19 months in Korea

After 19 months, life is becoming fairly normal. Well, as normal as life overseas can be. Other than everyone here having dark hair and eyes and hearing Korean spoken everywhere, there are times where I forget that I am overseas. I go to work everyday, come home every evening, and spend my weekends with my family. We buy groceries, take out the trash, and eat out at restaurants occasionally. So, all in all, we live a fairly normal life here in Korea. Even hearing Korean spoken all around us isn't that disconcerting or even distracting anymore.

We do have some interesting experiences still, though. A few weekends ago, we went to Namdaemun market, an outdoor market with just about everything. We were just about done for the day when we went by this stall and this man was there. He was a seller of underwear.... ladies underwear. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's my thousand. The funny thing about this is he was just displaying his wares. He wasn't really trying to dress in drag or anything. This was just his gimmick to get people to look. It made us stop, but only to take a picture.


I had a meeting with my school owner's recently about renewing my contract. We had a few things that needed to be worked out for me to re-sign my contract. My main stipulation was that I needed a new apartment. This apartment is really, really small and it has a huge mold problem. It has caused us much sickness over the last year. The problem with this is that my school signed a two-year contract on this apartment. This means that they have to find someone to rent this apartment before they can get me another apartment. I just found out on Friday that they have found someone who wants our present apartment. They want to move in by July 8th, but my school didn't think that our budongsan (realtor) could find us a suitable place that quickly. I think if we put some pressure on them, we could do it. I mean it's almost three weeks. My school asked them if they could wait until August and they agreed. So, we should be moving within the next month. It should happen before I come back to the states in July.

Speaking of coming back, I will be in the states from July 23rd through July 31st. I will be emptying out our storage shed while there. I will be giving away many of the things we can't take with us or store at my parent's house. So, I may have some things you need. I would really like to see as many of you as would like to see me while I am there. If you would like to see me, please let me know so we can schedule time to get together.

Also, please be aware that Pamela has started her own blog. http://walkndwoods.blogspot.com Check it out for stories about the family and what they are experiencing.

Burning

We use this word in many ways. You could say, "I am burning the candle at both ends" to say you are very busy. You could also say, "I have a burning desire to..." to say that we really want to do something. It can also be used to say, "I am burning out" to mean that we are getting tired of a particular situation. I could actually say all three of these about my self right now.

I am burning the candle at both ends because I am working my full-time job at the kindergarten, am teaching one private lesson a week, am attending an evangelism class after that, am teaching English to North Korean women refugees every other week, and am meeting with one to two people a week to share the Gospel through my evangelism class. Now add to that that I am married with 5 children and living in a foreign country and you can see why I would say that I am burning the candle at both ends.

I could also say that I am burning out. My class schedule seems to be one of non-stop classes with no time to prepare for the next one. I am supposed to have time each day to prepare for my upcoming classes, but that has pretty much disappeared. I either have to stay late or arrive early to prepare. Luckily, I am pretty good at winging things and one lesson plan teaches multiple classes. I still feel very tired and am in need of a good vacation away from work.

Lastly, I have several burning desires. Mainly, I have a burning desire to share the gospel with the people here in Korea. I am fulfilling part of this desire by evangelizing through my church, but I am only witnessing to foreigners from America, Canada, or elsewhere. I desire to share with Koreans in Korean. I also have a desire to see family and friends that I haven't seen in over a year. My final burning desire is to know God's will for my family here in Korea.

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

Jeulgeoun Kindergarten Graduation '09

Merry CHRISTMAS to you all.

Home(sick) for the holidays

Well, this is my second Christmas away from home for the holidays. Last year wasn't so hard because we still had Thanksgiving at home and we were so exhausted for Christmas with the move. I wasn't sure how this year would affect me and my family emotionally. Just before Thanksgiving, Pamela and I both went through a time of depression missing family, friends, and church. Our kids also had some homesickness also. As we have passed our first anniversary here in Korea, we feel joyful for the time here and for all God has brought us through in that first year. Yet, as we approach the rest of the holiday season, we really are all missing everyone there. We miss some of the Christmas spirit that is evident in the states that is not present here. Christmas day all of the businesses will be open and have an as usual day. One thing we don't miss here though is the commercialization. The Korean people don't do much of anything special for Christmas. It seems to just be a day off for them. We really didn't know how much we would miss those close to us during this time. We truly miss all of you. We want to see you all again. If you know anyone that is overseas, or just away from home, for the holidays, please remember to pray for them and maybe even to send them a card letting them know you are thinking of them. Sometimes it can feel pretty lonely on the other side of the planet from your loved ones.

Our original plan was to stay one year in Korea, and then to come home for a visit after the holidays. Our finances were not set for this to happen. We are planning on coming back in the summer, but it will cost us a pretty penny for the whole family to come back. My school will pay for my way back, but I am responsible for everyone else to go back. It will cost us around $4-5000 for tickets. Please pray that God will supply this amount for us so we can buy them in advance and get the best rates possible.

1 year in Korea

How do you summarize a full year's worth of events and emotions in one email? It is almost impossible to do, but we will attempt to cover the high points and use lots of visuals.


December 17th 2007 Fly out from Will Rogers International Airport (After no sleep for almost 36 hours)
December 18th 2007 Arrive in Seoul, South Korea and take a two hour ride in a van to our new home. After going shopping at a huge shopping center that made the supercenter Walmart look small.



January through July- teach at Disciple International Christian School with little to no pay from the school. God provided abundantly for everything we could need during the whole time. We made some good friends during this time. God taught us many things through the trial of trusting him for everything. We are very grateful for the many lessons we learned through this time.






Last week of July- Vacation time with my parents. We had them here for one full week. It was wonderful being able to show them Korea, but we had just moved and didn't know where anything was.














August through present- Teaching at Jeulgeoun Montessori kindergarten and English institute. I teach Korean children from ages 4 through 7 American age.