Lanny's Journal - Week Three - October, 2004

Two thirty came early Sunday morning. By three thirty Sang Yang, Jay Cho, Donna and I were in Sang’s car headed toward Gyeonju near the Southeast coast of Korea. I was scheduled to preach with Jay doing the translating. Upon our arrival some of the ladies of the church had prepared us their best attempt at a Western style breakfast which meant no Kim chi. We ate at the church building and the food was very good and much appreciated.

The order of worship went: Teen Bible study lead by Brother Kim, the local minister, worship service in fairly traditional Western format including my sermon, meal at the building (this happens every Sunday), Bible study lead by me with Jay interpreting, dismissal.

Following the services, Brother Kim took us out to the Bulguksa Temple. It is a shrine to Buddha that was originally built in A.D. 535. In addition to being a famous tourist attraction, it is very much a place of worship for Buddhists. In a country that has gone from almost no Christians to about 35% Christian in a little over 50 years, the city of Gyeonju remains predominately Buddhist.

On our way back to town Brother Kim treated us to a Korean buffet similar to a Western Sizzler back home. There were more dishes than you can imagine and most were not recognizable by me and I though it best not to ask. I tried a little of as many as I could. The ones that were not too spicy hot to eat were quite good. The meal cost 4,000 won or a little less than $4.00 US.

We spent the night at a very nice hotel that they call a “Motel” and returned to Seoul Monday in time for my evening class.

About 10:30 Tuesday morning we learned that Sang Yang’s father had passed away. It is customary in Seoul for the body to lie in state in a special section of the hospital where friends and family come for viewing and a Korean style wake is held.

Wednesday morning Jay Cho, Donna, and I caught a taxi at 6:15 A.M. to the train station. We took a very nice train for a 5 hour trip down to Ulsan which is a major industrial and port city on the Southeast coast of Korea. Jay and I were scheduled to make a presentation about the new Sunset school to the Korean preachers who had gathered there for a preacher’s meeting.

I gave an overview of the work of Sunset International Bible Institute with an emphasis on the International schools. Jay talked about the new school in Seoul and both of us answered questions from the audience.

Our Thursday class had been moved to Friday to accommodate the preacher’s meeting and our original plan was to spend the night in Ulsan and return to Seoul on Thursday. However, since the funeral for Brother Yang’s father was to be held Thursday morning, we decided to take a late train back on Wednesday night. The only way we could do this was to take a sloooooow train to Daegu where we switched to the KTX train which is also called the bullet train. This train is designed to travel at a maximum speed of 180 miles per hour. It is not reaching that speed yet, but it is very fast. We arrived back in Seoul about 11:30 p.m. and got to the apartment a little after midnight.

The funeral service for Brother Yang began at 7:00 A.M. Thursday morning. Following the service the family and close friends boarded a chartered bus and the casket was lovingly placed in the luggage space under the bus for the two hour trip to the burial site.

The cemetery is carved out of a large mountain range that has been terraced and walled and drained to control erosion. The charter bus was allowed to drive up a winding road to about half way up the mountain. The grave site was on the top terrace of the mountain so the pallbearers had some distance to carry the casket. When we arrived at the site, the grave had been prepared and the grave-diggers were standing by. The pallbearers placed the casket on 6 new hardwood blocks that had been arranged at the foot of the grave to receive the casket. Each block was about 2” X 12” X 30”.

The gravediggers placed the casket in the grave and pulled in enough soil to fill the grave level with the top of the casket. After cleaning off the top of the casket, they placed a colorful burial cloth over the top, and then positioned the 6 hardwood blocks on top of the casket with one block left off to reveal part of the cloth.

At this point the family and friends gathered around the grave for a religious service that included prayers, singing, scripture reading, and words of encouragement. After positioning the last hardwood block, each family member, beginning with the wife and the eldest son, took a shovel and placed a little dirt on top of the coffin. After all members had their turn, the gravediggers quickly added dirt to fill about half the remaining vacancy. They used a three-man shovel to drag the dirt into the grave. The shovel looked like an oversized shovel with a metal loop on each side of the blade. Ropes were attached to the loops. Two men pulled on the ropes while a third man controlled the shovel with the handle.

As they were filling the grave, they positioned a broomstick sized pole standing upright in the middle of the hole. The pole had a loosely woven rope attached to the top with two three-foot long strands hanging down. Four of the gravediggers got into the hole and began tamping the soil down with their feet. They marched around the pole in cadence with the fifth gravedigger setting the tempo with his chant. The four men in the grave made unison responses as the chanter told of the human experience. As this was going on, family members and friends brought money and stuck it in the loose braids of the rope. After about 5 minutes of tamping, they finished filling the grave to about 2’ of the top then repeated the marching routine as more money was added to the rope. Next they removed the pole, pocketed the money, and placed the remainder of the dirt on the grave. This was then rounded off and tamped down one last time to the same cadence.

The funeral party then retired to the bottom of the hill where a large dinning hall is available. A full Korean style meal was served to everyone in the group. Following the meal the bus took the group back to Seoul and the processing of the body was complete.
As is the custom, two days later the immediate family made an early morning pilgrimage back to the burial site and held a private worship service. At that time they made final arrangements for the headstone that will mark the grave site. At this cemetery the graves are overlaid with a 12” high marble box that is open on top and bottom. The box is filled with soil and grass is planted on top.

Like so many others, Brother Yang’s father gave up land that he owned in North Korea to get his family to safety in South Korea where he had to start over with nothing. He worked hard as a farmer and his passing left a big hole in the lives of his family. I was very honored to be a part of the funeral party.