NEWSFLASH: We're moving!

New Year's Eve Jody and I went up into the mountains to celebrate the end of 2013 and to prepare for 2014. We had a blast snowshoeing and taking in the beauty of the quiet.

We so love snowshoeing. We went exploring, made lots of tracks in the snow.... and finally found a spot to land at a high point overlooking the valleys below.

We had to take the typical selfies. :)

And we brought some hot coffee and beef jerky to munch on. :) It was awesome.

Up at that beautiful spot, we thanked God for His incredible provision in our lives in 2013, and we prayed and asked the Lord to make His plans and purposes for us clear in the next year. And He has.

We are moving to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin in June! Jody has accepted a new position with a church, and we are now preparing for a huge shift in our world.

It is a bittersweet time, as we prepare to say goodbye to those whom we love so very dearly here in Colorado. There are no words to adequately express the love and gratitude we feel towards those who have loved us so well in this season. I am so sad to leave. Yet, I recognize that in order to receive what is next, my hands must relinquish what I'm currently holding. So I am excited to see what is next on this grand adventure that God has us on...

We have much to do in the next month, lots of decisions to make (i.e. we need someone to take our chickens! *snif*), and there are so many things that need to come together in order for us to make this move. Please be praying for us in this transition season.

Much love,

The Beens

Nepal, here I come!

Hey everybody!

I am so excited to write and tell you about an awesome opportunity that has presented itself. In just a few months - from March 22 - April 5, 2014 - I will be joining a team of people from Southeast Christian Church in Parker, CO that is heading to Nepal with the express purpose of partnering with an organization called MountainChild at work in the remote villages of the Himalayas. 

Yes, this is the same organization that Jody went with in November... and he came back and told me I had to go, too! So here I am, writing to tell you about this awesome organization and the opportunity I have to join them! :)

MountainChild’s vision is bold, and God is blessing their efforts to bring the Gospel to people who have truly never heard the name of Jesus. Their strategy is to focus on 5 CORE ISSUES: health, education, trafficking, child labor and the environment. The need is great, and the statistics are staggering. Concerning the trafficking issue alone, every year 16,000 boys and girls are taken from the remote villages of Nepal and sold into the slave and sex trade. Most never return to their villages. In one village MountainChild is at work, there are no more girls of marriageable age. I cannot even imagine the factors that contribute to making such a situation a reality.

On this upcoming trip, the program will be two-fold. Part of the team will remain behind in Kathmandu to focus on learning how Southeast can best come alongside MountainChild and aid them in their long-term anti-trafficking goals. The other part of the team will be trekking in the remote areas, doing community assessment for future development projects (clean water projects, sanitation, etc.). I will be going with the trekking group, so in preparation I’m hitting the stair master and will be hiking, hiking, hiking!

I am writing because I need your help! First of all, I truly do need your prayers. While I am helping to organize the trip and build the team stateside I need to prepare myself to take part in the adventure, as well. It will be a challenging trip and will be physically, mentally and spiritually taxing. For a short-term trip, this will be extreme in every sense of the word. I especially covet your prayers for me to be physically able to handle the trekking component. I love mountains, and I love backpacking, but I want to be prepared so I’m not sent back to Kathamandu! (Oh the shame!) Please also pray for the Holy Spirit to open up doors for us to share Jesus, and for wisdom in assessing the needs for future community development projects. 

And dear ones, I also need your financial support. My portion of the trip costs is $3,425, which will cover all airfare and ground expenses, and I am trusting God for this need. I am relying on His promises and faithfulness. If you wish to help, you can contribute online at my secure fundraising webpage:  http://store.sechristian.org/Ruth-Been-P1194C38.aspx. The donation deadline is March 8, 2014.  I look forward to celebrating God’s provision in this regard, and I am truly grateful for your support!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this trip or about MountainChild. Thank you again for partnering with me as we carry hope!

Much love,

Ruth

Ministry Over the Long Haul

I had no clue that I would be in ministry. Or that my husband would be in ministry.

It's not a bad thing. It just wasn't on my radar.

Ever.

My dad and grandfathers are/were not pastors. In fact, on a personal level I have known nothing of what "pastoral ministry" should look like. No up-close-and-personal pastoral role models to show me if I wanted to be in pastoral ministry or not. Just never considered it.

But when Jody came to Denver Seminary and began his studies, I got a job at a church on the other side of town. And while I'd grown up in a church of about 2,000, I never worked there. I had no idea what it was like on the 'inside.'

Fast-forward four years. I've been at Southeast - in the Missions Department - for four, long, wonderful, stretching, great, challenging years, and this is what I've learned.

Pastoral ministry is a marathon. 

You can truly tell you're made for it, when you can stick it out and still love the capital "C" Church. You can still believe that it's the Bride of Christ, and flawed and broken as it is, it is nonetheless worth fighting for. Your heart can affirm Jesus' words to Peter that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not overpower it (Matthew 16:18).

And - probably the biggest things I've learned - is that you're much more likely to stick it out if you have good boundaries. Thankfully, I have very little trouble saying, "No" without feeling guilty. It's a beautiful thing. And, I know it's because I cannot give when I am running on empty. Then I just give from tired, old, burned out me. And no one wants or needs that. People need Jesus. Desperately. And I can only point to Him well when I am full of Him. So I am learning that boundaries are what makes the marathon doable.

Last month our pastor's wife organized a dinner for all the staff. It was so wonderful. I confess I was a bit overwhelmed by how many people (spouses included) are on staff at Southeast. But it was a great time to get together and celebrate the work that God has been up to at the church. I am truly blessed.

The theme for the evening was gardening. And I just love it. We got some seeds, a shovel, some gloves, and these beautiful reminders. I just had to take some pictures, because I didn't want to forget them. Thank you for all your hard work, Donna!

I am also thankful that my husband and I are a team as we support one another in ministry. Because it really is a marathon.

Father's Day Picnic

The summer is flying by. I'm trying to catch my breath and actually enjoy the season amidst it all. Last weekend was Father's Day. According to Jody, Father's Day isn't nearly as important to men as Mother's Day is to women, so it didn't seem to be a big deal. Nonetheless, it is a noteworthy holiday, and I wanted to stop for a moment and thank both my Heavenly Father and my earthly father for their incredible kindness towards me. God has indeed been good to me. I was so sad, too, because I could not be present to hug my dad and tell him I love him and how very much I appreciate his hard and faithful work to provide for my family.

I also wanted to highlight a few pictures from our church's Father's Day picnic. We went to Centennial Park and just chilled together following church. The weather was perfect - a bit cloudy and just the right temperature, and there were games to play, lots of food to eat, and more than enough people to chat and catch up with!

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we would be called children of God;
and such we are!
1 John 3,1

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there... may God give you the strength to lead your children in godliness and truth.

* pictures taken by suzanne vogel

God's Provision

It's a quiet night here in the Been apartment. Jody is up at Englewood teaching the youth, and I decided to stay home tonight. It is Hump Day, after all, and I'm ever mindful of the need my body has for rest and that if I can't keep my eyes open by 5pm, I might want to be low-key that evening! When I look at others who are able to go and go, and be involved in a million different activities at the same time, I try not to give in to feelings of envy, as I have learned the physical limitations I need to place on my body in order to stay healthy. And I am encouraged; I have not had laryngitis since August 2008. It's been a year and a half!

March of 2010 finds me in a much more encouraged place than a few months ago. In fact, I am more encouraged than I have been in a long time. God has indeed been faithful. The most noticeable place that Jody and I see evidence of God's kindness towards us has been in our church, Englewood Assembly. I recall to mind the place we were in a year ago.

We had arrived in Denver in January 2009, and Jody had begun classes at Denver Seminary. Every weekend we would check out a new church.... for three or four months. It was an exhausting process trying to find a home church, and we often shook our heads as we left a service. Is it possible to miss newcomers when your church is 40 people? And not so much as a smile? A glance? A handshake? A welcome? It was such a discouraging experience trying to get plugged in. And then we went to Englewood one Sunday. I think 20 people must have come up to us, shaken our hand, hugged us and welcomed us above and beyond what I have ever experienced before. And I've been to a lot of different churches. The music was joyful and a great mix of old hymns, new worship and all done with great enthusiasm. Perfection was less important than heart there, we could tell. And the congregation was an odd mix of old (as in... 90 years ago these cats were going to Sunday School in this same building), Hispanic, blue-collar, loud and misfits..... and then us. But we kept going back, because there was such LOVE! After checking out a bazillion churches, Jody and I decided to stay at Englewood, not because it promised a dashing preaching career and big fat retirement checks for Jody, but because of the love in the place. So much LOVE and so much GRACE for sinful wretches like...... well, everybody.

Life last year continued to be stressful as Jody finished one semester of seminary, and then we had to move, and then another semester came and we desperately needed another car... and Jody began to get more involved at Englewood. He started going to the Men's Breakfast on Tuesdays and gradually I could tell he was getting sucked in to the wonderful things God was doing in and through this small body of mostly new believers. And he was wanting to stay longer, go deeper and serve more. God was changing Jody's heart.

I, however, was plugging away at work in another church, and I struggled a bit with feeling like my heart was divided. I wanted to get more involved at Englewood, but I was so busy working at Southeast. I signed up in the summer to start teaching the 3 and 4 year olds on a once-a-month basis, and I was paired up with a young mother named Crystal. At first the teaching process was a bit awkward, but somehow along the line, it wasn't anymore. Gradually, I believe God was changing my heart, too, and I began to feel more comfortable with the women at Englewood. And I began to want to hang out with them - however old they were and no matter how different the stages of life we were in. I think God was giving me a new heart, too, full of love and acceptance!

Another tie developed as Jody was required by Denver Seminary to find two mentors. Jody requested our pastor TJ and a younger man in the congregation named Matt to be his mentors, and they both agreed. Though the mentoring process through Denver Seminary is a bit cumbersome, Jody and I are in the agreement that it has proven to be a good thing. It has allowed Jody to show himself consistent and serious about learning the work that goes behind ministry in a church, and it has required of him discipline in spending time with these men. As Jody has spent time with them, I have seen him grow in his love for this particular body and in his wisdom in how to help grow this body in a healthy way.

And so, after doing our best to show ourselves faithful in committing to serve and love this particular body, in February the Lord showed Himself merciful and wonderfully creative towards us. The elder board offered Jody and me the church parsonage, a small duplex next to the church building, as a place for us to live in as compensation for the greater level of responsibility that Jody will be assuming in the church, especially in the grow part of the church's mission statement love, grow, share. Jody and I are thrilled! We have chosen to accept this amazing gift from the Lord, and we will be moving in the end of April. This offer is so wonderful, because it is going to be a blessing to us and to the church, and it will definitely make church involvement that much easier.

Jody and I have no idea what the future holds for us, but we can definitely see the hand of God guiding us, and though sometimes it feels like we are aimless, at times like this we are so encouraged to know that indeed, God is faithful and He is gently holding our hands and leading us by His Spirit. We praise Him for His kindness and faithfulness!

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.

Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the LORD Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving

And His courts with praise

Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

For the LORD is good;

His lovingkindness is everlasting

And His faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100

it has been a while since i've written. i guess there's a lot going on here. but first... happy valentine's day! jody stuffed a bear with t-shirts for me and left them with a little chocolate in el apartmento.. knowing full well that i hate teddy bears. LOL. he's ridiculous. now the t-shirts are happily being worn and the de-stuffed teddy bear is no longer with us. ::snif snif::

for school i am trying to organize all the copies of paper i have accumulated from teaching the past year and a half. dictation papers, vocabulary lists, study questions, grammar worksheets, fun worksheets, tests, quizzes... all papers that i want to keep and use again in the future with new classes. they have all just been in this growing mound, and now it's time to tame it.

last night brittany and stefanie came over for our tuesday night get-together/prayer/bible study time. it was brittany's last, as she leaves sunday morning for home. it is starting to settle in for all of us, but the most reoccurring feeling is one of thankfulness. the Lord brought the girls into my life about one year ago, when i was so discouraged and lonely. i will always see them as an answer to a big prayer. and i am thankful that stefanie remains.

my internet has been really bad lately, so it's been hard to connect with people back home as much. today the internet repairman came, so i'm hoping that i will no longer have huge delays when we talk. girls, i miss you and hope we can catch up soon! call me :)

i don't know if i mentioned this earlier, but our church has finally moved into the new building. they had been talking about it since i started going back in october, so this move was a big one and long-awaited by all the congregation. it's in a town called gu-seong, so we have to take a different (and unfortunately, less reliable) bus to get there. also, the time has moved up to the morning, so we have to wake up earlier. still, i am thankful for the wonderful body that God has led jody and me to.

hope all is well back home. please continue to be in touch!

this afternoon at church, as everyone in our international group sat around jja-jja-myung (korean/chinese noodles) and pizza school pizza, we shared the challenges of this past week and prayed for one another.

it seems the Lord has brought us all to this church to be trained, and while it may be uncomfortable and challenging, we are in complete agreement that it is good... we can all see the work of God in each other and tell one another that the Lord is doing great things, but individually we all acknowledge that to be broken on the Potter's wheel is no comfortable thing.

not only that, but we were also marveling at how it seems every week now the pastor is preaching exactly what we need to hear. you know how it is... you sit down, you enter into worship, and then when he starts to get into the Word, that convicting word hits you- right where the Lord was working in you earlier in the week (or all week long). in fact, right where you were struggling with majorly two days ago. and he lists a few Scripture verses. how did he know that the Holy Spirit was already working on that area? and man, does it dig in deep. it sticks, too - all week long. and the meaning of c.s. lewis' name for God - the Hound of Heaven - resonates at a whole new level. when i sense Him closing in, i realize it is His love that is constraining me, drawing me, moving me, changing me. and while i struggle to regain some sense of self and control over "me", i realize that His love is trying to conform me to His will and the likeness of His Son. the process moves more quickly when i don't fight Him. note that, ruth. stop fighting. stop wrestling like jacob. surrender is a good place to be.

as i think about getting up tomorrow morning and starting a whole new week at work, i am thinking about how teaching is my job and yet how much smaller it has become in my life here. yes, i came to korea to teach english. and it is His plan for me to work with the children and to be faithful in my job and commitment to my boss, coworkers and students. they are my ministry, and i love them deeply. yet, God has brought such richness to my life outside of work that i am having to learn a whole new level of balance. the individuals He has placed in my life have become so dear to me that i know i am called to love them, as well. so the dance continues.

and then there's germany. i'm going to germany in 3 weeks, and i can hardly believe it. it has been 7 years since i've been there, and again it will only be for a week. still, i am starting to shift my focus towards it and pray for God to have His way throughout it all- from small things like being able to sleep on the plane so i don't have major jetlag to an increased ability to discern the Lord's voice and to gain more of a sense of His plan and calling for me and how germany fits into it all.

the word that clinches it all for me right now is this: since the Word of God is living and active (heb. 4,12), it will change me. and if i am humble, i can and will receive it. and i will be changed.

may we have open ears and hearts to hear, receive, and be changed by the Father.

Joyful Church

i also wanted to enclose a picture of some of the new people God has put in my life. after much prayer, i have felt the Lord leading me to a new church that, translated, is called 'Joyful Church'. it is actually a Korean church, but they offer English translation at their 2pm service. there are between 5 and 10 internationals who come, and they make room in the back for us to sit and listen to the translated message through little headphones. i am anticipating wonderful growth in the Lord, as the church is full of faith and the Spirit, and the pastor preaches the uncompromising Word of God. he is unafraid to address head-on the issues of sin, spiritual warfare, holiness, and the difference between living in the flesh and in the Spirit. all these are spiritual truths i know, but i am thankful for the opportunity to be under that teaching once again.

for my birthday a few weeks ago, the international group surprised me one night and brought over cake, some pears (in season right now in Korea), and a big container of German fruchtbonbons (fruit candies). it was rather amazing, because i had given a much smaller glass container of those same bonbons to my german friend thea while she was here. i had seen that they were made in germany and so thought she would really enjoy them. so when i received those same german bonbons (only more and bigger), the Lord promised me great fruit in what i pour out for the germans.

i guess this is also as good as time as any to say that the Lord has answered a prayer of confirmation in my life. i feel that He is indeed calling me to Germany. and while this probably does not come as a shock to most everyone who has known me for a long time, only now am i able to realize how long i had to keep my desires in check and fully submitted to the Lord. now i have greater freedom to dream... this is an exciting time of preparation and prayer, as i begin to see the Lord making things clear - things that have been simmering on the back burner for several years now.

please pray for me as i begin applying to missions agencies. the main one i am interested in is Operation Mobilization (OM). may the Lord continue to lead me by His Spirit.

Praise the Lord!

COMING HOME....

vacation time: 24.august - 9.september. 17 days total, travel time included.

will confirm with more detail once the tickets are bought and things are more established. if you want to see me while in the good ol' us of a, let me know. will be setting plans so i can make the most of this short block of time.



whose little feet filled these shoes?

a few nights ago i was walking in suji and i saw these near a trash pickup. (there's a lot of trash here, btw) i was struck with an oddly bittersweet feeling, seeing these precious little shoes. maybe the little feet grew so quickly they couldn't wear them anymore. i don't know. i like them, though.

emily and i have established our very favorite korean meal. it is called budda-jjigae (pronounced buddha- jee-gay).

Korean: Do you like Korean food?
me: Oh, yes. I eat it every day. My favorite is budda-jjigae. And tuen-jang-jjigae.
Korean: (gasp, shocked face) You like budda-jjigae?! Oh, you must like hot food. Very spicy. You are true Korean.

CHURCH
sunday night a small group of us went to my favorite restaurant - nolbu - where we had budda-jjigae. i am pleased to finally have a picture of my pastor and his family to show you all. here is Pastor Bob, his wife Anna, and his daughters who are absolutely hilarious. it has been a pleasure to be part of GEM and under his loving shepherding. he and his family came to korea from canada only a few months (??) before i did, so their english is all enough for solid communication. i am truly thankful for them and i pray God's blessing an anointing not only rests upon his ministry and teaching, but on his leadership in his family, as well.

yesterday: stressful. got home from work around midnight. new class of little ones. 6 children. good grasp on phonics. now to get them talking, reading and writing well.

TEACHING
4 new faces in my upper-level classes. starting the bald bandit (A-Z mysteries) in my prep class, and the three musketeers in my step 3 class. been busy writing study questions, vocabulary lists, and grading tests, quizzes, and papers. exhausted. 

caleb slammed peter's head against the door?? wall?? yesterday. sophia's first day teaching them without my supervision. his head still hurts today/ dizzy. worried about caleb's bad behavior. mrs. kim is moving him to gina's class starting next week. pray that sophia can control them. pray the fear of God will rest upon them. i fear their excitement/confidence/ happiness in being able to speak english is out-of-control in the way they treat one another... it's hard for me to pass the baton... i still see them as my children. when they leave the classroom to go get water or go potty, they come and talk to me. encouraging them to be loving and kind to miss sophia and each other.

reading in James today. what a SWORD the Word of God is.

SPORTS DAY

Yesterday was Veteran's Day here in Korea, so we had the day off. Yessss! GEM had a 'field day' at an elementary school in Suji, and a bunch of people showed up. We got there bright and early at 9:30 and played until late in the afternoon. Playing included getting team-colored T-shirts, learning the Korean World Cup dance (which I see being practiced everywhere), various 'field day' games, a catered outdoor lunch (Korean food, of course. I don't know why I was mentally geared for Western food?!) and a soccer match. After all the running in the heat, everyone was pretty pooped. Still, it was a lot of fun to see everybody from church in normal clothes, and to just hang out together. It was even more fun talking smack to Eddy before the soccer game, even though neither of us is really good. It made me miss my brothers!

Afterwards Emily, Daniel, Eddy (Gisup), Joe (Sae-yoon) and I went to E-mart and bought dinner stuffs, and then we came back to my apartment and just had a great time together. Emily and I cooked while the boys talked, and then we ate together and laughed about silly things... nothing of consequence. Emily and I marveled at how being in such close contact with people from other languages and cultures brings us to the place of being content with conversations about little things; topics that would probably make others impatient. But of course, I know now more than ever that this is the realm in which I am the happiest. I love being with people from other countries.

My Cup Runneth Over 

The past few days have been so awesome. Like David in the 23rd Psalm I can truly say, "My cup runneth over." I wanted to share a few pictures with you.

Here is the Global Mission Church children's choir. They sang for GEM (Global English Ministry) last Sunday for the Thanksgiving celebration. I don't know why they did it last week instead of this week, but anyway... the kids were so cute! and quite good, too. They sang in English, Spanish, and some Latin, too. Very impressive for elementary and middle school aged kids, don't you think?

Here are Sehwan and Phil acting ridiculous. Sehwan always makes that face when he's pretending to be so pleased with himself - when, for example, he answers a question very well and I say how impressed I am. LOL. So I wanted to capture that look for you all to see.

Here are my little ones - Turkey Indians! They had a blast coloring and then playing with their new hats.
On Saturday we had a big western Thanksgiving celebration. It was held at Dave and Winnie's work place - the SIM Korea office in Migeum. Since the Pitmans (Dave & Winnie) are the only ones equipped with an oven and a full kitchen, she cooked the turkeys. We also had stuffing (sent from the States), cranberry sauce (from the army base), real mashed potatoes, fresh fruit and veggie salads, apple dumplings (my contribution!), rolls, and pumpkin pie. Not only that, we got to eat with forks, too. It was so wonderful to spend time with new friends over familiar holiday foods.

The troops in the kitchen :)

And the young ladies (Maria, Kelsie, Laura)... This weekend I found out that Kelsie is returning home to Alaska, because her father is sick. The doctors are not sure what it is yet. Please pray for his complete healing. Nothing is impossible for our Lord!

The first serving ;) ...

(L-R) Maria, Amanda, Emily, Diane... the ladies at my table. Diane, I discovered, spent a summer in Gloucester, VA; she was considering working as a professor at W&M! She is quite the live wire, and already we have shared several laughs. She has already been in Korea for 4 years, and she is currently teaching at an international Christian school. Her daughter, who is about my age, is coming sometime in December, and since many at GEM are planning on returning home for the holidays, it will be a true gift to have someone my age here during Christmas.

Here I am with Emily Chang, who I have gotten to know only in the past two weeks. She is Romanian, came to Korea to get her Masters of Divinity, met her husband Daniel Chang at school, and is now part of the worship team at GEM. Last Sunday we spent 3 1/2 hours talking at Dunkin' Donuts... the time disappeared we were having so much fun! Her heart is for Muslims in Greece. We are very different in personality and humor, but we click quite well. I do believe I have made a new friend. Pray for God to bless our friendship.

  Here's the whole gang. I don't know everybody's name or story, because we're a new group - some arrived at or about the same time I did - but we are growing closer and closer together as each week passes. May God richly bless GEM and everyone who is involved.

After Thanksgiving lunch, Maria, Emily and I raced to meet Jacob Ru, who takes us to the orphanage on Saturday afternoons. It was a wonderful time. We introduced the songs "Deep and Wide" and "Jesus Loves Me" to the children, and though some don't even know their ABCs I know that songs are one of the best ways to teach children a new language. After a few feeble attempts at the music, we began to play with the kids. This time I was a horsie, and I had two very enthusiastic elementary school boys on my back. They took quite well to the rough-housing! :)

When we got back to Migeum, I met up with Laura and Winnie, and we took the subway to Yangjae station to the Yangjae Onnuri church, where I met up with Lauren and Michael Jeter (another W&M grad - yay reunion!). Along with about a thousand others - Koreans and foreigners alike - we spent an evening hearing a man named Brother Yun speak. Brother Yun, called 'the Heavenly Man' by his coworkers and members of the Underground house church in China, was a young man when he gave his life to Jesus, and God called him to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was pursued, imprisoned, and tortured, but God performed many miracles through him. He shared some of his story with the help of his translator and partner in ministry Brother Wren (a Finnish man who has spent the past 20+ years laboring in China). Here is the website advertising the event: http://www.yuninkorea.com . It was a powerful night. How refreshing it was to be in a place where faith is - faith for God to move by His Spirit, to perform many miracles, and to bring many thousands into His kingdom, no matter how intense the suffering and persecution may be. I was greatly challenged, encouraged, and renewed. What a gift from the Lord. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend it. Buy it and read it when you have few other distractions, and before you do, ask the Lord to prepare your heart to hear from Him. Our Lord is always speaking. May we have ears to listen and open hearts, desperate to obey Him - no matter what the cost may be.

Here Brother Yun is speaking, with Brother Wren translating for us. With what authority and power both men spoke and prayed for those in attendance.

Migeum Station, the Korean Subway System....

Here I am at Migeum station in Bundang after church this past Sunday. Behind me - on the 8th and final floor - is my church Global English Ministry (GEM). It is part of a much larger Korean church of 10,000 in the building behind this one. In case you can't see, there is a good deal of English mixed in with the Korean on the signs. Not only is it because I think Migeum has a lot of English schools (and hence, a lot of foreign teachers), but it's also because most Koreans want to speak English very much.
Within the past few days the temperature has dropped considerably. Last week I could wear a long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans comfortably, but now I'm having to put several layers on, along with my coat and scarf if I want to keep the wind from cutting through me!

If I want to go anywhere via the subway, I take Bus 11 from Suji to Migeum, and from there I can go all over Seoul. Believe it or not, the subway system here is easy, clean, and very efficient... much to my relief. Before I came I looked at the subway map in horror. The DC metro scared the bejeepers out of me, but I find that this is a piece of cake. And while it isn't the most exciting thing to be underground, it's a cheap and a lot less dangerous than dealing with Korean drivers! Here is one of the signs... If you go to the Korean subway map, it's the 3rd from the last stop on the yellow line (down at the bottom).

http://www.smrt.co.kr/english_smrt/cyberstation_smrt/cyberstation.jsp

I finally remembered to bring my camera to church with me, but I forgot to take pictures until the service had been over for a bit. Wish I could have gotten more of the crew, but I'll try again soon. Here is Amanda, Laura, and Kelsie. I don't know Amanda well, at all, but I have found Laura to be a true kindred spirit. And Kelsie is quite the fireball. I love teasing her about being from Alaska: the state that's not really part of the union... it always gets a rise out of her! The joke is not mine originally, but from another foreigner who when he met Laura (from Wisconsin) and Kelsie, turned to Laura and said, "Oh it's so nice to meet another American!" Kelsie was shocked that he didn't so much as acknowledge her and said as much to us, "What? Doesn't he know Alaska is state number 49??"

Friday night after work I went over to Maria's place to watch Little Women with her, Laura, and Kelsie, but we ended up taking a taxi to Samsung Plaza because the girls were desperate for fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts. LOL. Unfortunately, Krispy Kreme is not open all hours of the day and night here in Korea, so at 11:30pm it was closed. Instead we went to a chicken place, where we told the server we just wanted some nachos with cheese. Five minutes later we had our nachos...... preceded somehow by 4 cold steins and an overflowing pitcher of beer. How we came to order the beer (4 young American women with almost no understanding of Korean) will remain a mystery, but it definitely brought a lot of laughs!

On Saturday I visited an orphanage with Maria and three men from my church, including the pastor Bob Kim. This orphanage is actually a woman's apartment, where she and her husband care for 14 orphans. It was such a powerful experience for me that it's a little hard to put it all into words. The children's ages range from 6 months to 15 years (a girl named Sofie with pretty good English), and they are all desperate for love and attention. We took off our shoes at the entrance in keeping with Korean custom (amidst the sea of children's shoes) and within two minutes of sitting down on the ground, a little girl had inched her way into my lap and was holding my hands in hers. They wanted touch, but they were also "greedy" in that they reached for anything we had. It was an odd experience, but it made me want to give them all I have and more.... It also reminded me of when I was growing up - the times of not having a lot of material possessions but ever so many kids in the same house. I am praying about helping out on Saturday mornings/afternoons as the church develops a plan of action for reaching these little ones. Already I am praying for opportunities to love them with the wonderful love of Jesus Christ.

On another note, the past week and a half was pretty rough. All last week was difficult not just for me but for everybody at ERC. On Tuesday during a warm-up game of 'Simon Says' Dennis kicked off his shoes amidst his regular uncontrollable behavior, and one of them hit Min in the face. Her nose started bleeding and she started bawling. A few days later two boys from ERC (not in my class) ganged up on another student on the bus. These situations and the overall atmosphere at school reminds me that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood..." (Ephesians 6,10). Every day I am mindful to remain in prayer. Is not our God bigger than anything, and does He not eagerly wait to answer the prayers of those totally submitted to Him and hungry for His hand in their lives?

And for me, I confess that the cultural adjustment continues. Some days I love being here, and other days I feel so wonderfully American... and it completely clashes with the Korean way of life and thinking. I am trying hard not to be impatient or condemning of myself, but after a while it gets exhausting. The Korean work ethic puts Americans to shame, but sometimes it borders on such legalism that it can be suffocating to me. I am praying for God to restore all joy.

It is late and I need to get to bed. (Holy mackeral it's 1am. What am I doing still awake?) Thank you all, dear friends, for your love and support. I ask for your prayers... and I point you to Jesus. He alone can sustain us, fill us, and enable us to live victoriously. Amen!