Kimchi, Coffee, and Calling | Our 12 Days in Korea

Aug 21

On May 22nd, James and I embarked on our first international trip together! We have each visited a few countries outside of the US, but never together. In fact, we had never even flown with each other.

This trip was just the two of us. In order to….1) save money, 2) focus on the decisions at hand, and 3) not force our young children into about 40 hours of travel within a short period, we made the choice for this preview trip to be just James and I. This was a hard decision to make. As the trip approached, I (Stephanie) was feeling pretty anxious about being away from them that long.

That being said, we had our closest friends step up to the plate to watch them for us. They are the type of friends that are truly family. The girls know them well, and we have vacationed together with their family for years. Needless to say, my worries were relieved when each and every time we video called the girls, they were enthralled in their visit with friends and had little interest in anything we had to share.

Back to May 22nd, we embarked on our 6am flight from Myrtle Beach airport to Atlanta for a short layover and on to Incheon (a sweet and short 15 hours!) The desk agents were kind enough to give us bulkhead seating after we asked for anything with additional leg room for 6’8” James.

Upon arrival, we were picked up by members of the church at Incheon airport and driven straight (after a nice airport Korean snack of course) to our accommodation we would be at for the first half of the trip. Some missionaries on furlough kindly opened up their apartment for us to use for the first few nights of the trip.

After settling in, we went to wander the streets, likely looking like clueless foreigners, and try to figure out the Korean navigation app (Naver) enough to grab a dinner. We hear from behind us, “is that the Mauneys?” We were spotted by a church member and immediately invited back to their home for dinner. What a blessing.

Looking back, this was just the beginning of what would be a week full of hospitality, kindness, and a strong sense of community.

Throughout our time in Pyeongtaek, our days were mostly spent meeting up with new friends, coffee dates, and lots of wandering around.

My (Steph) overall impressions while we were there were:

incredibly clean and safe
very advanced (technology wise)
trash sorting is going to be a cultural hurdle for us
we really need to learn the language to fully immerse into society
the people of SCBC are going to quickly become our family
we must learn how to navigate public transportation when we return
i want to adjust my palate to enjoy the different types of food if I can

Lastly, I was SO humbled. During our visit to the Korean church Friday prayer service (where James preached with the help of our wonderful translator Sam!) I was sitting teary-eyed in complete and utter awe of God’s calling on our life. I felt completely and wholly unqualified and unworthy sitting listening to the songs sung and prayers cried out to God in Korean while we sang and prayed in English— a physical representation of the nations. I am so thankful this wonderful adventure would be part of my time on earth. The fact that God would allow me this experience to be a part of the global church is hard for me to understand. I can only point to His faithfulness. He is worthy of any plan he calls our family to.

Here is a brief summary of each day and a gallery of photos from our trip!

Wednesday / Thursday / Friday: Travel

Concord, NC 🛻 Myrtle Beach, SC ✈️ Atlanta, GA✈️ Incheon, South Korea 🛻 Songtan, South Korea

Day 1- Saturday: Songtan Central Baptist Women’s Brunch and the Songtan 4-9 Market

Day 2- Sunday: First English Church service and Korean BBQ Lunch!

Day 3- Monday: Korean Starfield Mall

Day 4- Tuesday: Hiking and Prefer Cafe with the ladies of SCBC

Day 5- Wednesday: Osan Air Base Tour

Day 6- Thursday: More coffee with friends and KT Wiz game!

Day 7- Friday: Lunch with Korean church staff and Pastor / Korean Friday evening prayer service

Day 8- Saturday: Day Trip to Daebudo Island and dinner with church members

Day 9- Sunday: Second English Church service, pizza lunch in the park, dinner cook out with church members