Visiting Gwangju

After asking Luke what he thought of the trip to Gwangju this weekend he responded by saying, "It was the trip of a lifetime, and I mean that literally!" And that is so true. It definitely was an unbelievable experience. We were fortunate enough to arrange for an interpreter to accompany us on our trip. She brought her friend along as well so we never had any issues with the language barrier. We took a 3 hour train ride on Saturday afternoon down to Gwangju (apparently I've been spelling the city wrong all this time) and were met at the train station by Mrs. Yoo's husband. Mrs. Yoo is the woman who runs the group home that is located in the spot where Luke's orphanage was located. In fact, Mrs. Yoo is the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Park, the woman who was in charge of the orphanage while Luke was living there. As we headed up to the orphanage we had to drive up a very steep hill and immediately Luke began having memories of living there. Before our trip we had been told that the orphanage was torn down, so we were overwhelmed when we arrived to find that several of the original buildings were still standing. There were so many incredible moments we experienced during our stay in Gwangju that we will share when we arrive home. We also took about 100 pictures (no exaggeration!) during our time there. Here are just a few for you to enjoy.When Mrs. Yoo found out that it was Luke's birthday, she arranged for an impromptu birthday celebration.

Luke was presented with a cake and a gift while Mrs. Yoo and the children living at the group home sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Here we are with our interpeters,Yoon-Gi and Se-In, on the busy streets of Gwangju.
We have a picture of Luke when he was about 4 years old standing on these very steps or at least on one of the sets of stone steps that were leading up to the orphange.

Before we left on Sunday Mrs. Yoo took us on a short tour of Gwangju. She was so excited that Luke was there and wanted to show him everything! Notice how narrow the streets are!