It has been way too long. I didn't neglect this blog, I have just been so
busy since midterms ended the last week of April. Visits from friends back
home, involvement with my church here, group projects, planning trips, and
fitting in as much face time as I can lately that I haven't blogged here, even
though I have a handful of topics to blog about.
Fast forward, I am doing fantastic in Seoul and am here to update you. I can
totally reflect on my time in Korea, but I will save that for my
PhotoSeoul blog.
My purpose for this blog is actually about
evangelizing. So every third
Friday of the month, New Philly (the church I've been attending), does an
outreach event targeted towards foreigners in an area known as Itaewon. Itaewon
is known for its pubs, mutlicultural restaurants, and vast amount of
foreigners. If I had to choose a place to relate to in Edmonton, it would
probably be Whyte Ave. Its a nice area, but also quite shady with some beggars
on the street, frequent sight of drunk people when the sun departs, and a
sketchy vibe here and there.
I've been meaning to write a post about this since last month you see, but
never got around to it, so here it goes.
I was
hesitant to go
outreach the first time I heard about this event in
April, but thinking that this might be my only and last chance before I leave
Korea (thinking at the time that I wouldn't go in June as its during finals
week), I left with many Emmaus students that third Friday of May to New
Philly's K1 House of Prayer in Itaewon where they kick off this monthly event.
After a brief praise and worship time, we broke up into groups with a leader
from the church and were given a place to be positioned at for the night in
that area, such as cafe, restaurant, on the streets, or even in a bar. Before
heading out, we would pray and ask God for a sign, what we term as
"
treasure" hunting, so we have an idea of what kind of person we were
seeking before we go out and evangelize. As my group was praying together, a
bundle of white cords popped into my head, they were sturdy and thick,
resembling ropes, so I had made that my treasure image of the night.
We were situated at Nescafe and upon arriving, we had notice that the crowds
were mainly local Koreans, predominately females, which meant a lack of English
speaking foreigners. The only foreigners we had notice were probably those
smoking in the smoking room on the second floor of the cafe (smoking rooms are
common in Korean cafes). My group of five split up acknowledging that we could
expand our territory more, so 3 of us went into the smoking room, while our
group leader and I situated ourselves in the main area outside of the smoking
area and looking over the street on the second floor. Our group leader was Ted, Caucasian who teaches English to kids in Korea. He only knew the bare
necessities to Korean and wasn't likely to carry a Korean conversation. I, on
the other hand, have taken three semester of Korean before this term and
would've been the better one to communicate if we did choose to target any of
the Koreans in that cafe.
We sat for a while and waited to see if anyone stood out to us or if more
foreigners would arrive as there was a fat chance that any of these Koreans
knew English. There was a
girl sitting alone in front of the washrooms
who was concentrating on her studies. Usually, when I see people looking busy,
I like to leave them alone and don't bother to stir up any conversation, let
alone someone I didn't know. The thing is, another guy in our group had got the
image of a book and pencil when he was praying as his "treasures," so
we kept noticing this girl and finally decided that we should go for it.
However, the
language barrier issue arrived, and knowing my Korean
background, Ted asked me if I would be okay striking a conversation with her. I
really wanted to decline, but for some reason, I said alright, I'll try. So I
took some time to form some Korean sentences in my head to introduce myself and
tell her that we were playing a "treasure hunting" game and she has what
we were looking for. Before I figured out how to say 'notebook' in
Korean, Ted asked if I was ready and said that he would go with me. I was not
ready at all.
We got up from our seats, headed to the girl and fortunately, Ted introduced
us in English. Surprisingly, she responded in English, so I asked in Korean if
she knew English and she said yes, a little (it wasn't a little, she actually
new a lot, and very proficiently might I add). We told her how she had the
treasures we were looking for and sparked a conversation going by asking what
she was studying. It was so amazing because I never once sense a vibe of
awkwardness, hesitation, or fear from her throughout our talk. Near the beginning of our conversation, she thought we wanted her to be our language exchange partners, but we found out she was actually
studying for a test the next day and was planning to be an
exchange student
the following term in Germany. Once she said that, I knew God had positioned me
to be talking to her in that hour because I could relate to her so much. Next
thing you know, we told her we were
Christians finding people to share
the gospel with and she was so willing to listen. She told us how many of her
friends were Christians but she never thought it was a religion for her. She
has never been to church before and had so many child like questions about
church. I'm so glad Ted was there with me because he shared the gospel so
smoothly, and maybe because he's a teacher and knows how to deliver messages in
an easy to digest manner for kids, but he definitely was there for me to lean
on during our conversation.
Turns out, she was so
hungry for God and had so many naive, yet
curious questions.
Does church have tests? Do you get into trouble if you
don't go a Sunday? I felt like she had so much misunderstanding about
Christianity and church because of her previous experiences that it has
hindered her from even wanting to attend a church or get to know this amazing
faith
of ours. When we had to wrap up our conversation, we asked to pray for her and
she told us after that it was her
first time praying in her life. I felt
I was part of something so special in that moment. We had introduced what
church we were from earlier, but near the end, she initiated a yearning to
check out our church that coming Sunday. I was so excited and happy for her,
AND I noticed halfway through our conversation with her, but sitting on the
table infront of me was a
bundle of white ear phone cords connected to
her ipod-Say What?!
Well, Sunday came, and she actually couldn't make it because her parents
didn't want her coming out to a church she got introduced to by
"random" people in a place such as Itaewon. I understand of course
because that does sound sketch, but Ted and I encouraged her to find a Korean
church, or any church for that matter that she and her family feels comfortable
with.
This is just the beginning and I can't wait to see how God is going to
sprout this
little seed.
