memorial itself was really humbling. Each one of these ribbons has the name of a family member who has been separated because of the splitting of the country back in 1945. For the most part these family members have not seen or had contact with each other in all that time.
We learned how the separation of North and South korea came about in 1945 because of an allied victory in world war II, ending the 35 year colonial rule by the empire of Japan. Both the Soviet Union and United States agreed to temporarily occupy the country but then couldn’t agree on the form of government to set up. Therefore North Korea became communist following the Russians, while South Korea was set up as a Republic.
This train was also at the memorial showing the intense gun power used during the war. Each hole you see is either a bullet hole or shrapnel that hit the train during the war. The train line was destroyed in 1950.
And here you can see a glimpse of North Korea. If you look closely you will see a fence and guard post with a river behind it. The river basically separates the two countries and those trying to cross are shot at.
They had binoculars set up so you could see a closer view of North Korea.
After touring the memorial, President Jun once again showed his absolute generosity and kindness by insisting to take us all out to dinner. Which felt so foreign to us, because we really wanted to repay him by taking HIM out to dinner. He’d already been so good to us, but he says its just not done in Korea and that if he ever comes to the U.S. that we could take him out then. He really was just so kind. So we went out for some Korean food at one of the restaurants at the memorial. We loved hearing more about Adam’s mission as we eat, and about how the work has progressed since Adam served. President Jun and his wife were actually serving as the Temple Presidents in the Seoul Temple.
As we finished eating, we were greeted with this amazing sunset! Korea sure is beautiful!
What a wonderful day spent getting acquainted and reacquainted with Adam’s mission President! We felt so blessed to have been able to spend the day with him and benefit from his kind heart.
