In 200-300 words you must reply to both of the classmates post below. Be sure to label each reply so that I know which one you are addressing. Please note that "I like what you said," "That's a good point," and "I disagree with your point" do not count as complete replies in and of themselves. Rather, stating why you liked or disliked the comment, adding additional thoughts or ideas to the original point, and/or providing alternative ideas or thoughts when you disagree will count as a reply. You are expected to be courteous in any disagreement with a classmate. Thus, personal attacks or calling an idea "stupid" or another derogatory remarks are not acceptable, and your grade will reflect such behavior. The specific amount of points deducted will be left to the discretion of the instructor. Be sure to cite and reference all sources. Graduate quality work is expected to be free from spelling and grammatical errors, written according to the most current APA formatting guidelines, and adhere to the specific assignment instructions that are provided.

POST 1 (Pamela):

For my cultural immersion project I chose to look in depth at the Pentecostal faith. Raised in Baptist churches, I have not had any real experience with this religious group of people. I chose this group mainly due to a video I watched in a class I took in undergrad. It was a Psych of Religion course where we explored many different religions. I remember this video more vividly due to the intense actions that the people in the video were doing. This immediately caught my attention. I knew that Pentecostalism was another denomination of Christianity, yet it seemed so different and foreign to anything I had experienced.

One of the first things that really jumped out to me about the Pentecostal faith is that it is almost used interchangeable with apostolic. Apostolic seems to be used as an adjective to describe certain sub-groups of the Pentecostal faith. This is the first thing that, for lack of better words, brought this group back down to earth for me. My first impressions were shock, disbelief, and non-understanding. Seeing that the different media sources I saw for Pentecostals incorporated an apostolic view made me a little less weary and skeptical. In Ron Rhode's book, Complete Guide to Christian Denominations: Understanding the History, Beliefs, and Differences, he explained that apostolic and evangelistic were very similar. Evangelicalism was a word I was very familiar with. This was a central word in my faith and the denomination of Christianity I most closely identified to, Baptist. He explained that they both encircled the need to know that we are sinners in need of a Savior and the importance of repentance and salvation. It was also interesting to learn the differences were that apostolic teachings included the use of speaking and interrupting tongues and that the teachings of the apostles and prophets should never cease.

I am still a little confused on some of the differences and even similarities. I defiantly see this presenting a challenge throughout this project. Many of the words I have come across that I think I am very familiar with hold a different meanings in this particular denomination. I am going to have to be very thorough and detailed in my research to make sure I am not simply assuming that what I know to be true is universal. I think as humans we have a natural tendency to have an ethnocentric perspective. Although this will be a challenge to navigate through, I am looking forward to the rewards I will reap through the process.

References- Rhodes, R. (2005). The complete guide to Christian denominations: Understanding the history, beliefs, and differences. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers.

POST 2 (Shelby):

I chose the Korean culture of this project. In the last 5 years there have been two Korean churches built near my house, one is across the street. Additionally, there have been new Korean restaurants and grocery stores. All of this has sparked my interest in the Korean culture.

I have enjoyed reading the articles on Confucian values, Korean pop culture, Korean families in the United States, and older Korean immigrants in the US. Korean culture is a blend of its traditional culture, modern Japanese, and US philosophies and practices in addition to Confucian philosophies (Hunaker, 2014). "Social order and harmony are viewed as the primary objectives of Confucianism" (Kim, 2014, p. 134). Korean leadership can be seen as paternalistic, hierarchical, and collective (Kim, 2014). Korean pop culture is called hallyu, which means Korean wave. Hallyu includes Korean music, TV dramas, and movies. In the 90s hallyu spread east and southeast into China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, and Japan. In 2011 a large scale Korean concert was held in Paris. The song ‘Gangnam Style' by Psy is a part of hallyu (Kim & Lee, 2014). With an increase in Korean immigrants coming to the United States this mean that they are raising their children, as a future school counselor one article had mentioned Korean parents feel as though they cannot help the children adequately in their schooling. Korean parents feel inadequate when it comes to their child's education due to the language barrier and limited understanding of the education system (Choi, Dancy, & Lee, 2013). This significant information to remember when working as a school counselor, in order to better help Korean children and help their parents be more involved. Another interesting things I learned is the "older Korean immigrants are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the US" (Kim, Kim, Han, & Chin, 2015, p. 1). With this rising group of older Koreans there needs to be groups and activities that are culturally relevant to them such as traditional Korean games, celebrations, and being able to teach their knowledge and culture to others. Older Koreans want to maintain their culture and their cultural identity (Kim, et al., 2014).

For part II I plan on going to the Korean church that is up the road from my house. I have looked at their website to determine their service times. Each week they post their last service of the day, and as one would guess its in Korean. I think the most challenging thing will be the language barrier. I don't think being the minority in church will bother me due to being part of the minority in the church I attend regularly.

References- Choi, H., Dancy, B. L., & Lee, J. (2013). Raising children in America: Korean parents' experiences. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 20, 508-513

Kim, J., Kim, M., Han, A., & Chin, S. (2015). The importance of culturally meaningful activity for the health benefits among older Korean immigrant living in the United States.Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 10, 1-9.

Kim, J. Y. & Lee, O. J. (2014). Korean pop culture: A decade of up and downs. International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous Engineering, 9(3), 129-134

Hunsaker, D. W. (2014). Relationship of Confucian values to spiritual leadership in a South Korean context. Asian Social Science, 10(12), 130-141