Three Scoops 세 숟가락

We got an early start and hit the road to Anseong.

It took us just about an hour to travel, and that included a short moment of being lost in a field that our GPS directed us to. We had arrived!

This building, just like the other branch offices around the world, are called Bethel, which means "House of God". That's to remind us that all the buildings and functions here are to promote sacred service to Jehovah God. And a spirit of love is predominant throughout the facility.

front desk, two clocks:
Seoul and New York

actual trunks from missionaries,
I'm carrying a slide projector

look closely at the keys

First we saw a timeline room with special dates in the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in Korea, here are just a few:

1912 - the first Witnesses to arrive in Korea and they distributed literature in Korean.

I'm taking notes

1914 - the first book translated into Korean the Divine Plan of the Ages, printed in Japan.

1921 - the transcribed discourse Millions Now Living Will Never Die is published and distributed.

1931 - magazines are being translated in Seoul, and the first convention is held with 45 attending.

1933 - under Japanese control, all literature is confiscated and burned

1939 - Witnesses are arrested in Japan and Korea for "disturbing the peace", no contact from with the rest of the world until ↓↓ 

1945 - the war is over and the Witnesses are released, able to set up their meetings again.

1953 - the first Bethel complex a small house in Seoul

1963 - convention: 8,975 attended and 612 were baptized

1969 - convention: 14,529 attended

1970 - Witnesses continue to be arrested illegally, without warrants, on the grounds of not taking up arms and thus disturbing peace. (It doesn't even make sense) serving up to 10 years and enduring beatings, being chained to the floor, or confined to the solitary cell specially designed for Witness prisoners (look in the photo ↓↓) a small cell so tight you cannot sit or stand, just crouch. Also once they are released from their maximum sentence time (3 years) they are sent home and officers are waiting to arrest them again. 

1982 - Bethel is moved to a more central city in the county, Anseong, and in 1986 a rotary press was installed and used to print in Korean and Chinese.

Despite the persecution, our brothers and sisters were faithful. Many appeals to the courts for humane treatment have been filed. Even today the brothers are still imprisoned for about a year and 6 months. 

Today, To keep up with growth and demand, new offices were constructed in 1994, and in 2012 a new audio-video building (for making videos in Sign-Language), new printery, and renovated residence buildings. But the buildings are modest, practical and clean, not showy or luxurious. 

Braille printer

 I don't have many pictures of the offices, because, well, its just an office. But a lot of the work going on here is translation - into Korean, Korean Sign-Language, and Korean Braille. 

About 30 people request the Korean Braille issues, I think its great that a lot of work goes into translating for just 30 people, but we don't exclude them!

plate room

Other departments take care of visually preparing the magazines, then making the plates to print with. 

Then downstairs is the printery, which is much smaller than the one in New York, but still hard at work. The press is rather old, but it's so well-maintained that it runs smoothly.

rotary press, left side

rotary press, right side

This picture shows the 63 building in Seoul, Eiffel Tower,  Empire State building, Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, and then the stack of magazines that is printed here each month is taller than all of them

lots of paper!

storage

hot off the press

This brother brought us a magazine, showed us how he quality checks it. In his hand is a magnifying glass, we all took a turn seeing how the photos are really comprised of little dots of ink. Also this is how the magazine looks after it's printed, before it is glued, folded and trimmed.

we totally know what we're doing

packing and shipping

Next the literature is packed and shipped out to the congregations. They let us have a try at wrapping the boxes.

Our tour was so nice, and it just reinforces how we are all the same, all over the world. I've visited the printeries in New York, Canada, Brazil, Portugal, South Africa, and now South Korea. And they're all the same, all working for the same purpose, to get spiritual food to people in their own language at no charge. Even more than that, when people would learn that I was from Pittsburgh or Priscila is from São Paulo, they would say "oh, do you know ___" and somehow, we did!

Sing it with me: It's a small, small world!

But wait - there's more!!

I got to meet Jane's family, which is Young's family too! They were a blast. Now I see clearly where Young gets her great sense of humor from, were we cracking up all night. We had a nice meal at the grandparents' house, and they made me sit right between them.

just part of the family

everyone's a goofball

Somehow the language barrier had no real threat, we were getting along great! 

And more sushi! Jane's uncle caught it himself, and explained good sushi is cut and then allowed to rest a little bit. I couldn't argue that, I genuinely liked the sushi he prepared for us. Also we had fried chicken, and duck with pumpkin. And lots of rice, as grandma kept encouraging them to put more rice on my plate because I wasn't eating enough!

looking at baby pictues

I guess there is a saying in Korean, one scoop is lonely and there's no love, two scoops you'll fight, but three scoops is love and brings you closer! I think I had 18 scoops. 

I also jokingly ate a hot pepper slice, since Uncle said I would faint from its heat. I thought it was the same pepper I had eaten the other day, like a jalapeno. I was wrong. So wrong.

And what's a family night without the photo album?