Last winter, we had our camps for the children in our language schools, scattered throughout Korea. I suddenly became a part of one of those camps when the father of their guest speaker died abruptly.

The camps for the children involved skiing at the beginning, and meetings on the weekend. These camps were scheduled at different times in different places. As was expected, the children were running on 440 volts because they were so excited about doing these things together.

The group which I joined met in the mountains south of Daejeon. It was near a place called Jangsoo. After skiing, we went to a park in the forest where we stayed in cabins. It was interesting to observe the local flavor. We had our meetings in a pavilion which resembled a Buddhist temple. It was actually designed for a variety of groups of various backgrounds. The meeting room was very cold and we all kept our coats on. But it was a special time to meet with the children.

For those who chose to be baptized, we moved to another location to a local SDA church for a Saturday night service. I think that the people of that church had never experienced so many young people in their building at one time.
Other groups had similar experiences. Many of the children expressed that they would like to go on such a trip again.

The adult students from the language schools, met in two different locations, but on the same dates. Teachers and students met together for fun, fellowship, and worship.

In the North, Pastor Tim Mayne returned to be the keynote speaker. He had served as the associate academic dean until the end of 1997. His translator was Pastor Choi Gil Ho, the director of Namyoung Institute and the Dean of International Affairs for the Korean Language Institutes. This group met beside Sorak Mountain in a place called Yangyang. The camp used the facility of a resort on the shores of the East Sea. Activities included a hike on the famous mountain and some cold ocean plunging.

In the South (the camp I attended), Pastor Barry DeWitt came from Michigan to be our keynote speaker. His translator was Pastor Ham Young Man. This group met in a resort located in Kyoungju, the ancient capital of the Shilla kingdom. Activities included a kind of treasure hunt among the famous sites and some relay races beside Seokguram grotto. There was competition between the various schools as they gained points for participation in the various activities.

One illustration in particular grabbed the attention of many of the students. Pastor Barry told the short story of Humpty Dumpty. He then had volunteers drop raw eggs on a table. After that, another set of volunteers tried to put the eggs back together, but in vain. This was to show how futile it is for us to try and pick up the pieces which are left by human mistakes. Only God can make us whole again.

In each camp, a number of people chose to join the SDA church through baptism. We are thankful for the unique opportunities to bring secular minded people face to face with the claims of the gospel. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for our next series of camps.

By: Glenn Paul Hill, Academic Dean (SDA Language Institutes

By: Kylie Stacey, Secretary to Mel Lemke, SPD Volunteer Coordinator