Updates

Welcome to my latest blog. This will serve mainly for people to keep in touch with me and to stay up to date on what I'm doing. I've been in Korea now for a couple months and I'm slowly settling in. I came here to teach ESL at Global Vision Christian School (GVCS). The way I see it, I'm in an awesome situation because I gain teaching experience. And I'm also teaching at a Christian school so I can spit scripture at the students and nothing punitive will happen to me. I teach that lovely age group known as middle schoolers and it's not easy. My patience is being tested but this is a critical time for me because I can get confirmation on whether this is something I want to pursue as a career or not. I certainly love the idea of molding young minds and being a positive influence on them. This time is especially critical because I recently got accepted into the TESOL program for graduate school at the University of Delaware and I suspect that this experience will heavily sway my decision about grad school.

My living situation is great. The school provides an apartment. My roommate and I live in a 3-bedroom apartment. I effectively have my own bathroom until someone else decides to move in. They even provided us with a car that we share between 5 people. The only things we pay for are utilities and fuel for the car. Food in Korea is dirt cheap. Most meals are about $5 and if you really want to penny-pinch, you can get away with spending less than $2 for meals. Lunches are provided for at the school.

I'm only a couple hours away from Seoul, which I visit almost every weekend to hang out with friends, meet family, and attend church. Speaking of church, the church here, New Philadelphia, is simply amazing. I've never seen a church like this. Truly the spirit of God is working. A large part of what I expect I will be writing about will be the many miraculous signs and testimonies that will arise in the coming weeks and months. Every week there are new stories of healings, salvations, prophecies, and divine appointments. Already in the weeks I've been here, I've witnessed the spirit of God move powerfully in this church.

For those that do not believe in the power of God, do not be so quick to dismiss it. God is certainly real and we witness His power regularly. I've mentioned prophecies. Some may not believe in them, but this is a regular occurrence at this church. I've witnessed this myself. A few weeks ago after service, one of the members, Brady, came up to me seemingly randomly. We started a conversation and it was the usual greeting and introduction. He then asked me what my favorite books were. "And don't say 'the Bible'" he added. I answered as I always do to such a question: "The Count of Monte Cristo and The Brothers Karamazov." Then, as if he'd already known, he asked me, "do you write?" I replied affirmatively and told him about my writing habits. I often tell people about my daily discipline of writing. I try to write everyday, or at least account for everyday in a journal I keep on a Word document. At the end of every year I accrue about 160 pages of single-spaced journaling. I read over my year every New Years Eve and reflect on my life and where it's headed and what I've been doing. I write anything worth remembering because it's easy to forget. I write conversations, describe settings, thoughts, impressions, funny things, philosophical inquiries, inspirations, prayers, etc. Sometimes when I am reading a book I take on the writing style of that particular book's author. After relating all of this to Brady I asked him, "why do you ask?" He then said his prophetic word over me: "I saw you with a golden book, writing in it. God gave you the gift of writing." He elaborated by telling me that he saw stories in me and that many would be blessed by them. I then confessed to Brady that I have indeed written a short story some years ago. I've only let a few people read it. I never got around to finishing it but I had put it off until a later time. I've got blueprints for lots of stories waiting to be written.

Afterwards a number of us went to eat lunch at a bbq place. A couple from the US was visiting the church and we sat near them at the table. They were very encouraged at the atmosphere of the church and they opened up to us a bit. I forget their names. Though I missed her story because I was engaged in another conversation at the table, I inferred that the wife had the gift of prophecy. She is one who audibly hears the voice of God. She related one story to us that was simply amazing to hear. One time she was driving home very late at night past midnight. She heard God telling her to take a specific exit and drive to a specific destination, which turned out to be a church. God told her to go up to a specific man, gave her his name, and told her to tell him a message. Though I forget the exact details, it went something like this: "Are you Bob (let's say his name was Bob)?" He answered, "Yes." She continued, "You might think this is crazy but God told me to tell you that you should'nt leave the praise team and that you will not divorce your wife. God said that He will not allow it to happen." The man would tell her that he was indeed planning to divorce his wife and that everything she said to him was spot on. We stayed on the topic of the gift of prophecy and she told us that she was getting all sorts of "downloads" on all of us. She would say a word of prophecy over each of us sitting at the table. I asked her to tell me what revelations she had for me. She said that she'd tell me later because she didn't want to blurt anything out. Later she asked me if I had ever traveled or gone on missions. I answered affirmatively to both. She then said that when she saw me she heard "missionary!"

Perhaps one day I will become a missionary and author. I could see myself doing both. But maybe instead of keeping those words of prophecy at a distance, I should run into it and embrace it in the present. Perhaps as I simply report all the wondrous happenings in church and in my life, the truth and love of Christ will shine forth in my writing and blogging. Maybe this blog is just another outlet for my writing and my readers are my mission field.