SWHBC Korea Trip 2009

Life

2011-01-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

There are many things that I could say right now, for many things are running through my mind which need to be organized and placed on a shelf for safe keeping. This blog is about collecting those ideas and sorting them to an idol position that can be called upon by myself and also those who care to read what goes on in my head. The following ideas will potentially be controversial, perhaps to some of you, if in fact anyone reads this, and are not meant to sway or stir emotion of anger or sadness to your feelings, but rather to create something in which you can internally, or externally, debate and contradict or agree with. One of my favorite quotes is this "Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning." ~ C. S. Lewis.

This Just Came to Mind...

2009-07-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

"The Call" from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

"It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope,
Which then turned into a quiet thought,
Which then turned into a quiet word."

"And then that word grew louder and louder
'Til it was a battle cry."

"I'll come back
When you call me,
No need to say goodbye."

~~~

"Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before."
All you can do is try to know
Who your friends are as you head off to the war."

"Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light."

"You'll come back
When it's over,
No need to say goodbye."

~~~

"Now we're back to the beginning,
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet.
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget."

"Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
'Til they're before your eyes."

"You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say goodbye."

Lyrics: Regina Spektor

This song reminds me a lot of how I felt about leaving Korea. We need to take those feelings God instilled in our hearts and spread it to those around us. While we were in Korea, it was easy to get excited, to get inspired about telling others about the vision we caught in Korea. However, it's easy to fall back to where we started and not finish well. We need to keep the memories of what we learned there fresh in our minds, and continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in North Korea.

Just The Beginning

2009-07-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

Clearly it's time to make a change

Or I could keep sitting and waste all day

I know that it's time for me to move

I've been given this minute to use

And given this moment to prove that

What we do here is just the beginning

New life is starting at every ending

We are a part of the story unfolding

This is the weight of the world we are holding

This could be our day

This could be our day.

I was holding back

Now I've come undone

I want to touch the world

Heal the broken ones

Ending the cycle has just begun

We've been given this minute to use

And given this life to prove

To give ourselves away

For something beautiful

A million miles away

To the one who's hungry, and Thirsty

And needs some hope

To the people that are weary and

broken and left alone

I'm giving myself away

I'm giving myself away.

'This Could Be Our Day" by Addison Road.

Final Thoughts.....

2009-07-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

Where do I go from here? Is it possible to have so many thoughts rushing through your head and yet feel so incredibly blank at the same time? I'm really struggling with processing everything I learned, heard, saw, and experienced. A week can fly by so quickly and fade into the distance so easily. I so desperately don't want to forget anything I learned....but since everything still seems so unreal, will I? I pray that God will engrave these many lessons on my heart.

The North Koreans will always have a very special place in my heart, and I look forward to seeing how God uses me to help them. Of the many lessons I learned one of the main ones that pops out at me at a consistent rate is that I'm a broken person. I have nothing to offer. My sin so often overwhelms me, and I can do nothing. I can't save myself. It's only when I surrender myself, my will, my very being to Christ that I find myself healed. When you grow up in the church it is SO easy to miss that lesson because I feel we only see a small glimpse of what Christ does best. Saving us. Binding our wounds. Showing us what a life without Him is like. One of my all time favorite songs is "Unashamed" by Starfield.

I have not much to offer you

Not near what you deserve.

But still I come

Because Your cross

Has place in me my worth.

Oh, Christ my King

Of sympathy

Whose wounds secure my peace

Your grace extends to call me friend

Your mercy sets me free.

And I know I'm weak

I know I'm unworthy

To call upon your name

But because of grace

Because of your mercy

I stand here unashamed.

I can't explain this kind of love

I'm humbled and amazed

That you'd come down

From heaven's heights

And greet me face to face.

Here I am at your feet

In my brokenness complete.

I will say it again. Here I am at your feet in my brokenness complete. In my brokenness complete. This is my constant prayer to God. That I will remain His humble and faithful servant. A simple vessel used by Him to further His kingdom and bring Him glory.

Oh how I long to do so much for the people of North Korea. I just want to rush into that poor, hurting country, hold those people in my arms, and just wash them over with love. I long to share with them how much God loves them....and oh how He LOVES them! I want them to know that He sees and understands their pain. God is hurting for North Korea and we should be too!

In South Korea, prayer is such a vital aspect of their faith. It is everything to them. When was the last time prayer was everything to you? To me? To us? When was the last time we prayed with faith, passion, and love? In humbleness before our Lord. The great 'I AM'. Faith can move mountains. Matthew 17:20 "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Fellow brothers and sisters. Let's move some mountains! :)

Although I titled this last blog final thoughts......I feel this is truly the beginning. May God constantly be bringing new thoughts into my mind about this trip. God bless all of you who prayed for us!!!! :)

~Kelsey

Remember the North Korean Christians!

2009-07-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

Do you hear their heart cries? Do you hear what they are saying? There are many faces of North Koreans filling my head all day long. They are crying for help from us.
When I wake up in the morning, I hear them, and the North Koreans are saying, "will you remember us?"

I am at home but my heart is not at home yet. We need to cry out to God for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Until our God answers all of the North Koreans prayers, we shall seek God and pray for them continuously. Our North Korean brothers and sisters are gifts from God to us! Lets remember them.

Kim

Rewind and Regroup

2009-07-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

I am still recovering from jet lag, my life is settling back into its grooves, and yet part of me is still back in Korea struggling for the North Koreans. My body may be back, but part of my heart isn't.

Even as we are settling back into our American lifestyles, I think none of us who went on this trip will ever be the same. This trip has affected us in so many ways...in ways we do not want to forget.

We need to remember what we've learned from this trip, and spread the vision to our families, friends, and co-workers so that they too may know what we have seen and heard.

From Tokyo to Seoul

2009-07-01T14:46:00.001-07:00

These past few days have been a whirlwind to say the least. First, there was June 29, 2009, which will be forever emblazoned in my mind as “The Day that Never, Ever, Ever Ended”. Waking up at about six that morning, we checked out of the hotel and began our two hour drive over to the prayer mountain. Several hours were spent at the mountain, praying about and discussing what we had just experienced over the last nine days. It was an excellent time of preparation for me to start sifting through all the different lessons God had dumped into our short time in Seoul. Then, the lady who owned the prayer mountain most generously served us HUGE portions of bibimbap for our final meal in Korea. Finally, we made a quick trek back down the mountain for our final drive, to the Seoul Airport. In the bus, a couple of us more musically inclined decided to serenade the rest of the group with an hour or so of singing, which was fun. :) Once at the airport, we all said extremely hard goodbyes to our “guides” from SeoulUSA, who took SUCH tremendously good care of us during the duration of our trip. Passed easily through the security checkpoints, then settled onto the plane for our nine hour flight back to Seattle. We watched movies, journaled, slept (some more than others… right, Pastor Rick?), and just reflected on the past week until the gentle bump of the rubber tires on the runway welcomed us back to the United States. Some confusion with luggage during the transaction between Seoul and Seattle created some stressful moments during the 2 hours in Seattle, but soon we found ourselves back in time—leaving for Portland BEFORE we left Seoul! Because apparently little Horizon Airlines commuter planes aren’t used to carting 12 international travelers’ luggage, we were delayed about 20 minutes while they balanced out the plane, but finally, at about 4:15pm, our team landed safely in Portland, Oregon. Praise God! Then it was a mad rush to be reunited with family members, pick up luggage, and drive home.

Home.

I’m not quite sure how to describe how I found home to be.

Busy and fast-paced? No, not really, I mean, I just came back from SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA.

Serene and peaceful? Not the words that come to mind, as there’s the hustle and bustle of three brothers making up for the last nine days you were gone, email to check, classes to schedule… basically a life to pick back up…

And, as I’m sure all the other team members can attest to, the jet lag threw me off a bit. For instance, I got up yesterday at 8am… Seoul time. Which is 4pm, Portland time. Oops.

And when I just sit back and think about the trip, about a million thoughts go zipping through my mind. So many new experiences. So many new friends. So many memories. So many lessons learned. To understand how this looks in my head, do a google image search on the Tokyo Subway Lines. The subway lines there are all jumbled up: many different lines threading in and out of each other, going every which way. That’s what’s going on in my head right now. I have so many stories. So many challenges. So many inspirations, running, weaving, dancing in, out, and throughout my mind. There’s really no order or organization.

To fix that, I’m taking this week to write. And write. And write. Carefully document each day spent in Seoul in detail. Write up the testimonies of the different North Korean Christians. Then go back and write about the different lessons I learned. Write. Write. Write. Since I showed you a picture of my brain before this time of “untangling”, now google a map of the Seoul Subway lines. As you’ll be able to see, it’s much less chaotic. Although there are many different lines, in many different colors, going in many different directions, there’s a lot more organization.

So my goal this week? Get from Tokyo to Seoul.

I think all of us on the team would really appreciate continued prayer, as we sort through all our experiences from the past nine days. We encountered so much, and we don’t want to forget about any of it until we can get it written down. And there’s a whoooole bunch to remember.

One thing that stands out from the massive blob in my head though, is the North Korean people we met. They made many sacrifices- taking days off of work, recounting immensely painful experiences, etc- so that we, their brothers and sisters from America, would become informed. And not informed so that, just as Matt pointed out, we could respond to their plight “the American way” by throwing them money and manpower and “fixing” their plight. That’s not what they’re looking for! I believe they’re looking for unification of the Body of Christ. Time and time again, these North Koreans have turned for help and just been let down. They turned to their own government, and the government brutally suppressed them. They turned to China, and the Chinese government and human traffickers took advantage of them. They turned to South Korea, and the South Korean church scorns them. Now, they turn to the United States. How are we going to respond?

That last paragraph is pretty much the only comprehendible train of thought that is going through my mind right now. Props to Matt for being able to write the way he did in his last post. lol But anyways, there’s much much more to come. I just wanted to quickly write and let you all know that I’m still alive and long-winded! :)

*ck

"When all is said and done" will be a LONG time from now.

2009-06-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, this is Matt again. Writing this from my super comfy desk chair in my room just seems so odd. Yesterday I was in Korea...today it seems like some sort of dream. I feel as if my mind is leaking memories with disturbing speed, so I hope this reflection will, at least temporarily, stem that flow.

For me, this trip was filled with wonder, excitement, frustration, revelation and a deep sense of greatness. Let me explain that last one. As we listened to testimony after moving testimony, heard the many plans and ideas for reaching N. Korea, saw the faces of those who had escaped death and yet passionately wished to return for those they left behind...I kept having the thought run through my head of, "holy cow...this is huge!". Though Christianity has been a part of N. Korea's past (it was once called the Jerusalem of the East for it's massive 19th century revivals), the amount of effort and risk and collaboration that is going into making Christianity a part of its future is staggering. And here we are, a small church from a small city able to become a part of this enormous movement. By deciding to actively partake in this endeavor we are not merely inserting ourselves into a well established machine that has been running for centuries (as it would be with most countries), we become part of the leading edge of N. Korean ministry. That fact is daunting, humbling and exciting...everything that missions should be.

But before we expect to change anything about this situation there are so many things that we must first change about ourselves. The most important barrier we must deconstruct is our American preoccupation with relating "success" to "results". With N. Korean ministry, we simply do not get the results that most missionaries in other countries expect to get. If missionaries to N. Korea get funds, they might go to, say, balloon launch flyers that might get confiscated by the government (most notably the Chinese) and the launcher may be jailed. If the flyers do make it N. Korea, they might all just get turned in to the police. If someone does read them, they might get jailed or killed just for doing so and might not even convert. If someone does convert, they'll probably die. On top of this, we don't even get to see any of the effects because the country is closed. Sometimes a person escapes with a story of their dedication to Christ, but that's not likely. Most N. Korean defectors who make it to S. Korea are actually saved in China because ones who are saved in N. Korea are killed or jailed. Many missionaries in China are jailed. Many things are confiscated. Much money is "lost". This is the way it is. It's HARD. But the last time I checked God didn't command us to reach the nations "so long as it's easy". Success in N. Korea does not mean results (though, not to completely kill the party, there are some amazing testimonies that come from this)...success comes from persevering in the name of God no matter what the circumstances may be. That is how we must view our work, our calling as missionaries.

A guy in our group (Andrew Schmidt) pointed us to Esther 4:14 and it was a great reminder of God's sovereignty and our role within it. God will work in N. Korea, and it is our immense privilege to be able to come alongside His will in that country. He does not need us to accomplish His will there, and yet we have a chance to see Him move in incredible and mighty ways.

We are only twelve people...yet we firmly believe that as a church we can do so much to increase His kingdom. Please help us in spreading a passionate vision for the salvation of the N. Korean people. We can't do it alone.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I humbly ask, however, that you do not stop interceding in prayer on behalf of those who will die if they so much as speak the name of God aloud and for those who will kill them if they do. Never stop praying.

Thanks guys.

(I'll post a more personal reflection when I have more time.)

-Matt

2009-06-29T00:10:00.000-07:00

I had two hours worth of blog posts deleted just now, so this will be much shorter. Sorry. We are leaving in 3 hours and are at the airport now. See you all soon! Thanks for your prayers, it was amazing.

2009-06-26T18:07:00.001-07:00

Annyeong Haseo guys (read that as if a white person with no clue how to speak Korean was saying it for full efect). Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday, we didn't have acess to a computer and I was not in an area where I could use my phone. So yesterday was a pretty quiet day, without anything really happening. We woke up and took a bus to a Korean Folk Village which was a sort of Disneyland-esque recreation of a 19th century way of life. It was interesting because the change to modern architecture and such is a fairly recent one dating back about 70 years. Many parts of North Korea still operate in this very rustic way, and though it was sort of an amusement park here, it is a distinct reality for many people. We then returned to Seoul USA headquarters and had a very unique chance to interview my Mr. Kang, the author of the Aquariums of Pyongyang which we read before we came here. His story and perspective are very interesting and raised some valuable issues. He believes that North Korea will collapse very soon and that partnering with foreign aid departments (like the US State Department) to provide education and leadership training is the correct move. More thoughts on that later, I have to go! Bye.

Day 5

2009-06-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

Day 5. It was an amazing day. As you know, our team went about an hour out into the Yellow Sea where we launched balloons carrying gospel tacks into North Korea. When we arrived at the dock, a car carrying twenty tanks of hydrogen drove up next to the boat. It was comforting to see that the driver was smoking a cigarette. As we neared the boat, we noticed a squad of policemen waiting for us. Our guides started rambling something about the launch with the policemen. During their discussion, the Korean launch crew began unloading the hydrogen from the car onto the deck. After several minutes, we started hearing shouting coming from the crew. We turned to look and found one of the Koreans shouting with the policemen. At first we weren't sure if we were going to be able to do the launch; however, Mr. Foley assured us that it is quite normal for Koreans to start shouting at each other. He said that in the Korean culture if someone shouts at you and you don't shout back, it means that you don't care about what the subject is about. Once we understood, the shouting didn't seem as much of a problem. About 10 minutes went by and the shouting had ceased, so most of the men began to load the hydrogen onto the boat. The tanks themselves were about 5 feet tall and didn't have a cap to protect the nozzle so we had to be careful not to drop them or else they could explode...obviously. Although, just because we are on a mission trip, things can obviously go wrong. There were about five tanks left and everything had been going smoothly until one of the crew members drop the tank. BANG! Everyone turned there heads towards the tank and froze. A small hissing sound could be heard coming from the hydrogen tank. Quickly, the crew members retightened the nozzel and by God's amazing grace the tank didn't explode and everyone was safe and happy. For the rest of the trip, everything went smoothly and God really provided good weather, safe travel, and no technical difficulties during the entire excursion.

After the balloon launch, we headed toward a theater to see Nanta. Nanta is a percussion comedy that involves cooking, dancing, and Young up on the stage going crazy for the red trying to make the most of who knows what in order to beat the blue team in a race against time. He, along with his teammate and the other two opponents, soon found themselves on stage alone without the " actors/actresses. Not knowing what to do, they continued to work on their "cooking" in order to win the competition. Finally, the actors/actresses came back on stage. They counted the dishes of "food" and congratulated Young and his teammate as the winners!!! Anyway, Nanta was really cool with all the excitement going on from beats to music to dancing to laughing to clapping to stopping to shouting. It was a great way to experience Korean culture that is known worldwide.

Lastly, after Nanta, we went to the SeoulUSA office and reviewed one of our praso lessons with the North Koreans.

It was an amazing day. God has been teaching each and everyone of our team members in different ways that will affect us for our entire lives. We will never look at North Korea or the North Koreans in the same way as we did when we arrived in South Korea. Thank you so much for your prayers and support! One thing that we have learned is how essential prayer is. The Koreans pray so much and shout out to the Lord so loudly that it is almost an embarrassment for Americans.

Hopefully that wasn't to choppy, but it is pretty late here and my brain doesn't function to well when I am tired.

God Bless,
Andrew S.

2009-06-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

63,000 tracts are now in North Korea. The wind was perfect and nothing went wrong at all. Thank you for all of your prayers.

Homestay and History

2009-06-24T06:23:00.001-07:00

Hi, this is Chelsea! My homestay host (Cho, Hyun Wol) was so nice! She was very humble, serving, kind, and joyful all the time. She, her husband, and her three daughters had escaped from NK into China, lived in China for four years, and then were arrested and brought back to NK. They were all able to escape again from NK and into South Korea!

Mrs. Cho, however, is concerned that although her family is physically safe, they are not spiritually saved. She loves her family very much and is very devoted.

I think she liked me (if I said something she thought was funny, she would call me a cute child). Our translator, Aram, was very helpful in helping us understand each other's culture and language.

The hardest part for my host was that Mrs. Cho and her husband were actually very well off in NK and escaped for political reasons; however, she felt guilty about some of the poor people still left in NK.

One personal note: we went and visited a Christian cemetary containing the graves of many missionaries to Korea. In the children's section, I found a grave I thought I recognized from a photograph in a book I was reading about orphans in Korea (Seed from the East). The child's name was Judy Lee Holt. It turns out, she was one of the children Harry Holt tried to bring over to America. Due to some mixups in America, she was registered as Betty. A couple months before leaving, Judy became very ill and died. She was only 6 months old. Harry found another girl and named her, Betty, but he wrote that he was very sad and heartbroken over Judy's death.

This, and other events, led Harry Holt and his family to start an adoption agency in Korea for the orphans that resulted from the Korean War. My mother was adopted through Holt Adoption Agency. If it wasn't for Judy and the other orphans, I wouldn't be here right now. God's hand is certainly over Korea, not just America

Well, I better sign off!

DMZ Reflection

2009-06-24T05:26:00.000-07:00

It was just like God to cancel our visit to the DMZ location that we were originally going. I had had a very specific mental picture of what it would be like:
Soldiers standing toe to toe on the 38th parallel.
Tall, cold military buildings.
An atmosphere of silence, yet throbbing with strained urgency.
Soldiers- North Korean, South Korean, and American, interspersed at every two inches.

That was my mental picture of where we were going. Perfect and neatly tucked away in my imagination.
*about that imagination of mine: I have a pretty well-exercised imagination thanks to many years of watching Barney and Mr. Rogers. So, almost 100% of the time, when I'm going into a new environment or situation, I have the COMPLETE scene painted in my mind, down to the very last detail. And unfortunately (actually fortunately :) ) for me, God seems to enjoy a little game called "Let's show Cici that her imagination is not a crystal ball!"

We play that game quite often... and today was no exception.

Instead of going to the tourist-magnet, most famous DMZ location, our bus driver took us, instead, to a more remote location. In fact, this place we were going wasn't near the DMZ, it was IN the DMZ. If I can remember right, it is the closest observation building to the SK/NK border. (By now my mom's cringing, but don't worry, mom! I didn't do anything crazy reckless :) )

We stopped at a security station where a soldier got on to count the number of people who were on the bus, so that no one could sneak off to stay at the post. I think it was then that it hit me... this was most definitely NOT going to be what I imagined it to be.

*gulp*

10 or 15 minutes passed as we drove closer and closer into the countryside and nearer and nearer to the North Korean border. Finally, we reached our destination and walked up a small hill. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures (although there were some valiant attempts by "certain people", including one successful one of Pastor Rick.. but that's old news :) ). I was a bit disappointed, not only because I couldn't capture the landscape's historical significance, but also because of the sheer beauty of the land. I'll do my best to paint a mental picture for you. :)

Imagine you're overlooking a valley- a muddy blue river snakes its way through that trough and on one side of that river (the South Korean side), there is lots of foliage and some guard posts. On the other side, you see off in the distance some dusty yellow plots of farm land in the midst of the green shrubs and trees. Rising from the valley, the two sides of the terrain explode into hundreds of hills and small mountains, covered by a carpet of fuzzy green trees. Add a dusty blanket of fog that gently settled on tops of the mountains to create a mystical, or as someone put it, a "Lord of the Rings" appearance.

The crunching of soldiers' feet snapped my happy (once again...) mental picture of a fantasy land versus what I was I was actually observing. That green mountainous terrain that seemed so serene- could that actually be the fringe of a country that heartlessly holds her people in her icy grip? Could this be where, just several hundred miles away, my own brothers and sisters were steps away from death in gulag camps? Could it be that pretty much anywhere in the world, except here, I could walk straight for 100 yards?

This whole experience just blew my mind- which is a bit cliche, but it's the only way I can think to describe it. God just totally shattered my neat and tidy imagination of what the DMZ would be like, and instead presented me with one of the most exquisite views I have ever seen in my life and the realization that the plight in North Korea is more real than ever. It's still hard to wrap my mind around the things that are going on in NK, even when the country is staring you right in the face.

I'm sorry for how disorganized this post is... there is so much more to talk about that happened on that day. The prayer time we had, the NK soldiers we got to see through the telescope, farming in their fields. Then there was our home stay-- which I'm afraid to even attempt to start writing about... there was... just so. much. Plus it's 11pm, and I have to get up at 3:45 to go to a prayer meeting. So, I'm thinking it's time to put down the pen. :)

Lots of love to everyone back at home. Thank you so much for all your prayers- I have felt them every second of this trip.

Excited for what tomorrow brings,
cici

2009-06-23T18:41:00.001-07:00

Hey guys. Today we got up at the ungodly hour of 3 to go to a very godly prayer meeting at a Presbyterian church that has a membership body of 100,000...wow. They had translators so we could hear the sermon...it somehow tied together John 15:5, Colin Powell and a strangely placed comment about Barack Obama and the new "black house". Even in English it didn't make a lot of sense. Then we all began to pray out loud, which was cool. The Koreans were so into their prayers, some singing, most rocking back and forth...it was pretty incredible. Anyway, we then went to stuff the bags with flyers that we'll send over to North Korea tomorrow. We sang songs, joked around, and had competitions (no matter what anyone says, my team won). We then prayed over the flyers and for those who will see them. So now we're going to lunch, I think it's the number one South Korean burger joint called Lotteria.

2009-06-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hola! This is Matt again (assume it's me if there is no name and if the post contains misplaced humor). So, I know I wrote a ton already, but today was just so incredible (as you can see from Kelsey and Rachel's posts) that I have to tell about it.

So, about 15 minutes after I published my last blog post I was treated to one of the most spectacularly humbling meals. Mr. Kim's mother spent about an hour and a half in the morning preparing us a breakfast that was clearly very expensive and special. It was absolutely delicious. I have no idea what the stuff was, but man, it sure tasted good. After we'd finished she came in and was bowing profusely saying that she was sorry her food was so bad and how we must be hungry still because her food was no good. We told her we could be full for a week off of her meal. Her smile made everything so much better. We then left with our host and translator to go to the tallest building in Seoul, but it was too expensive so we ended up just walking around for a bit.

At noon our host had to leave us, so Gabe, Olivier and I went downtown to just hang out and experience Seoul culture. This brings me to perhaps the greatest part of today: getting to know Olivier. He revealed himself to be a deeply (com)passionate person who was absolutely a blast to talk with. His love of North Koreans is so evident and inspiring...he first heard of the North Korean plight in December 2002, and by April 2003 he was actually in Pyongyang. What a wonderful example of being willing to simply GO when called. As we sat in a Starbucks, the issue of faith and religion came up. He's a Catholic who is becoming disillusioned with the church and pope, but who claims to love God and wants to serve Him. Gabe and I were able to talk with him for about an hour and a half about our faith and the joy and peace and hardships we experience daily...as well as correcting some misperceptions he had about Protestans (he thought we didn't believe in the virgin birth). He was so willing to listen and dialogue with us...it was such a blessing from God (with some great comments like, when I showed him my Bible, "wait...where are all the books in between Old and New Testament?...this makes no sense!"). We got to encourage him to seek God more, and he kept saying how we made him want to go back and try reading his Bible again...so hopefully God will do some amazing things in his life because he is on a mission to change the lives of others. We plan to meet again on Sunday.

I can't really express just how phenomenal today was. Gabe and I would frequently (like, every 3 minutes) look at eachother and giggle like middleschool girls...seeing God work so up close is a beautiful thing. He is moving in powerful ways in Korea, and even these brief two days have revealed so much. Please keep praying! Ok, yea, I'm long-winded...good night everyone! I'm gonna go fail at sleeping until we get up in 4 hours. Bye!

2009-06-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

As I (Rachel) sit here, in a wonderful, airconditioned hotel room, I am so overwhelmed. The past two days have given me some of the most absolutely incredible experiences of my life!

Firstly, about our hotel! I'm paired with Kelsey in a blue and red room! Our rooms are about 15' x 20' -- kitchen, 2 twin beds, bathroom (shower, toilet, & sink all in a 3'x4' area), and the best part are the phones!!! SO fun to make room-to-room calls! hehe

We were up by 5am and off to go INTO the DMZ yesterday! Both North and South Korea have 2 km of land dedicated to the DMZ, and we were able to go to the observation area that is closest to North Korea. I was so in awe. My favorite part of that trip was when we had a group prayer time for North Korea. Several people led out in prayer in English, but then Mrs. Foley prayed in Korean. There were South Korean guards watching us, and I think that they were very touched by what she prayed. After we prayed, one of the guards offered to show some of us something across the border. He put a coin into a pay-telescope and trained the sights. Then he told me to look. Across the river, I could see a rice patty with about 30 "units" (as the guard called the North Korean soldiers) working to grow food. That was incredible! And to think that what we had just done in praying together would be illegal just 1.2 km away!

My homestay was truly a blessing. As I was greeting the defectors before I knew who was my host, I met one woman who really stood out to me. When we clasped hands and our eyes met, we made an instant connection. I was so thrilled to find out that she was my host! She has endured so many unimaginable trials -- it was very special for me to be with her. She escaped from NK with her daughter into China, but her daughter was captured and repatriated into NK where she was beaten to death. Her daughter would have been a few years older than me, so she began to call me her "daughter" and constantly clasped my hands and poured out love through her servant's heart. Sitting on her wooden floor, spending hours talking through our interpreter, I was so touched. We talked until 3:30am, when I practically passed out! My last memory before sleep was my host tucking a pillow under my head and pulling covers over me... :-)

I'll have to post more later! It's about 10:30 pm here, and we get to go to church for prayer at 4:30 am tomorrow morning!!! There are SO many stories to tell -- and all of them are AMAZING. But for now, bed!

Thank you for all your prayers for us!
Rachel <><

God is GOOD!!!!!

2009-06-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, this is Kelsey. It's already been two days and I have no idea where to begin because so much has happened so far. We all got here safe and sound with no problems whatsoever! Yay! And I just have to say that Seoul is one amazing, awesome, fantabulous city. Especially at night. This city truly comes alive with bright lights all over, music blasting, and people everywhere. Yesterday I rode the subway for the first time ever and it was quite the experience. It can get so jam packed. And just a fun little fact for all those girls out there reading this......shoes are everywhere! Hehe. Every other store is a shoe store. So awesome. :)

All righty. So, yesterday was our homestay which means we were each paired with a North Korean defector and then spent the night at their house and spent the day with them. Such an experience talking with them and hearing their testimonies. My partner works at a Radio Stations where they broadcast truth into North Korea. While there I heard 3 more testimonies and this is the biggest lesson God has taught me so far. I am such a selfish person. Every single one of these people have been through so much more then I have and they cling to their faith like no one I've ever met. I go through some trial that is significantly smaller than theirs and I want to start blaming God right off the bat. These people have lost loved ones, seen so much darkness, and struggle with wondering if they'll ever see family members again. I am so humbled by my brothers and sisters and I pray that God will forgive me and grow within me a heart of thankfulness and contentment. Sorry for the long post! :)

2009-06-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

Hey, we have internet and a laptop at our hotel now, so starting tonight I'll try to have a bunch of people tell about their day as we all have some amazing stories to tell...it was pretty much the greatest day ever. Hopefully some will be up tonight. Bye!

2009-06-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone! Like I promised, here's yesterday's rundown. We arrived at the Seoul USA offices around 5 and immediately met all of the students. In case you were wondering, our ability to communicate with each other is sort of reduced to smiling and waving, but we all managed pretty well. We devoured some pizza (sweet potato pizza is quite wonderful) and then were all handed paper to write 3 obscure facts about ourselves... Then we crumpled up our papers and tried to annihilate each other in a "snowball" fight... perhaps I took it too seriously. Anyway, then we went around and tried to guess whose paper each one was so as to get to know each other better. Then a horde of translators showed up. I think I'd been told this before, but I'd forgotten that each homestay got a translator who would stay overnight with us. Thank goodness. Then we had an interview time where we got into groups of 2 or 3 plus a translator and talked. The wonderful defector I talked to, Esther, was an actress and comedian!!! I was not expecting that to say the least. We then introduced our new friends to everyone.

Chaos ensued as we all prepared to go to the homestay. Gabe and I met our translator Olivier and followed our host to his apartment where he lives with his absolutely delightful mother. All I have to say is that Olivier is the greatest (all the translators are) because he so willingly gave his time to come be the voice for complete strangers. He is a very French (he misses his cheeses dearly) student and intern at an NGO for North Korean human rights. Through him (though he is not quite fluent in english he was nicely proficient) Gabe and I learned all about our hosts' amazing lives. The mother told us much of the story and it was really incredible. When you meet people who have a daughter stuck in a prison camp or maybe dead, yet still serve God and others with such a beautiful smile on her face it really puts things into perspective. I imagine every person's homestay will reveal similar experiences... it is such a blessing that we get to meet these people.

Anyway, this is far too long. I might not update till much later because today will mostly just be Gabe, Olivier ( who has a wonderful karaoke talent), our host and me going sightseeing. This should be a lot of fun. Bye!

2009-06-22T08:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. Super tired, just got finished karaokeing ( totally a word) with my North Korean host, Gabe, Rachel, her host and our translators. It was a blast, but now I'm hoarse and crazy tired. My phone is also dying, so I'll update more later about meeting all the defectors. Good night!

2009-06-21T20:19:00.001-07:00

Hey all. We are on our way to lunch after just visiting the DMZ. It was pretty incredible. Our first stop was a memorial park nearby the most touristy section of the border. It was so touristy that there was a theme park...a Pirate theme park (no joke! I have pictures of a very intimidating looking Captain Hook). We then learned we would be unable to visit the first DMZ station, so we drove quite a bit further and went to the observatory that was the closest guard post to N Korea. We had an absolutely fantastic view of the DMZ. It was shockingly beautiful, very lush and green. This is because the North Korean government puts a ton of effort into keeping the korean border not evil looking. We heard the China border is brown and ravaged. We heard a presentation from a soldier and and even got some very ilegal pictures (one of which is Pastor Rick holding a plastic M16 and looking very menacing). We then had a prayer session while we looked out over N Korea. It was awesome. Ok, we're here at the restaurant after some parking acrobatics from our very talented bus driver. See you all later!

2009-06-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!! We are at a Korean breakfast joint eating spicy backbone stew and this awesome variety of vegetables. It"s a little strange eating spicy meat in at 6:45 in the morning (spicy enough that most of our noses are running), but it tastes great. We stayed at a hotel last night that had bathrooms so small that the showerhead was right next to the toilet and sink with a drain in the middle of the room. The toilet paper got soaked. We are going to the DMZ right now, so please be praying for safety!

2009-06-21T02:38:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! I know it's late back home, but I just wanted to check in and say that we arrived intact! What a long flight. I'll post more after (if) I get through customs. -Matt

Hey Everyone!

2009-06-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

So the plan is to have this blog updated as frequently as possible by as many people as possible so as to give all of you back home a better sense of what God is accomplishing through this missions trip! We are all very excited for this opportunity and humbly ask for continued prayer for our physical and mental preparation for the nine days we are gone. Thanks!

-Matt Jones