Lunar New Year

오랜만이에요! It's been a long time since I updated my blog. But now that I've bid adieu to Facebook for a season, I plan to post pictures and reflections here from time to time. Last week we celebrated the Lunar New Year with 3 days off work. I spent the first day relaxing with Alice and a couple church friends, Dawn and Lori. We went bowling, played Bananagrams, watched some "Andy Griffith," and just had fun together. I also got to attend our church's Wednesday evening service for the first time, since I usually work on Wednesdays. I felt like I was splurging all day, but it was good to spend a full day just having fun together.

Alice, me, Dawn, and Lori

On Thursday, the actual Lunar New Year's Day, I decided to spend the whole day to myself to re-charge my personal battery between big social days. For me, the key to relaxation is just to be alone. To not have to think for a second about how to harmonize or make decisions in a group, and to be free to be as spontaneous and introverted as I want. So I got up early Thursday morning and left the house before anyone could pressure me to join the holiday brunch or invite themself along with me for the afternoon. I walked to McDonald's for breakfast and enjoyed a leisurely coffee, just gazing out the window, wondering how to spend the rest of the day. I decided to take the train to Paju, a city on the northwest coast where there is an observatory that borders North Korea. Coincidentally, I visited an observatory on Lunar New Year's Day in 2014, too, so I guess it can be my tradition. I like to go about once a year to wake me up from my learned forgetfulness and nudge my heart to feel and pray again.

It was a 2-hour train ride to Paju, and then I took a bus for 30 minutes to catch a shuttle bus to the top of the small mountain where the observatory lies. I was surprised and impressed by how many families with young children were visiting the observatory on New Year's Day, the traditional day to commemorate one's ancestors and feast at home with all the extended family. Probably many of them had relatives in North Korea. On the plaza, there was a large tiered altar laden with fruits and other foods to symbolically offer to one's ancestors on this important holiday. There were also traditional games set up for families to play together. After strolling around the observatory exhibits, I spent a couple hours at the cafe reading the Bible and writing in my journal, before I went back outside to pray for North Korea and head back home. When I opened my eyes after praying, I was met with this sight of North Korea in the background and a bird and its nest in the foreground. I envy the freedom of this little bird and pray God will send workers into the harvest field.

South Korea in the foreground, North Korea in the background on the left.

Looking into North Korea

Watching a video about the border region

On Friday, I guided my friends to Chuncheon where we had plans to go hiking, stay overnight at a minbak (privately owned room for rent), and meet other friends at Nami Island the next day. We arrived by train around 11am, but the minbak owner said she wouldn't arrive until later in the afternoon to check us in. So we found a restaurant we thought looked good for supper and asked the owners (a kindly old couple) if we could leave our extra luggage at the restaurant if we made a dinner reservation. They said sure, so we shed our extra baggage and took a taxi to the Samaksan trailhead. As the group leader and the best Korean speaker in the group, I pretended to have no qualms about calling a taxi company to send a driver to pick us up, but I actually hate talking on the phone in Korean and was secretly thrilled when the words came out decently and a cab appeared within a few minutes to give us a ride--success!

It took about 2 hours to climb to the top of Samaksan, and 'climb' is not an exaggeration. The 'ak' in Samaksan means 'rock,' and it lives up to its name, a steep and rocky course, often vaguely marked and made more treacherous by a layer of icy snow. But it's just the right level of challenging, really: enough to clear your mind of other thoughts except where to place your next foot, but easily do-able, and with the right length and diversity of topography to hold your interest from beginning to end. On the way down, we enjoyed noodle soup at a little restaurant shack, owned by a friendly middle-aged woman and a bearded man with an eye-patch. Fun times. :-)

Kaia, Alice, and Silvie climbing up Samaksan

View from the top of Samaksan

At just 654m, it's great for a "baby" mountain.^^

Dry leaves in the foreground, snow in the background

Janchiguksu for lunch

After our hike, we took the bus back into town and played games at a coffeeshop for a couple hours before dinner. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I might actually be a little tired of Bananagrams. :-) We went back to the dalkkalbi (barbequed ribs) restaurant for dinner, and then retired to our minbak around 8pm. There was a mini-carnival across the street, and so it was good that we had enough to talk about until the noise died down outside and we could fall asleep in silence.

Saturday morning, we slept in, ate some breakfast food from the convenience store down the street, and took the train 15 minutes to Gapyeong, where we met my friend Mary and went together to Nami Island. It rained all day, but that didn't keep us from touring all around the small island, a tourist site made especially famous by the popular drama "Winter Sonata," which was partly filmed there. We met some other friends for lunch there, walked around in the rain for a while, and then warmed up at a coffeeshop before heading our separate ways home. Mary joined us for pizza and "Princess Diaries," a great way to end the day.

Nami Island ferry

A romantic scene from "Winter Sonata"

Mary and I

NK & The Word: Learning, Teaching, Resting

I've been interested in North Korea for a long time--at least 10 years, or since 2004 when I first went to the DMZ and started reading up on the country. Since moving to South Korea in 2008, I've continued to learn about the North and have had a few opportunities to get to know North Koreans. However, things had started to feel a little dry--tutoring fizzled out and volunteering for an NGO never got off the ground. But recently God has given me several exciting new opportunities to learn more and even get involved in sharing His heart with North Koreans.

A couple months ago, my friend Dawn invited me to tag along on a Bible study our pastor was leading at Yeomyung School, an alternative, secondary school for North Korean refugees. I was pretty excited, because I had actually inquired about teaching at that school a couple years ago when I was job-hunting (but they weren't hiring). It's absolutely amazing to me that God brought me back around to that same school, but in a different (and I think better :)) capacity than I had originally intended. It goes to show that God's ways are higher than our ways and He desires to bless us. Anyway, after observing two of Pastor Steve's Bible lessons, he asked me to step in for him while he went to the U.S. for two months, which brings me to where I am now.

The first week I was so nervous and felt really inadequate to teach about doctrine. We're starting out with the very basics--the Bible is God's Word, God is eternal, God is a Trinity, God is different from man, etc. But still, I had never led a Bible study for new Christians or unbelievers, or to people coming from such a different place, both culturally and spiritually. I felt totally out of my league. I'm thankful that my church brother Petros has been able to join me, help out, advise, and encourage me along the way.

Coffee with Petros at Bliss & Bless, a cafe in Myeongdong run by North Korean refugees, some who are graduates of Yeomyung School

Around the same time I got involved in the Bible study at Yeomyung, my friend Dawn (she introduces me to a lot of good things :)) sent me a text with a picture of a brochure she'd come across. It was for the International Mission School for North Korea (IMS4NK), a series of eight Saturday lectures related to North Korea and aimed at Christian foreigners in South Korea who want to learn more about what God's doing and ways to get involved. I signed up, of course, and it's been everything I hoped it would be and more. It's been so encouraging to learn about what God is up to, and also to simply gather with other Christians from around the city (and ultimately, the world), united by faith and by our common concern for the people of North Korea.

The sessions start with 30 minutes of praise and worship interspersed with prayer, followed by a 90-minute lecture, and then dinner for whoever's interested. Last week's speaker was Ben Torrey, son of the founder of Jesus Abbey, where I went for spring break last year with Kaia. It was a special blessing to have dinner with him and his wife Liz, who (I couldn't believe it) remembered meeting me at the Abbey last year. Their friend, who is a missionary for OMF, sat across from me and gave me a 31-day prayer book for North Korea. This morning, I made a last-minute decision to shove the prayer book into my bag before dashing out the door to Yeomyung School. On the subway, I pulled it out and opened to today's reading. Lo and behold, today's article was about Yeomyung School! What a blessing! I was so excited to show that book to my students at Yeomyung and to encourage them with the fact that people around the world were lifting up their school in prayer this very day! They were impressed, and I knew it was God who ordained the timing and led me to take the book along. So cool!

From OMF's prayer booklet for North Korea

The students at Yeomyung are exceptionally resilient, positive, and open to learning new things. And every week, their hearts and minds are a little more open to me and the message I bring. Please pray for God to enlarge my heart for them and to "establish the work of my hands" (Psalm 90:17 has come up a couple times this week). God also used Isaiah 55:10-11 to deeply encourage me as I prepared this week's lesson:

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

It's not me that does anything. God does it all! In our spiritual life, from the seed to the bread, from the rain to the bud to the bloom, God's Word does it all. And it does! His Word accomplishes and achieves its intended purpose. What a relief it is to rest in this promise, to know that the fates of these young students' spiritual growth and transformation does not depend on me having just the right words or the perfect lesson plan. God's Word is seed for the sower and bread for the eater, and God's Word will accomplish what God desires and will achieve the purpose for which God sent it. Please join me in claiming this promise by faith as you pray for the students and teachers at Yeomyung School. Pray also for the students as they take tests and prepare to enter college. Every week when I ask for their prayer requests, these are their most common concerns.

Overview of the Past Month

 

Easter marked the end of Lent and the end of my Facebook fast. I didn't understand what the fast had meant to me until Easter Sunday, when I realized I didn't want Facebook back in my life. I had discovered what it was to live free of status updates and my newsfeed, and I loathed the thought of it taking up residence in my mind again. I no longer feared or dreaded the thought of giving it up; I was eager to give it up. And suddenly, I knew--really knew in my heart--what the cross means to us who are only too eager to throw off our flesh and live by the Spirit. The crucifixion is not something to drag our feet to reluctantly, regretting the death of our flesh (our old man). It is a gift to be embraced with gladness, for we realize that in it, we find ourselves finally free from the fetters of our flesh, free to live the Christ life. This was my realization on Easter Sunday, that my self crucified with Christ is not a death to be resisted but embraced, just as I no longer dreaded but desired to live free from Facebook. And then, get this, Monday morning's devotion from The Green Letters was on this very subject:

The believer's Cross is the Cross of Calvary, the Cross on which he was crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). There the eternal emancipation proclamation was signed with the blood of the Lamb, and sealed by the Spirit of God. Every believer is thereby freed from all bondage, but every believer is not aware of the liberating truth. Sad to say, the only believers who are interested in freedom are those who have come to the place of hating instead of hugging their chains. . .We will be ready to take up our Cross when self becomes intolerable to us, when we begin to hate our life--"and hate not...his own life...cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). The deep burden of self and hunger to be like Him cause the function of the Cross--crucifixion--to become attractive. The long devastating years of abject bondage make freedom in the Lord Jesus priceless--the cost becomes as nothing to us! . . . Yes we begin to glory in the Cross, our very own freedom from all that enslaves, from all that would keep us from fellowship with our risen Lord. So we begin to take up our Cross, our liberation, our personal finished work held in trust for us so long and patiently by the Holy Spirit. . . And here is how we take up and bear our Cross: finally prepared by our needs, aware that our bondage was broken in Christ on Calvary, we definitely begin to rely on that finished work--we appropriate. Our attitude becomes: I gladly and willingly take, by faith in the facts, my finished work of emancipation that was established at Calvary; I consider myself to be dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ. This is taking up one's Cross. As we learn to do this, we begin to find these facts true in experience. The Holy Spirit brings that finished work of death and applies it to all of the old nature, which is thus held in the place of death--the death of Calvary. If and when we turn from the facts and begin to rely on anything or anyone else, including ourselves, self is released from the Cross--active and enslaving as ever. Through this process we are patiently taught to walk by faith, to maintain our attitude of reliance on the finished work of the Cross. (p.54-56)

While I learned a wonderful spiritual truth, I regret that contrary to my ideals, I've started using Facebook quite a lot again. As one of my friends duly noted: abstinence is a lot easier than self-control. I know the answer is in the Cross, in letting God strip away my fear of obscurity, my desire for human affirmation, my craving for cheap connections that cost me a few clicks here and there, and instead embracing the peace, restfulness, and clarity of living day by day, in one time zone, connecting with the people around me, doing things for the mere joy of it instead of anticipating a 'like' or comment when I post about it on Facebook. Not that it's impossible for you or me to use Facebook well--just that I personally find it challenging. But because of its advantages, I'll give myself a little longer before giving up completely.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple days after Easter, I celebrated my 28th birthday. I've already been 29 in Korea for several months, so I'm easily confused about my age. When the lady at the bakery asked how many candles I wanted for my cake, I couldn't remember how old I was, so I just told her a random number and then counted up from '86 to see if I was right. I wasn't. :-P Anyway, my family, community, friends, and students blew me away with their sacrificial love to make the day special. I had my main birthday dinner a few days early at my Korean parents' house with 15 or so guests. My Korean mom cooked all day to prepare the most extravagant dinner I've ever laid eyes on. It was an unforgettable night. On my actual birthday, co-teachers Michael and Heather, made homemade pizza at the office--only the second time we've had homemade pizza here in 2 years! That was really special, and Karen made my mom's chocolate cake to go with it. Yum! My students also made me feel so loved--from the ones who brought fancy cakes, to the ones who'd obviously spent their own allowance money on donuts, McDonald's, and ice cream. And the homemade gifts from my dear community friends were the icing on the cake--a commonplace book filled with inspiring quotes in Kate's neat handwriting, a scrapbook made by Minji, and a poster by Karen that affirms who I am in Christ (and who I am in the flesh, too, since she mentioned my love of choco-pies... or is it Christ in me who loves them?). :-)

Me and my four little ahjummas

They know I love McDonald's!

Labors of love



Precious words of grace from a friend who knows my faults

The pictures from my birthday dinner won't upload here for some reason, but you can find them on Facebook. . .typical. ;-)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now that the weather is warm and it's staying lighter longer, I've enjoyed playing basketball with my students a few evenings after work. We also had a really fun group games day at the Han River. Working with elementary kids (and my one middle schooler, too) is just so much fun. There are stories to tell after nearly every class about something funny one of them did. The best story from last month was when one student asked to go to the bathroom at the beginning of class. He still hadn't come back after 10 minutes, so I went out and asked the grammar teacher if she'd seen him. She said that he'd gone to the bathroom to go #2, but that after he was done he realized there wasn't any toilet paper in the stall. He didn't know what to do, so he called his mom on his cell phone to ask her to call the Connexus front desk so the secretary could bring him some toilet paper. So resourceful! I'm sure in my old age, my face will be creased with laugh wrinkles, thanks to these kids. :)

Obstacle course

Please don't miss my two 4th-graders in the foreground, avoiding all physical contact as they make a bridge for the other boy to run under. Hilarious!

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, as good as my birthday was and as much as I enjoy my job, the best part of the past month was a peace & justice learning tour in Hiroshima, Japan. Seven of us from Connexus and the Korea Peacebuilding Institute flew over on Wednesday, spent one night at the World Friendship Center, three nights with host families, and came back Sunday afternoon. At the World Friendship Center, we heard an a-bomb survivor's story and plea for nuclear disarmament, and I was especially moved by the Peace Choir's song of condolence for the victims of the Sewolho ferry accident in Korea. On Thursday we toured Peace Park and Miyajima Island, and on Friday we visited the A-Bomb Museum and Hiroshima Flower Festival.

Seoh-san, an elderly gentleman who volunteers at the World Friendship Center, showed us around the musuem. At the time the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, he was located behind a hill 3km from the hypocenter, which allowed him to survive without burns. However, his father, who had been in the city center, died 6 days later due to complications, his mother developed breast cancer, and his brother developed liver cancer, due to the radiation effects. He himself struggles with memory loss as a result of some brain problems (tumors, perhaps), which are suspected to be an after-effect of the bomb. When he finished guiding us around, I recounted his long list of losses from the atomic bomb and asked, "Don't you feel any resentment toward the U.S. for doing this?" He shook his head emphatically and seemed to brush my question right aside, as I lost control of my tears. "I just look to the future," he declared, and his warm smile and gracious spirit were sure evidence. I thought of the potential such a posture could have in my own life, as I choose to dwell on the past or look to the future, where it concerns offenses against me. If Seoh-san could live without bitterness, looking to the future, surely Christ in me can do the same.

L-R: Me, Kate, Seoh-san, Michael, Heather

Another highlight of the trip was getting to know my delightful host family. Chizuko-san, the wife, is 73, and her 84-year-old husband is the president of a university. They are very young at heart! Chizuko-san reminded me so much of my late grandmother, and so I was doubly blessed to spend time with her. She is so gracious and positive, laughs easily, is humble and warm, and at the same time elegant and refined. She encouraged Minji (my roommate) and I to come visit them again anytime, and to bring our friends. So let me know if you want to go to Hiroshima--I can't wait to go back!

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the week since I came back from Japan, there have also been a lot of highlights. On Tuesday night, my Korean mom and dad came over for dinner. Our community pulled together a potluck to celebrate 어버이날, or Parents' Day. And I pulled my first all-nighter since college, making a scrapbook of our 5 years together. The result was more satisfying than any research paper I pulled all-nighters for in college. ;-) I am so thankful--and so, SO blessed--by their faithful love and support. Our whole community is nurtured by their generosity.

Now the weekend's here and I find myself busier than ever. I started Saturday Korean classes again this morning, after a month's vacation between semesters. And tonight I attended my first session of the International Mission School for North Korea (IMF4NK), an 8-session course sponsored by a church in Seoul. Every Saturday evening until the end of June, there will be special lectures related to North Korea and introducing ways to get involved.

This month I started attending a Bible study that my pastor leads at a school for North Korean refugees, and now that he is on vacation in the U.S. for 2 months, I'll be the one in charge of leading it. I feel very out of my league, but I keep reminding myself that God uses the weak to lead the strong, and His grace is sufficient for my weakness. It's really neat because I inquired about teaching English at this particular school two years ago, but they didn't need any more English teachers then. Instead, God led me to Connexus and my new church, green pastures where he renewed and restored me and led me to grow spiritually. And THEN he led me right back to that school and opened the door for me to be involved in a Bible study there, the very kind of spiritual work I would've wanted to do in the first place (more than just teaching English). God is the master strategist, or as Karen said yesterday, the master Tetris player. I'm excited to see how His plan keeps unfolding.

Now it's 3AM, time to hit the sack before our staff retreat tomorrow. Never a dull moment around here! Thanks for reading!
 

"Camp 14" and letter to a Precious Soul

Today I attended a screening of the documentary "Camp 14: Total Control Zone," the story of Shin Dong-hyuk's life growing up in a North Korean prison camp, his unlikely escape, and his ultimate defection to and life in South Korea. (Watch it on youtube here!) If you've read the book Escape from Camp 14, the details of the story won't surprise you. But seeing his face as he tells it--through an interview that seems at times painfully persistent, with long pauses of pregnant silence, uncomfortable shifting, and unwanted remembering--is so much more personal than reading the book. I found myself nodding my head as if he were actually talking to me. In fact, seeing him struggle through the interview made me feel a bit guilty as a "consumer" of his story, someone who reads or hears a story, feels an emotional response for a few days or weeks, and then puts it on the shelf and starts a new story--like food going in and out of my digestive tract without my body absorbing the nutrients. To do such an interview, I'm sure his intention, as well as the intentions of the other two men interviewed--a former policeman and a guard at a prison camp--was not to elicit isolated cases of sympathy or compassion, but to educate, prepare, and lead us to work together for social change and advocacy. However, watching the interviews, my heart was stirred not so much for the people in North Korea, dire as their circumstances are, but for the defectors who, while living in political and physical freedom, are still in spiritual and psychological bondage.


I can't tell you the burden I felt as I watched Shin Dong-hyuk and the other two men reflect on their roles as victim and offender and sometimes what seemed to be a grey area in-between. One man mentions his fear of reunification, of someday running into the people he tortured. He didn't want to do the interview, but he knew if he didn't, others would. He says he'll never talk about it again after the interview's done. The other man seems more settled down in a way, but he lives with the burden of someday having to tell his young son the truth about his past. Both men seem anxious and insecure, laughing uneasily, sitting uncomfortably, visibly troubled and, I would add, tethered to their past like prisoners bound by ball-and-chain. Shin Dong-hyuk was in no better a condition, from my perspective. The past still haunts him in nightmares and daydreams, and you can see in his eyes a cloud of gloom hanging over him. He is still filled with shame, confusion, and, he says himself, anger. But what burdened me most was the three men's ignorance of truth, sweet truth, as outlined by God in the Bible: of atonement, salvation, and resurrection in Jesus.

Toward the end of the movie, Shin Dong-hyuk says that when reunification happens, he wants to be the first to move back to North Korea. He wants to live in the camp, in the little house where he was born, grow a garden, and live off the fruits of the ground. I was rather astonished. Move back to the camp? To the place of unspeakable pain and suffering? He says that while his body lives in South Korea, his mind is in the camp. Asked what he misses about the camp, he says, "I miss the innocence of my heart. . . I miss the purity of my heart."

I couldn't help but pray for him as I watched the interview. If I could speak to him--to any of the three men, actually--this is what I'd want to say...

********************************************************************************

Oh, Precious Soul, so loved, so wounded,
That you would know how to regain that innocence and purity which you seek. That you would know the truth, and the truth would set you free! The truth is, you did lose your innocence, but you lost it before you were born. You lost it when Adam sinned. Through him, we all became corrupt (Rom.10:23). Your sinfulness is in your very nature. You're right that you can't find your innocence in South Korea. But you can't find it in North Korea, either. You can't find your innocence in the camp, nor in the little house where you were born, nor in a garden plot up to your elbows in vegetables. But don't be dismayed, Precious Soul--there is Good News for you! You can find all you need in Jesus. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). In Him, there is love, forgiveness, mercy, healing, and eternal, abundant, resurrection life. While you were still a sinner, Christ died for you (Romans 5:8), paying the price for all of your sin--past, present, and future. When He died, atonement was made for your sin, that you might be reconciled to God through Christ (Romans 8:10-11). For the promise stands: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Through faith, your "old self"--your sinful nature--is crucified with Christ (Gal.2:20). "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). There is no doing--only believing and receiving what Christ has done for you (John 6:29, Eph. 2:8-9). In your old man, regardless of your day to day "success" or "failure" (experience), positionally you are a sinner. In your new man, regardless of your day to day "success" or "failure" (again, experience), positionally you are seated at the right hand of God, for your new life is hidden in Christ (Col. 3:1-3). That purity which you seek? I believe that desire is from God. And the frustration and despair that grip you? Is God not using them to draw you toward Him, to lead you to the end of yourself, that you might finally seize your striving and collapse into His nail-pierced hands, which are your healing (Isa. 53:5)? Precious Soul, Christ died for you, that you might have life. Hear what he says: "The thief [Satan] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). Let Satan steal no more. By faith in Jesus Christ, receive God's gift of salvation and eternal life today (John 3:16). And let it be known that God loves you! For it says, "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitation for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10)

"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:20-21)

Fundraiser for Jail, and CO's in Korea

Last night, I attended a fundraiser event for Sangmin, a friend of our community who will be sentenced to jail this week after his trial on Wednesday morning. For those who haven't followed his story, he is South Korea's first Mennonite conscientious objector (CO), and his choice to refuse military service will cost him 18 months in jail. The prison will provide him with one uniform, 2 bars of soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste, but the rest is up to him. Furthermore, inmates often pool their money to buy snacks to share, foods like ramen and so on. To "get in with the guys" and avoid being a leech, he'll need some money to contribute. If not, he will risk getting stuck with the so-called "3D" duties: dirty, dangerous, and (this one is debated) demanding/difficult/demeaning. So he anticipates needing $200 a month to foster relationships with his cellmates and have a relatively decent quality of life.

At last night's coffeehouse event, Sangmin's friend sang and played guitar, and then they did a duet followed by a Q&A "talkshow." I was impressed by the turnout and by the celebratory atmosphere. There was joking and laughter and picture-taking. And while this has been a really hard journey for Sangmin, costing him his home and even his parents to some degree, he was in good spirits last night and it was encouraging to see so many people supporting him, in presence at least, if not all in philosophy.

It's interesting... today I met another Korean CO, but he won't spend any time in jail. In fact, the government gave him free choice over whether to do military service or not. He chose not to, because if South and North Korea were to actively go to war (they technically are at war now), he would have to fight against his own brothers, his own blood. You may have caught on by now that he is a defector from North Korea, now living in South Korea. I'd like to go into length about his story, and about the documentary that preceded his Q&A session, in my next blog post. But first, is his military predicament really so different from the Christian's? As Christians, do we not consider ourselves brother and sister to Christians all around the world, not to mention that every person is created in God's image, regardless of religion? Then is our problem not the same as the NK defector's--the possibility that we would have to draw arms against our own brothers and sisters, against our own family? I'm struck by the paradox. South Korea, it's time to join other countries in providing alternatives to military service. How long will you persist in holding 96% of the world's imprisoned CO's?

Spring Update

It's been exactly 5 weeks since I've logged into Facebook or stepped into a McDonald's, and it's been really good for me in several ways. For one, I no longer think in status updates. ;-) Two, I've been reading so much! I finished John Eldredge's Walking With God (excellent--read it!) a few days ago, but I've still got plenty more to keep me occupied. I guess you could say reading has become a newfound hobby, one that was largely diminished by Facebook before. I still prefer non-fiction to fiction, but I'm enjoying a large variety of topics nonetheless: currently health, American history, conversational Korean, theology, and wildflowers.

 The last month has also been busy with hiking, a trip to the coast, a TESOL conference, dinner with students at our staff residence, language exchange, and time spent hanging out with friends. Juhee, Heather, Michael and I went hiking at Dobongsan on the first warm day of spring. I wish I had a nickel for every time a fellow hiker scoffed at Heather's footwear--Chacos, heaven forbid! We spent a good deal of the hike practicing beginner Korean, and this week we started our first "formal" class before work--it's really fun to teach Korean, especially to adults who are so motivated and positive. The hike was a decent challenge, and the view from the top was remarkable, although I didn't capture it well here.

 On March 22, a former Connexus teacher from Canada married a Korean from Gangneung, on the East Sea. So all the staff from Connexus and KOPI (Korean Peacebuilding Institute) piled into several vans and headed east for an overnight retreat. We serenated the bride and groom with a song at the wedding, and then we traveled an hour north to Sokcho, where we had a barbecue and played games Saturday night. Sunday morning, we had devotions and a community-building activity, and then we went to the beach, where I almost lost both my shoes in the ocean (thank goodness for Kaia's and Michael's quick reflexes!).

 

 

Last Saturday, I met Anna and another friend to look at cherry blossoms in Seoul, and then we went hiking with a couple teachers from our Korean class. The weather took a sudden turn for the worse, so our hiking was cut short, but we still got to see many wild azaleas. We used the extra time to refresh ourselves at a jjimjilbang, a public bath and spa. I've been to the public bath many times, but this was my first time to go with another Caucasian. Also my first time to have a friend scrub my back for me, like I've often seen Korean friends do for each other. So that was a heartwarming experience, haha. :-) After showering and sitting in the whirlpools for a little while, we got dressed in the unflattering jjimjilbang uniform (super baggy t-shirt and mom shorts), and spent the next several hours alternating between sweating in the oven room, freezing our bums off in the igloo room, covering our bodies with coarse chunks of salt to remove toxins through sweat, and eating kimbap, ice cream, and shikye. I think all that relaxation made me sleepier than if I'd gone hiking the whole day.

 

 

L-R: Hiking with Andee, Anna, Pei Rin, and Kate; Dawn, after church, in front of forsythia; wild azaleas at Cheongyesan.

Finally, of course, my main work is teaching kids, and I can't tell you how much joy and amusement I get from them. They're just so hilarious, and so stinkin' cute. I love the stuff they come up with--even their squabbles are amusing. But as usual, I enjoy the relational aspect of teaching more than the science of it. I've had a couple chances to share my faith this month, and that's been really special. I hope I'll have another chance with Easter coming up. Last weekend, one of my classes came over for dinner with one of Heather's classes. We had fun playing frisbee, making spaghetti (typical), and teaching the kids to play spoons (the card game). On April Fool's Day, I was too busy with report cards to plan any tricks, but one of my students got me good. He ran into class late, exclaiming how badly he needed to go to the bathroom, so I quickly waved him back out the door to take care of business. When he came back in a few minutes later, I noticed dried blood on his forehead and was concerned he had gotten into a fight at school. He seemed unaware of any injury and quite surprised to feel blood on his head--or so I thought. Then he said, "April Fool's!" and pulled out an eyedropper of fake blood, which he had apparently taken into the bathroom with him. I was oh-so-pleased! The first time a student pranked me! I was so pleased, in fact, that at the end of class I let him put more "blood" on his head and then rushed out to summon Karen's help for my student who had "bashed his head on the table." ;-) Fun times. I'm also grateful for the chance to play basketball with a couple students after work in the evenings. As the weather gets warmer and the days longer, I hope we can do more of that.

 

Some prayer requests to lift up:

• For me to eat of God's manna every day, that I might have wisdom and faith to meet each day's challenges and opportunities.
• For my friends who are unbelievers to be drawn to God, and for my believing friends to walk in freedom and relationship with Jesus, casting off the yoke of legalism and empty religion. Pray that for me, too, actually--I think I'm apt to drift.
• For Sang-min, the first Mennonite conscientious objector (CO) in Korea, who will be escorted to jail at the end of his trial on April 16. (In Korea, there is no alternative service for COs, and it is a crime to refuse military duty.) Sang-min will have a fundraiser this Friday night to raise money for his jail expenses. Pray for him to grow in his faith and relationship with Jesus, and to be a witness to the many Jehovah's Witnesses (also COs) whom he will meet during his year and a half in jail. Pray also for his parents, who cannot accept or understand his decision, that their relationship would be restored in Christ.
• For my upcoming trip to Japan (April 30-May 4) with other Connexus and KOPI staff--that we would glorify God in our unity as a group, in our conversation, in our response to unforeseen situations, and especially in our relationships and interactions with our host families. Pray for God to prepare hearts--both ours and theirs.