(CLICK ON THE ABOVE PHOTO TO OPEN PHOTO NEWSLETTER ...IT'S A LOT NICER TO LOOK AT)
It’s really encouraging to look back on the last year, then
the last several years and to see God’s faithfulness in leading and his perfect
timeline.
We first sensed the call on our family 6 years ago. Our
family’s work is equipping young people for global missions and a radical,
obedient lifestyle after Christ. 4 years ago God opened up the door for our
family to move to an entirely new city and to work with a missions base to support
the Korean DTS in Salem, OR. This has
been a season of preparation and growth for our family, in preparation for our
big move back to Asia.
Now, God has finally kicked us off of the plane, no
parachute, just strapped to Jesus while he laughs joyfully! We freefall into
Korea this Fall!
Yes, we’re finally moving to Korea!
Bora and I
have cherished this season of preparation in Salem. We moved here with a two
year commitment to the base and it’s turned into a four year friendship. Our
work with the KDTS, ESL and worship has been a great primer for what we see God
lining up for us in Korea. Our invitations are to serve in the areas of
bilingual discipleship ministry, worship, and teaching English.
Our short-term plan:
We will live in Gwangju, Korea for
the first year of transitioning our family back into international life.
Gwangju is a city of 1.5 million people. Salem has a little more than 500
Koreans, I’m not great at math but most likely there will be a lot more Koreans
in Gwangju. Our goals for this first year will be to live with Bora’s parents
and get the kids and myself more fluent in Korean. Jubilee and Jinha will go
into public school and will be fully immersed, as well as have their Korean
grandparents to learn from. I have found a language institute nearby that I’ll
be taking Korean language classes with, plus living with my parents will be a
big help.
Second on the agenda will be
continuing my online Biblical Studies degree, which I hope to finish within the
first year. I’ll also be tutoring
English, both to earn some extra income and also to add one on one tutoring
experience to my TESOL certificate. Since earning the certificate a year ago,
I’ve been leading a weekly English class here in Salem under the oversight of a
fantastic instructor with Mid Valley.
Rounding out my classroom experience with private tutoring will be
really valuable experience and can help us greater serve in YWAM and building its
international bilingual program.
Our long-term plan:
We will
spend the transition year meeting with various bases in locations all around
Korea to discuss and pray into how our family can best serve YWAM Korea. We
have a lot of friendships and budding networking possibilities, but ultimately
will need to spend time with leadership in Korea to determine where our family
can best be plugged in to serve.
We know
that God is calling us to work in discipleship training and to be a bridge
between Korea and the nations for the advancement of the gospel in global
missions. We are ready to serve in whatever ways we can help YWAM Korea in
developing their bi-lingual curriculum and international communities. This has
been the need we’ve been working to develop for the past 7+ years in multiple
missions bases. A big part of out time in Salem has been to develop more tools
for our tool belts, to be able to meet whatever needs arise, be it ESL,
bi-lingual worship, DTS staff, administration, ect.
There is
a call on my life to teach, and I believe that church planting is in our
families’ future. My biblical studies for me are working towards this future
goal. An immediate need for me will be to plug into an English speaking
Christian community for my own health and to help against loneliness and
isolation. There is a large English speaking ministry at a local church in
Gwangju, the only one in the whole city. We are thankful that God saw this need
for me and has already allowed us to scope the place out last Christmas when we
visited. Please pray that God would lead
our family in how we plug in, both with the local church and also with the
expat and migrant community. God knows our every need and we have confidence
that we will not be ‘strangers’ in Gwangju.
Our Needs:
Our support is
currently about 1/3 of what it was 4 years ago, and we are spending the summer
support raising to bring up our committed financial gifts. We will be making a
lot of requests of individuals and hosting a lot of dinners and get-togethers
to cast vision for our families’ work in missions, but please don’t hesitate to
reach out to us first! We are in need of one-time gifts, too…especially for
moving costs like airfare and resettling, and no gift is too small. Please
prayerfully consider supporting the work the Lord has called our family to do.
·
Rent - $1000 (Ballpark,
doesn't include the large security deposit)
·
Utilities - $200
·
Insurance - $100
·
2 phone plan - $150
·
Food - $700
·
Transportation - $150
·
Education (Language + Biblical Studies) - $300
·
Jinha's education - $200
·
Basic
Essentials = $2800 monthly
One time needs include: Airfare ($2500-2800), One-time
household set up items ($400)
