Louis Urban
August 2009
Greetings,
Chong and I are back to Korea and busy at it again.
Today is the first day for Chong back to work, so our morning routine changed some. I am usually up and out on my bike getting some exercise, then come back home to get ready for work while she makes some breakfast. We will have to make some changes with both of us competing to use the bathroom at the same time in the morning again.
I had the opportunity to visit the Blue Ridge yesterday. I am in the middle of the photo and next to me is RP1 Ruthemeyer. She is my RP and we make up the RMT (religious ministry team) for Korea. Next to me is Chaplain Puttler who is the 7th fleet Chaplain, the Chaplain Benefield on the Blue Ridge. He was a CCPO with me when I was stationed in CA. He is a good guy. The other direction is Chaplain Richards who is a reserve Chaplain here for the exercise in Korea. And then Chaplain Divine (who just about everyone knows).
Chong and I had a wonderful evening Sunday night over in Pusan. We were treated to an enjoyable dinner by one of our choir members. The entire choir was there. Then after the meal we enjoyed a nice walk out on the beach.
Last night we showed the moving the “Crossing” for the reservist that are on the base. We had about 50 reservist, base members, and congregation members that were in attendance. The movie is based on a true story of a North Korean family and the persecution that they went through. It really puts things into perspective of the freedoms that we have. I do not think that there was a dry eye in the group bye the time the movie ended.
I pray that each of us would be diligent about fulfilling the great commission, and that all of you are doing well.
Until we meet again.
God bless,
Louis Urban
Report from Lou and Chong Urban – Korea – May 2009
Dear Friends,
I hope that all of you had an enjoyable resurrection day. The weather has been beautiful here in Korea. Our turn out for Easter was a little larger than what we normally have, but not too much of an increase. We had a good service and then the Catholic and Protestant congregations went to the restaurant on base for brunch.
Some of us headed out to enjoy the weather. We took a hike up one of the mountains here. The location that we climbed is listed as being near the highest elevation in Chinhae. It took about 2 hours to make the climb. The photo that is attached is of us (Chong and I are on the right in the picture) near the summit of our climb. The picture does not really do justice to all the colors that we saw. Plus there were the smells and the music of the birds singing. In the photo you can see the cherry blossoms. There were a lot of people out on the hillside enjoying the day. It is my prayer that all those people who were enjoying the view would also take into account who the creator of it all is.
After our hike we went to a local restaurant for a delicious meal. I am certain that the company we were with made the meal even more enjoyable.
Please pray for Mrs. Vanderpool. She and her husband were regular attendee’s at the chapel, but she has been fighting a battle against cancer for a few months now. The situation is not looking good for her. I try to help how I can. Mr. Vanderpool & I will play racket ball. It gets him out of the house and his mind off the situation temporarily. She has been in and out of the hospital. Currently she is back in again, and is unable to eat or drink anything.
Thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragement.
God bless,
Louis & Chong
Chinhae Korea
Lieutenant Louis Urban (U.S. Navy) and his wife (Chong) and daughter (Kim) are now living in Guam, where Lou is assigned as ship’s chaplain for the “USS Frank Cable.” This ship has the mission of taking care of the logistical needs of submarines in their area of the Pacific. An interesting bit of trivia is that this is the same ship that was served by Dayne Nix when he was assigned to Guam some years ago.
Lou has been at sea with this ship and has had a wonderful ministry among his sailors. While in port in Malaysia, they were able to arrange to do some community relations projects with the local Malaysian people. Chong is now closer to her native Korea and has been able to visit her family several times.
Chaplain Urban writes, “We have arrived from our outing to three different countries. We were in Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. For the Sailors that have been in for a while and are used to a six month cruise this was short; but for someone like myself (who likes to spend time with his family) it was plenty long enough. I was happy to get back. Overall the mission was successful. We had a number of Comrel projects, Bible studies, and Worship services. Friday I am going to baptize one of the guys who is a regular attendee at the Bible studies. We are going to go down to Gab Gab beach. God has richly blessed us to be able to serve Him here. Thank you for all your prayers that help make that possible.”
