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.
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