A LITTLE HISTORY, VALENTINES, STRAWBERRIES, AND P.O.W. CAMP

SUNRISE

on a February morning, from the apartment window, 

when it's 25 degrees outside, can still be beautiful.

A LITTLE HISTORY

This man is asleep. The Koreans used wood blocks for pillows - proof in museums and pictures. Today's Koreans don't use them, but they remember them!

The man on the left is 47. The "man" on the right is 11 years old, and just got married. Age of marriage varied from 11 to 16. He is wearing the black rimmed hat with the top part designed to hide the long hair, which was twisted into a top knot. The long hair on men was traditional for Koreans, but against the law according to the Japanese.

STRAWBERRIES 

Where do you get strawberries in January or February? You drive for 1 1/2 hours to Miryang in the countryside. A friend of Sister Lee's grows strawberries in greenhouses. Here is Sister Lee finding the best strawberries.

We could pick and eat all we wanted.

This woman stays in this little hut and works in the greenhouses all day long. She and her sister run the farm. It's hard to tell from the pictures that it is very cold outside the greenhouse! There are strawberries for sale everywhere right now. They are very good but very expensive. A bowl this size was $20.00.

VALENTINE'S DAY FUN

We had to do something fun on Valentine's day, so I made a treasure hunt with clues all over the building, upstairs and downstairs. It was fun to see the missionaries run...to get the clues and be the first one to read them. The treasure was giant candy bars. The elders gave me some treats too!

ANOTHER FUN ACTIVITY - BOWLING!

It was P-day, and Bryan heard the missionaries say that they were all going to go bowling. He came out of his office to show them proper form and technique. 

 STAKE CONFERENCE - Busan Stake

This is what Stake Conference looks like in Korea - lots of people, not much parking space. Great meeting! It's fun to see all the missionaries.

Below is Stake Conference #2, Changwon Stake. The missionaries greeted people as they entered the building.

We came with the Barrows, so we got invited to the VIP lunch, including the member of the seventy, the Temple President, the Stake President, the Mission President, of course, and the Stake Patriarch. They were all gracious, kind, amazing, and wonderful!

P.O.W. CAMP AT GEOJE ISLAND

Our Saturday outing took us to Geoje Island, a small island with a population of 250,000. The island is famous for shipbuilding, and many people work here in this industry, including many foreigners. Consequently, the missionaries serving on Geoje are constantly asking for literature in Erdu, Sinhalese, Tamil, and other unusual languages. 

The entrance is daunting - an old Russian tank, used to transport North Koreans. This historic park is located on part of the land which was used as a P.O.W. camp during the Korean War. There were 170,000 North Koreans and Chinese imprisoned here.

Bryan enters - inside are flags, objects, and pictures of people who played a significant role in the Korean War, such as General Douglas MacArthur.

Next we entered a building which housed a diorama of the Prisoner of War Camp. We could hear the voices of the prisoners and the guards.

Bryan stands by the guard tower.

Soldiers defend the 38th parallel.

Bryan in an American army jeep

Some of the exhibitions were in buildings shaped like helmets. Others were in tents like the ones where the prisoners lived.

After the war, trains like this were used to return prisoners of war to their homes.

This sculpture of a gun pointed to the sky has prisoners and guards on all sides. In front of the sculpture are 16 flags, representing the sixteen countries who participated in the U.N. Forces, joining together to help South Korea fight the battle against communism.

The outside cooking area - it took a lot of rice to feed 170,000 prisoners.

The guard tower - there was barbed wire everywhere.

Bryan in front of a jeep transport vehicle

 We left the Prisoner of War Camp with conflicting feelings: the senselessness of war, the loss of life, the damage to an entire country - these emotions give way to hopelessness and despair. At the same time, we felt so thankful for our country, so grateful to have been born in America; and so proud of South Korea - a people who have turned their country from rubble and ruin to peace and prosperity. 

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

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THE END