Saturday, October 16, 2021
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Friday, November 30, 2018
Saturday, July 14, 2018
We're moving to Korea in the Fall!
(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)
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
2017 Family Update
(CLICK ON THE ABOVE PHOTO TO OPEN PHOTO NEWSLETTER ...IT'S A LOT NICER TO LOOK AT)
Where our last update left off we were gearing up for a short outreach into Japan with long visit to Korea. Bora hasn’t been home in nearly 6 years and Grandma and Grandpa were missing the kiddos. A lot has happened this past year, and it’s usually rare that I get to look back and say “Yeah we planned for that!”. Amazingly, this has been one of those years. We asked for prayer for our Tokyo/Korea trip and for the TESOL certification course following in WA, and God was faithful in providing everything we’d need to do both!
Tokyo, Japan- Our family had the pleasure of traveling with our KDTS outreach team to the start of their outreach to Japan on a pastoral visit, without the responsibilities of actually leading the team. Those trips are the best! Our amazing KDTS colleagues planned a great outreach that took our students through Japan and ended in Thailand with the other half of our school. We were only in Tokyo for several days after getting over the first day of jetlag and sickness, but we went with our team on outreach caroling in Ikebukuro District and also joined YWAM Tokyo in worship. Every Friday the YWAM Tokyo staff has worship at Ikebukuro West Gate Park with open air praise and worship, prayer for anyone, and this week we had Santa handing out candy canes with the Christmas story. Jubilee was Santa’s helper and they both drew a crowd.
Our Korea visit was an awesome time for our family. It was so good to catch up with so many good friends and family that we hadn’t seen in so long. We got to spend a ton of time with Bora’s parents, and they especially missed their grandkids. They spoiled us a ton, and we got to spend a lot of quality time with them. SO MUCH FOOD. We got to visit with lots of cousins and extended family as well, some we hadn’t seen since our wedding 11 year ago!
Grangju is such a cool city. So many great coffee shops and restaurants, but I guess that’s typical of anywhere in Korea today. Bora preached at YWAM Gwangju about the father/daughter dynamics of partnering with God in ministry. I was so proud to see her preach in her most natural, fluent tongue and see the Lord using her in this way. I’m definitely made me a proud husband.
We visited YWAM Jeju which is a small Korean island and also one of YWAM’s largest training bases. We don’t have many contacts there, except for a few friends in ministry, so we knew it was important to establish a relationship if we’re to work with YWAM Korea more effectively in the future. We were able to connect with many key people within our organization in Korea and it was a really important visit.
While praying in Jeju the Lord spoke clearly to my spirit, “House Church”. Later the same day I prayed some more and He confirmed it again, “House Church”. I shared it with Bora and we went from Jeju to Seoul for the end of our Korea visit. While in Seoul I was able to meet with a good friend and traveling evangelist-speaker, and I was introduced to another Korean pastor. Over lunch we were talking about the state of the church in Korea, especially the young people. This pastor and my friend both shared that they believed strongly that there is a new move of church growth coming to Korea in the form of a “grassroots, house church” model. This got me pretty excited! On this same Seoul visit I’d catch up with former missionaries now working within the current Korean church structure, and hear testimonies of God’s goodness to the Korean church but also a lot of concerns and wisdom that only a Korean who has worked both internationally and domestically with the church could recognize. This trip was beginning to reveal God’s heart for a radical rediscovery of what makes the Body of Christ beautiful, intimate, and unified family body as opposed to maintaining programs and isolated ministers and laypersons.
We were blessed to enjoy the great hospitality of some dear cousins in Seoul, and we finished our trip with lots of dates, family outings, catching up with friends, and amazing movie theater popcorn.
One of the ways we’ve heard the Father direct our efforts was for Bora and I to complete the TESOL certification program, and do it together! TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, it’s a class to train English teachers. So after one month back in Salem and barely unpacking, we uprooted for another 5 weeks to train Near Port Townsend, WA at YWAM Discovery Bay. This wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing help and support from our KDTS family in Salem! Hye Young came with us and provided childcare for the duration of the school! She is amazing! She enabled Bora and I to both take this full-time and intensive course together, with homework every night. It was a 5 week cram course with 2-3 months worth of material. Bora and I very naturally work well as a team in preparing lessons, she’s got the brains and I have the… well I’m tall… and I have good hand-eye coordination, I have a good credit score and I can whistle!
God’s goodness knows no end. On a Friday during the course I received a text from my good friend Nick. It wasn’t long but said something along the lines of, “God put you on my mind to pray for you…love you…hope God is growing you and your family in Him…” It wasn’t a typical message and it was sent in the evening when I was feeling really overwhelmed with balancing a family and trying to get my assignments done on time. The next morning Bora took Hye Young out to thank her for watching our kids and I stayed home and collected shells on the beach with Jinha and Jubilee. In the evening I got a call from Bora that she’d been in a car accident, that everyone was fine but that it was “bad”. Catching a ride with our friend and TESOL staff Bob, I made it to the Cliffside road that our car lost control on and ended up totaled in a ditch. There were very few safe places where she could have lost control on and not gone over the cliff. God protected everyone.
The next day I stole away to the beach by myself to talk with God. I walked for an hour slowly down the beach and didn’t see another soul my whole walk. I got the usual insecurities and fears out of the way. What is Bora and Hye Young were killed? How are we gonna afford a new car? Ect. But I felt such a peace, and such a presence with me that much of my walk turned into singing worship and thanking God for saving my wife and our friend. As I’m singing I’m filling up a children’s sand pale with these MASSIVE shells that had blown in a couple nights before with this huge storm. I’m having to empty my pale of smaller shells to make room for all of the giant ones I’m finding, but all I’m finding are different assortments of shells. Eventually I remembered that I’d need to walk back just as far as I’ve now ventured out.
As I turned around to head back I said, “I love you God, I just love you.” And I looked down and I see this PERFECT sand dollar right in front of my feet! I immediately knew my Father was telling me right back, “I love you, too.” I pick up the sand dollar and then I asked the Lord,
“ God, it’s be really cool if you could give me sand dollars for my kids…” and taking a few steps further there are two more! Then I asked the Lord, “ God, could I find a really beautiful one for my wife?” And a minute or two later I found this really pretty and unique gray one with this cool shade design! Now I start getting greedy.
“God, could I find sand dollars for each of the women in my TESOL? Within 10 minutes I think I had 9 or 10 sand dollars, enough for all that I asked for. I’m now juggling giant shells in one arm and carrying in the pale the 10 sand dollars in the other as I walk the mile or so I’d journeyed, worshiping along the way!
This was a hallmark moment in my relationship with my Heavenly Father and for those of you reading who are cynical because of the Disney-like corniness of my experience, you’re totally right it was embarrassingly corny, and magical and it’s an encounter that will mark my life! It’s appropriate that I’m currently reading ‘The Bruised Reed’ by Richard Sibbs. In it Sibbs does a study on the passage from Isaiah 42:3, prophesying of the coming Messiah, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”(Isa 42:3 ESV) We are the bruised reed, not a mighty tree like we often pretend. We are the “poor in spirit”, and the sooner we lay ourselves low before the Lord, surrendering our cars, our wealth, even our spouses and children, the sooner we are raised up and glorified in Christ!
Our family is doing great, even with some hardships along the way we are confident God is holding our family firmly. Jubilee graduated Kindergarten! She’s made a couple close friends in Ariel and Owen, and we’ve just started getting to know their parents and they are some super sweet people. Jubilee is still a people magnet and a joy to be around. She reads everything, which is scary and I have to be more aware of what words are on my computer screen or on advertisements around town. She still wants to be a rockstar.
Jinha I can now say, is my little friend. His sweet little voice is so cheerie, and he is becoming a snuggle bug. He is still always I motion, and he’s smelly, and he has a hilariously loud laugh. He still loves all things related to automobiles. Every day this week he’s told me at least once that his favorite colors are green and blue. Today he brought me a kids bible and told me it was his favorite book because “Jesus loves me so much”. He could have asked me for anything then. He’s starting to talk about God, mostly about God “fighting bad guys”…none of it makes any sense but its really funny to listen to. Its really humbling to see the Spirit at work in their lives at such young ages, and I’m really grateful for them.
Bora is doing great. I think we’ve broken a record this year for how many dates we’ve gone on because of our growing KDTS family and my sister Sarah living here now! It’s so great to, every week or two, escape with Bora and enjoy a cup of coffee, or walk aimlessly around Goodwill or Target. Bora continues to be a blessing to our single staff who don’t have transportation, and is always driving people around town with her new-found freedom and drivers’ license.
Bora and I have both taken much of the summer quarter off from leading worship. I’ve stayed involved at our church, Bora is taking a break altogether, just to refresh and allow the Lord to minister to us in corporate worship times. It’s been awesome to hear my wife play more in the house for an audience of one, just the Lord and her. I am jealous that as a drummer I can’t as easily do that. I’ve had more opportunities to play with my friends from Church. Grae, Kiley, Andrea and Ean are all awesome musicians and though it’s only a few times a year, it’s a lot of fun creatively to play more styles and types of songs than only praise and worship.
Looking forward: Our renewed excitement for what God is doing in Korea and our newly acquired ESL skills have opened some interesting prospects. While in Korea we were asked to consider pioneering a bilingual weekly YWAM gathering. YWAM Korea has a lot of inroads into international college student communities, but no bilingual program to plug them into. We’re also watching Jeju with excitement as they have successfully run bilingual DTS the past couple of years, and this year ran a bilingual School of Worship! We also want to continue to pray into how we might prepare to get involved with the house church movement.
This summer I was accepted into a graduates program to attend seminary in Portland! I had heard of some older people with ministry experience being allowed to study without an undergraduates degree. I inquired on a whim, applied and was accepted! I still need to take a GRE test since I don’t have a bachelors degree, and FAFSA grants only apply to undergraduates programs, so the soonest I could possibly start part tie classes would be Spring 2018. For the time being I will continue to chip away at my Associates in Biblical Studies with YWAM. I’ve accrued nearly 60 credits over the years at a healthy pace for my family and with no debt, spreading my education out over the course of the last 10 years and feeding my spirit and my mind with knowledge paired with practical and immediate application in missions. My goal is to earn my AA first, then seek the Lord from there. God COULD have some seminary training somewhere down the road for me, we’ll see!
In just one week YWAM Salem will host another Korean DTS! We have two new staff ( two dudes!) joining us and our new students for three months of lecture and two months of outreach. This Fall we will also be welcoming over 40 Fall DTS students, it's going to be a fun quarter!
Our desire is to run a three month ESL next Spring, so pray for the timing and the details to come together. We are trained but we are still fresh when it comes to ESL. If we don’t pioneer an ESL here first, we might look at staffing an ESL somewhere else to network for support as well as get more experience. It’s also my heart to staff an English language DTS someday soon, but with everything we’re involved in with KDTS and now ESL prospects, I don’t see it happening for a long time. I get to pour into the KDTS students, but I miss the one on one and small group dynamics of a DTS in my mother tongue.
Please pray for our finances. We have lost over $200 of monthly support this past year. The math never seems to add up but God always meets our every needs! That said, we don’t want to wait another 6 years before going back to Korea. If you feel led to invest into our families work with YWAM please check our support page:
Thanks for being our friend, and for praying for us and for pouring into our family. It has been a busy year and things don't look to be slowing down. Just knowing that we have a covering of prayer, and so many friends and family that love us and support our work, that is a huge encouragement! Thank you!
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Prayer Requests : Finances for Korea Trip and TESOL Certification
- This December we’re planning a trip to Korea. Short explanation is that Bora hasn’t been home in almost 6 years, and we’re way overdue. Bora and I have spent many prayer sessions asking the Lord for the details of this trip and we both believe we heard “2 months”. Of course we didn’t know where we’d stay for two months, but a week later Bora’s parents called and told us that they just moved into a new apartment that could fit us all. In prayer God spoke and “commanded” that they move “now” and in three days they were moved into a new place! Radical obedience…so grateful for both sets of parents God has given Bora and I!
So our main prayer request is for
finances to cover the costs of travel. We know there will be other expenses, we
know, but airfare is the big urgent expense. Right now tickets range from $600
to $800 but we expect flights to be in the $800-900 per person by the time we can afford
to purchase.
In Korea we will be visiting with
supporters and family. We will visit with leaders within our organization as
well as multiple training facilities in Gwang Ju, Seoul, Jeju, ect. We plan to
visit several other churches and ministries as well, in Gwang Ju and Seoul.
Bora and I will be discussing our future role of continuing to serve Koreans
who are called to radical discipleship and missions. Also, I (Noah) will be
visiting international and bilingual churches and services around the few
cities we’ll be spending most of our time. I know because I’ve experienced
isolation living in East Asia and especially in Korea, that fellowship with
other English speakers will be vital to my spiritual and emotional health.
We are planning a pastoral visit to
our outreach teams during these two months. Our current Korean school is
splitting into two teams: One to Japan then Thailand, and the other to Ch1n@
then Thailand. It will likely be for a couple weeks. Depending on many factors
still being planned and prayed through, we will either visit half of our team
in Japan or Ch1n@ over the holidays at the front end, or our entire team in
Thailand near the end of our travels.
We are in need of one time gifts to
make this trip happen in December, in addition to our normal support. Would you
please share our needs with your friends and family? We’re not insisting to be
a burden on our existing monthly supporters, but do ask that they bring our
financial needs to the Lord as well as share with their churches and networks. You
guys are amazing and we’ve been so blessed to be able to operate here in Salem
these past two years because of your giving. But Bora especially really needs
to be home, and the kids to see family, and for me to eat lots of Korean food.
- TESOL = Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Our second big happening is that Bora and I will be taking the TESOL certification course in 2017. We have a couple options. Our hope is to each study for five weeks together in Washington, both becoming certified. We have been given a fantastic rate for us as a couple in ministry and this would happen in April. Cost would be $1650 for both of us, plus monthly usual expenses similar to what we're paying to live in Oregon. If we're not able to break away from our work here, or if we cannot find appropriate childcare, I will pursue TESOL online, though this is not ideal. We know that teaching English is a invaluable ministry tool to have in many regions including Asia, and being certified instructors, along with our experience in bilingual work and especially Bora's translation skills will open up many doors to serve. There is a great need here in Salem for an ESL program in the Spring/Summer quarter when our Korean discipleship program isn't running, as well as interest from countries like Brazil. Our organization in Korea is also in need of an ESL and bilingual program.
The costs for the trip flights this December and the training course next Spring will cost around an additional $5000. We know this is no great thing for God! If you would like to invest in our family as we continue to work to see the kingdom expand in Korea, we'd be grateful and humbled to receive your help. We need prayer warriors! We need generous donations! We need your friendship and would love to hear from you! (I stink at initiating, but I treasure the friendly emails, Skypes and phone calls)
Lots of Love,
Noah, Bora, Jubilee and Jinha Willson
Thursday, October 6, 2016
West Coast/Best Coast Willson Update 2016
Salem has blessed our family so much these past two years. We know that what the Lord is doing here in this community of disciple
makers is precious, and a part of the transformation of Salem for God’s glory.
Gospel Guy is engaging the people of Salem daily on street
corners and is uniting the local church for the purposes of evangelism and
engaging a city together. Now in it’s first quarter, Outward Apologetics School
is in full swing, being the natural progression of Gospel Guy’s ministry here
and the first ever apologetics course offered by YWAM! The Foundations of Counseling School is
training leaders to operate in Spirit led wisdom and biblical principles to
bring healing to a hurting world. In fact they just finished up two months of
ministry and training in Brazil, running training and seminars to equip and
strengthen the body of Christ there. Our Discipleship schools have been
stirring up vision and destinies in Christ for young people and unleashing them
on Turkey, France, Thailand and beyond as bright lights burning with the Gospel
and pointing whole villages and refugee communities to Jesus. Salem will
be part of a joint outreach to refugees in the Mediterranean with several
other discipleship schools as a part of our Fall program. God is doing the
great work, and I just get to break the news!
Our Korean DTS is
now in week two with our good friends Namwoong and Hanbi at the helm. They’ve
asked our family to continue to help both with the fall schools but also to
continuing fostering international community and to work as a bridge for the
growing Korean ministry here. Daniel, one of our students from last year is now
leading the 40+ youth in his Korean-America church near Portland. His sister Jinkyung
just graduated from her DTS a couple weeks ago and is reentering Oregon life
after three months outreach in Thailand. Our base just the other week housed
and fed Daniel and his churches’ 40 teens for a weeklong Mission Adventure camp
where they learned about God’s heart for missions and immediately engaged Salem
with street outreach and evangelism. Getting to journey with people, and seeing
the affect that one DTS graduate can have on his family, church and the nations
is a constant reminder of why YWAM is precious to the Lord and how the DTS is
still an invaluable instrument in the hand of our Father God
I was able to complete a Chronological Bible Core
Course this past spring. It was a three month trek through the entire story
of Scripture, using the inductive method of study. It was exhausting, I’m a
really bad student and trying to focus with kids screaming in the next room was
difficult, but it was such an important time for me. Tracing God’s
lovingkindness from Genesis to Revelation, and seeing his desire for joyful
worshipers and His care for the sojourners and marginalized has ignited
something in my spirit. I’m still processing much of what the Spirit taught me
on those three months.
Bora got her driver’s
license and is now both able to do errand with ease but also is using her
new freedom and nobility to extend hospitality to the many single and carless
staff on campus. Sure, she doesn’t know how to pick quality ice cream, but her
being able to grocery shop without me frees me up for important activities like
playing Xbox.
We celebrated out 10th
Anniversary this summer with an awesome weekend in Seattle. God has used
Bora to grow me in more areas than I thought possible, and she is still my best
friend and beautiful treasure. Maybe in another 10 years she’ll have me almost
presentable. God is good and full of grace and passion, and that is displayed
through a marriage rooted in grace and truth. Thank you Bora for your beauty,
your faith, and your fire.
Jinha continues in his obsession with anything truck and
airplane related. He loves Bob the Builder and Chuck the Truck, and also sings
a lot. He is more spontaneous with his lyrics than his sister, which gives me
so much joy…even if his gruff little voice isn’t the most graceful sound! I
think he’s going to be an artist, a creator, not sure how this will manifest
but I sure hope he’s more handy than I am! He is quick to apologize, to
forgive, and is such a graceful little
kid. He is his sister’s shadow, but he no longer let’s her walk all over him J He trolls her for a
rise and it’s hilarious to hear.
Jubilee will likely be the President, or at least president
of something. She draws all the time, and has a gifting in administration. She
plans everything, draws maps and makes checklists and loves to collect data.
She’ll make surveys of yes/no questions and walk around the cafeteria surveying
people on whether they have brothers or sisters, ect. She plans on marrying a
boy from Sunday School, and she wants to be a rockstar. She always says she
loves me and mom and loves Jesus best. She’s very sensitive, which makes
criticism and conflict often lead to hurt feelings and an attitude, but I also
see her empathy and care for people and situations around her. She has insight
beyond her years, she will obliterate plans of the enemy and advance the
Kingdom of God.
Growing in closeness and involvement with our local church
has been a necessary joy. Our growing relationships at Outward have been
crucial to our success here in Salem, and I’m so thankful for the individual
members of the worship team
especially. Recently Bora and I had the
opportunity to lead worship at the annual Christian
Game Developer’s Conference along with two worship leaders from Outward and
it was a monumental time for the event and for me personally. I’m more and more
inspired to lead worship and play music outside of the 4 walls of our church
and our YWAM campus, and this summer I’ve had a couple opportunities through
Outward to do so, including a set for the Walk for Hope. I’m praying and brainstorming
with the Lord as to how my schedule can allow for more local outreaches in and
around Oregon. At the same time our friendships with our YWAM team are growing
and our abilities to flow and be spontaneous and Spirit led at Monday Morning worship has led to very
significant times of corporate worship and ministry. I’m trying to be more
intentional in widening the circle of
prophet musicians, and I’m excited to see the Lord start to bring more
songwriters to YWAM Salem. Bora wrote her first song this past Spring, and
Jacob our worship department leader just wrote a song on outreach. There’s a
growing desire to be creative and sing new songs, both in YWAM and at Outward,
and it’ll be exciting to see where this desire takes us. My fellow New Englander
Ryan and I have been leading instrumentally on Thursdays for our hour of
intercessory prayer, and the combination of prayer and music has been dynamic.
Just another example of the growing creativity and desire to create that’s
happening here in Salem.
What’s immediately next? We’re negotiating with our campus
about being released for 6 weeks in 2017 to both become TESOL certified English instructors. This will make us more
useful here in Salem with a growing international community, and give us more
tools and experience for our journey back to Asia to serve Koreans. We are also excited to announce our plans for a trip to Korea this
December! We have gotten together and sought the Lord twice
specifically for this trip, and we’re really anticipating on making some really
important contacts for our ministry and calling to disciple Koreans young
people. Also, Bora hasn’t been home in
over six years, and I really miss sweet potato pizza. We will spend
2+ weeks in another East Asian Country along with our DTS students involved
with ministry and performing pastoral care for the team.
Prayer requests:
·
Please pray for Jubilee’s kindergarten class and
her developing personality and identity in Christ. It’s been a good practice to
talk about what she’s learning, and it’s led to many good conversations about
being made in the image of God and the Gospel.
·
Pray for our family to be able to determine in
the Spirit what opportunities and ministries to say no to and what to
prioritize while in this preparation season in Salem. Pray for me to learn more
Korean. Seriously it’s embarrassing, Jubilee speaks more than me…and I don’t
want her and Jinha to have a secret, covert language that I can’t understand.
·
Bora and I are are feeling drained physically
these days…a combination of busyness, having kids, needing exercise and needing
more time on our faces in worship with Jesus. Leading worship all the times can
be taxing, especially when you realize that you’ve mostly been leading others
and haven’t had enough time being led into ministry yourselves.
Please bring our needs to the Father in
prayer, and to your local churches and circles of fellowship. We covet your
prayers. Thank you for being a part of our lives, we couldn’t serve in this
capacity without the gifts and monthly support of so many of you. Blessings
Photo Stories:
Visiting Maine in Feb was really refreshing, especially for my relationships. Having drinks with bros from four different churches in this pic! I love unity in the Body of Christ!
Our therapy...this cheap Wal-Mart fire pit has brought countless hours of refreshing fellowship and prayer and food. When it's not rainy, Oregon weather generally favors gathering around a fire :)
Ministry time in CBCC, praying for breakthrough
Had a precious visit with my Dad, need more photos like this!
Summertime backyard fun!
February 2016 marked a huge transition for my amazing sister Sarah....she moved to Salem!
New Years 2016 at Disneyland with the family! Everyone loved Jinha's Pooh Bear costume
In the off-season when we're not involved with training schools Bora and I serve in different roles around campus. These jobs include kitchen, facilities, transportation, ect.
Our friends Nick and John from Outward Church joined us for a worship event for the Christian Game Developer's Conference in Portland! In 15 years it was the first worship service they've hosted, and we had the honor of putting it together! We were told it was a highlight for many of the attendees. Excited to lead worship again in 2017!
Jinha Waiting for his big sister at the school bus stop. He's enjoying the exclusive daddy time this quarter while I'm home and Bora translates full time.
Bora translating for our 11 new Korean international students at a corporate gathering for the campus.
The newest member of the Willson Musical Family...an Alex Acuna cajon! I was drawn to it's beautiful craftsmanship and high-quality sound, and recently found out it was created by a worshiper who played with Phil Keaggy and led worship in California during the Jesus Movement! Built for worship!
First time having both sets of parents together since our wedding 10 years ago! Added bonus having Sarah and Grandma Willson with us, too! Standing under the waterfall of the Father's love!
Wonderful time around the fire with my folks. Still waiting for them to move to the west coast best coast.
Unofficial campus field trip to see For Today bring the good news and the mosh to Portland. \m/
I (Noah) celebrated my 30th birthday with friends from campus and church with an epic paintball match!
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
" I’m full but I’ve not satisfied..."
Our summer quarter was really
monumental for me. It had been a few years since I had a more hands on role
with DTS and it was great to be able to invest into deeper relationships with
our small group of guys and my one on one and good friend Tom. Being able to
sit in on the lectures was also an unexpected treat. I hadn’t heard any of the
guest speakers before so it was great to be able to learn right alongside of
everyone. At the same time there is a stirring that’s happening here on campus
and the response is genuine, hungry, and desperate to see an increase in the
work of the Holy Spirit both in our city and in the lives of our community
members. More on that below.
Now things are geared up for
another Korean DTS and we’re in our first week of lectures. Bora is full time
staff with the school and serves as their translator. I’m a ‘friend’ of the school
and am watching the kids full time, while getting released to work more in the
area of prayer and worship on and off campus and getting ready for our new
school. Watching the kids is exhausting and so rewarding and I know I will reap
the rewards of this exclusive quality time down the road. Moms you rock. It’s a
combination of thinking of new ways of communicating the Kingdom of Heaven and
the love of Jesus to a toddler… and also protecting them from constant death
that lurks in every electrical socket! Bora
and I are both very full-on with our schedules right now, but THANK YOU LORD we
have so many babysitters here on campus and are able to go on a few dates a
month! It’s awesome, raising kids in YWAM is such a blessing. 
The School of Worship - YWAM Salem from YWAM Salem on Vimeo.
Right before the start of the
quarter Bora and I announced that we’ll be running a new school here in Salem,
a School of Worship. It was a step of faith but also a response to a hunger
that we were sensing for deeper and more frequent encounters with Jesus on
campus. It was around that time that our Monday morning worship times were
really going deep. Spontaneity and Spirit led prayer was beginning to take over
our worship sets! We’d prepare 5-6 songs but end up doing 2-3, with much of the
time being led by the community, the Spirit’s hand being on individuals to
bring a word or exhortation, encouragement, deep healing, and intercession.
There was an exciting “What’s today gonna look like!?” but it was also orderly
and led beautifully by the Holy Spirit, with individuals submitting to each
other and honoring each one who had a gift to bring. It is beautiful and it’s
growing more and more beautiful.
Our worship school will be
bilingual for Korean speakers and will include an outreach that me and Bora are
praying about leading ourselves. Lecture starts on Bora’s birthday and finishes
on our 10th Wedding Anniversary! We’re also expecting Bora’s parents
to be with us throughout the 12 week lecture phase so we’ll have live-in
childcare, freeing us up a bit to co-lead together with greater focus and maybe
allow for more off campus times of ministry for both of us together. Please be praying for us as we line up speakers
and staff for our school.
Jubilee is learning about grace and about Jesus’ death and atonement on the cross. We talk daily about the Kingdom and her desire to learn and experience Jesus is beautiful to see. She regularly bursts into spontaneous song, singing about Jesus, then asks “Dad is Jesus smiling when I sing?” It’s awesome. She loves to pay ‘superhero’, but is struggling with the fact that the Marvel characters always kill the ‘bad guys’ and thinks that they don’t know Jesus yet. She’s asking a lot of questions about why Jesus had to die and about forgiveness of sin, how we were all children of wrath and enemies of the cross. It’s heavy stuff and she keeps asking me these deep theological questions that churches split and denominations bicker over ha ha. She’s gonna be a heavyweight fighter for the Kingdom and I couldn’t be more proud as a Dad.
When you’ve been married for almost
a decade spiritual growth sometimes is measured gradually over long seasons or
even years. But In just the past year I’ve seen so much in my wife to boast
over, so much Christ-likeness. We’ve walked through some heavy storms in
ministry and to see the grace and patience that she moves in just blows me
away. She wrestles with the Lord and
comes out stronger and with a deeper faith and commitment to Him. I’m so
thankful for this wife. Our times of playing together in worship have increased
and it’s an honor to support her leading during corporate worship. Her heart to host and bring people into our
home makes for a lot of fun evenings, and it’s fun to set a fire in the pit in
the backyard and talk long into the night with friends. 
I’ve been enjoying an increase in music in my life. Jinha lost my Halo 4 disk but that’s given me time to ponder the deeper questions of the universe. Most of my energy is consumed with family and with music, which I’m happy with. Both Bora and I feel the Spirit’s leading to prepare to teach more, and I think as a tag team. Just need to prioritize studying to teach. We’ll take a week of our SOW so we’re praying about what our message might be. I believe this pioneering quarter next Spring will require us to prepare for many things that the Lord has planned for our families’ future, it’s exciting and busy. Sleep is treasure these days.
I never know how to end these…peace
out gangstas!
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