Pomnyun Sunim And School Opening Ceremonies In Mindanao, The Philippines

Pomnyun Sunim attends two school opening ceremonies in Mindanao, the Philippines.

Pomnyun Sunim arrived in Manila, the Philippines late at night past 11 p.m. He was accompanied by representative Wonju Lee and a writer Hongshin Kim.

After taking a short break at the representative Lee’s place, they hurried to the airport at 2 a.m. to catch the flight to Mindanao.

Pomnyun Sunim had to attend ribbon-cutting ceremonies for two different schools so he had to stay up the whole night. Sunim worked on his book while waiting for the plane.

After an hour and twenty minutes of flight, Pomnyun Sunim arrived at Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao. There, he was greeted by Dharma Teacher Hyanghoon who came as a person in charge two months ago to Mindanao JTS center.

Pomnyun Sunim headed to his first destination, as far as a car could go. By the time they reached the point where cars could no longer go on, it was way past 9 a.m.

From that point on, they took 17 motorcycles and headed to their destination where they would hold one of the schools’ ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

It was unimaginable how people were able to move all the construction materials into this village through the mountains. When they arrived, there were many students, villagers, education board members, and district officials gathered to celebrate.

A student gave a heartfelt opening speech, and then Pomnyun Sunim gave a short welcoming speech for the opening of a new school. After the ceremony, townspeople provided lots of food to thank everyone and celebrate.

After lunch, Pomnyun Sunim got back on a motorcycle and headed to the second ceremony.

After an hour and thirty minutes of driving, they had to switch to an army-provided truck. Even the truck struggled to make its way through, so they eventually had to walk the rest of their way to the second destination.

When they arrived, Pomnyun Sunim handed out gifts to all those who worked on building the school.

After the ceremony ended, they hopped back on the army-provided trucks and headed back down the mountain. After two hours of driving, they finally were able to rest at their lodge and eat a light dinner. Although it was an exhausting day, everyone felt very happy and fulfilled.