2nd Sabbath In South Korea

So we are still in the Main Institute. Today was a special. They were giving plaques to those that were finishing their term here. You might think what is so special about this, being that it is done every 2 months. What made today special was the fact that of the people that were going back the majority of them have been in South Korea as English teachers for more than 10 years... that is a lot of time. There is one gentleman that has been here for 15 years... They were crying and making all of us cry. It's also a blow to the school being that there are more people leaving then there are people to replace.

I pray that I can have that same dedication for the people of Korea, and that I may learn to love them like my own people so that they might be able to see Christ in me.

What Happend Durring My 2 Months @ Home?

Ok so there was a big gap between my initial entry and the current one. I still remember my shock when I was called and told that I wasn't going to be able to come @ the date that I was hoping ( Feb.) Looking back I praise The Lord for His blessings.I couldn't understand why he wanted me to stay for so long in PR...The Lord has really been teaching me to trust Him in the big and in the little things.

So I was called on a Sunday night and was told that I wouldn't be going to Korea until April, I think the very next day my friend Ivy (from College) Randomly asks me if I would be interested in going to Chicago to her church and to Danny's church :D (my best friend from College). I was so amazed at how The Lord works... if I had actually been able to go to Korea in Feb. like I wanted to I wouldn't have been able to go to Chicago and share The Lord's word :). It was a woman's week and it was such a blessing! ( I will give more details in a little bit)

While I was at home I was able to learn a lot of lessons in regards to my family that God wanted me to learn. My mother was only there for the first 2 weeks and then she had to go to Houston for a month because her brother was very ill. So I wasn't able to spend time with her like I wanted to but I was blessed because I was able to spend time with my brother and with my dad.

The other special thing about staying at home is that I was able to go to different churches and share the medical missionary message. I went to the Regional GYC that my friends are trying to establish in PR and gave a seminar. I was even able to help with a mission trip that went to PR (Javier another friend from college asked if I would be able to help being that I was free and on the Island.)

My mom got back right before I left for Chicago the last week of March, right before I left her brother passed away.

While I was in Chicago I was able to get my visa for Korea. (It was a blessing due to the fact that I was told that I was going to need to get the visa on my own and I truly had no idea how I was going to do that being that we have no consulate in PR, but as you can see I am here ;) and God opened the door like he always does for His Glory :D)

It was a blessing to be with Danny and his fam. to see Rico and finally meet his babies :) and see Rocio. It was also a blessing to finally see Ivy's babies as well :) Seeing some of the UAA crew was also a blessing :) The Ladies from the church were sweet. I was able to meet one of the ladies... she actually passed away like a week after I got back to PR :(

God opened the door and while I was in Chicago I was able to visit my good friends in Cali. It felt like good old times @ wildwood. Just chilling with the fam, THANK U MAMA FOR ALL U DID!!! (my friend Erin actually raised enough money to pay for one of my plane tickets out to cali :) that is one of the nicest things anyone has done for me :) Time went by to quickly :(

I was home for less then a week and then off to atl ( you already read that story LOL) and then bound for the ROK :)

I still struggle in trusting God... I don't know why... when I look back He has done things better then anything I could ever do... Thank you God for being my loving God :)

Living in Seoul

I've never seen so many people in my life in the same place!!... Just thought I would open with that statement LOL.

This past Sunday was my first big adventure :) Elsie was finally able to come and visit. We were supposed to meet up with Ito. In my head I thought that he was going to come pick us up. Well as we are walking off, Elsie is like no we are supposed to meet him... I was like... uhhhh.... what do u mean. Long story short. We got on the subway all by ourselves LOL!!! First we got on the wrong way and we had to get off and ponder how to go back to other way. It was pretty cool we actually started walking like we knew where we were going LOL! Before that we had gone into a store, and well lets just say that my vocab goes as far as Hello, Thank you, and no meat please LOL. So u can imagine the look on our face when the lady at the register was trying to tell us that we didn't have enough money :D

We did meet Ito and didn't get lost :D by God's grace. We also ventured out further and went to one of the many Cherry Blossom Festivals.

Another memorable moment was when we were going to get our medical check up for our visas... I was held back from being with the rest of the group and didn't see where they were going for the check up... so imagine my confusion when I was walking into the Hospital and didn't understand a lick of what was in the signs LOL. I finally found them but only by God's grace. A lady went to sit next to me @ the eye doctor, I tried to say thank u and then she started going on in Korean!! U should've seen the look on my face LOL. I had a little book from english to korean and I kept on trying to show her but she gestured that she couldn't see (obviously... we were @ the eye doctor LOL!!) she kept on patting me on the back LOL and trying to talk... LOL!! Adventures I tell u LOL!

Last night was the first night I was actually able to sleep the whole way through! Praise The Lord :) I wonder what adventure The Lord has for me today :) Keep me in your prayers!

The Never Ending Trip :) Part 2

Ok, so I left off arrive at Chicago. All that know me know that I hate planes... with a passion. I know they are safer then cars but I still hate the fact the someone I know has my life in his hands. The layover in Chicago O'hare was around 2 hours... so there I am trying my best to make my last few calls from my phone and send my last few texts. As I'm sitting at the gate I start to wonder... Lord how many of these people are also going to the same place I am. ( It turns out that at least 13 of my now fellow new teachers where at that same gate with the same question in their head.) I was also thinking on the flight and asking The Lord to give me strength and to help me trust in Hiim. I talked to my father and said by when I boarded but wasn't able to talk to my mom that made me pretty sad. Finally the plane doors where closed and we were off... It was 12 hours from Chicago to Narrita, Japan. It was a good flight... the food was ok... I didn't say a word for 12 hours, the people next to me spent most of the time with headphones or sleeping... I couldn't sleep because we were in front of the Screen and because I couldn't really get comfortable. We made it to Japan, i had met a nice lady at the gate in Chicago and we sat next to each other at the flight from Japan to Seoul. I was so sleepy and groggy it was crazy. The flight to Seoul was also a good one. I was dying to finally get into a bed. By that time (9pm Seoul time) I had already been traveling for over 20 hours. Not counting the flight from PR to atl.

I was able to get through immigration with out any problem and Finally got out the doors to meet the people from the SDALI, it took us a whole other 2 hours or more to get to the house we would be staying at. I wanted to just sleep but we had to wait for our luggage that was being brought in a separate car. I found out now from first had experience that floors in Korea are heated by water. I finally was able go to sleep, but like all of us in the house woke up around 3am... and it took me a while to fall asleep. ( Every day since we got all in the house get up at 3am even though we fall back asleep)

Finally I was here... In Korea... I couldn't believe it but all the signs in characters and all the native Koreans let me know that I am here and for a while :)

The Never Ending Trip :) Part 1

Ok so I am a little behind on my blogging... not used to this thing :) So I have officially been in South Korea for the last...5 or so days. And so far it has been an adventure. I actually started traveling Tue. 13, I was able to get a overnight layover in atl :) That was a blessing because the girls were able to visit me from Wildwood. It was such a blessing to see them. Even though it was only a few hours, not enough to truly spend quality time with all of them I was so happy to see each and everyone of them.

My flight came in around 8pm and The girls kept on getting lost so they didn't actually pick me up until 9:30 pm. The ride to Elvir's house was an adventure to say the least. We missed a few turns had to do a few strange maneuvers in the airport (Raven :P) but then finally we were on the road. I asked if we could go to Taco Bell so that I could eat my last 7 layer before I left the country ;) We did hung out for a little bit. Then when we were leaving right when Val was about to get on the main road ( we were on 2 different cars so that we could all fit) She gets pulled over by a cop!! Mind u it was like 11pm so we all got very scared! They pulled into a parking lot and the girls in my car we started praying for the Lord to give Val the right words. In all honesty we didn't know why she had gotten pulled over. After a few min. the officer walks back to his car with what seemed like Val's Id he then returned it to Val and got back in his car and left. We didn't hear the story of what happend( a good one at that)until we reached Elvi's house. Then again we were off. As we continued on our way ( we only had like 5 min left before we reached Elvi's house) we kept on seeing more and more police cars, we felt that something was up but we didn't know what. Then we run into A ROAD BLOCK!! YES!!! MORE COPS!! They asked for Yudelis's ID and then we all continue on our way... We were getting close to a light when Val moves over to the right lane. Yudelis was about to move over as well but she is stopped by what she saw in the review mirror. It was a high speed chase heading straight for us!! We all start screaming in our car because Val is in the lane that the cars are speeding in. She slightly moves over and the 2 cars invade her lane without touching her! It was as if they hadn't seen her. Again, all you hear is us girls screaming in the second car. Val and Elvir didn't know how close it had been until we were able to tell them.

We finally get to Elvir's house we say hi to the family and we finally head off to one of the rooms to just spend some time together talking and what not. Then we get to hear the Val's story. When she got pulled over it was because of a brake light. When the officer ask her for her Id she starts looking for it in her wallet. She looks and looks and doesn't find it... ( the girls in our car while that was happening were saying that she might not have her ID. I was like naa she can't be that crazy come all this way just to see me with no ID!!) She finally tells the officer that she doesn't have the ID, and she continues to tell him that the reason why she is in atl is because she had come down with a group of friends to visit their friend that was heading off to South Korea as a missionary (me :) When she says that he says really my wife was a missionary kid when she was growing up, and that leads to Val saying well actually all of us are medical missionaries... long story short the officer only asked for her date of birth and let her leave with a warning ( that he never actually wrote up). CRAZY!! God's protection was something fierce!! After those incidents I totally new that The Lord was with us and that he was with me on my trip to South Korea.

We finally went to sleep around 2 to then get up around 5am and I was at the airport by 6am and off to chicago to catch another plane to Narrita Japan. Aleady In just the trip in the states I was already seeing God's hand. The Lord had also allowed me to see my best friends from college and from wildwood before I left ( as if saying enjoy cause your going to be in the desert for a while)...