Volunteer Service Review
Love and happiness increase as much as we share. Shall we listen to vivid stories about volunteer services?
Treasure Hunt
Our Zion had a street cleanup on Yulha Café Street, the main street in Jangyu, Gimhae. It is an area where a continuous cleanup is required, as there are many stores including restaurants. Soon after we started the cleanup, the bags we had in our hands were filled with trash. It was because whenever we found some trash, we all got excited and picked it up and put it in the trash bags as if we had found some treasure. “Here! Over here!” Hearing the excited voices from here and there, I laughed for quite a while with a sister who was next to me, saying, “Our church members must be the only ones in the world who get excited…
Lee Ji-won from Gimhae, Korea
Good Energy of Voluntary Service
The day before the street cleanup in Namyang-eup, my body felt heavy and my head ached; it seemed that I caught a cold. However, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to do voluntary service after a long time. The next day, when I arrived at the gathering place and put on the yellow vest, I felt energized somehow. As it was the day when a five-day interval Namyang village market was opened, there were lots of people, and the crowded streets were dirty with trash. While we were picking up trash with no time to stand up, sweat rolled down my back. The breeze that blew once in a while didn’t feel cold but refreshing. During the street cleanup, the…
Hong Hyeon-ja from Hwaseong, Korea
Here Comes the Sparkling!
As the Bible teaches us to display God’s glory through our good deeds, we formed a voluntary service team to show Heavenly Father and Mother’s glory to our neighbors. Our team was named “The Sparkling”; we wanted to clean not only the shopping area around the church but also the broad streets and narrow alleys to make them all sparkle. We decided to clean up every Thursday. “Sparkling loving hearts! Sparkling smiles! Here we go! Yay!” During our first cleanup day, we started cleaning the streets with a powerful chant. Our church was located in a shopping area, and the streets were rather dirty. Every street, especially each corner of the alleys, was full of trash that had been sitting…
Shin Gab-seon from Gwangju, Korea
The Love of the Passover, the Love of Life
Not everybody can donate blood just because they want to. It requires careful consideration of factors such as age, weight, blood pressure, recent trip/travel abroad, illness, and medical records. You should also be in good condition on the day of donation. The brothers and sisters of the Seosan Church showed a commitment to participating in blood donation and started taking good care of their health as soon as they heard that the “Worldwide Blood Drive to Give Life through the Love of the Passover” was going to be held in Gongju. Over 580 brothers and sisters of Zion, along with some citizens who came to join the good event, gathered together in the Church of God, Gongju. All the seats…
Shin Seon-hwa from Seosan, Korea
Safety and Happiness to Our Neighbors
One day, the members from the Baltimore Church gathered at the Fraternal Order of Police Hall in Crownsville. Some of them had arrived earlier than the appointment time, unpacked the things they had brought there, and started to work in earnest. We were there to serve an appreciation dinner to local police officers who were working hard day and night. The dull and empty space turned into a beautiful place like an elegant wedding hall when the members’ hands touched it. When the time of the event was near, the hall was crowded with police officers. Some of them came with their families, and some came during a break from work. Then suddenly a siren rang and seven to eight…
Baltimore Church, MD, U.S.
Volunteering Brings Joy to Our Hearts
One day, The members of the Baulkham Hills Church in Australia participated in Bushcare volunteer activities in Kellyville. The main focus of that day was to remove weeds and rubbish. As it rained on the previous day, the soil got softer, which made it much easier to remove the weeds. The members worked for about two hours, and their united efforts achieved an astounding result. More than twenty 100-liter bags were not enough for all the weeds collected, and we even used a truck but it wasn’t enough, either. There were also huge piles of fallen branches from the bush. “You have done a great job. This would have taken us several months,” a regular Bushcare volunteer said in amazement.…
The Baulkham Hills Church in Sydney, Australia
We Get to Resemble Each Other
The Adopt Happiness Spore Project is a Gimhae City’s project to support private organizations to take care of certain places where many citizens come and go, such as roadsides, parks, and streams, and clean up those areas at least once a month. Our Church of God in Sambang, Gimhae, too, participated in the project, and we were to take care of the Shineocheon Stream. The trail along the Shineocheon Stream is somewhat dirty, compared with other places, because it is close to a university area with a large floating population. That’s why the city paid attention to it. On the day we gathered to do a cleanup, the head of the Saman-dong Office came out to support our activity and…
Lee Jeong-hwa from Gimhae, Korea
Enjoying the Sight of Persimmons Rather Than Autumn Leaves
In autumn, when the leaves turn colorful and grain turns gold, we often see on the news heavy traffic with people leaving to see autumn leaves in the mountains or streams. They look relaxed, going on a trip not to miss beautiful sceneries which will be gone soon. Meanwhile, there are people who are up to their necks in work; they are farmers who have harvest ahead. This autumn, we, the members of the Hoiwon Church in Changwon, volunteered for a persimmon harvest to give some help, though not much, to the farmers who desperately need a hand. We arrived at a farm after quite a long drive through colorful autumn roads under the blue sky. A farmer couple welcomed…
The Hoiwon Church in Changwon, Korea
Learning the Hard Work of Farmers and Sharing the Joy of Harvest
#1 Jo Seong-chan from Daejeon, Korea In October, when autumn was in full swing, the young adults in Daejeon made a plan to help some farmers who were having a hard time due to a shortage of labor. Overcoming the temptation to sleep in on the weekend, more than 150 young adults hurried to a sweet potato farm and a ginseng farm in Jinan, North Jeolla Province, as well as a turmeric farm in Gyeryong, South Chungcheong Province. I went to the sweet potato farm to give a helping hand. “Poke the soil with a trident, lift it up a couple of times, and carefully dig up the sweet potatoes with a hoe. Put all the stalks together on one corner of the furrow.…
Daejeon, Korea
Delivering Jewels on a Jewel-like Day
#1 Nam Ji-eun from Gangneung, Korea Mukho-dong is a very sloped mountain village. There are many narrow alleys where handcarts can hardly enter the village. It is almost impossible to deliver coal briquettes to the village. However, the Church of God members from Yeongdong, Gangwon Province, deliver coal briquettes to the village every year. This year, more than 200 members joined the briquette relay to help the elderly in Mukho-dong spend a warm winter. I could not deliver briquettes this time due to my chronic back pain. This was a volunteer activity which I had really wanted to participate in. So I volunteered to drive the members to the place and waited in the parking lot. Thanks to this, I…
Gangneung, Korea
We Share Warmth
When it comes to a university campus, you may think of a clean space where future leaders and intellectuals stay. But in reality, you can see everywhere disposable cups, overflowing garbage bins, and dirty restrooms. You’ll often frown. Strangely though, it becomes clean when the morning comes. It is thanks to those who clean the campus from early in the morning. Our club members decided to express our gratitude to those who work hard on the campus for us to study under pleasant conditions. When we delivered cards and snacks, and gave ear to their stories, they were thankful. It was much more worthwhile than I had thought to share warmth with others. With a sense of ownership, we’ll take…
Lee Eun-ji from Seoul, Korea
Mission Accomplished
On the last holiday of June when the news about the drought continued, we went to the Deokwu Reservoir for cleanup. It is famous for fishing, and a perfect place for a family picnic. However, when we went there, there was almost no water due to the severe drought, and the exposed bottom cracked all over. From the positive viewpoint, it was perfect for cleaning; all the trash was exposed, which would have continued to cause the water pollution if it had not dried up. We started the cleanup with the head of the Bongdam-eup office and many other officials who came out to help us. Although they were the hosts who asked us to do cleanup there, it was…
Lee Eun-yeong from Hwaseong, Korea
Bushland Care
“Your two hours equal our six months.” This was what a council member said, when he explained that our volunteer work in two hours would’ve taken them six months to complete. While we were working wholeheartedly with bright smiles and happy laughter ringing through the forest reserve, we planted 120 plants and shoveled three great piles of mulch to cover and protect a large area of native trees and plants. My realization was to do with One of the most memorable things was the task of mulching, which is to cover the ground around plants with wood chips to prevent excessive evaporation or erosion, enrich the soil, and inhibit weed growth; in the ground where the weeds had already been…
Maxine Hannah from Sydney, Australia
The Importance of the First Comment
When I see malicious comments on the Internet news and criticism people make without any reason, I frown and feel offended even when I am not involved. That is why I tend not to read comments though I read articles. Just in time, ASEZ, the World Mission Society Church of God University Student Volunteer Group, carried out the “No More Verbal Abuse” campaign. The campaign was to encourage people to use uplifting words in daily life online and offline, and I started posting positive comments. Then I realized the importance of the first comment while taking part in this campaign. Normally, a good comment leads to another uplifting and encouraging comment, but a malicious comment leads to another malicious comment.…
Go Na-yeong from Busan, Korea
To Become a Good Tree
I participated in a tree planting event held in Loganville, Georgia. The tree planting campaign is one of the major campaigns of the World Mission Society Church of God Young Adult Worker Volunteer Group [ASEZ WAO] and it aims to combat climate change by planting trees. While doing the meaningful work of protecting our planet as a home for life, each member of Zion also learned to become a good tree to bear good spiritual fruit. To plant tree seedlings, we first had to break up the ground. The groundwork required the most effort. While I was pulling out weeds and removing stones from the ground, I was reminded of God’s word, “Break up your unplowed ground” (Ho 10:12). It…
Jonathan Hall from Atlanta, GA, U.S.
Mother’s Street Filled with Happiness and Inspiration
Port Elizabeth in southern South Africa is known as a resort with its mild climate and beautiful beaches. The Church of God members planned an environmental cleanup to create a Mother’s Street that would shine as a true tourist attraction in Port Elizabeth. During the preparation for the cleanup, a few church members returned to their hometown after university exams. As the number of participants decreased, it was uncertain whether we would be able to carry out the cleanup properly. In the morning of that day, we went to the appointed place, worried. But from a distance we could see the members who came early to the square, waiting for the cleanup to begin. Although only thirteen members gathered, the…
The Port Elizabeth Church in South Africa
Joy of Working Together
During the student camp, a cleanup was scheduled at a welfare facility for the disabled. I have seen and read volunteer services only through the church’s monthly magazines or videos. When I heard we were actually going to do it, I was excited but did not know what to do. So before visiting the facility, I watched a video about other Zion students’ volunteer services at nursing homes. The students of my age who visited nursing homes gave massages to the elderly and entertained them with dances and songs. Just by looking at them, I could tell how hard they prepared. After watching the video, we resolved to unite with each other and do the cleaning well. On the very…
Jeon Ye-rim from Hongseong, Korea
On a Rainy Day
One day, we decided to hold a cleanup around the campus with brothers and sisters who attend the same college. We were a little worried because of the bad weather, but we decided to do the cleanup as we’d planned. We picked up not only the trash on the street but also pieces of trash hidden in flower beds and among trees. It was the street that I walked on every day. I regretted having passed by it without paying attention to it. As time goes by, the rain and wind got stronger. Not to mention our pants and shoes, our hair got wet because the hoods of our rain coats came off by the wind. It was also difficult…
Lee Seo-yeong from Incheon, South Korea
The Street
During commuting times, we can easily see the streets messy with all kinds of garbage. I want to go to work with a refreshing mind and return home in a good mood. However, when I see cigarette butts and garbage in every corner of the streets, I come to frown. There came a good opportunity to change such an environment. Young adult workers living near Songdo New Town planned to clean up the streets. Songdo New Town is a cosmopolitan city with more than 10,000 companies and 110,000 employees. I volunteered to help them work in a pleasant environment. On a holiday at 10 a.m., more than 120 young adult workers overcame the temptation of oversleeping and gathered at a…
Lee Gahng-hui from Incheon, South Korea
No Graffiti! Yes Clean and Safe Town! 2
Brothers and sisters in the Sydney Zion are from various cultures and races, but they are one in mind for proclaiming Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother with every small good deed. A good opportunity to shine Their light was given to us. In response to the community’s call for volunteers to roll up their sleeves and take part in the Graffiti Removal Day, we participated in the event. On October 29, 2017, clothed in bright yellow vests, we put on gloves and goggles and performed the mission to erase the unsightly graffiti on the wall of an industrial building at Blacktown. Participants came from across age groups: children, high school students, young adults, and adults, so we could share the…
Arleen Alzadon Montano from Sydney, Australia