Saturday, December 6, 2008

Rice Delivery...

This morning was a special ministry event at Everlove Church. Rice delivery to the needy. Names had been collected, and a hundred or so people showed up to go out into the community. By the way, it was frozen rice. There we were, standing around laughing and talking in 10 degrees (Fahrenheit!). I was the only non-Korean there, so I stood out a little.

It seems I'm always meeting new people who already know me. Every time I'm in the group someone new gets the courage to come talk to me. They are a little hesitant because their English is shaky and they don't want to look foolish. We exchange the usual "Nice to meet you" and "How are you?" and then look around nervously. Now I use a little Korean which pleases most of them. Oh, and I can read it now, mostly...and very slowly.

Well, we were waiting to start the delivery and the Music Minister got on the portable mic and began to lead. It was in Korean of course, but I knew it well so I jumped in..."Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms...." I'll never get tired of those moments. There He was again saying, "See, I'm everywhere. Look at what I'm doing." I worshipped. The singing was followed by some instructions about how to make the contacts and deliveries. A couple of the staff acted out a few senerios. Although I couldn't understand the words, the laughter was contagious. The Koreans' ability to laugh at themselves is refreshing.

After some final instructions and a sendoff prayer by Pastor Jung, we loaded up. The rice was in 20 kilo bags (44 lbs.), so of course I carried two. That also pleased a few of them. With so many people working, my partner and I only had 3 bags to deliver, so we went to a Chinese restaurant afterward. :) One man we delivered to was crippled. He had a very small apartment, but seemed to have everything he needed. He also had a little pug dog that was literally beside himself to see us. It was a good visit.

Here's the label the church put on each of the bags:

"Hananim oon tangshinul saranghashimnida" (God loves you!)

2 comments:

Susan said...

They have a cool website, although I couldn't follow much of it.

Richard said...

Speedy Delivery!
Howdy Good Neighbor!
Delivery Delivery!
Pizza Pizza!