Assembly of The Church of God

The Annual General Assembly of The Church of God was conducted at Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, North Carolina, USA, August 23 through August 28.  We attend this event each year, but were especially thankful to be able to be there this year.  

The Assembly in Session

The South Korean flag 
(third from the left - white with red and blue) 
displayed with flags from the other nations where
 The Church of God is established.

Introducing the video taped address 

to the Assembly from Brother Choe .

Brother Choe, National Overseer of The Church of God in South Korea

Traditional dresses from South Africa, Swaziland, and South Korea. 

 The second South Korean dress is worn by 

our granddaughter Kathelyn Brock from Prineville, Oregon.   

Sheila was asked to speak to the Women's Missionary Band luncheon about our work in South Korea.

The ladies enjoyed seeing the photos and videos of the wonderful Korean people in the local church, the public schools, and the Mission Center. 

 The presentation was interpreted for the many Spanish ladies at the luncheon. 

Testimony:
We were scheduled to depart Iksan on a bus to the airport on Sunday, August 21, at 4:30 PM and our flight to Atlanta was scheduled to depart at 10:00AM Monday morning.  On Saturday at about 2:00 PM I (Gene) began experiencing pain in my abdomen.  No problem - must have been something I ate.  But, the pain grew worse.  No problem - it will get better soon.  But, the pain grew worse, and by 10:30 AM Sunday, we were in the emergency room of the University Hospital in Iksan - only 6 hours before we were to board the bus.

To help you understand our anxiety:  Our daughter, son in law, and 2 granddaughters from Oregon were also flying to attend the assembly with us.  Our daughter and family from Atlanta were going to attend.  Then, they and the remainder of our family were going to spend the 2 weeks following the assembly with us in Alabama.  And, all 4 of Sheila's brothers, and some of their families, were going to gather at our house in Alabama for a family reunion.  So the timing for this illness could not have been worse.

I do not know when Sheila first began to call and request prayer for me, but I know that in short order, people were praying diligently for me.  This included those at International Youth Camp which was in session at the time.  Brother Robert Hawkins, the World Missions Coordinator, stayed in contact with Sheila and spread the request for prayer.  It is at times like these that we realize the importance of "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16.

Sheila was able to change the bus tickets from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM, but there were no seats available on flights for the next 3 days.  

I will now tell you about my ER experience in Korea.  Within 5 minutes of arriving in ER, I was on a bed and they were checking vital signs.  It actually seemed that they were more concerned about finding  the problem, than with the paper work.  Within 1.5 hours, they had completed a CAT scan, 4 X-rays, blood work, urinalysis, started 3 IVs, and told me that I had a 2 millimeter kidney stone.  I was given some medication and told that I should be okay within a week.  They gave us the okay to travel but no guarantees.  (The total bill was 318,000 won, about $286.)

Sheila and Yang Hee had conducted service at the mission center at 2:00 PM while Huw stayed with me at the hospital.  We left the hospital about 4:00 PM, went home, quickly finished packing, and made it to the bus on time.  During the 3.5 hour bus trip to the airport, there was no problem, only some pain during the night and some pain up until 30 minutes before we boarded the 14 hour flight.  That was the last pain I had, and that was more than 6 weeks ago.  Thank You to all of you who prayed for me and we thank the Lord for being our Present Help in time of need.

We were blessed to enjoy the assembly as noted in this post.  We will share some of our family time with you in the next post.