Our First Three Weeks In Korea

1/27/2011

On Blogging

Well, we had good intentions to blog regularly. Kathryn likes to add lots of details to help others feel and experience what we are going through, and I like to share “deep” and “spiritual” things that challenge and/or encourage others. I think we are waiting to have the time to sit down and focus on posting insightful things. We are starting to see that we may not be able to peel away so easily to do that sort of thing. We have been here three weeks and our posts are getting fewer and farther between already.

We have not had a “normal” week yet. We are slowly establishing our routine. The Korean schools start their next term in March and that is the calendar we are working on since our primary role is teaching. So the church programs and Kathryn's work at the Academy are tied directly to the public school schedule. We have finished the paper work for immigration (this week). Kathryn is a legal, card carrying immigrant and Sam, Will and I should be also, when the paperwork goes through (February 7). So far our best week has seen three days of homeschool.

Settling in During the Storm

What is keeping us so busy? I'm glad you asked. Let me give you a snapshot of our lives since we arrived. We left for South Korea on Wednesday, January 5^th. Arrived at Incheon on the 6^th. Took the day to unpack on the 7^th and got moved in to our new place, met with the KidsWorship team briefly and had a meeting with Pastor Kidoong covering our responsibilities at the church. On Saturday the 8^th we had to show our faces at a pastors meeting at 9AM and we hung around the Kids Worship offices for a while. That evening we met the worship team for the young adult ministry and had dinner together. This young adult group (college students plus a few early career folks) is our personal small group. They have pretty good English and they are all great people. They have been so helpful to us. Saturday, we met them just to get aquainted. On Sunday we were introduced at five different services starting at 8 o'clock. We did not have to sit through each service but we did have to get presented to the church five different times. At 3 o'clock, we went to the childrens English service that I help lead, followed by the weekly meeting of the young adult worship team. As a group we chose The 4:8 Principle as the book that we would be working through together. For these meetings Kathryn leads worship and introduces a new song each week and I lead the discussion and Kat and I tag team teach through the book.

On Monday we left for Horeb Retreat center (about three hours away). This is a privately owned youth retreat center that we will be working with at times. That evening Kat led worship for the retreat center staff and the kids played in the snow (this place is cool and it's out in the country). I am sure we will talk more about this place in the coming months. On Tuesday, the 11^th, we did some filming for a video at Horeb and that evening we went snow skiing with the kids. We drove home that night after finishing skiing at 10 PM.

The next day Kathryn went to the hospital to get a full battery of test so she could be approved for her immigration status. After the hospital we all went to see the Academy where Kat will be working, as well as the Tae Kwon Do gym that I will work at.

On Thursday the 13^th Sam, Will and Barry left for a young adult retreat for two days that included indoor baseball and a visit to a waterpark. Kat did not go on the retreat because she was starting to get sick, but while we were gone she got to hang out with Ansley which was good for her. The kids and I got home Saturday and rested until we reunited with Kathryn that evening. Then Sunday rolled around again- I attend the 10:30 youth service, I help lead the 3 o'clock English kids worship service, and we co-lead the 5:30 young adult meeting (with worship and teaching). That is my regular Sunday schedule at present.

Rolling up Our Sleeves

Then Monday the 17^th came, this was Kat and I's first week of work. In the morning we all went together to immigration to begin getting Kat processed to get her card to be legal. Until this is done we cannot get bank accounts, cell phones, etc. Needless to say this is pretty important. We went to immigration at 9 o'clock, got lunch at Insadong, and headed off to drop Kat off at work by 1:00 PM. She usually leaves for work at noon Monday through Friday and returns home at 7 PM.  Kathryn worked Tuesday and I had my first day of teaching at the Tae Kwon Do gym.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I do the warm up, strength, flexibility and balance portions of the TKD classes. I also teach English vocabulary as we work out. Wednesday was a typical work day for Kat and I. The big event for me this day was to make the trip home by myself. The most difficult part was to convince Master Lim (my boss) to let me go. He is a great guy but was worried about me getting lost on the subway. The trip takes about an hour and I have to change lines at transfer stations several times along the way. He thought that navigating through the maze of subway tunnels might be too much but I was able to convince him that it is hard to lose a Marine with a map.

Homeschool Begins

By Thursday we were really anxious to get homeschool started back so the kids could have the stability of a routine. Also, after too long of a break it's hard to get them motivated again. This provides a good excuse to slow down a bit with the outtings. Friday the 19^th was homeschool again as well as an evening trip (when Kat got home from work) to E Mart. E Mart is the Korean equivalent of Wal Mart. It's a good place to shop and has just about everything you need in one place (groceries plus clothing and items for the home). Saturday we took a break from the action, although we still hung out with some friends this day. They helped us to figure out what our monthly bills would be and how to set up payments and the like. Sunday was the typical schedule for me. I am not required to go to the youth service but it is important to me to get to know the kids and to build relationships with them. I feel called to the age group since they are so open and are usually searching for influences as they formulate their own ideas about life and the world. Being a novelty in this culture brings the spotlight and also provides a platform to speak into the lives of some. It is also rewarding to see growth in others and this is an age of accelerated growth. At the kids service we also launched a demo video that Sam and Will helped me make. This went over well and will become a feature for the spring semester as we write the new cirriculum.

Plugging

A new week began and we got back to the books but not without interruption. Monday was homeschool for the three of us and Kat started a new work week. Tuesday- Sam, Will and I had our turn at immigration. We had to wait for Kathryn to get processed fully because she is technically our sponsor for our family visas. Wednesday was work for Kat and another homeschool day for Sam and Will. Thursday we shopped for shoes in the AM but were still able to complete it in the afternoon. Tomorrow (Friday) I will leave for a middle school/high school retreat. Lucky for Sam and Will- another day off.

Now that we have an abridged recording of the events of our first three weeks, hopefully we can begin to keep a weekly journal of the next forty-nine. We want this to be a site people can visit to be entertained and challenged. A place to learn about a new culture, a place to meet new people, a place to help us understand ourselves and our neighbors and a place for us to remember that God is continually at work in our lives. Thanks for reading, we hope you are blessed.

On the Homefront

Hey!  We're slowly getting settled. I've had my first trips to E-Mart and Costco, my first cold, my first bout of homesickness and my first solo subway trip (I had to ask for lots of help).  We're getting there... We have a mini super market and a restaurant in the building, which is AWESOME. I took the elevator down to B2 and bought milk for our cereal this morning.  That's not something I could ever do in the States.

I still need to register with immigration and get legal so I can get our phones, bank account, etc.  The hospital physical went fine.  They were all so kind and helpful (and thorough).  I had 3 of our English worship team members with me.  One of the guys was a little too helpful.  He accidentally tried to follow me into the bathroom for my urine sample collection. Ha!  It was an honest mistake. He carried my coat around for me and they followed me (almost) everywhere I went.  It was very reassuring, and a little comical.

My first day of official work is tomorrow.  I'll be teaching English at S&P Academy aka "Heaven and Earth School" and working primarily with 1st graders from 1pm to 6pm.  Our tentative weekly schedule will have me working M-F, 1-6pm with a 30 minute commute by subway in both directions. Barry and I will co-teach the kids for home school.  I'm planning to use my Korean language text from UGA to give the whole family Korean lessons and Barry will teach the rest of the subjects to the kids while I'm at school.

Barry will teach physical fitness/Tae Kwon Do on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at a local Tae Kwon Do Academy with a guy from YounDong Church.  He will lead a small group Saturday afternoons and then help with kids and young adults English services on Sunday and then we'll co-lead the English adult worship service on Sunday nights.  (I'll lead worship and we'll tag team teach.) So, that's life as we know it right now.

I got to see Ansley Burns yesterday.  That was refreshing.  It was a welcome reprieve from all the "new."  We'll keep y'all posted.  Love and miss you.   ~Kathryn

Worship

It's cool to go to a praise and worship service where you don't understand a word.  It releases your focus from being on what is said or what you think about what is being said.  I thin o fGod's word that tell sus He inhabits the praises of his people.  I am free to bask in that fact and enjoy being surrounded by the presene of God. 

There were maybe 150 or so young people packed into the auditorium today.  Sure some were clearly not interested, after all, they are typical high school and middle school kids.  Also, there were a group that are merely singing the words on the screen.  But, thank God for the remnant of kids who are truly communing with God.  These are the ones who worship in spirit and in Truth and are responsible for inviting God's presence into this place.  Thank God for this remnant because without God's spirit our meetings are worthless and void of eternal value.  If the Holy Spirit is not invited in, then the chances of him affecting others is severely reduced.

The picture in my mind is of a castle wall under siege.  God's powerful presence surrounding the thick stone walls around wounded hearts.  How can God break down the walls and invade guarded hearts with his love if we don not invite his presence into the place where the resistant ones dwell?

Barry's Thoughts

Have you ever felt like you were born at the wrong time? You know like when as a boy you wish you had been born during the cowboy days. When it was perfectly normal to carry a gun everywhere you went and everyone rode horses and if you had a problem with someone you could take it out to the middle of the street and settle it like men. No clocks to punch, no paperwork that had to be filled out, instead you just did what you had to do.

Lately I have been thinking about what it means to be a missionary. I think the draw of missions is that it is a place where the love of adventure and a God-given love for people meet. What we are doing as a family here in South Korea is an adventure no doubt, but it seems to have a little less risk and a little less sacrifice than I had imagined. Sure there are sacrifices and risks but they all seem so manageable at present. I envisioned this to require a faith that caused you to lean heavily on God. So far I feel, like I always have, that leaning on God is a choice but you can totally get into the flow of doing things your own way and miss that closeness of leaning on God that is available.

I think that if I were born in the days of David Livingstone or Jim Elliot the draw to unexplored lands and unreached people would pull us into a life of danger and the unknown. This in turn would require unhindered unity with God for daily survival and sanity.  I don’t know, maybe that was not the case for them either, maybe those guys had to choose to follow and obey God on a daily basis just as we do. Not to mention I don’t think many women ever romanticize the opportunity to trade places with Mrs. Elliot or Mrs. Livingstone. 

The test is to learn to embrace where God placed you in human history and learn to make choices to honor him in all things regardless of your station in life. Let us put Jesus first in our daily life and ask for the vision and discernment to recognize opportunities to impact our world. Let us seize those opportunities to advance his kingdom however they present themselves. Be devoted to the King whether our times bring peace or peril.

Personally I am choosing to put the laptop down and go sit with the Lord- Now!

Signing off…   Barry

We're Home!!!

Wow!  So, it's Thursday evening back in Georgia and it's Friday morning here in Seoul.  We left our house in Statham around 8am Wednesday.  Ginger drove us to the airport in a church van.  Thank you, Ginger!  Our flight left around noon on Wednesday and we flew for about 14 hours and then we arrived at Incheon Thursday, January 6th around 5pm.

The first thing that happened after we went through immigration and collected our bags was buying ice cream for the kids.  They needed a little pick me up after such a long trip.  While we waited for Kidoong to pick us up in the airport I bought the kids mint chocolate chip and shooting star from Baskin.  It perked them up for a good 30 minutes. Ha.

Kidoong picked us up in a van and it took about 2 hours to get to his family's apartment.  The kids were sacked out during the ride.  He said that the KidsWorship team wanted to greet us at his place and eat pizza together and after that we would go to our agreed upon housing at the church.  We were looking forward to finally getting to our apartment and dropping our bags in our new "home" and getting some rest.

From what we understood, our apartment was on the 7th floor of the church building.  It's a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom unfurnished place, but it did have a sink, stove, bathroom, etc. so I knew we'd have everything we needed.  We brought clothes, air mattresses and toiletries and were planning to make an E-Mart run to get the basics for the kitchen, etc.  This is where the surprise came in.  As you can imagine, we're still a little messed up by the shock. We got to Kidoong's apartment and when we walked in the door we saw this:

Kidoong and his family were giving up their apartment for the year and living in the 1 bedroom apartment that we were supposed to live in.  Stunned and in utter disbelief we were greeted by the KidsWorship team, ballons, cakes, wings and pizza.  Barry and I were both in shocked and almost embarassed.  We came to serve not be served!  I'm still stunned.  I gave up my bathtub and fireplace, Will gave up his legos, Sam gave up her personal space and Barry, well Barry could live anywhere.  But, we get here to find beds, cozy heated floors, functioning kitchen, bathtub, legos, wi-fi, TV, DVD player, couches, kitchen table, washer, treadmill and more.  WHAT?!?  Wow.  The learning curve for living here will be pretty steep.  That should be an adventure in and of itself.  We'll pay the utilities and fees, but God has already provided work, so that's covered.

This morning we opened up the devotional that our pastor gave us before we left for this trip. Today's entry was based out of Ephesians 3:20.  Our God is a God who does more than we can ask for or imagine.  Yes, He is and we are simply amazed.  May our thoughts and days continually be filled with thanksgiving and praise to our God.

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