Family Time! Movie!

 

At the orphanage we help at, we had the chance to be a part of a special program that they put on for the kids. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s a program to spend some special time with the kids in a family atmosphere.

Many of the kids at the orphanage still have living parents, but who are unable or unwilling to care for them. For many kids, the idea of family can be a negative thing, for oftentimes the only thing the child remembers about family is abusive or unloving parents. That’s something they take with them as they grow up, and this program was made to change that.

Over quite a few events throughout the year, the children spend time with volunteer families, and go do cool stuff, in order to give the child a positive and edifying experience with a family.

Here’s two of the kids that I was helping with! The boy, Gun-Mok, and his twin sister, Gun-bi! They’re sweet and fun to be with!

So a few families from our church helped, as well as some families from elsewhere. At this particular time, we got together and watched a movie and ate dinner with the kids.

I think dinner time was the most enjoyable time. Man, those kids really challenged my Korean speaking abilities! Every time I visit, it makes me want to get better at Korean, so I can communicate with these kids better!

Crowded Subway

We took the Okinawa group back up to Seoul when their time here was up, so that they could get back to the airport. We took the subway to the airport, and it was crowded!! Check out the video if you want!

Mexican Food

 

One of the things they don’t have a lot of in Korea is Mexican Food. I didn’t realize it at first, but it’s hard to get. Generally, we can’t find real Mexican food in Daejeon. So sometimes, when we are in Seoul…

We visited a small legit Mexican restaurant, and it was pretty good. Sort of expensive, but, you can’t really complain about that, because it’s overseas.

It turns out, however, that something new is coming to Seoul, which won’t bode well for the smaller Mexican restaurants.

Taco Bell is coming to Seoul! (and hopefully eventually to other parts of Korea, too!) Up to this point, Taco Bell only appeared on American military bases which we usually don’t have access to anyways. But this one in Itaewon will be accessible when we’re in the area.

Now I know that Taco Bell isn’t real Mexican food, so please don’t be offended. But it’s worth mentioning alongside food that we miss over here and would love to eat!

Visitors and Volunteers

Also in the Spring time, we had some people come out and visit and help out in the ministry with us for a little bit.

We had two missionaries come stay with us, Bob and Mike, and help us out with everything, especially with serving the underprivileged. They helped out at the orphanage, and also joined us as we began serving at a disabled person’s shelter.

Bob is the one on the left, and Mike is the one on the right.

Also coming back to visit were the Bible College Students from Okinawa, Japan!

There’s quite a few of the Korea group all mixed in here, too…

With all these new visitors, we for the first time started helping with a disabled persons’ shelter nearby, called House of Hope.

 

In Korea, people who are physically or mentally disabled get shunned by their families and sent away relatives who are ashamed to have them living in their household. So places like House of Hope exist to house and help such people who are put out by society.

This place was started by a Christian who had become lame himself while he was in college, due to a hang-gliding accident. Being handicapped himself, he uses his unique situation to help others suffering in similar circumstances.

When we go over to help, many times we do manual labor—usually yard work or helping with farming—yes, farming! They grow some of their own food here, so they don’t have to spend money buying it!

 

We dug up a lot of rocks in a field, and started to plow it!

We also spend time with what they call the “family” here. Sometimes we eat with them, or just hang out with them, like playing sports or walking around. They’re real sweet!

And we also get to hang out with the workers, too, and minister to them, too! Some of them are Christians, but some aren’t, and still need to see the light of Christ.

I did get to hear a testimony of one of the workers, and how the man who started the House brought that person to trust in Jesus. Awesome!

It’s not always easy, but it’s really cool to be able to come and help out at the House of Hope.

College Bible Study!

It’s been a while since the last post…but we’ve still been doing stuff!!

This spring we started doing some more College ministry. We’ve been going to a nearby college, Chung-nam University, and doing some English teaching/Bible Study. Well, we haven’t done so much on the campus itself, but have met at a nearby Presbyterian church (which is really close to the college). So, we get to hang out with a few students, talk with them, teach English, and also teach the Bible! And we eat lunch with them afterwards! I’ve got to personally make some friends with some of them, too!

 

Here’s Daniel teaching a new praise song…and singing it, too!

 

Usually, we break up into small groups for the English and Bible time.

And afterward, we’d often have lunch together at various places around the church, like at the university.

What an opportunity to be able to hang out with these guys and teach them the Bible! Awesome!

Late Winter Snow

 

I couldn’t believe it, but…in March it snowed even harder than it did in February! It was great! There was snow everywhere for a few days.

 

I got to take a bunch of these photos of the surrounding city and hills from Daniel’s new pad! So beautiful! (Click the pictures to get a closer look!)

Daniel is back in Korea!

And we’re all very excited for him! He used to be one of the interns before I came, and he went to Italy for a short time as a missionary. Now he’s come back for long term, and is joining up again on staff at the church. Sweet! He’ll be helping with …pretty much everything again, including doing worship, leading a Bible study, and doing outreach and planning events and stuff. Sweet! It’s great to have him back here helping again!

Here he is leading worship with Canadian Mike on the box in the morning.

And Keep rocking that Korean language, Daniel!

Spending Time at the Orphanage

Every week we get to spend some time at a local orphanage in Daejeon. There’s between 60 and 75 kids there, but they all seem to be pretty well taken care of, at least for their physical needs. Usually on Saturday we go over there to hang out and play with the kids, and also do an English class for a few of the high-schoolers.

Here’s our class during break time, where we bust out all sorts of Korean snacks!

One difficulty I have especially is remembering names. Not many of the kids at the orphanage have English names. Not being used to Korean names makes it harder to remember them, and just with the number of kids there, it gets harder. But it is great when I do remember a kid’s name.

I think a direct correlation of knowing more Korean would be that I’d be able to reach out and bless these people better, I think. One thing which is great, though , is that we’ve got some more Koreans who’re part of our church family coming alongside and getting involved with the orphans, too! Praise the Lord!

Daecheon Dam

A group of us went to the beautiful Daecheon Dam, within an hour’s drive of Daejeon, our city. Above the dam is a very large, very long lake, which stretches for miles! 

It’s a nice lake, and a nice place to visit to get away from the city. Apparently, on the other side of the lake is some off-limits government property!

There’s also some Buddhist temple up on the hill on the right picture. I’m not sure what it’s all about, though.

CC Daejeon on Sunday

 

At some point this month we took a group picture because…I can’t…really remember why. But here’s some of our Sunday crowd! So above we have the Sunday morning crowd, and we have below the Sunday evening crowd! At least, most of those who’ve been coming lately! We just thank the Lord for the growth He’s brought, in bringing these individuals to be part of our church family here! Also, it’s been wonderful to see growth in these people over the months that I’ve known them here at CC Daejeon!

Welcome Christina!

She came before for a few days with the Okinawa team in October, but now she’s back to serve long-term as an intern here with us at the church!

She helps here with the Bible studies and English times we have through the week, and with the women’s Bible study with Hye-Young, not to mention teaching the kids church on sundays! She’s a great help with us through the week even as she rocks school classes all the way over here in Korea!

Here we have the “Passing of the Phone” ceremony, where she receives the white intern cell phone, which first belonged to Sosimo, then Iza, and then John-Michael. Now Christina!

Pastor Mike and Hye-Young

Recently (like February, I know) we celebrated Pastor Mike and Hye Young’s anniversary at the church. They’ve been married for over 10 years, but I can’t remember exactly how many. They’ve been serving the church here together since it started in 2008. Pastor Mike teaches the Bible studies in English, and Hye-Young translates for him on Sunday mornings, and also does a women’s bible study. What a blessing it is to have them give so much here at CC Daejeon!

More Goodbye’s

We had to say goodbye to two of our foreigner/helpers this winter:

Dave and John-Michael.

In January Dave’s visa was up to leave Korea, and he hasn’t yet received his missionary visa for Japan, so for the time being he left to the USA again. He’s getting involved over there with his church again and with spreading the gospel to others, and waiting to see what will happen in the future with Okinawa and Japan. Dave’s been a blessing and an encouragement to me, and got me started thinking how important it is to tell others about Jesus Christ.

We said goodbye at the bus station, but before that—we had some toast!

Mike and John-Michael aren’t too happy about him leaving, I guess. Perhaps it was the toast???

Then it soon came time to say goodbye to John-Michael! He was a great help with doing worship and stuff these past couple months, like covering for me when I was in California, but it came time for him to go back to Bible College in Okinawa.

May God bless you both, Dave and John-Michael, as you seek to serve Him wherever He sends you! It's been great to have you both here help with us!

“Jinsoo’s Revenge!”

So we once again started up the Bible Study at Jinsoo Foreign Language Institute after the break. And wow, were there a ton of people here! There were like…over 60 students attending the bible study(maybe over 70)! The classroom was packed out.

Definitely important to consider is the fact that right now the students have been on winter break from college, which is pretty long, and when that happens, a lot more people go to the private institutes like Jinsoo—and consequently, to the Bible study, too! What a blessing!

Still, I’ve never seen it so packed before!

What’s interesting is that there’s quite a mix of Christians and non-Christians in the group, since many come primarily to practice English. So, it’s a good opportunity to meet new people (as they come through all the time), and be able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, and invite them to church and whatnot. We’ve met more than a few people that way. So our prayer is to be able to teach them the Bible, get to know them, and ultimately make of them disciples of Christ.

Frozen River

It turns out that it got so cold in Daejeon that the Gapcheon River froze over! Awesome!

Some of us went looking for a place to go ice-skating on the River, but couldn’t find it. Oh well. We did walk on the River. Never done that before!

   

See, you can see that bridge in the back. Yeah. We’re on the river. And they’re laying down.

All this snow and ice…totally cold, but totally amazing!