Prayer Stop Evangelism- Korean First

On Saturday, November 6th, we hosted the first ever Prayer Stop kiosk evangelism event in South Korea. We set up near a subway exit and bus stop where we thought there might be English speaking people. There were 9 people that came to minister through praying for others, passing out tracts, and speaking to people one to one. We passed out many Korean tracts. We passed out a few English tracts, too.

We were able to pray with two different people. The first young Korean girl , Young Seo Chae, came up right after we set up. We explained that we were there to pray for people and asked her if she had anything we could pray with her about. She said she didn't need prayer for herself, but wanted us to pray for her brother. On Sunday, he would be taking his high school entrance exam. This exam determines what high school that he is able to attend, or if he is able to attend at all. If he does well, he can attend a better academic school. If he does poorly, he will have to attend another not so good school, or may have to stop his education. Before we prayed together, I told her we pray in Jesus' name. I then asked her if she knew who Jesus was. She said she had no religion herself, but her brother was a Christian. I explained the Gospel to her and prayed for her brother with her. Please pray that what was said and the literature that she received would penetrate her heart and that the Spirit would draw her.

The second person we prayed for was a young boy with his mother. The mother asked for prayer for her son and his dream of writing. Pamela was able to pray with them that this young boy, Sky, would be able to use his writing skills to the glory of God. The woman was a little surprised at the prayer as she expected the prayer to be for him to become more serious about his studies.

I spoke with one couple from Canada for just a few minutes and they believed that everyone, including Hitler, would go to Heaven. They had a Catholic background. They left before I could challenge them on their beliefs, so pray that the tracts they received will prick their conscience.

We have no idea what God will do with the efforts we put forth on Saturday. Our reason for going is that the Lamb who was slain would receive the reward for His suffering.

If you want to know more about prayer stop evangelism, click on the title of this post and it will take you to a page with more information.

Things you take for granted in the US.

It's not until something is broken or gone that we realize how much we take it for granted. When the car breaks down and you have to do without it, you realize how much you take it for granted. When a loved one dies, you realize how much you took for granted that they had always been there. Living in a foreign land, you realize that you took many things for granted. For instance, being able to go to the grocery store anytime you want. Here the big stores like E-mart don't open until 10am and close by midnight or earlier. You also have to either walk or ride a bus to get there. No hopping in the car, buying the groceries, putting them in the trunk, and driving home. Here you have to take a wheeled cart and several re-usable bags to the store with you and either have to walk the mile home pulling or carrying the groceries or carry the bags and cart up into a city bus to ride to the bus stop outside our apartment complex. Once you get to the store, almost everything is written in Korean. This has been difficult for Pamela who is one of those people who liked to read every ingredient on the products she buys. It is really interesting when she was trying to decide which package was baking soda and which one was baking powder. She was tasting them to figure it out when Caitlyn came up and read the Korean characters that actual transliterated the English word. You also take for granted being able to be understood when you speak and to understand what is being spoken to you. You never knew how much you could communicate with just your body language. Sometimes, that is all we have to rely on. There have been many times where someone would come up and ask a question and we have no clue as to what they want. So, you tell them you don't understand Korean in Korean and they just keep right on talking in Korean to you. Then, I tell them I don't know much Korean, and they just keep talking. Finally, you just say bye and have to leave. You also take for granted your money. How easy it is to think in terms of dollars and cents and denominations like ones, fives, tens, and twenties. Here we have to think in terms of cheon (1,000) won, the smallest bill, o cheon (5,000) and man (10,000) won, the largest bill. I get paid in the millions here every month. So, I am a multimillionare in won every month. Then, there is riding the bus. Many of the driver's here are former race car drivers, or at least it seems like it. If you are in one of the seats, it isn't too bad, but if you have to stand, it can be pretty interesting trying not to fall down. I am amazed at how the Koreans can stand up on a bus or subway and read a book, watch TV on their cell phone, or text while the vehicle is in motion, especially the women in high heels. Another thing I had taken for granted was evangelism. Almost every week, I was witnessing on the streets in OKC. I have been in Korea for 15 months and have only been able to witness like 4 times. Most of those in the last week. Our church here in Korea has just started an Evangelism Explosion class and I was invited to attend. It is great because the pastor asked me to join the class knowing I had done evangelism before. It also is great because we are witnessing to foreigners in English. I don't know enough Korean to do much of anything, much less share the good news. Although, that is something I am wanting to learn to do in the near future. We have tons of people who come to visit our church just because it is in English. We are trying to meet up with each one to share with each one that they can know they are going to heaven. I took many things for granted living in the US that I miss now. In closing, take the time to look at what you have around you and be grateful for it, because tomorrow it could be gone. Don't take anything for granted, especially the little things. God has given you more blessing than you realize. Be thankful for them. Don't wait until your loved ones are gone to realize how much you loved and needed them. Let them know today how much you care. If you recieved this from me, then you know that I care about you and don't want to take our relationship for granted. While your at it, tell God how grateful you are for all that he has given you and for the relationship he died to have with you.

In His service in Korea,

Derek

Pics from Korean Folk Village and 63 Building

9 months in Korea

It's hard to believe that we have been here 9 months. We have been in a new city teaching at a new school since July 25th. Things are going very well at the new school. I received my first paycheck 3 days early and the teachers are great to work with. They are teaching the children Godly character using Character First curriculum that has been translated into Korean. I almost feel like I am working with Brandon and Rachel Werner as I put up one, two, and then three fingers. (One means look at the teacher, Two means sit up straight, and Three means smile.) This is so effective and makes it so you don't have to raise your voice to be heard. The Korean teachers are great to work with and are very patient with the children. I have a Korean-American teacher that is teaching English with me also. His name is Todd. He was adopted from South Korea at 2 1/2. His English is as good as mine. Todd grew up Catholic, but is pretty apathetic to religious things right now. He is married to a Korean women and they have two young daughters. Please pray as I try to build a relationship with him, share God's love with him, and share the Gospel with him.

My parents came to visit the end of July and had a great time. They thought it was very hot and humid here. The funny thing is that the week before and the week after they were here it was about 10 degrees hotter and was more humid. We took them to a Korean Folk Village to see some of the old style houses and some of the traditional music and dancing. We also took them to the 63 building. This is a famous building here in Korea that has Sea World in the lower floors, an Imax theater. The 62nd floor is all windows where you can look out over all of Seoul. (See pic, showing Seoul Tower) I think it would have been more spectacular at night, but it was still pretty cool.

Pamela has started homeschooling the kids again. They are still trying to work out a new schedule. They had almost found one that worked when we started homeschooling one of my bosses children. His name is YuBum (pronounced you bum), but his English name is Ben. They are compensating us for facilitating his English learning. He is studying all of his other subjects at the kindergarten where I work on the computer, but we are teaching him English and Bible. Please pray as we work with him. He is a very eager young man, but his family needs prayer. Pamela has also made friends with some people here in our apartment complex. One lady, Betty, has a young son and has taken our children to the zoo. Another lady, Anne, has started teaching Caitlyn flute. She spent some time in England and you can certainly tell it when she speaks. Her family is going to go to America in the future and her son doesn't speak much English, so while she teaches Caitlyn flute, Pamela and the other kids read and talk with her son. God keeps sending people he wants us to minister unto.

Finally, we have found a church home that we love that we can walk to from our apartment. It is called Global Mission Church or Jiguchon in Korea. It is part of a large group of churches that originated from America. The pastor is a Korean from Canada. His name is Bob Kim. The service we attend is all in English and it is a family service. We are still getting to know the people, but we really enjoy the messages.

Please continue to pray for us as we minister to the Korean people. Pray that we will begin to learn the language. It is very difficult to minister effectively when we can't communicate. Fortunately, many people here want to learn or practice their English. Pray that we will be able to use our English for God's glory. Pamela would like to go teach English at an orphanage with our church on a Saturday and I would like to go teach English at a North Korean refugee facility on Tuesday evenings. Our church has both of these ministries ongoing every week. Please pray that we can arrange our schedules to fit these in. Please pray for our family, especially Pamela and I's marriage. In a foreign setting, even little problems can be magnified making it marriage that much more difficult. If you have any questions or would just like to talk, please feel free to contact us.

In His Service,

Derek (for the Woods)
(405) 445-0180 (calls our computer, it's a local call for those in the 405 area code)
Skype- derek.l.woods
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On the other side of the door

It has been an interesting few weeks since our last update. We have packed all of our goods, moved them to a new apartment, unpacked the essentials, picked up my parents at the airport, spent a week on vacation with them, and sent them off to Japan for the rest of their vacation.

Let's back up and take things one at a time. First, we finished teaching at DICS and said goodbye to everyone. We had a party on the last day and the principal handed out summer vacation homework packs to all of the children. They are supposed to come to school from 9am to noon everyday to read books and watch movies in English. They are supposed to do like 20 book reports over their reading during the summer also. I asked one of the older boys if the principal understood that they were supposed to have some fun over their summer break. He said he didn't think so. Second, on Wednesday the 16th, we finished packing up everything in our apartment only to find that the movers would have packed most everything for us. We then rode a bus from Ochang to Nambu bus station and took a subway to Bundang where my new school is located. We then went to our new apartment to meet the movers. We told them where to put all of the boxes and set up for our first night there. The school owners took us out to eat that evening and we purchased a few things we needed to survive in the new apartment such as food and cleaners. The apartment is much smaller than the one we had in Ochang and is much older. The bathroom tile grout was black, but was supposed to be white. The kitchen didn't even have a range to cook on. There was a lower cabinet it was supposed to be on, but there wasn't one there. The new school purchased one for us and had it installed the next day. Pamela spent most of Thursday and Friday cleaning and unpacking. I helped with what I could. Friday evening my parents arrived from Oklahoma. The director of my school was supposed to help me drive my parents from the subway to our apartment, but his phone malfunctioned and didn't work for the next several days. I had to put them on a public bus and then missed my stop. We had to catch a cab to my apartment, but I couldn't give him the address. (Remember I only have been here for two days.) I remembered the name of my apartments and wrote the name out in Korean so he put it in his GPS and it gave him directions right to them. Thank God for being able to read and write in Korean. We had a great vacation time visiting a few places with my parents and this morning we put them on the bus to the airport. I start teaching on Monday and still have to do some things to update my visa. Please continue to keep us in prayer as we transition to our new apartment and location. Our apartment is small, but it is now clean. Pamela took hours cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen. We still have to unpack many things. The positive side is that we now have air conditioning where we didn't in Ochang. We also have walking access to large shopping centers that we didn't have in Ochang. We had to have someone drive us or ride a bus a half hour to shop there. I am very impressed with my new school and the management I will be working with. Pray for Pamela and the children as we try to figure out where to put all of our things and how they are going to homeschool here in this small apartment.

Last Sunday, we attended a church near my school called Global Mission Church. This is a large church that has an English service. They also have a family service within walking distance of our new apartment. We will probably attend it this Sunday. This church has an outreach to two different orphanages teaching English and also goes once a week to help teach North Korean refugees. Orphans have been on Pamela's heart for quite some time. Most Koreans don't like to talk about orphanages and the children in them. I have a burden for the North Koreans. At our previous school, I talked with the teenagers about the North Koreans and they said they didn't really think about the North Koreans much at all. These fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are severely persecuted for their faith while just miles south the South Koreans enjoy freedom to worship. It is good to find a church that wants to reach out to these forgotten people.