Friday's update: We said our hard goodbye's at the church. We held hands and Pastor Won led us in "God is so Good." And the Americans all cried. Pastor Won asked Todd to pray and then he also prayed in Korean. They gave us all a gift. Todd also got a Korean bible, it will go right next to his Bengali bible from Todd's Bangladesh mission trip. We all had alot of emotions about leaving Korea. The church members came around and gave hugs and said good-byes that were more like "see you soon." More than once, we were asked to pinky-promise that I will be back next year. Today was a very emotional day. After leaving the church, we drove to the DMZ. (The "de"militarized zone that has more soldiers and land mines than anywhere in the world.) There is a river that runs parallel to the highway from Seoul to the north. The river is "fenced in" with tall barbed wire and manned guard stations. The reason? The river runs south from North Korea and the guards and fence are protection from small groups of soldiers trying to enter by water. Caleb told Erin of his time in the military. In Korea, young men are required to serve for three years; Caleb served 40 months in the navy and is classified as a lieutenant-general grand. He said he traveled to twelve countries, including his time stationed in Guam. He told Erin that once he had come face to face with the North Korean enemy, but that's all he said about it. When we arrived at the DMZ, we were surprised to see a carnival. I guess they are taking advantage of the tourism, so there is a 'restaurant' (we chose not to try the cooked bugs, we ate Ra men and a coke) and rides, including tea cups. From the outside it looks like fun, but once you step inside you know this is a serious place. Your passports are checked before you can get on the tour bus. We went through a guard station where our passports were checked by a soldier who came onto the bus. Kelly asked Caleb if these were all South Korean soldiers. His response was, "yes. If they are North Korea soldiers, we are dead." Driving up to Dorasan Station we passed signs to remind people of the presence of land mines. We were not allowed to take pictures at most places. At Dorasan we were able to look out over an observatory area into the neutral zone. We may have been able to see North Korea if today had not been so cloudy. Inside a small auditorium there was a map of the area. While we were studying the map, Caleb told us that sometimes it floods in North Korea and bodies wash down the river into the South. (Caleb was our personal tour guide--he translated announcements on the bus and pointed out US army bases, etc.)We went into 3rd tunnel. The tunnel was incredible. We were given helmets (but had to leave cameras and phones in lockers) and rode what was like a roller coaster car down into the tunnel. We rode through the part South Korea tunneled to reach the actual 3rd tunnel. We were able to walk once we reached the actual tunnel. It's crazy to think that 1) men dug that tunnel for so long without anyone knowing, 2) they dug that far underground, 3) we stood today where soldiers had once prepared to ambush a country and break a peace agreement. Throughout the tunnel are yellow paint markers--the spots where dynamite had been used to further the tunnel. On the way out of the tunnel Todd said he wished he had a rock or something since we couldn't take a camera. Aaron said I think I can reach one. Todd ended up with a souvenir. We toured a museum outlining the relationship of the North and the South from the 1950s until now. Then we watched a video that portrays the DMZ as a happy, hopeful place. You could walk away from the video thinking that tomorrow you will go back to the DMZ for a picnic with the North. Today we heard again of the desires for reunification. On the bus, Caleb pointed out buildings under construction to be used when the military is united. South Koreans really seem to desire reunification. Only the outside, apparently, considers Korea divided into separate countries. We were at the DMZ for about 3 hours. "Ninja" stayed with the van carrying our luggage the whole time we toured. From the DMZ, we drove straight to Incheon International Airport. Pastor and Ms. Won met us there to say good-byes and pray together one last time. We said our last good-byes a little before 5 pm (4 am in Knoxville) and headed through security, which was not nearly as involved as in Knoxville. We exchanged our wons for dollars and, after taking pictures and video of the cool toilets, we boarded the plane for Knoxville.
We flew over Tokyo. It was amazing!! As we first flew over Japan we could barely see lights when the clouds lifted. But once we reached Tokyo you could see the outline of Japan's coastline in the city lights. We didn't have a window seat but Erin kept us posted and would let us look out her window. I sat next to another lady who was stationed in Korea. She was from Georgia and was a christian. We left Incheon at 6:05 pm Friday June 13. We landed in Atlanta at 6:20 pm Friday June 13. We had to remind each other exactly how long it had been since we had gotten up. At the time we landed, it had been about 25 hours for us. Todd said "his body was so confused, that we either went to the DMZ yesterday or the day before or maybe we were going tomorrow but he knows he has been there". We got to Knoxville at 10:20 pm, we all enter the airport together. As we turned the corner we saw a group of people with "welcome back" posters. . . and then realized they were for us!! Thank you so much to all of you who came out to the airport late on a Friday night to welcome us home. It means so much!! Also, thank you so much for the positive feedback on the blogs. It was a huge encouragement!!!! My life is forever changed! Thanks for the prayers!