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[South Korea] Good News Corp Homecoming Festival in Jinju

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[Good News Festival Jinju] Good News Corp Homecoming Festival in Jinju

Congressman Je Gyoung Kim’s Congratulatory Message

The congratulatory message of Sun Yu Kim, the former president of Jinju National University.

On February 18th, the third stage of the Good News Festival was held in Jinju Geongnam Cultural Art Centre. It is the first festival that was established in the city. As Jinju is also called “the City of Culture and Arts Education”, the Good News Festival reached out to the local area’s population. Congressman Je Gyoung Kim, Sun Yu Kim, the former president of Jinju National University, and many local students came to participate in the event.

The Congressman gave the first congratulatory message for the festival: “When I go overseas, I always give lectures to university students. They would always ask me, “How is South Korea?” I would give my lectures and students would share with me their presentations and that is how I came to stand in front of all of you today. I cannot forget the memories I shared with the students who have gone overseas to volunteer and now, they are here to perform for all of you.

Sun Yu Kim gave the second: “I was told about what the volunteers had done all over the world and that their homecoming ceremony. I hope that they could revive others through their passion and through their experiences in different and diverse cultures and languages.”

Many youths are suffering from individual, family, and university grades. These youths have changed and now live a completely new lifestyle through the Good News Overseas program. They did not just talk about what they have done when they were in that country; they spoke about how they changed and how they were happy throughout the entire year. These are the stories that they have shared during their year overseas.

Su Jin with her students after she taught a Korean language class

“I thought I was good at English but one day, a Jamaican told me that he could not understand what I was trying to say to him. From then, I thought that I should learn English from the Jamaicans. The problem was that they did not know anything about me. I realized that forming relationships with the people around me was what I had to do before doing anything else.”


Su Bin playing as a member of the “Good News Band”

“For the festival, I played with the Good News Band. During the final rehearsal, I couldn’t keep the tempo and kept making mistakes. I was troubled in my heart but my team leader told me, “we are a team and we believe in you”. When I heard him say that, I could put down the burdens in my heart and talk about what I felt. In the end, I could finish the performance. I am very thankful to be a part of this festival.”


With her mother who attended the Festival

“Before she went overseas to volunteer, she didn’t get along with us in the family and she really did not want to listen anything we had to say. However, after she came back, she would ask about how each of the members of the family are doing and she started to think about their feelings. I was very happy to see this. I was told that Su Bin would be playing in the band and at first, I thought she would not be able to perform because she was a shy person before she went off to volunteer. However, she wanted to show us how she spent her year and I was so very proud and happy when I saw her up on the stage.”

-Su Bin’s mother

Ah Rin Choi, teaching dance academy in Sri Lanka

“My older sister had gone to volunteer as a member of the 12th class of Good News Corp. When she came back, she had become a different person. I wanted to change too so I went overseas to volunteer. For the Festival, I manage the use of the dance costumes for our Indian cultural dance. Dancing and being responsible for the costumes was hard to do at the same time. I had to miss dance practice multiple times and since I could not pour all my heart on one task nor the other, I felt difficult. But when I thought about it, I had my own idea of how the Festival should run. However, the standard that I purposed in my heart continued to collapse as I argued with my teammates and other members of the Festival. When my own standard collapsed, I was able to accept the standard that the others had established for the festival and that made me very happy.


Ah Rin Choi performing ‘Ghagra’, the new Indian cultural dance that they have choreographed.

Ah Rin’s sister (first from left) and mother (first from right) were in attendance for Festival.

“Before she went to volunteer overseas, she would always run away from burdensome things. However, when she came back, she had the mindset to challenge her burdens and limits and I am so happy to see that change in her. She told me that she would be preparing an Indian cultural dance and although the practice was hard, she told me that she was so happy when she could share her heart with her fellow team members to unite. I am so happy!” Ah Rin’s Mother

Meeting children that lived in the country during his moneyless mission trip in Turkey.

“I went overseas to Turkey to volunteer for a year. Although there were difficulties because of the language barrier and the culture difference, I could overcome those problems by sharing my heart with the people around me.”


Musical Team, Meong Gi in the center.

“For the Festival, we prepared a musical. The problem was our acting. During the rehearsals, we felt burdened to act in character because we were embarrassed by the attention we would bring to ourselves. At the final rehearsal, we realized the position we were in and shared our heart. We then united all our hearts together and acted our parts without holding anything back. When the musical was over, I teared up when I heard the applause. In my heart, if one person became happy through my performance, it would have been worth it.”

-Meong Ki Shin 17th Class of Good News Corp, volunteer to Turkey

The musical “Shine the Light”

With his parents

For the main message, Pastor Min Chul Lim got on the stage to speak.

“My loving citizens of Jinju. We at the Good News Corp do the work of planting “Yes”, “Thank you” and “I can do it” into the hearts of people that always heard the words “No”, “I can’t” and “I am miserable” in their hearts. I hope you were made happy tonight by the performances and presentations of these students”.

Chinese cultural dance

Finale by all the Good News Corp volunteers. They sang the song, “Stars planted all through the Sky”

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