Day 3

The gang: Gil Young, Gi Hong, and Chung Ryung

(Note: I am writing this blog post as I fly to yet another country. I am headed to Vancouver, B.C. Canada to help with an English camp which our church’s Children’s English Department organized. We are almost 4 hours into the flight and my two seating companions, Jae Bek and Jae Hyeon are already getting antsy…)

Day 3: First day of English class

After the previous day’s many activities, our group is a bit less energetic today, but still, everyone is in great spirits when we join together early in the morning for devotions before breakfast. We read Scripture and take turns sharing our thoughts, ending with group prayer. When everyone finishes with breakfast, we head down to the lobby to pile in the Wangchun van again. At the Love House, the kids again greet us with myriads of enthusiastic “Hello’s!” and “Annonyhaseyo’s!” We quickly go to work setting up the rooms with signs and materials.

My class is the special needs group and we have a total of five students. There is Chu Nan (no picture sorry!), a fragile looking girl of 22, who had just lost her father the day before we arrived. Her spirit is sad and she rarely smiles at the beginning of class.

Chung Ryung is a sweet boy of 17. His smile lights up the classroom and despite having gait issues and slightly crossed eyes, Chung Ryung is very bright and he has an excellent memory.

Sung Hee is a precious girl of 24 who is so excited to learn she literally shakes with her excitement. Sung Hee had lived her relatives before coming to Wangchung Love House and because they didn’t know how else to care for her, they often left her in the house by herself.

Yong Hyun is slightly less “special needs” than the others but still has some difficulty processing at times. He is 21 and very strong, which as I later learn, caused problems in the beginning for him because he would get easily angered or frustrated by his inabilities and lash out, not realizing his own power. But now, he has a quiet and gentle spirit and I observe him often helping the other special needs kids in a protective manner.

Gi Hong is the last member of our group and though he is not special needs, he is put in it because of his age. He is fierce at learning and shouts out the answers confidently (even the wrong ones!)

So, after a warm-up of reintroductions, we dive quickly into teaching basic English commands like stand up, sit down, go, stop, open, close, etc. First I say the words in English, then Jae Young translates the commands into Korean. After drilling these a bit, we start to quiz them, holding up the signs (in English) and having them act out the command. This gets to be quite the entertainment for Jae Young and me as we hold up the sign for sit down and they close their hands instead. Then Jae Young shouts out a command in English and they have to shout it back in Korean. As mentioned before, Gi Hong shouts out all his answers with gusto and takes great pride in being correct (which he is most of the time being very bright). I am a bit astounded (though I shouldn’t be) by their quickness in memorizing the commands and their wholehearted enthusiasm for learning. In fact, they are so intent and focused on getting in as much as they can that when I suggest a bathroom break, they quickly say “No, we want to keep studying!” We eventually take them outside, where we play a form of Simon Says with the signs and then Stop, Go (aka Red Light, Green Light). We are surprised when the call for lunch comes.

Lunch is a memorable occasion for all of the WLH kids. Pastor Daniel and Missionary Gi have gone into town and purchased a great quantity of Samgyeupsaul, a kind of savory pork side meat, similar to bacon. They have heard from Pastor Jeon that meat is a rare treat for the kids and they almost never have Samgyeupsaul. So, frying skillets are brought out and we all gather round the tables to cook the delicious meat. All the WLH kids eat so much meat it’s impossible to keep track of the number of pieces. Many of us from Dongshin don’t even eat that much and are just content to watch the kids enjoying themselves. At my table, I pull out my camera for a quick picture and Chung Ryung catches sight of it. It quickly becomes a picture taking frenzy when I give Chung Ryung the camera and he begins snapping photos of everyone and everything in sight. It gets passed around from one slightly greasy hand to the next, and several candid shots of the kids wind up on my SD card. I watch the whole chaotic scene with great amusement and think that this is probably the first time some of them have ever used a camera in their lives.

Jae Young and Yong Hyun

Me and Song HeeWaiting, waiting, waitingFinally, it's ready!

Mmm...delicious!!

After lunch is finished and cleared away, our group heads back to our hotel for a quick rest period. The strains of the trip have begun to show on some of our younger members. After resting up, we head back to spend more time with the kids just playing games like soccer, badminton, and dodgeball. The rest of the day and dinner passes all too quickly. But after dinner, something special and powerful takes place.

We all gather in the front room for prayer time together. Pastor Daniel and Pastor Jeon exhort us to pray for the children and for the trip, for God’s blessing and provision. And then, we begin to pray. And I realize as we lift our voices together, that the WLH kids REALLY know how to pray! Even the tiny Gi Hong is praying loudly and fervently beside me. When we have prayed for some time, Pastor Daniel has our team gather around the circle of WLH kids and place our hands on them, and we pray special prayers over each of the children in turn. It is so moving and powerful, most everyone is weeping by the end. But there, in that little room, crowded with kids and adults, I feel the presence of God in that place. It reminds me that God had His own Son born in a lowly stable, and was raised by working class parents. In a similar fashion, God is using the poor and lowly circumstances of life to raise up mighty warriors for His kingdom here in this house.

Now it’s time to pack in the van again and make the trek back to the hotel for some rest and reflection. At our teacher’s meeting that night, we marvel at the kids’ pureness and sincere love, their eagerness to learn and serve, their desire to spend time with us, and their passionate prayers. As Richard succinctly puts it, “These kids have nothing in earthly things and yet, they have everything. I am the one who is poor. They’re the ones who are rich in God’s love.” I have a feeling as we depart for our separate rooms that the next few days will hold many more such lessons for us.