Papa Johns...

For lunch on Wednesday, my team took me to Papa Johns. Being the only customers, we held the full attention of the waiter. We ordered a family meal, and our driver charmed the poor guy into giving us individual drinks instead of the usual pitcher. He actually looked over his shoulder before shrugging and nodding with a smile.
After ordering, our driver asked the waiter if he had a free moment to listen to my message. He said he would but first had to make a delivery. Donning his helmet, he left the store and handed us over to a girl. That was when another of our teams entered the place. We enjoyed sharing stories before our food came.
As my team was preparing to leave, we realized the delivery guy had never returned. Glimpsing him hiding out in the kitchen, we charged the other team with the task and left for our next appointment. It was nearby, and soon afterward we were back in the car. That's when we saw the pizza guy again. I suggested we follow him and share the gospel, but we lost him at a red light. Then we got silly, talking about ordering pizza to the church so we could share. We could order pizza, chicken and every other thing they deliver in Korea. The ladies thought it was a good idea.

Side note: If you park in an apartment complex without a sticker, they let you know their displeasure by pasting a "Don't Park Here" sticker on your windshield. Your punishment is to remove it. It's not easy.

냇 킹 콜...

So we're walking down the street passing little shops and produce markets. We stop in one store to speak with a lady, and she invites us in. I sit down with her on the little stoop in the back and begin to share the gospel message with her. My translator is kneeling in front of us, and the lady listens intently. As my translator is speaking, something odd competes for my attention. I hear it in the background as I share the next part of my message, and as the translator takes over, my mind focuses on the sound.

"Unforgettable... that's what you are...." Here I am, halfway around the world, in a tiny fish shop in the middle of an old neighborhood in South Korea. And from an old radio nearby comes the familiar sound of Nat King Cole. As I've said about a hundred other moments... only in Korea.

P.S. In case you haven't guessed already, the title of this post is "Nat King Cole" in Korean.

Not House Guests Anymore...

Isaac, Sayone, Hanul & Sarang were kind enough to open their home to us. Mike has been coming here every October for the last 5 years, and my history with this family is well documented. Therefore, it's no surprise that we are no longer the strange American house guests. We are family.

Sayone asked me how I like my bacon... then she just said, "Here, you cook."
Sarang and HanulMike even helped to unclog the toilet. Of course, it was his fault anyway, but that's another story.

Does God Have A Plan?

Monday began a long week of running here and there to share the gospel with people. As most of the volunteers are stay at home mother's, many of the appointments are with other stay at home mothers. My team (5 of us) piled into a little car and dashed off. We were going to see a seamstress at a local mall. Upon seeing us, she busied herself and would not allow us to share. It was a disappointing start, but as we reached the car, we met the parking attendant. (I impressed everyone by producing the correct amount of change when he told the driver what she owed.)

As he walked away, someone suggested we chase him down and share with him. We followed and realized he was too busy with his job, so we stepped into a salon instead. The place was empty except for two ladies who listened patiently and responded to the gospel message. One of them shared that she was already a Christian.

As the conversation progressed, one of our team realized that she lives next to the lady's mother-in-law and has actually met her daughter. Information about Calvary Church was shared, and she commented that she has lately been feeling God leading her in another direction and had prayed the previous day that God would lead her to a church where she could serve and fulfill her potential.

So, did God lead us down the street after the parking attendant only to redirect us into this salon? YES! God knows exactly what He is doing. All we have to do is follow. Disappointment was changed to joy.

The rest of the day was filled with such encounters. A young mother in her apartment. A Buddhist dry cleaning man who reluctantly listened as he worked. At one stop, we hurriedly pulled into the only available space right in front of the door. One of the ladies said, "God prepared." I agreed.


An afternoon visit was to a group of ladies at some sort of community center. I was told it was a group who gather to teach their children English and was asked to share the gospel and then to read them a couple of stories in English. They were very receptive and all accepted Jesus except for one who was already a Christian.

The children were alot of fun. They each have English names and I asked them questions and engaged them in simple conversation. They all communicated well except for Dora who was quite shay and Daniel who started laughing every time I said something to him. Jimmy arrived late. As the door opened, he took one look at me standing there, turned and reached for his mother and said, "Anyooooooooooo!" (That means "Nooooooo!") After several attempts, she finally got him into the room. He clung to her and hid his face for a while, but eventually, during my reading time, he opened up. Boy did he open up. These kids are 5 years old. He knew every animal name and every color in English. I finally had to ask him to wait and let one of the other children answer. At the end, he wouldn't join the group photo, but I managed to sneak one of him.

(LtoR) Jamie,
Bill, Dora
& Daniel









Jimmy

Lazy Days and Sundays...

Unlike our June 2008 trip when they got us working right away, we spent Saturday resting at the mission house. It's in another part of Seoul about a 30 minute drive from Calvary church. We visited with Pastor Won and Missionary Robert Hale from Daejeon. (Parkway Baptist where most of our team is from is Robert's home church back in Knoxville.) We walked the neighborhood and shopped (mostly for food), and Benny wondered how we would eat it all. We managed.

Saturday night, we decided to go to Outback Steakhouse right there in the neighborhood. We got into 2 taxis and started off. I showed my driver the written name Robert had given me. (Robert was in the other car.) We drove and drove, and the longer we did, the more confused our driver looked. He kept muttering something to himself, but I didn't know what about. Finally he called the free interpretation phone number and the nice lady on the other end told me that "The driver apologizes but the steakhouse has moved and he doesn't know where."

The driver indicated that he would take us to the nearest Outback Steakhouse he could find. But as I glanced at his GPS and saw the distances, I suddenly envisioned 4 lonely Americans lost in a sea of Koreans, so we went back to the house instead. We planned to call Robert to see where he was, but my phone (the only international one) was locked up in my room and Mike (one of my roommates) had the only key...in the other taxi. Eventually Cheryl remembered a door in her room and we discovered that it adjoined ours.

Robert, Steve and Mike were enjoying a traditional Korean meal at some restaurant in the vicinity of the missing Outback, so Cheryl, Benny, Judy and I ordered a pizza. It was a great beginning.

Sunday was much better. Pastor Won, Isaac and the Ninja (more on him later) picked us up around 7:00 a.m. and we went to our home-stays near the church. After some time with them we gathered for Sunday service. I was excited to see my praise team friends and enjoyed singing with them again. I sang a solo ("Give Us Clean Hands") during both morning worship times, and Benny brought a challenging message encouraging the Christ-like resolution to problems withing the church.

We enjoyed lunch with the church people and spent the afternoon witnessing in the church cafe. Around 3:00 p.m., I joined the Praise Team again to rehearse for the special service at 7:30 that night. We sang and laughed and sang some more. I was standing with Gun Yung the teen boy who couldn't find me a taxi back in January. He still apologizes when I tease him, but says he doesn't mind.

Around 5:00 p.m. things were ending and Yeon Hee said, "Jeff, let's go to the 3rd floor to eat chicken." Everyone gathered and we ate Korean Fried Chicken (my name) and then a couple of pizzas arrived. We laughed and talked for about an hour and then everyone got up and someone said to me, "Now we will go eat dinner." I can't believe these people are so small.

The night was topped off by Pyung Su, the worship leader asking me to sing a duet with him. That's an intimidating prospect. We sang "You Know Better Than I" which turns out to be one of the songs God used in my own time of struggle back in the winter. He is quite the singer, but I felt I held my own and was thrilled.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

Have you ever had motion sickness? There's nothing like it in the world. I've been car sick, sea sick, air sick and amusement park sick. I'm an expert. I know the beginning signs, and I know effective remedies for every stage of it. The problem is that the only way to stop it completely is to stop moving. But there's nothing you can about that in an airplane.

I spent the last third of our main flight to Incheon struggling with air sickness. I tried to sleep and went to the head (sounds more dramatic in this case) several times, with some temporary relief. Still, I could not eat the second meal of our flight, and my discomfort progressively got worse. The attentiveness of the beautiful young Korean flight attendants didn't even matter to me. I was really sick.

Side note: They really don't like it if you try to get out of your seat when you're landing. I had to rush to the head again during final approach. Two little ladies about broke down the door to get me back in my seat. They were sweet but insistant, so I complied. I know they will hold the plane on the runway if that happens during take off, and for a brief moment I was amused at the thought of the plane coming to a screeching halt in midair. But it didn't last.

Finally on the ground, I immediately felt better, but I wasn't cured. And during the hour long drive to the mission house, I had to stop a couple of times to the deep concern of our Korean hosts. Days later, people were still asking if I was OK. I told them of my long night's sleep and my hunger Saturday morning. Severe hunger is a great sign. I ate two eggs, several strips of bacon, a bowl of cereal and 5 pieces of thick toast. Much better!

Here We Go Again...

I'm reminded of an old Conway Twitty song...

"Hello darlin'... nice to see you... it's been a long tiiiiiiiiiiiiiime...."

You may think there's a double meaning there, but there's not. It's just been a long time since I wrote anything. I can't believe I allowed the distractions of life to stop me, but I did. Now that I'm away from them, I'm actually busier, but I find the old urgency to share coming back.

So I'm in Korea again, sharing the gospel, singing, and reacquainting with old friends. Pray for us as we work. Pray that hearts will be open to the truth of God's love for them. Pray for Calvary church as it struggles through some tough times. Pray that Satan and his army will be barred from the door. Pray for God's spirit to wash away anything that is not of Him and that His path will be clearly seen.