Adventures in South Korea

When I decided that I would be attending the Fourth Lausanne Gathering in South Korea I did not know how I was going to get there; I left that up to God. I knew from past experience that if He wanted me to be somewhere, He would make the way possible and take care of the details. The first detail He had to take care of was the conference fee. There was a discount of $100US if this fee was paid before the end of 2023. I did not share this with anyone, so imagine my surprise when, in November 2023, one of my ministry partners presented me with a financial gift that enabled me to pay the entire registration fee! This was the first sign that God was providing for me to attend this Gathering.

I loved exploring the green spaces close to the Convention
Center before the start of the sessions each morning

Since I knew for sure now that I was going, I started sharing with persons who were close to me about my plan to attend the conference in South Korea. In February when I shared it with one friend, she said that God had laid it on her heart to give me a certain amount of money and she was not sure why; talk about God answering before we even call! I told her that I still needed to pay for accommodation, and I didn't know it at the time because I had not booked the hotel as yet, but the amount she gave was sufficient to cover the cost!

View of the sunrise from outside my hotel window

I started getting excited because now all that was outstanding was the airfare, and I already had one supporter who committed to covering half of the journey. However in March I received a health diagnosis that made it uncertain whether or not I would still be in a position to attend the Gathering. By God's grace, supported by the prayers of the saints and the help of the medical professionals, I was declared fit to travel by May, so my tickets were booked and in September I was on my way to South Korea! (During that period another supporter had offered to pay for the other half of my journey 😁)

Being greeted by some character in the airport at Incheon

Because of the number of participants in the Gathering, we were staying at different hotels which were scattered around Incheon, and I did not know of any of my friends who were staying at my hotel. After checking in and taking my bags up to the room, I went to the basement to get something to eat. It was late, so when I finished I was about to head back up to my room but I felt prompted to stop off in the lobby. Imagine my surprise when I saw my friend Martha from Papau New Guinea whom I had not seen since the Younger Leaders Gathering in Indonesia eight years ago! We had kept in touch over the years and she has been such a wonderful support to me, praying for me and encouraging me in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else in Trinidad was fast asleep.

It was such a joy to see her in person

The next morning we met up for breakfast, and at the table we sat at we met Liliana from Colombia. She had come in the day before, spent the day exploring Seoul, and was planning to go out again to see other tourist attractions. We were very elated to hear this, because we wanted to go sight seeing too but had no idea where to go! She was happy for us to accompany her and took us to change currency and get travel cards and soon we were on the train headed into Seoul.

It was Martha's first time on a train 😊

We didn't speak a word of Korean but thankfully we live in an age of technology 😏 Using apps we were able to navigate to our first location - Myeondong market - which was packed with stalls selling everything you could think of from food to clothing to electronics to jewelry. We browsed and bought souvenirs to take back home. We were also brave enough to try Korean street food and it was really delicious.

Trying ah ting wit de people dem chopsticks

Koreans are so helpful to tourists. After we finished at the market, we wanted to visit the Namsan Tower but the directions were kind of confusing. We asked someone for help but the translation app wasn't doing a very good job in enabling us to understand what he was saying. When he realized we were clueless, he decided to lead us in the direction of our destination, which was in the opposite direction that he was headed in! The Namsan Tower is located at the top of a mountain, which you can either choose to walk up, or take a cable car to get to the top. It was so peaceful riding above the tree tops, and the view from the top was incredible.

Taking in the view at the top

Our last stop for the day was Starfield Library which was located in the middle of a huge shopping mall. This library is popular for its 13 meter tall bookshelves and over 50,000 books and magazines available for reading. After checking out the library we had dinner then headed back to our hotel. It was late when we got the bus to take us to the hotel and we were the last people on it, so we were talking and laughing until the bus driver said, "Excuse me, could you speak softer please?" It was then that we realized that their culture was not as boisterous as ours. It was a good thing we were almost at our hotel because we had to fight the urge to laugh out loud for getting buffed from a Korean bus driver 😂

Escalator in the middle of Starlight library ands
bookshelves all the way to the ceiling!

On the last day of the conference, we had half a day to do some more exploring. This time, Martha and I were joined by Sindy from Guadeloupe. We decided to take a bus tour around Incheon instead of going back into Seoul since we all had early morning flights the next day. One of the volunteers from the conference was very helpful in directing us to where we had to meet the tour bus, and we went to the top deck so we could get a good view of the architecture as we drove past it.

Massive skyscrapers

We decided to get off at the fourth stop which was the beach, and just spend some time relaxing there and enjoying nature. It was a beautiful place to pause and be at peace after the hectic pace of the conference. When it started getting late, we headed back to our hotel and went to a nearby restaurant to check off one item from my bucket list - eating Korean Barbecue in Korea! It was fun cooking our meal, but the serving size was so huge we struggled to finish it all.

Photoshoot at the beach

Waiting for the barbecue to cook

There was a bit of drama the next morning when I was about to leave the hotel to go to the airport. When I went outside to meet the shuttle, I was informed that it was full and there was no room for me, Sindy and a couple others. I was annoyed because I had booked my space in the shuttle long in advance, and I was sure that there were people in the bus who had come at the last minute. Sindy calmed me down enough to help me realize that we had options, so we called an Uber and were able to make it to the airport in  time.

Saying goodbye at the airport; I now have a friend
who lives in France 😁

It was actually more time consuming for me to leave South Korea than when I arrived. First I had to prove to them that I had a return ticket to Trinidad (since I had a Trinidad and Tobago passport but was boarding a flight to the UK). Then there were three sets of lines that we had to pass through before getting to the gates. I am thankful that I didn't take up the hotel's offer of waiting until the airport shuttle dropped off the passengers it had and then returned for me, because I surely would have missed my flight. Initially I was apprehensive about sight-seeing in South Korea because I didn't know anyone to take me around and I wasn't sure that I would be able to navigate on my own but God provided a Colombian, a Papaun and a Guadeloupean to ensure that I was not alone on my adventures there 😊

Dragon design on the Sungnyemun Gate 
which was part of the Seoul City wall