You know family history is a very interesting thing. You never know everything about your past, you think you do but there are always more buried through time and once in a while something pops up that just might surprise you. This just happened for me this past week.

       You see I knew my Great Grandfather was a medical missionary in Korea way back in the early 1900’s I was aware he had spent like 40 years in the country doing a lot of good things for the people he cared so much about, and I was also pretty sure he was very close to the Methodist church as well. But I didn’t know how important a figure he was in the establishment of the church in the country of Korea. He was a major part of the great Revival movement of 1907 that lead to the way the church would become and has continued to be to this day. The People of South Korea see his work as so important that they have recently decided to Honor my great Grandfather Robert A. Hardie with a monument and a special ceremony coming up later this spring!

       As you can imagine this was a big surprise and honor for my whole family. It’s seems that this is such a major event that my family has been invited to attend this event in Korea as well! We are being flown over to attend the event by the people of South Korea and will be given a grand tour of all that my great grandfather was a part of. But this is not the only connection my family has to this amazing country, we have much more that I was more aware of than this recent revelation, some of it good and some of it tragic.

       See because of my great grandfather long association with the people of Korea, well my Aunt Dorothy spent many years teaching in the country and once made a very personal tour to the country side and wrote an article for parade magazine about her journey. You see her and my fahter’s big brother was in the Korean War, and he was killed in that war. And my aunt went back into those mountains where the horror of that war is still in the air ( being so close to the 38^th parallel )where north and south stand at the ready even to this day. She stood in the very place her and my dad’s brother lost his life and wrote about the whole experience. My Aunt passed away a few years ago, and I think she had found some peace in taking that journey. And now after all these years one member of my father’s family and his contributions to mankind has provided the chance for my father to take that same journey as his sister did, to make peace with the loss of a brother so many years ago.

     You can see now why this trip is so wonderful for our family in so many ways. I’m so fortunate to be able to travel to this country that has been a part of my family it’s seems like forever and to be able to be there to support my Father on this once in a life time Journey! So I say thank you to the People of South Korea, the Korean Church and to my Great Grandfather for what you’ve made happen. A chance for my father to complete a journey he’s wanted to take for so long and I thank you all for allowing me to be there with him!