Adrian Mendoza T’23,’26 experienced the pained history of the conflicted region
August 2025 – Drew Theological School student and alum Adrian Mendoza T’23,’26 embarked on a transformative Young Adult Pilgrimage of Peace (YAPP) in South Korea this summer.
Mendoza was among 45 young adults from 15 countries across six continents who participated in the pilgrimage, which was hosted by the Korean Methodist Church in collaboration with The United Methodist Church through the General Board of Global Ministries and the World Methodist Council. Mendoza attended as a representative of Drew Theological School.
“This transformative pilgrimage deepened my understanding (and raised questions) about peace and conflict, our shared humanity, global power, and hope,” shared Mendoza in a written reflection.
The itinerary took the group to May 18 Memorial Park, Daejeon Gollyeonggol Peace Park, the DMZ, and the Yanghwajin Missionary Cemetery, where they witnessed the lasting effects of war and the political tensions that have shaped life in South Korea and North Korea for the past 75 years.
At Daejeon’s Gollyeonggol Peace Park, site of one of the most devastating civilian massacres of the Korean War, Mendoza encountered a landscape laden with grief and longing.
“I listened not only to the people living and surviving from the constant attempts to bury and erase them and the (hi)story that they carry, but to the land itself,” he said. “The trees, the soil, and the wind seemed to carry memories of violence long buried. When the daughter of a victim spoke to us, I had an epiphany that we were not just there to hear her story. We were called to carry it, so that her unburied hope of the full truth being unearthed would one day come, even if not in her lifetime.”
Earlier in the journey, the group visited Gwangju’s May 18 Memorial Cemetery. “Standing among the graves, I understood that remembrance must lead to action,” said Mendoza, reflecting on the experience. “We are called to carry the courage and resistance of the young people (and citizens) who refused to be silenced.”
“As I return home, I carry with me not only the pain of what I witnessed but the hope that continues to rise from it,” said Mendoza. “I am reminded to never forget and to never close my eyes to the injustice, and to keep my heart and hands active in the work of peacebuilding.”
