MELT*! (My English Lunch Time *at night)

Every Tuesday the church has a free English lesson and discussion time, called MELT, for My English Lunch Time. The first MELT began as a lunchtime thing, but this one is in the late afternoon...we still eat, though! Mmmm, ramen and snacks!

We try not to teach the same textbook English as all the schools around here teach. The students get enough of that. We teach the Korean English learners idioms! Those common terms and phrases we use that don't mean literally what we say..."He was knocked out cold". "The car I bought looked good, but it turned out to be a lemon." "Don't be such a backseat driver!" "Do you have a beef with me?!" Fun stuff like that. They like it.
We do a dialogue with them, teach them the vocabulary, and then have discussion and food.

English conversation is enjoyable. It's great to meet new faces at MELT*! We often see them at the church services, too! What a blessing.

But what about us foreigners learning Korean? Maybe we could have OKEYDOKEY! "Our Korean Eating: Why Dine On Kuaja?--Extra Yummy!" (Kuaja is the Korean word for snack, cookie, sweets, crackers, you know.)

But this MELT in particular was a special one, for it was Dean and Amanda's last MELT, and last time at the church to say goodbye to everybody! So a lot of us stayed extra late, and ate more cake, more ramen, more snacks, ice cream, toast, oh yeah! Bless you guys, Dean and Amanda, as you study at the Bible College once more! See you guys soon, and if not, then a bit later!

Daejeon, Metropolitan City

This is Daejeon, the city in which I live right now. Daejeon is one of Korea's six Metropolitan Cities, with Seoul, the capital, as the largest. Daejeon ranks as Korea's fifth largest city with a population of around 1.5 million people. This is a huge difference from my hometown of Lompoc, which hits maybe over 60,000 in population!


It's got this sweet big river running right through it, the Gapcheon river. I'm not used to being around rivers larger than a creek, actually!...





The city, like most cities in Korea, have huge apartment buildings just lined up row by row. Korea has a large population compacted into a small area of land, so they gotta use land wisely, I suppose.






Stores and Markets get packed on top of each other, too! One building oftentimes contains multiple businesses. And then there are apartments over those! In fact, I live right above a restaurant!

And here's the city flag. This is all it says.


It's crazy, getting used to taking buses and trains, and not being able to walk across town, err, the city, in an hour.

So many people live here, and oh how many of them need the grace of Christ! May we have wisdom as we try to reach out to and build up the Koreans here in the city!

Fellowshipping at the Holy Cross

After church on Sunday nights we all head to a nearby coffee shop called Holy Cross to fellowship. We chill, having coffee, conversation, cakes, coupons (yes, they have great discount coupons, to be sure!), etc. It's a really nice atmosphere, and it's always great to spend this time with everyone from church! Over here in Korea, people at church just love to stick around after service! Yes, we all totally go and crash the place every week, wrecking havoc and moving a bunch tables and chairs around to fit the huge group! But we do buy drinks. This week, it's Dean and Amanda's last week, so some people got them cakes that we all shared! It was very nice, though sad to see them say goodbye to so many people. Parting is such sweet sorrow...and so is cake! That was delicious. Thanks for the cakes, guys!

Meet The Other Interns!

Just so you all know, I'm not the only intern helping out at Calvary Chapel Daejeon. We actually have a few other young people like myself serving in the same capacity here! And you thought I was doing this all singlehandedly...

First, we have Dean. He picked me up at Incheon when I first got here. He helps with a lot of Bible studies and serves in every way. He's got as much adventerous spirit as myself, if not even more! I borrow a lot of pictures from Dean. Thanks! He'll be leaving soon to return to Okinawa, Japan to continue Bible College. Be blessed as you continue to study the word, Dean!

And there's also Amanda, who I met at Bible College last year in California. She also leads worship here at the church here at CC Daejeon. She's in charge of the children's ministry on Sunday mornings. Also still a Bible College student, she too is heading back to Okinawa to finish up her last semester this fall! May the Lord guide, bless, and provide for you as you finish up!

And then there's Iza, the newest arrival from Japan, California, the Phillipines, everywhere! Just having graduated Bible College, she's a long term intern here to stay, and is helping in worship and taking over the children's ministry. Hopefully, I can borrow pictures from her...if her camera cooperates, that is! It'll be great to work alongside you, Iza! Give it your best! Or as the Koreans say: "Fighting!"

That's correct, we all are/were Bible College students in Okinawa, Japan. That's how myself and all these guys got in contact with the Pastor here at CC Daejeon.

But wait! There's more!

Enter Mike!

Meet Mike! (not Pastor Mike, just to clarify.) Through an unexpected turn of events, God has placed Mike R. here in our midst to help serve at the church for the time being. Wow, and does he serve! He loves serving and teaching the children here. Mike's straight up Canadian from Toronto. I'm glad you're with us, Mike! It'll be awesome! We'll see what more things God has in store for you in Korea!

What a sweet team! It's great to work together with all these people! You can pray for all these guys as we all help in various ways at Calvary Chapel Daejeon! Pray that God keeps "sending workers into the harvest field", for there's much to be done!

(And don't worry, I'll introduce the Pastor soon enough!)

Korea

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for tuning in. I made it safely and soundly here to Korea, and was warmly welcomed by the family of Christ here!

In case you didn't know, I'm here in South Korea serving the Lord Jesus at a church in a large city called Daejeon (about a few hours south of Seoul, the capital of the nation).

Over here, South Korea is heavily Christianized, just as America is. You can find churches and Christians all over the place! And like America, there is still a large need for just teaching the Bible.

Over here at the church, Calvary Chapel Daejeon, I'm involved in a lot of English speaking ministry. In Korea, many people know English, and many people also want to learn English. So a huge part of ministry, of service, is speaking with them English while we teach them the Bible and provide a means of fellowship in Christ.

I play a part here as one of several interns helping the pastor, doing things that need to get done. I lead in worship a few times a week, and lead an occasional Bible study. More than I realize, however, I suspect the biggest ministry is building friendships with those who come, and then encourage them in their walk with Christ.

Please pray for those Koreans who come to the church, that they may understand what the Bible teaches, and that they may grow in their walk with Him! Also pray for me, that I might have wisdom and humility with which to serve God, so as to be usable by Him!

Already, there's so much more to share, but I don't want the first post to be overwhelming. Look forward to more posts!

God bless,

Jesse