New Church Today!

Today's post is going to be another reflection post as I've been thinking about a lot of things tied to the reflections my church back in Chicago has been sending out regarding the book of Job. Just a warning. First I want to explain the title though. No I am not unhappy with my other church, I actually just joined that church.

One of the Mongolian students from my class (Monk) messaged me as I was getting ready to go to the other church. He asked if he could come with. This was a great opportunity to witness so I said of course! I let him know that my church was an hour and a half bus ride however, and we probably wouldn't get back until late. He said he was looking more at churches around campus.

I knew there was a church on campus here but I had never been to it. In fact you can see it from the main road, but it's tough to figure out where to go to get there. This was going to be the first time he had tried going to church, and I knew that it was important I go with him. I messaged one of the guys from my church and let him know the situation so people didn't wonder where I was. Also, Heavy G is at home this weekend so I would have had to take the bus.

I setup a time with Monk to meet him in front of his old dorm (he has since moved out into a one room with his sister) about 10:30 since service started at 11. He showed up with one of his buddies who I had met at the foreign student exercise day on Friday. They parked their bikes and we walked to the chapel.

This church was relatively small and the interior reminded me of one I visited up in Milwaukee with my boys Matt Gates and Eli Riddle. The church was Presbyterian so I was familiar with the service style (since my church back in Chicago was Presbyterian also). I'm more of a lead by example person as opposed to telling people what to do, so I took charge and led them into the church. I sat down in one of the open pews and we waited for service to start.

Inside the campus chapel.

The service was good, although completely in Korean. Unfortunately none of us understood what was being said, but I still believe it's important to be in God's house. Afterwards we walked back to the dorms and I got lunch alone.

After lunch I took a quick nap, and then headed to the gym. Following that I got a shower and headed back to the restaurant to grab dinner before they closed. Nathan showed up there and I took that as a sign from God. He's literally everywhere I go. I go to a random cafeteria and he's there. There's definitely a reason the two of us crossed paths.

Anyways, we ended up having dinner together and as we were leaving I asked what he was doing. He asked if I wanted to play some Frisbee, and I obliged. We played probably over an hour, until it was dark. He ended up walking me back to my dorm (because he wanted to see where it was) and we made plans to hang out in downtown Daegu tomorrow! (Stay tuned for what promises to be a very exciting day tomorrow!

So to switch gears here, we have been reading Job as a church. Job resonates a lot with me, which is funny because I've read the book multiple times on my attempted read-through's of the Bible and never got much out of it. However, a closer inspection plus the added guidance of these reflections are really helping me glean as much as I can out of just these first few chapters.

Job was a man who had everything. He was wealthy, he had a large family, everyone liked him, and most importantly of all he had great faith in God. One day the devil comes to God and begs to be able to make Job miserable. God allows him to do basically anything he wants except to touch Job. The devil takes this opportunity to kill all his cattle (his wealth) and his family. Job doesn't sin against God after this, instead he says "from dust I was born and as such I will return".

Then the devil goes back to God and says that Job is only loyal to God because he has his health. So God allows the devil to do what he wants physically to Job providing that he doesn't kill Job. Job ends up being so disfigured his friends barely recognize him as he has giant boils and sores all over him.

What an incredible change of events for this man. He has no idea that the devil is doing all of this, and with God's permission. So far (about 5 chapters in) he has stayed true to God, but he is starting to let his bitterness out.

This got me thinking about how I would react in such a situation. I started thinking what it would take for me to blame God for my situation on this earth. Probably not much admittedly. I've grown up with every possible affordance in life, and I've gotten very used to that. I'd like to think now that my relationship with God is now stronger that it would take more than before to break me. Who knows if this is actually true, but one thing I can attest to is that I now look at things from a different perspective.

God is not to blame for my situation in life. The bad that comes from events are always used to His glory. Hell I should be thankful that God doesn't smite me right where I sit for sinning so often and horrifically every single day. He doesn't though because of His great unconditional love, and His son who died on the cross to cover our sins.

I can't count how many prayers have been answered for me since I really started asking for things. I was thinking about it the other day and it blows my mind. Things that I never would have attributed to God before, or even thought about. I would say "oh I did such and such and that must have been the change that was needed". Being such a cerebral person my entire life, this was my outlook. "Ok I'm doing something wrong, and just a change will fix it". Then I could pat myself on the back and say great job, look how smart I am.

I'm about to be extremely honest here, so if you don't want to know some bad stuff about me I suggest you stop reading now. Not like that's going to stop anyone, but I figured I'd throw out a warning just in case.

I went through a pretty dark period in my life. I would say it lasted probably around 10 years. From about the time I was 18-28. Now mind you, during this time my life was absolutely GREAT. I've always been able to do what I wanted, had all the opportunities in the world afforded to me. I really have been given it all, and for that I am so appreciative. My family means the world to me and they have given me everything they can, and more. The amount of times I messed up and they came to my aid has been grievous. I can only hope that they understand that I have learned from my mistakes, and that my decisions now are guided by God and not self motivation.

During this dark period I became a man of the world. Now mind you growing up I was a "Christian" but I didn't really have a relationship with God. I was an angel in the sense of not drinking, smoking, or having sex, but it wasn't because I really cared about being religious (even though that was my excuse for not doing it) it was because I was scared.

As I mentioned before I grew up a cerebral person. My logic was that if I believe God is real and I'm right, well then I just won the lottery - I go to heaven! If I'm wrong, meh I still lived a good life and people will respect me for that. What a self righteous bunch of B.S. Yet I convinced myself that was what a Christian was, and that I was a good person. Pretty easy to do, especially when you're surrounded by like minded people. The amount of "Christian's" that I've talked to with that argument is too many to count, and it makes me sad to know that they probably will never feel the love of Christ in their hearts, and how amazing it is to have a relationship with God our father.

So what did I start doing at 18? The stuff that I never did before. I don't know if it was because I was finally 18 and the world said I was an adult so I stopped caring what my parents thought, or if I finally hit an age of maturity where I said screw it I'm going to have some fun. Probably a mixture of both if I look back on it honestly.

Sex became a motivation. I had always been interested in sociology. Not studying it in school, but doing my own studies. Watching how people interacted with each other. More specifically what guys could do to get a girls attention. Over time I became the guy that I saw was successful with girls. That's a personality trait that I'm still working on shedding. I realize that being popular is not a crime, I'm more talking about the things I changed about myself to gain that popularity. I started using sarcasm, heavy heavy sarcasm. I started to develop a wall around my heart. I was determined to beat everyone else mentally.

I started drinking at 21. Actually a few months after my 21st birthday. My excuse was that a girlfriend I had at the time made it look fun and so I had to try it. Previous to that I had planned on never drinking in my life. Well that plan went out the window.

At one point during the dark decade I remember thinking consciously that I was eating and drinking myself to death, and I frankly didn't care. I had nothing to live for. I had everything, but I didn't want it. I was empty. I would routinely go to chipotle and eat two giant burritos in one sitting and then go home to sleep in a food coma. Then I would get up late at night and drink myself into a stupor.

I made sure to always have my drinking revolve around an "activity" so as to not fit the stereotype of the guy who drinks by himself. I resorted to online gaming. I figured it was safer to drink at home and blackout next to my bed with people I would never meet, than to go to a bar and drive home drunk every time I wanted to party. A logical decision, but a dangerous one for my health nonetheless, to say nothing of my spiritual state at that point.

As my body degraded quicker and quicker I went into denial. God had given me so many gifts. I was tall, I was handsome (I honestly never believed this but people told me that so it must have been true to some extent) I was athletic, and I didn't have to try for any of it. I pretty much thought I was invincible. I sat on my butt most of the time and never went to the gym. I overate constantly and drank most nights. I was a professional ice hockey coach so my job afforded me the free time to destroy myself. So I did. Almost.

I would look at myself in the mirror and see what I wanted to see. That's not a belly, you still have some ab definition. Your face isn't red, you just scrubbed it too hard in the shower, or you're sunburned. I gained more than 100 lbs from my playing weight in about 6-7 years. Probably most of it on the back end of those years. It came on quick. I'm still struggling to get rid of it.

I let myself get to the point where there were severe signs of big problems going on in my body, and yet I still ignored it. It wasn't until people started asking me if I was really sunburned that I started to see it. By then it was too late. I never saw a doctor because I was too scared. What did I do to fix things? I tried to drink my problems away. Everyone dies right? I might as well do it on my own terms.

My thoughts weren't always this dark, but there were definitely times where they were. I never thought about suicide, but thinking back on it I was basically committing the slowest of suicides. The worst part is that I was watching my aunt go through basically the same exact thing, and I was in denial about my own habits. I assure you I'm fine now, but if it wasn't for God I wouldn't be.

He has more than saved my life, and I owe Him everything. I tell him every night in prayer that I am in submission to Him, and I want Him to lead me to where His will is for me. I know that He has great plans for me, and maybe all of this will be part of my ministry to others. For the longest time I thought I had nothing to give as far as a ministry since I had grown up with basically a white picket fence childhood. Who knows? All I know is that I'm not scared to be honest anymore.

This was all basically a giant lead up to what I have been thinking about with Job. Job lost everything. I still have plenty, and what I have lost is because of myself. I pray that God will be merciful to heal me, even though I deserve none of his forgiveness.

I'm living in a society where looks are supremely important. Where girls walk past the gym windows that are mirrored on the outside and fix their appearance multiple times down a stretch of windows. Where guys use face lotion and creams. Much worse than I've ever seen in America. For the longest time I was worried about what others thought of my appearance, even though I never really did anything about it.

I can finally confidently say that I have stopped caring. Not that I'm going to stop trying, I will continue to work on my body but for different reasons. Because my body is God's temple, and taking care of it is out of respect to Him. Furthermore, he is capable of doing anything. Whether it's to change someone else's heart, or my own appearance.

I'm beginning to realize that it really is Him that does everything, and I am just the vessel to spread the good news. Certainly people can be swayed by someone preaching with good looks, or who has a lot of money, but as Paul says "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." 1 Cor 1:17

I really hope those that read this can get something out of it. I'll be praying for you, and if you don't believe, or you're struggling with your relationship with God right now, I hope he touches your heart, and opens it to him. If you need anything, I'm only a message away. Thank you for reading and I'll let you know how tomorrow goes with Nathan!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 딸기 케이크를 사 주세요 (Ddal Gi Ke E Keu Reul Sa Ju Se Yo) This means "please buy me a strawberry cake!" Enjoy all the sweets you can get out of your Korean gf/bf now! Muahahahahha.

TL:DR I'm in Korea.

Nothing Happened on Saturday

That isn't completely true. However, I did take a lot of the day to recover from the buffet. Until about 1pm I would wake up for a bit and go back for a nap. Since we are off of school next week, all the students have gone home until next weekend. Therefore, all the other RA's are going home, leaving me alone in the dorms again. Heavy G took off about 10am, and YJS waited until afternoon. I caught YJS before he left to help me reload my bus card, and see if he wanted to get some food. He headed to the bus and I went to CJ for lunch.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful until about 7pm. YJS told me that An Hyo Sang was going to come to the dorm for a little bit at night. I messaged An and asked him if he wanted to do dinner. He said yes and that he would come over around 6:30. When he got to the dorm we tried to figure out what we wanted to eat. After brainstorming about the usual, we settled on some 삼겹살 (Sahm Gyup Sal) pork belly!

There's a strip mall right by the main gate of the university that has a ton of PC Bang's and Noraebang's. There are also a lot of restaurants as well. I wasn't really all that hungry at the dorm, but by the time we got there I was starving. It was a good thing too because this place was awesome. Good thing I had An Hyo Chef with me to cook all the meat.

Sam Gyup Sal!

Side dishes are on point

An Hyo Chef in action

CHADOLBAGI!

I've had all you can eat Korean BBQ before back in Chicago, and it was really good. We ate chadolbagi by the plate full. Last night at this place, I would say the food was just as good, if not a little bit better than the food in Chicago. An Hyo Sang told me that a lot of the chadolbagi in Korea actually comes from America and is cheaper than the Korean meat. I thought that was pretty interesting.

After eating our fill we headed to the coin noraebang. You literally put coins in this machine, and you get your own private karaoke. It's 300 won/song which breaks down to roughly .30 cents. We sang 6 songs, mostly together and it was awesome. Really bad, but awesome. He sent me some pictures he took and a video of us.

Coin karaoke!

After that I ended up heading back to the dorm, and An Hyo Sang headed back to his one room. I relaxed and posted last night's blog and then went to bed! That's about it! Looking forward to a good post later today. Thanks for reading!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day:친구와 같이 밥을 먹으려고 해요 (Chingu Wah Gatchi Bapeul Mugeu Ryuhgo Haeyo) This means I plan on eating a meal with my friend. Practice until you're perfect!

TL:DR I'm in Korea.

All You Can Eat Buffet!

Wow. This is probably going to be a pretty long post considering so much happened yesterday. I apologize again for missing a day, but by the time I got home it was pretty late and I was in no shape to write haha. The day started out with exercise together with the other foreign students. Then I had to leave early with the Mongolians from my class to get my alien registration card. After that was the all you can eat buffet.

So the day started with exercise. We were supposed to meet at 9am on the recreation area next to the global lounge where we take our classes. I got there a little early to make sure that I finished everything early. I didn't know how chaotic things were going to be. I was right, things ended up being crazy. Most of the other teachers don't know how to speak English, so figuring out what they are saying is tough.

My Mongolian buddy (lets call him Monk for short) and I stood around together and hung out while everyone else was getting their name tags taken care of. Nathan also got there around 8:50 and hung out with us while watching the crowd gather around. There had to be close to 200 students at this thing, it was pretty crazy. I took some pictures to show you all.

Stretches to warm up!

Balloon Game?!

Chillin in the shade watching some kind of game.

They will literally deliver food ANYWHERE here...on motorcycles.

Nathan chilling in the shade, bein a cool dude.

So we started out with a bunch of stretching. They put us all in lines about 10 students in each and stretched out across the rec area. I hung with Nathan for most of it. After that was done the games began. The first game was 피구 (Pigu) or dodge ball! I had signed up for it the week before thinking that it was one of the least offensive games they were going to have. I'm also pretty good from what I can remember of school. After I signed up though, the other students pointed out that I would be a big target for everyone else to throw at.

Korean dodge ball is different from American. You have a set amount of players (in this case 6) around the edge of the other team's square. These are attackers and can assist in getting the other team's players out. There are unlimited passes, and obviously the object is to get all the players on the other team out. If you catch the ball, then someone from your team is saved. I was chosen to be an attacker around the outside of the other team's square, which was probably a good decision by my team.The other strong guys from our team were also chosen, and the same went for the other team.

We lost the first game pretty badly. We hadn't really figured out the teamwork yet. Also there was a girl on the other team that was surprisingly good. I made sure to take note of that and got her out pretty early on in the second game. She was NOT HAPPY haha, but it was all in good spirit. We won the second game pretty handily, and I'd like to take some credit for it. I started to pass the ball around the edge of the square to force the students in the square to move a lot. The other guys on my team picked up on this quickly and we ended up winning. I had to make the hero play to end the game too, I zeroed in on the last girl and threw a rocket to get her out. That brought a lot of cheers from our sideline.

The same thing happened for the third game as well. (I made sure to let the girl who was good know that I was coming for her). There was even a girl who came up to me before the third game and said she was scared of me because I was so strong. I laughed and promised I wouldn't hurt her. Early during the third game one of the girls from the other team got the ball and almost threw it at me. Everyone cracked up because you can't get the attackers out. These events are always good to bring people together even though they seem like they will be a drag before they start. We ended up winning 2-1 in dodge ball and scoring a point for our team.

Following dodge ball it was time for me to relax. First though I wanted to take a video of what was going on. In the middle of my video I was approached by two Vietnamese students who wanted to take pictures with me. This is beginning to be a pretty common occurrence here so I'm not even phased anymore when it happens. After that I went over to the shaded gazebo and watched the balloon game. Nathan followed as well as some other people. There was also a Japanese girl who sat next to me and apparently just wanted to listen to English being spoken. She hung around us all day. That was pretty cool.

After a little while they served lunch. We each got a roll of 김밥 (Kimbap) rice/veggies/egg/ham rolled in seaweed, and 닭 (Dak) fried chicken. Nathan and I were a bit late to the party and didn't get any chicken, which I was ok with. I wasn't all that hungry because I had a big breakfast, plus I wanted to make sure I was famished for the all you can eat buffet that night. Nathan however wanted all the chicken he could get his hands on.

We headed over to the gazebo with our new found friends and there was a girl from the Bahamas there. She had her own box of chicken so she shared with Nathan. Boxes were supposed to be for 3-4 people, but I guess she had somehow got one by herself. After lunch Nathan and I were headed to the bathroom when one of our teachers yelled at me. I thought we weren't supposed to go to the bathroom, but instead he gave me a box of chicken. He told me to bring back the trash when I was done.

Well Nathan didn't want to waste the chicken, he wanted to save it for later. So we hatched a plan to give the teacher back some of the trash we had just disposed of, and he would run the full box of chicken back to his refrigerator in his dorm room. We felt pretty awesome doing this, it was like pulling a heist. Everything went off without a hitch and he got back in time for the next games.

I was also signed up for the 팔씨름 (Pahl She Reum) arm wrestling event. This is such a lose lose for me. I'm easily the biggest guy here, and I'm obviously expected to win. Either I win and it's business as usual, or I lose and it's the biggest upset ever. I was pretty determined to not let that happen. I blame the girls in my class for signing me up. They kept yelling my name when the teacher was asking who wanted to do it.

They taped off a small section of the rec area and pulled out two chairs and a table for the competition. It was actually a REALLY cool atmosphere as the students crowded around to see. There were also a lot of pictures taken. Nathan also showed off his photography prowess and sent me some of his work.

My final match.

#Winning

They put 5 people on each team. Whichever team ran out of members first lost. The girls started. The other team started with their best member and she beat the first two of our girls easily. Then our third girl came in and literally ran the table on the other team. Pretty awesome to see. They presented her with a gift as the champion, and then it was time for the men.

My team thought the format was different. Originally I was the second member of our team, but my team wanted to switch me to third because they thought the strongest guy on the other team was third and I would be going against him. As a result the first member from the other team beat our first two guys. I was a bit nervous at that point because those guys had looked pretty strong when I had seen them before.

As the second guy on our team exited, it was time for me to step into the spotlight. I was terrified, there were HUGE cheers going out from the crowd and people saying woahhhhh as I came in. I made sure to shake the hand of my opponent to do my best to seem friendly instead of a stuck up self important big guy here to clean up. Who knew what could happen?

The first guy must have been a bit tired because I beat him much easier than I thought I would. One by one they came in and lost. Their third guy who my team set me up against specifically came in and tried to tell the ref how to do his job. I welcomed the rest, but it was a bit ridiculous. Finally we were ready to go and we went at it. This one was definitely a bit of a struggle, but I finally emerged victorious. I also finished off the fourth and fifth challengers and awaited my prize.

But wait! We're not done yet! They started bringing my own team up to challenge me! I guess they felt bad that the other guys on my team didn't get a chance to face me. My arm was already dead at this point. They actually asked if I wanted to switch to my left arm. I said no I was fine and we moved on. I beat everyone else one by one until the last guy. His name is Justin and he is from Jamaica. He's a really nice guy, but he came in INTENSE. No smile, nothing, just business. Ok I respect that. That top picture up there is me and him staring each other down.

For the first 15 seconds of the match we both looked each other dead in the eyes. I can't imagine how intense those moments were for the students watching. We were deadlocked at the same position the ref had started us out at. I couldn't move him at all, he couldn't move me at all. I stared right into his eyes and smiled. All the other matches I had immediately gotten an advantage over the other person, this one I didn't. He must have had a ton of adrenaline built up because he was strong. After realizing I wasn't going to brute strength him down, I decided that I needed to be smart.

I took a little bit of force off, and held just enough to not go past even. This caused him to get a little edge and people started going crazy. I wasn't going to let that happen though. I knew that if I went past 90 degrees I would have been done for because I had already gone through 8 matches. I held strong at 90 degrees and then went for a burst. I think this caught him off guard and gave me a pretty good edge. More cheers went up from the crowd and he got a burst of energy to stop me for a short time, but I wasn't going to let up, I shifted my weight a bit and tried to get on top of him. I ended up winning and was presented with the championship!

My prize for winning the arm wrestling title!

After I had won, Nathan decided he wanted to challenge me.

Nathan was curious how he would do against the champion, and I obliged. We went left arm first because I was more rested. I got him off the bat but he resisted well for awhile. I didn't really have the strength to finish him, but eventually I got him. Then we went right arm. This match went almost exactly like my final match from before. I couldn't budge him at all, he couldn't budge me. Then all of a sudden I used a burst to get him down. He didn't even know what happened, he was like "wow I felt like I was doing really well then all of a sudden my arm was down, what did you do?". That was fun.

Being the solo sport that it is, I got all the glory that comes with winning. I was a celebrity, a superstar once again. People were handing me cold waters, and taking pictures with me. Girls were smiling at me and guys wanted to be me...or something like that. Unfortunately it was time for us to leave to go to the embassy. I had to forego much of my party to head over there and apply for my alien registration card.

There were about 16 of us, and we ended up having to take a bus there. The bus we got on was packed so most of us were forced to stand up. Let me tell you that's not easy for a big guy especially the way this guy was driving. They must go through brake pads every week. Slamming on the breaks, jamming on the gas. When you have more weight, you get thrown around a lot harder. After already doing arm wrestling, my arm was dead and trying to hang on to a bus handle was tough.

Eventually enough people got off that we were able to sit down though and I sat next to a guy I had just made friends with. Ironically his name is also Joseph Kim (just like my boy Wipkim). We were standing up next to each other and he asked my name and seemed to want to talk. I smiled at him but was busy talking to Monk who was also on this journey. Funny enough when a seat opened up it was right next to Joseph and I didn't realize it until I sat down.

I was exhausted so I leaned back in the seat and he said hi. We started talking and had a good conversation. He told me I looked like one of the Samsung Lions (pro baseball team) players and showed me a picture. He said he was majoring in English, and I kind of expected his English to be better, but maybe he was a freshman. Either way we had to get off and I shook his hand and thanked him for a good talk.

We walked about a block to the embassy and got to sit down and relax a bit. The escorts with us had already taken everything needed for our applications so all we had to do was wait. Monk and I just talked most of the time and finally it was time to get our fingerprints done and head back to school.

Outside the immigration office.

There were some African students with us who had to go upstairs and do something special. We ended up leaving them behind and catching the bus back to campus. I made friends with a Vietnamese girl on the bus ride home. She's also a student in the foreign language program at Daegu University. The Vietnamese students here know zero English. It blew my mind that we had a full conversation in Korean and understood each other. When did I learn to do this? What is going on?!

I knew I was on a schedule with the buffet being that night. I thought we were supposed to leave about 6:30 so we had plenty of time. I didn't have wifi this entire time either so I wasn't able to send or get messages from anyone. I walked back in the dorm and Heavy G started yelling "where have you been" etc. Ok he wasn't yelling, but it felt like it haha. I told him I just got back from the embassy and I couldn't avoid it. He urged me to shower and get ready as fast as I could so we could go.

I showered and threw on some clothes and we headed to the buffet. The place was like a block from our church which was pretty cool. It was in a really nice hotel, and was a German themed restaurant. The buffet was all you can eat AND all you can drink. We got there and the other RA's were apologizing profusely for being late. I guess that's a cultural thing because I was under the impression that I was the guest of honor and it's not like I could apply for my alien registration card at some other time.

You know it's gonna be a good night when you hop in the car and your jam is the first thing that plays.

Anyways we jumped right into the food. Man it was really really good. I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of the buffet itself because I figured that would be pretty awkward walking around with my phone. I did however get the waiter to take a picture of all of us sitting together eating. I had a really great time and finally got my first taste of Korean eating/drinking culture. Let me tell you, it's crazy.

술! (Sul) Alcohol

The K-PACE employees

Stage with live band!

There was a live band there playing both Korean and English songs the entire night. After our first plate of food, An Hyo Sang and YJS went to get us some 맥주 (Mek Joo) beer. I haven't had a beer or a time to let loose in about 2 months so I went to town. After awhile they came back with some 소주 (Soju) as well as beer. We started making SoMek which is soju shots poured into beer. This place brewed their own beer and had 3 different styles. There was an American lager, a hefeweizen, and a stout. I figured out quickly that while I love hefeweizen beer the most, the stout was best when mixed with soju.

Eventually the higher ups decided to head home, but the teachers and RA's stuck around to party. This is where things started getting wild. They started doing "one shot" waterfalls where you were required to finish the rest of your drink (whatever it was) in one shot. I was drinking stout with double shots of soju in it, so that got fun rather quick.

We ended up heading out of there and down the street to another bar. This time we were making SoMakSa, which is a combination of Soju, Makkeolli (rice wine), and cider (think 7up). This stuff was so good. I'm pretty sure it's the blackout drink, because it doesn't taste like you're drinking anything. We also ordered a lot of food, which was strange because we just came from a buffet haha but I didn't argue. I wasn't hungry so I thanked them profusely for the food I was offered but said no.

One of the teachers decided to stir the pot a bit and ask me what I thought of all the other female teachers. She also told me that one of the other teachers was my girlfriend now. Heavy G drove us there but he was forced to drink with the other teachers so we ended up having one of the hotel employees drive us back. This is a service that is regularly offered here. The employee drives you home and a car follows to bring them back to their job, pretty genius if you ask me. Either way the night was awesome! There was a lot of community drinking, and a lot of fun. I really really enjoyed my time out with them. I'm sure there will be more times coming!

Sorry for the long post guys, I was going to do today's post as well, but I've been working on this for about 2 hours and I'm pretty sleepy, so I'll get to Saturday tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day:파티 (Pah Tee) Party!

TL:DR I'm in Korean.

Last Day of Studying!

Today was the last day of studying for a week and a half! Yay! My brain can take a break! Tomorrow, if you're wondering, is a workout day for all the foreign students. We are all divided into two teams and we will play a bunch of different games against each other. I guess the lineup is dodge ball, jump rope, basketball, arm wrestling, and this silly game where you eat a chocolate covered pretzel stick between two people and see who chickens out first.

Unfortunately I have to go get my alien registration card tomorrow, and we leave at 2pm. My arm wrestling competition starts at 1:30pm so I'm not sure if I'll have time to compete. I'm kinda hoping I don't haha, Lose/lose for me as I already discussed before.

I picked up my pictures from the picture shop today. They look pretty good, I'm ready to get this over with. Also, I got my score back from my mid term. I got a 28/40. Not all that great, but I assume it's probably better than most of the other scores in the class. Surprisingly I got a 9.8/10 on the speaking part, which I think is easily my weakest skill.

I actually went back to the dorm after class even though I wanted to come back and get some study hall time in. I went to lunch with Heavy G and I knew he would drive and probably drop me off anyway. We ended up going to 8 Ho Gwan of course, and I got chicken curry bap.

Heavy G dropped me back at the global lounge for my study time. That was honestly probably the longest hour of my entire life. I tried my best to get into the mood but I just couldn't so I ended up on my phone most of the time. I left after an hour and headed to the gym to meet YJS.

After the workout we headed back to the dorm to clean up and rest a bit before heading to 8 Ho Gwan for dinner. I wanted to go to cooking class at first, but found out both Heavy G and An Hyo Sang were going to cooking class so I didn't want to leave YJS alone at badminton. So I hit badminton 2 days in a row. I think YJS lost more shuttlecocks than I've ever seen lost in my entire life. The court that we used yesterday that I posted pictures of was being used, so we had to practice in an area with a lot of trees and bushes. That made for losing a lot of shuttlecocks haha.

After badminton it was time to head back to the dorm and I knew I had to get started on writing these or I would skip another night. I was pretty tired today, so I'm gonna go to bed early and prepare for the workout tomorrow. Thanks again for tuning in!

Bonus pic of An Hyo Sang on my bed watching Alex stream.

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 멋있다 (Meo Sheet Da) This basically means well dressed or put together and usually refers to a man. Don't get this confused with 맛있다 (Ma Sheet Da) which means delicious!

TL:DR I'm in Korea.

Last Night

Sorry I missed a day guys. Haven't done that in awhile. I ended up going to Heavy G and An Hyo Sang's room last night and we just ended up talking and ordering some fried chicken for dinner. Man it is so good here, so much better than in the U.S. Anyways, here is yesterday's post, and I'll also do one for today.

So yesterday was a rather uneventful day. I went to class as usual and learned too much. During one of the breaks, one of the men who works in the international affairs office came to me and told me I needed to get my alien registration card. He gave me an application and told me I had to get my picture taken, much like a passport photo.

After class I found my way over to the picture place and managed to communicate what I needed. I had to wait a few minutes, and then they sat me down and took a few different pictures of me. I was famished from such hard work, so I had to hit up the cafeteria right downstairs. I got myself some Wang Donkasu and it was amazing.

I missed last Saturday's makeup class for the wedding so I am being forced to make up the time I missed. I understand, they're on a pretty strict schedule of getting us enough hours. The language course is 200 hours total so if you miss even 1 hour you have to make it up in order to graduate. Thems the rules.

They have a study hall type session from 2-4 everyday. I went for an hour yesterday and ended up sitting next to one of the girls from my class (the one I'm married to). We did some 받아쓰기 (Pahd Ah Sseu Gi) which is dictation practice. After my hour was up I headed to the gym to meet YJS for a workout.

YJS decided he wanted dinner right away, but I wasn't hungry so I headed back to the dorm for a quick shower. I went with An Hyo Sang to badminton class while Heavy G and YJS went to cooking class. I got a few pictures and videos of the students in action.

It was pretty dark when badminton ended so we headed back to the dorm together and started getting our nighttime stuff done. I ended up spending a lot more time than usual with the other RA's. Definitely some good bonding time. I think I finally got to bed around 1:30am so I was pretty tired. Again why I didn't post last night. Thanks so much for reading and head on over to the next page for the finale of the double header!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day:  한번 신어 보세요 (Han Beon Sheen Eo Bo Se Yo) This basically means please try on these shoes. For all you ladies out there wanting some Korean shoes, now you know when the salesman asks you to try some on!

TL:DR I'm in Korea.

Today Was Chill

What a beautiful day. I woke up and it was 60 degrees out. I wasn't hungry at all so I just accompanied An Hyo Sang and YJS to 8 Ho Gwan while they ate. We always follow the students to either of the two restaurants to make sure they're eating and getting to classes on time. Going to 8 Ho Gwan is always a riot because the girls always eat there. So every time we walk in, it's a constant smattering of "Hellloooooooooooo" among calls of "Look at me!" and "You give me!" for a high five. Every. Day. Breakfast and dinner haha. I love it.

I have resigned myself to the fact that I have a lot of learning ahead of me for the Korean language, and even more practice just to be able to speak properly and hear what people are saying. I am thankful for next week's break so that I can hopefully reinforce some of the knowledge that they have given us over the past 6-7 weeks. After class I came back to the dorm and started to plan lunch with Heavy G, but realized I wasn't really hungry. He ended up ordering some 삼겹살 (Sam Gyup Sal) which is pork belly. I was instantly hungry once I saw him throwing away the empty containers lol.

Following a quick nap, YJS come to my door to get me for our workout. An Hyo Sang was running late, so we called him baeshinja and headed to the gym. Through their gym workouts these two friends of mine are earning new nicknames. An Hyo Sang is now An Hyo Strong, and YJS is Yoon Joo Sexy. I'm really hoping the workouts I've been doing for the past month or so will help me with my arm wrestling competition Friday, and most importantly that I don't hurt myself or someone else haha, the struggle is real.

After the workout we instantly went to 8 Ho Gwan because I hadn't eaten all day, and YJS was hungry too. I got my signature chicken curry bap and inhaled it. Otherwise, as the title says today was chill. We are really just looking forward to Friday and our all you can eat buffet dinner! Maybe we will also have time to finally enjoy some night life as well. Pray for me!

Thanks guys, I'll see you tomorrow!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 지금 뭐 해요? (Ji Geum Mwuh Hae Yo) This means "what are you doing right now?" always a good one to have in your back pocket.

TL:DR I'm in Korea.

Meeting With the Heavy Hitters

So I started today with sort of high expectations because I knew I was meeting the director of the K-PACE program (Dr. Rhee) and the head of the English department (Patrick Travers). I'm also excited for the end of this week to have a little break from everything. I also ate 3 meals today which is the first time I've done that in a long time. It's weird, I'm just honestly not that hungry anymore haha, unbelievable I know.

Today started with some breakfast. I decided to have some 오므라이스 (Omurice) which is a Japanese dish that is basically a rice filled omelette. They also put the same sauce on it as they put on 돈가스 (Donkaseu) and that made it extra delicious. I was pretty full as Heavy G dropped me off in front of the global lounge more than 30 minutes early for my class.

Our class was almost entirely focused on review and listening, which is something I desperately need. I'm still not quite catching enough of sentences to make sense of them. That's alright though it will come. I just need to get the vocab down better.

After class was a meeting for the arm wrestling competition we are having on Friday. All of the foreign students are working out together all day on Friday. This consists of games and other "fun" things that sound like a complete drag, but will end up being fun after we get into them. Anyways, I was basically volunteered by the girls in our class to do the arm wrestling portion. Thanks ladies.

This isn't exactly my cup of tea. Playing hockey works mostly on your lower body. I was never really a gym rat so my upper body isn't all that strong. So despite being big I wouldn't consider myself all that strong. However being the big guy I of course have a target on my back. It's lose/lose. If I win everyone will think, "oh he's huge he should win", and if I lose it's "wow I can't believe they beat that ogre!". Oh well, I'm just gonna do my best to enjoy it.

At about 3:30 I headed over to the main building for my meeting with the big wigs at 4pm. I went in to the waiting room early and one of the secretaries brought me some apple juice. Man was she pretty too, I wish I had the sense to give her my business card. Yes, I have a business card here. I took some pictures of the waiting room to show you just how nice this building is.

Just kickin' it Korean style. (The open door is Dr. Rhee's office)

More of the waiting room. (The secretary is hiding behind that computer!)

The entrance to the waiting room.

Patrick actually got to the waiting room a bit before 4pm, so I was able to talk to him a bit and introduce myself before the official meeting start. I had seen him around campus, and he even came out and worked with the K-PACE group before but I didn't know who he was. I am very grateful to Dr. Rhee for setting up this meeting.

I basically asked Patrick every question I had regarding the best way to become a university level English teacher here in Korea. I also picked his brain for advice on what I should do going forward. He informed me that unfortunately the rules are pretty strict regarding certification and that you need a few specific things. With a BA you need 4 years of teaching experience, with an MA you need 2 years, and PhD is 0 years needed. The trick is that the experience needs to be AFTER you finish your degree. Also, teaching in Korean schools doesn't count towards your experience.

Wonderful. I'm not really sure what my next step will be regarding this, but I'm certainly going to follow the LORD. He's going to show me where to go, and it may not even be teaching English. I may just stick with special needs. I am absolutely loving it, and I am totally open to staying with it.

A funny thing happened tonight. A friend who I hadn't talked to in years called me on Facebook. We had messaged a few times over the years, but never an actual vocal conversation. Well that ended tonight, and we had about a 45 minute conversation about everything. The news, life, what I was doing over here, etc. He was very complimentary and encouraging in what he said, which I very much appreciate.

He mentioned that it was so honorable that I was giving up my time to help others, and that's more of what we need in this world. While I wholeheartedly agree, I don't see things from that angle. Being the one inside the story, I'm just taking one day at a time doing my best to follow where God is leading me. I'm no hero. I'm not special. I am merely passing on the love that God has shown me over the years.

I know, "but you're taking a year out of your life and basically paying to be there...etc" and you're right! I get it, I really do. I'm just trying to also portray the fact that my focus is elsewhere. Personal accolades mean nothing. They're fun to think about and honestly surprising when they come about, but those fade, and fast. I'm working for the treasure that lasts in heaven, and if that ends up taking me to dangerous places doing dangerous things, then I'll be doing that too.

Otherwise things were pretty tame here, although I had plenty of visitors in my room tonight. The heat bandit decided it was time to crank up the heat and shut my door as usual, only this time he stayed in the room and made me put on some esports so he could watch. Haha these kids are so great, they all have little things about them that make them unique. I love that about them.

Time for me to head to bed. Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!

Bonus picture of the youth service at church on Sunday!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 회사/회사원 (Hwae Sa/Hwae Sa Won) This office/office worker! If you're slaving away at your 9-5 try to take a break and take a walk or something!

TL:DR I'm in Korea.

Skype Time!

I'm gonna try to keep this one short since it's already midnight and I have class in the morning. That might not be possible though because today was filled with a bunch of exciting things. I think my body has finally gotten used to waking up around 7am. I am popping awake around that time everyday and it's such a weird experience for someone who's used to not feeling fully awake until night time. I'm actually starting to enjoy mornings now.

That being said, Heavy G wanted some extra rest time so we didn't leave for church until around 11pm. I basically just hung out until then, I wasn't hungry for breakfast. Just left my door open for students to join me, and watched some league of legends on twitch. I got a shower in and we headed out to church looking sexy. As usual, Heavy G got us there after the praise music was over and during the middle of the sermon.

Today was the day that I was to become an official church member. Luckily we got there before they announced that haha. When we got there Heavy G went to the office and did the necessary work to get me signed up I guess. I wasn't aware of what was going on, but he came back and said everything was taken care of.

Every week they post the new members names on the projector screen that usually shows the pastor as he's up giving his sermon. The first name they showed was mine. It was pretty weird to see my American name spelled in Korean up on the projector. The pastor then told everyone who I was and about my JTBC interview. Later Heavy G told me that he had never seen so many reactions to when someone joins the church. He said normally there are no reactions at all. He was really surprised and impressed at the reactions I got, and said they were overwhelmingly positive. I guess people are really taking notice.

Church was having a festival these past two weeks celebrating Easter. Today the pastor did his sermon on John 3:16. Usually I can't understand much of what he's saying in the first service, so I sit there working on my Korean trying to pick out words that I know. Then during the second service I usually have a translator. After the first service we went to the back to wait for some of our friends so we could eat together. We ate at the church today instead of going out. They served a pretty typical soup/rice/kimchi meal that was excellent. They also had green rice cakes, and seemingly unlimited oranges.

After lunch we headed back down for the youth service. The youth congregation is growing, and pretty rapidly. This is exciting! The youth leaders performed the same skit as last week, and I was no less moved by it. If you need a reminder then you can see my post from last week about how intense it was for me. I had another good translator today, and really enjoyed the pastor's message about Christ's unconditional love, and sacrifice for us.

After that we had some ice cream and did some clean up duty, then it was time to head back to the dorm. Heavy G and I had planned on getting an all you can eat BBQ dinner with the other RA's but that ended up falling through. By the time we got back to the dorm and had an hour or so, we weren't really hungry anymore. So we ended up resting until it was Skype time!

Wow, Skype was quite the event. We actually ended up using Kakaotalk instead because I believe Concordia's campus doesn't allow Skype. Here's a link to the video. Hopefully everyone is able to watch that. Feel free to add me on Facebook if you haven't already. Unfortunately we had some issues on the other end with the video, but the audio is still all there!

This was a MONUMENTAL event. This was the first time in the world (that we know of) that special needs students from different continents have been brought together via video conference. What an incredible experience to be a part of. (I think both Sam and I have to thank Dr. Carol Burns for this idea). As you'll see in the video itself, things turned out pretty well for a first time. We hope to improve on things in the future.

Since the time difference is so great, I don't know how many live meetings we will be doing, but we plan on passing videos/pictures/letters back and forth so that time isn't such an issue. (Good thinking Sam!) I'm so grateful to God to be a part of this process, and all the lives we are touching and changing. I look forward to more adventures in the months to come!

Thanks so much for tuning in guys, next week is the last week before a week long break so it's going to shape up to be pretty crazy I anticipate. Join me everyday for new breakthroughs and exciting things! 잘자요!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day:활동들 (Hwa Dong Deul) This means "Activities" I had to look this one up during the video conference.

TL:DR I'm in Korea.

Wedding Day!

Hey guys! I went to my first Korean wedding today! (Though to be honest I've been to one with a Korean bride before and there were some similarities). I did my best to take photos and videos so you all could be included in the festivities. Also, I learned a good amount about Korean culture through talking to some church friends while at the wedding.

This was an absolutely gorgeous wedding. A lot of the people I talked to said this was the biggest, and most expensive wedding they had ever seen. There were roughly 500 guests in a giant hotel banquet hall. Well you'll get to see the setup on the video. There was so much food though, just a crazy amount. It was so good too, I had two plates and was full. I guess I can't put it away like I used to.

Pre-wedding practice

Food spread! This was 1 of like 20 tables around the edge of the room filled with food.

Uhhh Spanish Churros anyone?

So at a Korean wedding, they want money. Not gifts, no registry, just cold hard cash. From what I could gather you can give either the equivalent of $30 or $50. Also I was told that you can either give your money to the groom or the bride. The money also does not go to the happy couple, but to the parents. I guess this helps pay for the wedding itself. This is pretty different from the time honored American tradition of the bride's parents paying for the wedding. Though honestly I don't know if this is the custom anymore...it's been awhile since I've gotten married. (Jay Kay El Oh El)

Man this really was a beautiful wedding though. The venue was pretty amazing. The standard dress seemed a bit less than formal. Some people were dressed to the 9's, others were in jeans and tshirts. Hey, I'm not judging I'd never wear anything but sweats if I didn't have to. Here is a video of the spread, I unfortunately couldn't include the other 2 videos of the food spread since they were so big.

 The ceremony itself was beautiful as well. First the mothers in their traditional Korean 한복 (Han Bok) went up first to some candles and lit them I believe. (Maybe they extinguished them, hopefully someone can help me with this). I couldn't quite see from where I was. We ended up sitting at the back of the room even though we got there first. This was a good vantage point to see the bride and groom as they prepared for the ceremony though.

Bride and Groom! Congratulations David and Sue!

Here are the mothers in their Han Bok.

So, since I've only been to one Korean wedding I can't speak to how typical this ceremony was. I thought it was really cool though. David, the groom started his introduction with a song. He sang accompanied by a live band that featured his brother (a drum major) on drums. He walked to the front of the stage while singing, then when he was done it was the bride's turn. Sue, the bride took her turn singing to David as she walked up the steps to join her father in giving away his daughter in marriage. I thought that was touching, and a nice little addition to the current customs.

After that the pastor of our church said some words, and the couple gave their vows. Then afterward they walked back down the stage together and out of the room. There were many prayers on their behalf, and I personally put up a prayer to God to join them together with their main focus to be on Him. I'm honestly not trying to be presumptive here, but I'm pretty sure I could have been married a few times already in my life. I chose to wait because I haven't found the right person yet. I think I would have been a good husband and father from a young age because I was always forced to be mature.

This came from a family upbringing where I was the only child in a group of 6 adults. Family parties were usually confined to discussing current events, and the more intellectual side of subjects. I had to sit and listen to this for hours at a time at every get together for years. Now, mind you, I'm not complaining at all. I'm merely stating that it had a huge impact on shaping my mind and personality. Therefore, from the time I was 18 or so and seriously began to think about marriage, I believe I would have been successful, but I digress.

My point was that as my relationship with God grows, I'm learning more and more about myself, and what consists of a proper romantic relationship. This may seem funny seeing as how I'm not in one. I'm more talking about how it's so easy to think that the right person will solve all your problems and marriage will ultimately be the utopia you've been waiting for. What a horrifically impossible weight to place on someone else. I touched on this earlier in one of my posts, and a bit yesterday in my soul bearing post.

If there's anything in your heart above God, that is your true god. That is what I wish for David and Sue. And ultimately for everyone else out there looking to get married, or already married. Place God at the front of your attention and focus. Developing a relationship with him will not only better your life, but it will better the lives of everyone around you.

If you and your spouse both focus on becoming one with him, your relationship will grow and flourish. I'm not saying to forget about your spouse or anything silly like that, you certainly need to care for and about them. God joins you into one flesh when you say I do, and you need to take care of your spouse as you would yourself. What I'm saying is that focusing on your relationship with God will strengthen you. He's the one being that will never let you down. Your expectations will always be met. Most importantly you won't be putting the pressure of your relationship on someone else. You will become a true team player.

Imagine that relationship! One that is rooted in faith. That's what I want. It's funny, I talked with my boy Matt Tolbert about this a lot when I was back home in Chicago. He's a fellow church goer from ODM. We both shared our feelings on how when we truly began our walk with Christ, our priorities in a mate changed. Finding someone who has a real living relationship with God catapulted to the top of the list, basically leaving all the other requirements in the dust.

So why haven't I married the first girl I've found who has a great faith? Haha good question, unfortunately I'm still a man, and there are those fleshly desires of attraction. I am also completely open to the possibility that God has plans for me to remain single the rest of my life. If that's the case, well then I'm all for it. I'm learning more and more that God can, and should fulfill the entire void in our lives. The same one that we search day in and day out to fill with things like money, food, sex, drugs, etc.

Anyways that's enough about me. The food was incredible. I wish I could share these movies I took of the layout. Most of it was traditional Korean. Things like Kimchi, Kimbap, and your plain white rice. They also had other Asian dishes like Sushi and Sashimi.  There was even a burger station for those of you who want your western food fix for the day. Surprisingly I only ate two plates and was full. I stuck with as much meat as I could muster. I definitely maxed on some chicken, and ham. Oh they also had spaghetti and red sauce if you're into that kinda thing.

After we ate it was time to head back to the dorm. Heavy G dropped me off the dorm and I got a nap in. I wasn't hungry for dinner so things ended up being pretty chill the rest of the night. I got a chance to relax and visit with some of the students. Then Heavy G decided he wanted to get the other RA's to play Starcraft. Yeah, I've never played Starcraft in my life. They're also all Korean. I didn't last long. I didn't even know what was going on really, but hey at least I can say I did it.

They made me do it...

That's about it for today. Tomorrow is the world premiere of the Concordia-Daegu connection! Stay tuned for an update on the first ever international special needs video conference! I'm so excited to be a part of this!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day:웨딩(Wedding) Haha yeah I did.결혼하다 (Kyeol Hon Ha Da) This is to get married.

TL:DR I'm in Korea.

God is Good

You know, it's funny...how easy it is to lose sight of things in life. Faith is literally a daily struggle. I started my day out reading a reflection on the first chapter of Job in the Old Testament. My church back home sends out reflections on successive chapters of the bible each day. We started with Genesis and are now in Job. This is an incredibly powerful reminder that we need the Word everyday. I must confess that without these reflections I doubt I would be reading everyday, and certainly not as vigilantly as I do.

Think about it, when do you have time to read? Maybe there's not much chance off the top of your head, but really we should be making time. Everyday. Each and every day. All it takes is a particularly distracting and problematic morning to lead into afternoon. Then when night rolls around you're still focused on what happened that morning, and instead of praising God for all the wonderful gifts he's given us, you're focused on yourself.

I'm not gonna sit here and say that I let attention and "fame" (lol there is none) go to my head, but it would be a lie if I said I didn't think and even pray about the possibilities that came up with my news story here. I would say it's a pretty strong possibility that I would be acting or feeling the same had I actually achieved fame. My point is that I quickly stopped focusing on my relationship with God (that was flourishing) and started focusing on myself again.

I wasn't satisfied with what I had, but instead I wanted more. Subconsciously I was thinking "oh with just a taste of fame I would be happy" or "if I find the right girl and marry her I'll be happy" or it will add to my happiness. Man these are such dangerous thoughts, and likely what gets us into trouble as Christians in the first place. I know I'm guilty of it as much as anyone. I already posted on this earlier last month, but it bears repeating. The things we hold in our heart, are what we put above God.

I saw a "like" on Facebook from my boy Tim Leung. He liked a post from Timothy Keller who is a well known pastor and speaker. The previous paragraph was pretty much the premise of the post, and up until that point I had slowly started to convince myself that the things I was doing, and asking for in prayer were based in my faith! How easily the devil can deceive, and how quickly we are to turn away. However, I'm determined to allow God to use this to His glory.

Today's reflection on Job (thanks Pastor James!) was a great reminder of this. Job doesn't mess around, this book gets right to the nitty gritty. In the first chapter the devil goes to God and asks permission to mess with Job. To give a short rundown, Job was the man. Rich, successful, and popular, he had everything in the world, but the most important thing he had was a pure and strong faith in God. (Probably the reason he was so wealthy etc. but I digress).

Anyways, the devil comes to God and says "yo dawg, let me mess with Job, the only reason his faith is so strong is because he's got all this stuff from you". (I'm paraphrasing a bit here btw). So God says "yeah dude, that's cool just make sure you don't touch the man". So the devil goes through and kills all his sheep, all his cattle, and even his entire family. Crazy right? Job's response is to praise God saying "I came into this world with nothing, and I'll leave with nothing".

You know I was on here not a week ago talking about how the cross moves me to tears, and yet here I am sinning again trying to "take control" over my life. Steering where I want to go, putting my hopes in silly perishable things. All I can do is thank God everyday for teaching me, and not condemning me to eternal hellfire for the unforgivable amount of sin I commit everyday. My relationship with Him is really exploding exponentially here. For that I am so thankful, and I am in total submission to Him, even during times when I stumble and fall. He picks me up and dusts me off, and we walk together arm in arm again.

I now start anew to build on the foundations of my faith, continuing to realize and this time REMEMBER to be content with what he has given me. Most importantly look outward instead of inward at my own desires, but to how I can emulate my Father in heaven and pass on to others the unconditional and all encompassing love he has shown me. I will obviously fall incredibly short of the mark, but I will be doing my best everyday and all I can do is hope that God touches the hearts of those that I come into contact with to receive His word.

Wow, I didn't intend that to be so long winded. I guess when the Holy Spirit hits you, you just go. That was the start to my day lol. Class was pretty awesome again. we learned a couple of new conjugations. I'm honestly just going to stop being surprised, I can pretty much tell that's what this language is about. We are however, starting to learn how to link sentences together and that is exciting. I'm starting to be able to pick out words when my friends talk. I'm also able to give feeble attempts of communicating with them in their native tongue.

After class was a bit special today. I was walking with Nathan (who showed up today after two days in a row of being absent) down the hall and asked how he was doing with everything. He really appreciated my caring and asked if I wanted to go to lunch. I think it's important to get to know people, especially two Americans in the middle of South Korea. God put us together for some reason. So we spent about 2 hours at lunch just talking, enjoying the fact that we could speak English properly to each other without having to enunciate or slow down our speech for once.

I certainly don't have a problem helping out my friends by talking slower when we converse in English, but every once in awhile you gotta let loose. Kinda like taking your car out on the highway after a month of city driving. Rev that baby up and get er goin! Anyways I learned a lot about him. He's a pretty interesting guy, and more relatable than I first thought. Apparently he started college in Long Island as a film major, and about a year or two in decided he needed a change. He transferred to Murray State in Tennessee and is pursuing a degree in broadcasting technology with a minor in film. He told me that all of his credits transferred to Murray State, so he actually has less time until graduation than if he stated at Long Island. That's the first time I've ever heard of something like that.

We shot the breeze for awhile and then it was time for me to hit the gym with YJS and An Hyo Sang, so we walked back to the dorms together. I really had a good time, and I hope we get a chance to socialize again. Back at the dorm, I dropped off my books and got dressed to head to the gym with YJS. An Hyo Sang was MIA so we called him bae shin ja (traitor) and took off.

When we finished our workout it was time to get back to the dorm and shower before dinner. I ended up going to CJ for dinner which I never do. They added Jja Jang Myeon to their menu though so I'll likely be going there more often now. Following dinner Heavy G and An Hyo Sang had to go supervise badminton class and YJS and I got to relax with some students in the dorms.

Hangin with mah bois!

My church friends! Sue (Front left) and David (Middle) are getting married tomorrow!

Sorry for the long post today, I know these are tough to find time for, but I thank you all for being loyal and enjoying my trip with me! Tomorrow I get to experience a Korean wedding! I'll do my best to take a lot of pictures and videos so you guys can feel like you were there with me! Good Night!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 여보세요? (Yeo Bo Se Yo) This is how to answer a phone call. You don't use this in person, only on a phone call lol.

TL:DR I'm in Korea.