But now, about 10 percent of people who currently attend the church’s Sunday service are Korean, according to Emily Thompson, the church’s communications director.

“We have been experiencing a pretty significant growth in Korean families,” Thompson said. “People may not realize how many Korean families live in Fort Dodge because of CJ Bio, and most of them have moved to Fort Dodge directly from South Korea.”

CJ Bio America began production of its amino acid lysine in Fort Dodge in 2013. Its parent company is CJ CheilJedang, a South Korean food company based in Seoul.

Rhee and Jeong moved from New Jersey to Fort Dodge in January 2014 when Jeong was hired at CJ Bio America as a finance manager.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Gabe Casciato, pastor for family life at CrossWay Church, holds up a flash card with Korean words written on it. Casciato is learning Korean to better communicate with members of the church.

“We thought, ‘Wow, what a big move,'” Rhee said. “We didn’t know anybody, but we came here that winter. It was a very cold winter.”

The couple is originally from South Korea. Before moving to Iowa, they lived on the east coast for about 10 years.

One of the first things the couple wanted to do when they moved to Iowa was find a place of worship.

“One of our prayers was to find a good church in Fort Dodge, Iowa,” Rhee said. “We learned there are not any Korean churches in Fort Dodge. There’s two in Ames. My husband and I talked about it and what we wanted to do. We wanted to find a church, local in Fort Dodge, because we wanted to settle. We wanted to live like local people and find a connection here. We work here four or five days, and we didn’t want to spend the weekend in Ames.”

CrossWay Church, 3058 10th Ave. N., was the last church they visited.

“Just for some reason, this one felt right,” Rhee said. “You can just tell.”

Meanwhile, Thompson had also recently moved to Fort Dodge

“We moved here at the same time as Sanghee,” Thompson said. “All of the dynamics you deal with moving to a new community are just exponentially larger because you are coming from a city with a population of millions.”

Rhee added, “In New Jersey, there’s more Koreans around. We went to a Korean church. There’s a lot of Korean churches in New York and New Jersey. We went to church in Manhattan; there was a Korean Church with an international service.”

But CrossWay Church seemed like an inviting place, she said.

“We liked it a lot,” Rhee said. “We thought this was the answer to the prayer.”

But at first it was difficult to socialize.

“It was the first time for us to go to an English-speaking church,” Rhee said.

She speaks English fluently now, but in the early 2000s she was still learning the language.

“I went to Hawaii in 2000 to a mission training school,” she said. “I knew little English at the time, but what I learned is you have to make a step and initiate it. You have to accept the awkwardness. I have to do my part to join in.”

So that’s what she did at CrossWay Church.

Through church events like young family night and moms connection, Rhee began to integrate nicely.

“Since then, we have gotten to know the families,” Rhee said. “They really welcomed us. It just slowly, we got to know people. Super sweet. Invite us over for dinner at their house. We invite people over to our house and share food. It’s such a neat experience because we live in U.S. for 10 years, but because of the Korean church community, outside of school we usually go to Korean market, shop, close friends Korean, so we really didn’t experience U.S. culture there. This is more culture shock than Korea to New York. New York to here is a big life change.”

Eventually, Rhee started serving as a translator as more Koreans began attending the church.

“Sanghee has been a fantastic bridge to help us,” Thompson said.

Rhee has translated sermons from English to Korean. “We sent her six pages of typed sermon,” Thompson said. “Sent to Sanghee on Saturday and by Sunday she had it translated.”

The process wasn’t easy.

“It took me two-and-a-half or three hours,” Rhee said. “I read, I understand, but finding words to match. I have to be careful because this is someone else’s writing. I want to make sure I am right with it.”

Gabe Casciato, pastor for family life at CrossWay Church, decided to try to learn Korean.

“It just didn’t seem fair that they were having to do all the work,” Casciato said. “So I stopped and thought, ‘I wonder how much I could pick up?'”

He asked Rhee’s husband, Jeong, if he knew anyone who would help teach him. Casciato was surprised when Jeong said he would help him learn.

“He said he would be willing, and I said, ‘Great,” Casciato said. “I started practicing with some of the members. It’s been super fun to do, but the language is very different. It’s not Latin. There’s a lot of sounds that are totally different.”

So far, he has learned some basic phrases such as hello and goodbye. He’s also learned some Bible verses.

Rhee has appreciated Casciato’s efforts.

“The first thing that came to my mind — English you can speak in different countries, but Korean is only Korean,” she said. “It’s not about how much he can really say Korean, it’s more about he’s willing to learn Korean. That speaks a lot to us and even to people because that means they are really valuable. You aren’t going to learn this language and go get some other benefit out of it. We are so touched.”

In Casciato’s office there are flash cards and work sheets with Korean letters on them.

He’s grateful for Jeong’s time.

“For him to be willing to teach me — he’s such a great guy, too,” Casciato said. “The time together as friends and as brothers. it’s awesome.”

Rhee held a Korean cooking demonstration for the women of the church. When asked what she would tell someone about Fort Dodge, Rhee said the people stand out more than anything else.

“I feel like it’s more family-oriented. No traffic, and we just have more time for family. That’s what we really appreciated. You waste your time on the street over there,” she said, referring to New York and New Jersey. “You can only go to one shop or two shops. By the time you come home, it’s almost dinner time. But here, we sit down, we talk and then afternoon we can run some errands.”

The terrain is another notable difference.

“Well, it’s flat,” Rhee said. “It doesn’t have ocean or mountain. But it doesn’t mean nothing’s going on.”

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