feels so good

We had our first gathering at our new (rented) church building in Suji, just a few minutes walk from the apartments where most of the team lives. It was so nice, first of all, to be back to just one service (for obvious time and energy reasons), but it felt right for so many other reasons, too. I was able to invite people on the walk down to church, including some people who work at the store on the way down the hill. I gave them a flyer with our pictures on it and the guy said to his daughter, "look, there's your aunt!" He was pointing at me. In Korea, it's all one big family, but I hadn't experienced being called an aunt before.

It felt so right to walk to church in a neighborhood where we have so many natural relationships. I invited a friend I haven't seen in a long time and she came! I was surprised, because I have invited her many times before and she wasn't ever interested. She lives in the same apartments as the team, and having church here gave her an opportunity to come without much hassle and sort of on her own turf. I think she really enjoyed herself. She was nervous beforehand, and called me to see if I could meet her. She said "but I don't have a Bible!" I told her that was OK!

Our new church gathering place is near a creek - from the bus stop, you have to cross the creek to get there. You can cross on the car bridge, or you can even cross on a stone pathway over the creek. How fun is that? It's so green and beautiful right now, too.

Okay, all of that to set the stage for an excellent first celebration at our new spot. We almost filled the church with people, mostly regulars, but a good group of new people, too. Worship, led by Sandra, Jessica, and Clint (all from our summer team- what a blessing!) rocked. It was the first time when I felt we really broke through something, we got past ourselves for a minute. Worship so far has been such a struggle for us, feeling sometimes that nothing really significant is happening during that time. Well, today was different. It was great! We spent 24 hours in prayer (from noon Saturday to noon Sunday), covered by people at home in the hill country and people on our team here, so I give God all the credit. He heard our prayers and he met us there today. He brought us a new level of freedom today. That's one of the things God impressed on me to proclaim over our body- freedom to be real before God, freedom in Christ. He's bringing it!

After church, we went to dinner and Jason's and my boss (we invited them to join us because they, as Christians, are interested in what we are doing)paid for everyone - it was like 30 people. Wow. A friend that they brought told me "thank you for coming to Korea and serving our people."

5 am

Yes! I got up at 5 am today, left the apartment at 5:30, and made it to a prayer group called no more walls (on the other side of Seoul) right on time at 6:30. There were three older guys there, one of whom was American. The other two were Korean. I expected it to be a bigger group. Honestly, I was a little disappointed at first, but as the hour and a half of prayer went on, I was really glad I was there. I wasn't glad I was there because of how inspiring the prayers were, but because I was joining in lifting up North Korea with Koreans. As I have been sharing my heart for North Korea with some of my Korean friends in the past few weeks, most of them have told me they don't think all that much about North Korea. Some of them are scared of what will happen when the walls come down. A few have thanked me for wanting to go there and just simply having concern and love for the country. Anyhow, I loved lifting that country up for more than an hour this morning. What an incredible thing prayer is! There are very few things I can do for (much less in) North Korea right now, but still I have the avenue of prayer, and that is the most powerful tool there is! We even got a full page list of the government leaders in North Korea, and prayed for them by name. That's an incredible thing...to be asking for the salvation of a page full of leaders of North Korea. As we were praying, I read from Nehemiah 9 - first, proclaiming the greatness of God, and then recounting some amazing things He did for the Israelites. I know that God wants to free North Koreans from under their oppressors, too. Lord, we wait on You to move! We pray that Your deliverance will come soon!

After prayer, I needed to be downtown to interview for placement in a Korean class at 11, so I went to Dunkin Donuts (yeah, we have those here, and they are excellent!) and read and journaled for almost two hours. I interviewed at 11 and found out (from not too much talking, but enough I suppose) that I am at high beginner level in Korean. He was impressed with my ability to read, but I guess not so impressed with my speaking. Well, at least I'm not beginner. Anyway, I found out they don't offer the time I was hoping to take classes (7-9am) because it's too hard to find a teacher for it. :( I need to be better about studying on my own, but I also really just need some structure that a class would provide. Oh, what to do....

God, let it stop!

I checked my e-mail this morning before work and saw the headline on yahoo news that a Korean had been beheaded. The news of the American last week really shocked me and the news of Kim Sun Il this morning made me really sad. I haven't supported the war in Iraq, but I haven't really had much of an opinion on it either. Today, though, I just want it to be over. I want everyone to come home. I watched the office manager today at school watch the news over the internet, seeing his fellow countryman killed for nothing. I saw some stills of Kim's family deeply grieving for their son. I read some blogs of Americans in Korea with their views - some of whom think Korea should now send more troops to Iraq now that one of their men died. I know it's complicated. I don't want to get into politics, but I hate all this. Something changed in me today as I watched the news come in. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm saddened. I feel a little closer to the Korean people and yet a little further away, too.

birthday party!

I had to work today, Saturday, because of open class at our kindergarten. The moms come to see what their kids do, and part of what they do is learn English for an hour a week with me or Jason. So, I had to be on show with the kids to show their moms how much English they have learned. It's no fun, because the kindergarten coordinator goes with me to every class and is so uptight. Anyway, I have to do it again next Friday and Saturday, and then it'll be over with for a while. Next time we have one of these, it's Jason's turn.

Today was Shannon's birthday. The girls planned a little surprise party at their apartment. All the ladies from Shannon's ladies Bible study were there with all their kids, plus all the summer team girls and all of our team and a few other people. There were a lot of people. Shannon and family (her sister and her family are in town)were an hour later than we thought, so we were there with a house full of kids waiting to have a party. Of course, the kids entertained themselves. When that got out of hand, one of the moms intervened and had them all sit in a row in the living room to practice singing happy birthday in both languages and then, with the extra time, they volunteered little performances of stuff they had memorized. It was way cute. Some of those kids are already little performers. They loved everybody watching them. Shannon came not too long after all that started, and the kids were pretty good about staying quiet as she came in the door. She was surprised.

It's raining again tonight. I think the summer monsoon season has started, but I am still enjoying the rain.

my fridge with microwave, toaster oven, and basket on top (i just posted on groceries, so i thought i'd share this picture...i know it's pretty silly!) 

my new slippers...tomorrow is open class at school, so i have an excuse to get some new ones 

supermarket

I just got back from a trip to the supermarket (the word is the same in Korean, but they say it shupermarket)on my bike. It rained today, so it's so nice and cool outside and everything feels a little cleaner. The park on the way to the store was alive with lots of people walking around the lake, doing their exercises, and hanging around talking at 10:30pm. I got some kiwi fruit, ice cream, milk, yogurt, pancake mix, cinnamon powder, barbecue sauce (an excellent find) and some new slippers. Yay. I also found a cute little notebook with this on the front:

GO SUCCESS
Me wherever my life is lived,
O to be self-balanced for contingencies,
To confront night, storms, hunger,
ridicule, accidents, rebuffs,
as the trees and animals do.

Wouldn't life be that much better if we were able to confront ridicule as the trees and animals do? Maybe there really is some wisdom in this!?

turning on lights

Our church has a new website: cypresscreekchurchkorea.com

Last night, we spent some time as a team with the summer team to prayer walk our neighborhood in Suji, where we will soon be having our gatherings at a new building at the bottom of the hill. We broke up into ones and twos to walk around and pray for awakening among the people in those apartment complexes. I sat down and watched some lights turn on in the apartments and I thought of how we are asking God to shine His light in their lives. Then, I thought, to do that, he must have already prepared the way with giving them a connection to electricity and wiring them to accept His light. So, I started praying that He would do that in the lives we come into contact with. We might be able to turn switches on, or just be honored enough to be present when that happens, but the real work is God's alone. He wires us to accept Him. He paves the way. Oh, God! Connect us with the people whom You are preparing for Yourself.

Two of the girls last night spoke about a desire to come back to Korea, maybe after they graduate. That's awesome. We have been praying for people to feel called to come. God is supplying our needs.

Today, it's raining. It's my morning off and I haven't left the apartment yet. I was going to go to a prayer group that prays for unity in the Korean churches and for North Korea, but when my alarm went off at 5am, I heard the rain and used it as an excuse to get back in bed. I want to get connected with some other people who have a heart for North Korea, but I will try out the group that meets on Monday (a hard day to get up anyway, but I will do it!) a little closer to my apartment, I think.

getting ready for church to start at the apartment in suji 

hanging around after church at yatap 

life is happening

We had our "beautiful young women" (that's not actually our name, but it's still true) life group tonight in Suji at Kelli's apartment. A new girl came, the sister of our translator, Koh. It was really good to have her. Three of the girls from the summer team came back, too, plus our four regulars. We're talking about a different type of spiritual discipline every week from one of Richard Foster's books. This week, we talked about the Holy Spirit and what He is sent by the Father to do in us. Pretty cool stuff. I love meeting with these girls, but I just want us to be able to open up and really share and allow God to transform our lives. Right now, it's two Korean girls and the rest of us are Americans or Canadians. I also want us to be a group that reaches out to the people in the neighborhood to draw people into community. Pray with me about that.

We have one more service at Yatap, then we are going to combine our two services. (We've been having them in two different spots.) We feel like we are supposed to concentrate on one area and really build community there, so we are going to stay with the area near the original team apartment, where Donnie, Shannon, Scott and Jimbob still live, for most of our ministry. It should be pretty freeing to be back to one service. We won't feel so pulled into too many directions. Most of the people at Yatap are going to be able to come to Suji anyway. I went to order new business cards for our new location today and we are going to get some signs and flyers up this week, too. Exciting stuff! The summer team is going to be really helpful in getting the word out, too.

story

Last night, I watched "Classic" a Korean love story on my computer. Jey, a Korean friend, and Jason got it for me. Jey recommended it because he has seen it twice. I told them I was in the mood for a love story, so that's what they brought me. They gave up within the first 15 minutes and went back down to Jason's apartment to play on his playstation 2. Guys. Anyway, I enjoyed it even though it was cheesy. Cheesy Korean is much more excusable than cheesy American, partly because I enjoy hearing the Korean and matching the words I recognize with the English subtitles.

I listened to a sermon online the other day that talked about how when we watch movies, we connect with a story. That's the way God wants us to connect with Him - to join in His story. Today, as I was walking up the stairs to get on the subway, I was more aware of the story I'm in right now...the story of what God is doing in Korea. He has invited me here to connect and learn from the people here, as well as (or as a part of) reaching out to them and ministering to them. I know that He has me here partly as a time of preparation, purification, and learning. I'm glad to be here and so excited to live out what He has for me.

multitasking

I am realizing more and more how I am rarely satisfied in doing one thing at a time. This isn't good, I don't think. Tonight, I ate dinner while checking my e-mail, worked on putting some scriptures together (for adding an experiential element to Sundays service) while listening to music, watched a movie (Big Fish - my first movie to watch in a month or two! it was good) while giving myself a pedicure, and now I'm listening to my Korean language tape while eating popcorn and typing an entry into my blog. I'm also waiting for Jason to get here, because he asked me to help him unload his second shipment of stuff he's moving to his apartment. I guess waiting doesn't count as a task in multitasking, though.

One bad thing about multitasking is that it makes me impatient when I can't get more than one thing done at once. One thing I do enjoy doing without feeling a need to do something else at the same time is praying, but sometimes it takes me a while to get to that point where I am free of enough stuff to really give all my attention to God. Of course, that's not the only way to pray (you can pray all day while you do stuff, too) but it's necessary for me to have that kind of prayer.

bible:found

I lost my bible on the subway on Saturday. It was my first time to leave anything on the subway...can you believe it? Anyway, I was a little sad about it because it has some fun patches on the cover and it has a lot of notes and other stuff in it that I wanted to keep. So, with Scott's help, I got the number to the lost and found office. I finally called this morning and found out (after a few minutes of searching) that they had it! So, I went to get it and now I am feeling really blessed that I got two things returned to me this week that I was silly enough to either leave unlocked (my bike) or on the overhead shelf in the subway (my bible). Life is good. For lots of reasons.

Gyeongbokgung Palace 

dad and me at a grilled meat (kalbi) restaurant 

the summer team and some from our life group on Saturday 

My new bike, a present from my dad. (The guy is the owner of the shop, I guess.) 

bike: found

Jason and I were walking to dinner tonight at my favorite hole in the wall restaurant (I'm showing him my favorites since he just moved into the same building as me yesterday) and I saw my bike! Yes, my bike that was stolen last Monday. Since it was stolen, my Dad bought me a new one that's really nice. So, I took my little portable air pump off the bike and left it there since it was locked. Jason and I ate our dinner, then walked back by, wondering if I should do something. We called Koh, the guy who gave me the bike, and he thought we should do something about it. Mr. Moon, the guy who's in charge of all the extra stuff at our hogwan, was meeting Jason at his apartment to help with the internet set up, so I got him to come look at it with me. He tried the apartment manager, but he wasn't there. He finally called the police and then after the police came, the boys who were riding the bikes came down. The police asked where they got the bike. The kid said he got it from a friend. The police got his address and phone number, my address and phone number, and then let me take the bike. The kid started to cry after the policeman asked him a bunch of questions. I should have just left the bike with him after the policeman scared him, but I didn't. I didn't think about that til later. Now I feel bad about it, especially since I have two bikes.

summer team's here

Our team of 6 girls and one guy from Cypress Creek Church in Wimberley came to stay and work with us for two months. We're really excited to have them here. Yesterday, they joined us for our university life group and today they added lots of life to our two gatherings. We are a noticeable group when it's just the six of us (or even if it's just one of us!) but now that we total 13, there's no way anyone can miss us. We took them to their first real Korean dinner tonight after church. We got our own room, all sat on the floor on cushions, and had grilled meat wrapped in lettuce (kalbi) with all the side dishes. It was fun. We were at one LONG table.

My Dad leaves tomorrow. Yesterday after life group, we finally got to do some of the typical sightseeing stuff. We went to the big king's palace, a few different places in Seoul - the arts and crafts street, the big outdoor market, and one of the young, trendy places to shop and hang out. We've had a good time. I think he enjoyed meeting people at church today and getting to know a little more about what life is like here.

Tomorrow, Jason moves in to the apartment downstairs from mine. He took the other full time job at the hagwon we work at, so with that comes the apartment. That'll be fun, and also be more of an incentive for more team stuff to take place in my neck of the woods.

dad's here

My Dad got here on Tuesday night. It's really good to have him here. He's not worried about experiencing all the sights (even though I don't want him to go home without seeing the trademark sites in Seoul). He just keeps telling everyone that he came to see his daughter...awww! But, we are having a good time. He's been making me breakfast every morning (pancakes and breakfast tacos - he brought the syrup and tortillas). We've had a few Korean meals and one pretty impressive Japanese style meal that the owner of my hagwon took us out to. Yesterday, he did a bit of recruiting for ACU while I was at work and today he's going on the DMZ Panmunjom tour while I'm at work. This weekend, he'll get to experience a life group and our two church services, then he leaves on Monday.

hey, that's my bike!

So, my bike was stolen today. I keep praying that someone just decided to borrow it and will bring it back. I just left it outside my apartment while I went upstairs for about 30 minutes during a break from work. I didn't lock it (now I'm kicking myself). So, tonight as I walked home, I kept checking out everybody's bike, prepared to say "hey, that's my bike!" (Did you guys ever see Reality Bites? I think that was the name of Ethan Hawke's band.) I'm a little sad about it. Even though the bike was given to me, I had put some money into it to get a portable air pump (fits on the bike), a basket, and a new tire. Sad times.

Tonight, I got a discount ride in a taxi to the Suji apartment because I shared it with someone who got out before me. It was two guys in the backseat who had a little soju in their bellies. One of them wanted to know where I was from, and then before he got out, he told me I was charming. The taxi driver apologized and said some other stuff I couldn't understand.

Tonight we had "worship practice", which is for now a lot of prayer and a little practice. We are still praying in our worship leader who God has for us! Join us in that. In the mean time, we are still playing CDs and looking at new ways to bring some creativity and life into worship.