What one day can hold

Annyong haseyo everyone! Also, Happy Fourth of July!

I am writing this blog post with a very happy and full heart. I feel like I have a new family (again). It is truly amazing to me the way the body of Christ extends beyond all cultural and language barriers to unite people with one single thing in common-the passion for God's glory and the spread of His fame. How true the verse is in the Scriptures that tells us if we give up family and friends for His sake, he will increase our family one hundred fold and more. I am humbled and grateful to our Lord for being faithful above and beyond to His promises and providing me with so much more than I dared to ask or think.

Today I went to Dongshin Church for my first Korean lesson. My lesson last week went well but this one was even better. Everyone there had their own tutor who provided them with correct pronunciation and a conversational partner. My partner's English name was Gloria. She was very nice and told me that I was doing extremely well. She asked how long I had been in Korea and if I had already had some lessons and was amazed that I had only had been in the country a little over two weeks with only one lesson. We learned the alphabet sounds again and then how to ask a person's name and how to give ours. We also learned how to say "It's nice to meet you" and "It's so hot!". After repeating the alphabet sounds a few times, my tutor said "Ah, you learn so fast!" so then she taught me a few other phrases like "How much is this?" and "I like it very much". After the lesson, we exchanged numbers so that she could call me or I could call her and we could dialogue and review the things I learned.

Then, as I was getting ready to leave, Gloria asked if I would like to go to lunch with her and another ENT named Rob who was there at the lesson as well. I gladly agreed and we walked to a Pop-Eye's to have fried chicken. While we were eating, I found out that she and Rob were going with a lady from another church in Daegu to an orphanage on the city's outskirts to give free English lessons. They asked if I would like to join them and of course I said "Yes, I'd love to!" So we met the woman whose name was Clara (English) and rode to Ansim district. The orphanage was clean although very spartan, and the children seemed happy. I helped tutor a little boy whose Korean name I cannot recall, and he was so tickled about the funny English words and the funny English teacher that he kept cracking jokes and bursting into spontaneous laughter. I couldn't help but laugh too, especially when Clara translated what he was saying to me! All in all, it was a great time and I loved every minute of it. Then, when we were done, Clara gave me a ride back to the church to go the Bible study there. She also gave a ride to a young woman from her church who was also going to the Bible study. Her name was Young-Shin and she spoke English fairly well. Young-Shin is only a year older than I am with a very friendly personality. We conversed in a limited way in the car and I hope that we will become friends in the future. I gave Clara my phone number so she could call me about the orphanage again and then Young-Shin and I went to the Bible study. Grace, the lady who welcomed me so warmly last week is the moderator of the study and she was so excited that I came. It was a very good study that lasted over 2 hours. We talked about the 17th chapter of Acts and Paul's approach to Evangelism. I actually added quite a bit of input and they expressed appreciation several times for what I had said. They were curious to learn the methods of evangelism in the US and also how I believed reaching young people was possible. I said that I believed that young people needed to be shown that following Christ was not about following rules or what they could or couldn't do or should and shouldn't do. Evanglism is about showing Christ to be the greatest treasure that they could ever find; the One that fills the void of their hearts; the only way to obtaining supreme happiness and joy and peace in this life and in the life to come. It was truly a wonderful time of fellowship and discovery. I have had a longing for good Christian fellowship since I got here and I sensed today that sweet scent of the body of Christ which filled that longing.

After we were done, Grace took me and another Korean girl, whose name I cannot remember in English or Korean (because I learned so many today!) to a Korean place and treated us to dinner. It consisted of kimchi mandu, gul mundu, tuna kimbab, kimchi kimbab, and anchovi soup. So good! During dinner, they told me about the college age service at the church which is in Korean but has many young people there who speak some English. So I decided I would go to that as well tomorrow so as to absorb more Korean and then to the small groups afterward.

When we were done, we parted ways, they going back to Grace's car at church and me to the subway. I stopped off in downtown and wandered around a bit. I found the Daegu train station which is helpful and also went to a coffee and waffle house where I had what I consider to be the best cup of joe I've ever tasted and this amazing waffle that was topped with strawberry and lime ice-cream and lots of fruit, whipped cream, and chocolate drizzle. I wish I had my SD card for my camera so I could've taken a picture. But I'll probably be going back so not to worry!

All in all, this has been an extremely good day for me and the week before wasn't bad either. I am now using what I learned in Florida to good use and playing my guitar for the kids in class. They LOVE it! They were so excited when I brought it in to class and repeatedly asked "Teacher, guitar....teacher, guitar?" When I said yes, they all went "Ahhh" and then "Play?" I said yes again and they all went crazy and started cheering and jumping up and down! Of course, when I took it out of the case, they all wanted to touch it and strum the strings. So far, I've used it in all my classes and have sung "If you're happy and you know it" "Looby lou" "The more we get together" "My Bonnie" "Is there any cookies in the cookie jar" and "Row, row, row your boat". I also had to learn and teach "Let It Be" by the Beatles to my high level class. That was quite interesting. All the Korean teachers are eating it up and asking if I can play every class. I told them "Sure thing! I think I enjoy it almost as much as the kids do!"

Well, this has been a very long post but I can't help saying PTL for all the goodness He has given to me here so far. I also want to say thank you again for all your prayers! They are availing much!

Annyong i kesejo! (Literal translation-Please be safe and healthy at home)