Hi Incheon-Riverbend trekkers,
The Kim-Cragg family is now in South Korea.  We arrived in time for the Lunar New Year which we shared with HyeRan's family.  We spent our first Sunday in SamIl Church, a church of Icheon Presbytery that HyeRan belonged to before moving to Canada.  People received us warmly and had heard of our plans to visit in October.
We now have moved into an apartment in a little village called ToeChonMyun.  Noah and Hannah are going to school and have been working hard to get a grip on the language.
Next week I am preaching at the church of Soe KwanOk, the woman who billeted with Linnet last June.  I look forward to seeing KwanOk and her husband.  I hope to lay a bit of ground work for our visit in October.
I include here some pictures of our time so far in Korea...

 HyeRan at pagoda housing the book and pen of a great scholar.

 The house of a famous family.  Mother and son appear on the 50000 and 5000 won bills respectively.

An ancient engraving of Buddha from the Unified Shilla period.  (History buffs will want to do some reading about this history.  It is facinating.)

 Engravings of nobles from the later Goryo dynasty, the dynasty from which Korea gets its English name.  (Korean's call their country HanGuk 한국.  Use your HanGeul 한글 chart to verify the sounds.)

 The son mentioned earlier, Gwon Yul 권율. We visited on March 1, a national holiday commemorating the independence movement that manifested itself on March 1, 1919.  At the time Korea was under Japanese rule.  As part of the movement the flag that is now South Korean's national flag was designed and displayed for the first time.  You can see it in the background.)

 Sa Im Dang 사임당, the mother of Kwon Yul.  She was a scholar, poet and artist or remarkable skill.

The following is a Buddhist worship service by the sea.  After prayers are chanted eels were released back into the sea as a symbol of Buddha's freeing grace.