Jindo/Kwansado Island Mission Trip

This weekend Caitlyn, Samuel, Adriel, and I went on a Mission trip with our church G.E.M.. We traveled by bus to the far south of Korea and then crossed a bridge into Jindo Island. We stayed the night in Jindo and then traveled about 2 hrs by ferry to Kwansado Is. This sea is famous for having many small islands. Kwansado is the farthest Korean island. The island is so very small, but has 2 villages. Each village has about 35 people in it. We ministered in both villages. The villagers are seaweed harvesters. They are so very poor. Their yearly family income is about $2500. The sad thing is that most of the residents on the island are the elderly. The young people have left the island to seek an easier life on the main land.There are also about 9 children on the island that were orphaned by their parents and are being raised by the grandparents.

This is a tough life of hard labor and long hours. This is their busiest time of year. They work all day drying the seaweed and packing it up to ship out on the ferry. The Friday we were there they went out to the sea to gather the sea weed in the late afternoon. They returned around 7:00 p.m. with big carts of seaweed. We fed them dinner and then they sorted the seaweed and divided it evenly among each family. The head of each house took off one shoe and then the shoes were placed on a sack of seaweed. When they found their shoe that was their seaweed portion they would take home to dry. While they did this we sang to them English and Korean hymns and worship songs. A few joined in and sang with us. It was such a blessing for all of us. One village lady sang a traditional Korean Folk song and danced around the sea weed pile. We were told they would stay up to close to 3 a.m. spreading the seaweed on drying frames and laying it out to dry. They must do it at night so it can dry slow and not be ruined in the hot, hot sun. It must dry very slow. They had to also be watching the weather for rain. If it rained they would move it inside to a drying room. They did not sleep long, because they were already out working as I walked to the church at 7:30 a.m for morning chapel. They were very happy people and also thankful for our time and work on the island. They even gave us a half bag of fresh seaweed and some dried as well.

Kwansado Baptist Church is the only church on the Island. Pastor Joseph Kim has been pastoring there for 11 yrs. The church has about 35 members that attend Sunday worship service. The pastor ministers to everyone on the island. The church owns a van, which is the only vehicle on the island. He uses it as a free taxi service to take people from one side of the island to the other. The church also owns a boat that is used to take them to neighboring islands for business or to the mainland if someone needs emergency care. It is the only local island with a pastor. Pastor Joseph takes the boat each weekday to the neighboring islands and has a church service there. He is a God fearing devoted preacher who loves the island people and the return that love to him and his family.

Our group had 37 people and was split up into 8 teams. The different teams and services were : cooking team- They provided meals for all team members and for the villagers on Friday night. Evangelism team- witnessed to everyone on the island and had many make a confession of faith and a few rededicated their lives. I do not know the #s though. Wall paper team- Put wall paper up in the pastors home. Senior party team- sang songs and served dinner to the seniors. Skin care did facial masks and massages. Medical- Did check- ups and gave IVs with amino acids in it. V.B.S team- Bible, crafts, sports, nature walk, and had a hot dog party for the children.

I was on the V.B.S. team. Our theme was creation and we stressed that they were created and were wonderfully made.We were sort of an English camp/V.B.S. Most the children spoke no English, but we had some youth from our team translate. The children really had a good time. One little girl shared how she had lived on the island all her life , but as we talked to her and did a nature hunt, she learned to see Gods love for her and realised what a beautiful place God had made for her.How precious was that to me. It is so easy to miss the beauty of Gods creation as we go about our daily life. God created a beautiful world for us and we need to praise him and thank him for it daily. It was such a blessing too me and I am thankful God aloud me to go on this trip. I am more aware and thankful of how blessed my family truly is. What a blessing to see more of God's beautiful world and precious people.

I want to thank God for all He did on this trip. For the safe travel and protection of each member. For all that God allowed us to accomplish. We did all we had planned to do on our trip. God even redirected a typhoon around us. The typhoon hit areas around us , but totally missed our island and travel area. God is so good! I also want to thank everyone who prayed for our trip. God worked it all out for His honor and glory. Praise His Holy Name!

North Korea sends missiles

Last night as Derek was online he read a news head line about North Korea test firing more missiles. He was not reading it to us just happen to speak it out loud and then little ears heard it . We were not aware of this and did not think any thing of it. Last night as I was sleeping in came Elijah. Mommy , I am so scared. I had a dream about North Korea firing missiles at us. The Lord gave me the wisdom to pray a hedge of protection around him and for the Lord to give him peace. Thankfully God answered quickly and he fell sound asleep in my bed where he is still asleep. Maybe not all little American boys would be affected by hearing a simple news head line like this. But then again not all little American boys live a stone throw away from North Korea. This made me think that we need to be more cautious of what we speak out loud. We must guard their little hearts and minds. We must also guard our own. What we see, say, and hear does affect us. It is important what we fill our mind with. I need to make sure everyday I am filling my mind and theirs with the word of God.

I have not had the time to edit and post this. I started this early Friday morning and now it is Saturday . Since then we had one more eventful night. This time Samuel had bad dreams and woke up so scared. I prayed with him , but he was still scared and asked if I would get up and read the scriptures with him. I have been up every night this week with one of the kids and I was just exhausted , but would not say no to read the scriptures at anytime with my children. We first read in the Psalms. This is always a good place to go for comfort. We read Psalm 62. vs 5-8 really spoke to Samuel. "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah" He said, this helped him ,but he also wanted to read a little more. He was still afraid to go to sleep. We then turned to Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." These verses really helped and he said ,I know now I can go back to sleep. We are so blessed to be able to turn to the Scriptures any time we need to hear from God. The Word of God is living and has everything we need at anytime. What a blessing to be able to comfort my kids with the scriptures. Mothers in North Korea could lose their lives for this. Others all around the world have never seen or even heard the scriptures. I am reminded how I need to take every opportunity to train my children to turn to the Word of God. One day it could be taken from us, so we must fill our heads and hearts with it now.

Adriel's Birthday

We just celebrated Adriel's 2nd Korean Birthday. She is now western age of nine. She has been ten in Korea since the new year though.We celebrated about the same as in America. An outside party at the local spray /wading pool ,with watermelon, Big cookie and friends. And of course a few presents. Derek and I both thought it was easy and relaxing. We were blessed to have our friend Mia drive half of us and the party supplies to the park that was 30 min away in the next town. It was so fun. Adriel had planned to first have an all girl Princess party at the house, but at the last minute she decided to change it to water park birthday. We are all glad she did. So were the boys who were allowed to also invite friends. Her all girl party turned out to be only 2 girl friends and10 boys counting brothers. She said ,so much for my all girl party.

She was also blessed to get her Princess party on her actual birthday. It was not all girls either , but it was fun too! Jonathon(neighbor friend who learned English by playing with Elijah) and Noel ( pastor's daughter) could not come to the Saturday party so we threw together a last minute party to include them. May be we are becoming Korean..he he..We had cookie, pizza and a princess coloring contest. We are blessed to have this opportunity to raise Princesses for the King of Kings.We are thankful for all we are truly blessed with. And thankful to celebrate the life of our precious Princess Adriel.

Woods Family Party

Remember my last post of the surprise visit and meeting new friends. Well, this Thursday we met again . This time we were the one's surprised. Jin had invited me to her house through phone text. When we showed up all three families were there. The apartment was decorated with balloons and banners and there was a lot of Korean party food. One of the banners said Happy Birthday, so we asked who's B-day it was and we were told this is a party for the Woods family. Wow, what a blessing for us. We had a lot of fun and a good visit. We still have communication struggles , but at least we felt invited and welcomed. I praise the Lord for the new friendships he is developing. The ladies want to meet at least once a week. Jin is studying English( by herself) and wants to learn so we can communicate better. I also am thankful for a chance to practice Korean. You would think we would get to practice Korean often , but most people only want to talk to us to practice English. The comment Caitlyn says she hears so much from mom's is please speak in English, my children must practice. They tell her it is so important for all the children to learn to speak English.
Samuel and Han Tae Jin

Please continue to pray for my new friends. They asked if my husband went to church also. They said their husbands did not. Their names are Kim Ae Kyung, Seo Jin Sook, and Hong Soo Mi. Jin e-mailed me some pics taken at her house. She asked if she could post them on her blog. I pray the Lord will use this time to build beautiful friendships and that God would bring their husbands to Him.

The Disapointing Day andThe Persistant Boy.

This Thursday morning was disappointing for my children. Especially for Samuel. It was supposed to be our field trip day and at the last minute we found out it was cancelled. Mainly because a few families just decided they did not want to have it this week. I found out late Wednesday when I called to find out why our hand phone text had not been sent out. Part of it is the culture, they plan things last minute and cancel last minute as well. Also, they try to accommodate all and will cancel plans if it does not work for just one family. For example, they cancelled a mountain hike early spring when I called 1 hr before to say we could not come because Liz was sick. All the other families cancelled even though they had prepared their picnic lunches and one even got up early to make kimbop. I am thankful for their flexibility and that this same leader dropped everything this day to take Liz and I to the doctor. They are a sweet group and a blessing to our family. This is tough on my kids , because this is the only chance they get to be with friends their own age and that speak their own language. We meet only twice a month ( 1 field trip/play time, 1 report day) and my kids look forward to the field trip for weeks in advance. So this started out as such a discouraging day. No field trip and even the scheduled play date with Samuel friends was cancelled. My kids spent the morning moaping and complaining how it was so unfair to cancel just for a few families when many would have been able to come. They would take even just a free time at the park with friends. It is tough on Sam and Caitlyn who remember all the activities they did on a weekly basis with our home school group in Oklahoma. They miss all the activities and the friends. It is also tough , because they have no way to interact with friends their own age other than this group. It is just not possible. Because Korean children their age go to school long hours, then go to institutes after school and then spend the time left studying. We seldom see any children outside playing above Korean age 10(American age 8-9) We only see them coming home from school or traveling to their various institutes (Math, Science, English, Piano, Taekwando, ect.).

My children feel very isolated and lonely for friendship. So please pray for them in this area. I tried to encourage them and we spent the morning studying Bible/character and doing household chores. After lunch I encouraged them to go outside and play. Sam and Adriel went out to play, but Caitlyn stayed inside to do various activities. Elijah played inside because his buddy Jonathon was sleeping, and Liz took a nap while I prepared dinner. When Liz woke from her nap I suggested we go outside to play. So Liz ,Elijah and I went to join Samuel and Adriel on the playground.
I found Samuel playing dokgee (Koren game like pogs) with some much younger boys and Adriel was watching. One of the boys ( Korean age 10) asked me if I was Samuel's mom. I said yes and we exchanged introductions. Afterwards, I went with Lizzy to play on the slide. This boy followed me. He told me he lived in Dong Boo Apart( The playground is inbetween the two Apart. complexes). He asked if I would like to go to his house. I just smiled and kept playing with Liz and listening to the boy tell me about his little sister who is 5yrs old( 4yr Am. age) and so cute. He kept asking if I would like to visit his house and meet his so very nice and kind mother. I said several times that would be nice, I bet your sister is cute and I am glad you have such a wonderful mom. He finally said, "come to my house now." I said, " That is nice for you to ask me but, I bet your mother is busy and not ready for a guest. He assured me his mother would be happy to meet us and I would love his wonderful home. So what could I do but gather up the kiddos and follow him to his Apartment.
We met his lovely mom at the apart. playground. He introduced us and I met his cute little sister and his mother's friend. He informed his mother( in Korean) that he had invited our family to his house. I tried to smile and excuse myself , but it did not work. She was a little surprised , but Korean are very good at showing hospitality and are very flexible( as I shared earlier). So we (me , Samuel, Adriel, Elijah and Liz) went to their apart. His mother rushed ahead to prepare for us and warn the father of our visit. The mother's friend corralled us together and escorted us to the families home. Dad met us at the door and warmly welcomed us inside. It was very awkward for all of us at first, but we were welcomed inside and treated like very special guests. The house was a little bigger than ours , but so neat and clean. It was decorated so lovely. Bright flowery wall paper, lace curtains and such a friendly atmosphere. We were invited to sit down at the Korean style table (low table no chairs) and they started bringing out snacks for us. Big plates of water melon (watermelon can cost between $7-$11 now) some Japanese snacks (little bread sticks wrapped in seaweed ) cereal, candy and another friend came with sandwiches (chicken lunch meat and potato salad I think). The children went off to play, the father excused himself to the bedroom with his laptop and us ladies sat down to try to get acquainted. Did I mention my Korean is almost nothing and the women knew only a little English. The hostess tried to get her son to come help us talk, because his English was very good, but he only smiled and said, a few words in Korean and then went off to play with his buddies. If it would have been my son , maybe I would have beat him:) Who knows what happened when I left:) I felt a little uncomfortable, but tried to visit. The last lady that joined us knew more English than the others. They really wanted to know more about me and my family. I kept apologizing for the surprise visit , but they said, it was okay and that they were happy to have me. We exchanged hand phone #s and the other ladies said, "we want you to come to our house too. We want to meet your husband and older daughter." They said they wanted to meet again and learn more English. I said," I will work on my Korean." I stayed for about 2 hrs and then said I must go my husband is on his way home from work. I tried to leave much earlier, because I felt like I was imposing on them, but they kept insisting I stay and visit. This was an awkward , but a blessed time for me. I would love to have more Korean friends , but my lack of Korean normally only allows me to have friendships with bilingual Koreans. I found out all the ladies were christian and very active at their church. I hope this will be a start of some lovely friendships.
This has taught me so many things. I need to be more flexible, more organized at home and ready to adjust my plans as God directs. Hebrews 13:1-2 says, Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
I am no angel , but these ladies showed me hospitality by showing me brotherly love and entertaining a stranger in their home (me). Bill Gothard describes hospitality as "making sure the environment is suitable for those we serve." This ladies house was definitely a suitable environment to entertain a stranger as a guest. Clean , nicely decorated and open even to a surprise visitor. She was also flexible in changing plans if unexpected conditions require it". I am now asking God to help me be ready to show hospitality when he directs me and to be flexible in adjusting and adapting myself to the wishes of God whom I serve. What a blessing it is to serve my Lord and Savior who continues to keep my life full of surprises and adventures. And I am blessed for the new christian sisters he has sent my way and who were so kind to me a Foreigner in their land.

Welcome to our new family blog

I am attempting this even though I have a lot to learn. I want to use this blog to share our life here in Korea with our family and friends. Life here is normal for us since we have adjusted to life in Korea, but many would like to peek into our everyday life as we live this adventure in Korea. I do not know how often I will update it, but will try to at least once a week. I will get some photos up later, but that will require a lesson from Derek. I tried, but had no success. I have a lot to learn, but think it will be a fun adventure. I have done okay on facebook. So welcome to our blog I hope you enjoy your walk in the Woods.