Ha Seon Guk - The Cross of Seongmak Church

I took a picture of the family

I was born at 115, Seongmak-ri on January 27, 1939 (lunar calendar). It was when I was very close with Pastor Lee Hee Dong and Mr. Jung In Seok, the oldest brother of Chairman Jung Myung Seok. We were like the three musketeers. But later, I had to move to Daejeon for high school.

So I decided, I should take a picture of Jung’s family before leaving, and called In Seok. I think it was a Saturday. I went to In Seok’s house with my camera. When I went there, the whole family was out threshing barley.

I told In Seok, “Hey, I’m here. Since we won’t be able to see each other after I leave for high school, let’s take a picture today.” Then everybody hurried to wash their faces and took the picture. The picture you see was taken in front of In Seok’s room.

So I took the picture before leaving to attend my high school.

I saw Pastor Jung Myung Seok carry the cross

After completing my military service, I opened a photo studio in Jinsan. One day, I came out from the studio and saw someone getting out of a car with something that he started to drag. It was Pastor Jung Myung Seok.

“What’s that you got there?”

“Oh hey! I ordered a cross and brought it from Geumsan.”

The top of the Seongmak Church building needed a cross at that time. But since they couldn’t get it from Jinsan, Pastor Jung brought it from Geumsan. He took it out of the car, but because the cross was long and Pastor Jung was short, it dragged on the ground—“clatter clatter clatter….”—when he carried it on his shoulder. And he went all the way up like that to Seongmak Church.

I’m saying that Pastor Jung was carrying that newly acquired cross on his shoulder all the way up to Seongmak-ri! It was Geumsan where he had acquired it, and he went up Apseob-gol with it. I just wanted to let you know how hard Wolmyeongdong people really worked to build Seongmak Church.

Anyways, what I still remember even till now is the “clatter clatter clatter” from the cross that Pastor Jung would carry on his shoulder while going over the mountain. The cross was bigger than his body size. Even now, the image of his carrying the cross while struggling is still the most beautiful in my mind.