CLASS PICTURE TIME

Some of the 3rd – 4th graders here at Geon Children’s Home that I teach Tuesday and Saturday afternoons…

Some of the 5th graders here that I also teach Tuesdays and Saturdays… we took three pictures, but these kids just can’t stay still or keep focused on the camera, so this is the best one

I teach four high schoolers Tuesday and Thursday nights, this is my lone boy Jong Hyun and me (two more guys will be joining our class in a couple weeks)

Me and my three high school girls Kot Nim, Eun Jin, and Yun Hwa…

Next is my toughest class… a mix of kids from the home here and community kids, mainly 1st graders with a couple 2nd graders and one 3rd grade boy… thankfully a friend from my church, Hannah, also helps me out.  We teach this class Monday afternoons; its a 75 minute class… crazy long for kids with one minute attention spans, but we somehow manage.

I like this picture of the class better… I accidently took a picture while trying to set up… you can see Hannah trying to get them to smile but they each seem to be in their own little world…

Here is my other community class of 1st and 2nd graders.  I teach them by myself on Thursday afternoons, another 75 minute class.  I didn’t get a good class picture, but this is a pic of them busy coloring for a class activity. 

I also teach some of the dorm mothers and a dorm father here on Monday nights, but I don’t have a class pic of us yet.  Along with my teaching schedule I am currently attending Korean class Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri from 10am – 1pm at an academy an hour from the orphanage.  My Korean skill isn’t much yet, but its growing.  God bless!

Tim Hughes – Day After Day

DREAMS

I used to think dreams were meaningless.  But then during the summer after my 1st year I had a number of “strange” dreams.  I began keeping a journal of some of them.  Here are two short dreams that I had two nights in a row… this is copied straight out of my journal from 2001…
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August 14, 2001:  Two nights in a row I have had a dream with a water motif…

First night I dreamed I was swimming in a huge pool supposedly down at Tech (though this pool area my mind completely made up).  I’m swimming in the pool with a bunch of people who are supposed to be freshman at Tech (one year younger then me), but I notice that they all look really young, like sophomores or juniors in high school.  While we’re swimming in this huge pool, someone orders that we drain the entire pool and refill it.  The entire pool is drained with me in it, while everyone else sits on the side and waits.  They hand me this medium sized hose to fill the pool back up with and I go ahead and start to do that.  I wake up as I’m refilling the pool with water…

Last night I dreamed I was at some place that seemed like the outside of the cafeteria at Tri-State Christian camp (where I was a counselor a couple weeks ago).  Some friends were there, I think including Hong Kaing and Rob Baker.  I entered the cafeteria building which turned out to be a huge bathroom like place, just full of sinks.  I can’t remember the exact details, but all the sinks seemed to be on and myself and a bunch of guys (including the superintendent at St Mary’s where I worked this summer, Mike) went to each sink.  I think it was Mike who told us that we need to all shut down the water in the room and clean out the sinks, then we can turn on the water again.  We turn all the water off and I wake up as we are turning the water back on…
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I had no idea what those dreams meant at the time.  I would remember them now and then, but it wasn’t until a couple weeks ago that God reminded me again about them and spoke into me the meaning of them.  He simply told me that the water is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit was poured out (like a flood) at Pentecost and was greatly active for some time, but gradually lessened over the years.  God is now again beginning to pour out His Spirit.  That was the translation I felt God speak into me.  Simple, right?

 

I didn’t realize it until writing this entry, but in that first dream I remember the kids in the pool looked like they were three or four years younger than me… which matches up with the 2nd and 3rd year classes at Tech.  Also, the setting of the second dream was at a high school Christian camp, which again is that same age range.  Perhaps God is specifically raising up this generation?

 

Pay attention to your dreams.  If something stands out to you, write it down and pray about it.  Don’t come to conclusions about a dream unless God directly speaks to you about it or someone gives you a clear translation.  Joel 2:28 and my father’s four dreams are a big reason why I am here.  Check one of my first xanga entries in December for a dream my dad had of heaven, it will bless you. 

 

Holy Spirit overflow. 

Yesterday 21 children, a few staff, and I went to Seoul Grand Park for a poetry and art contest among the orphanages in Seoul.  There were about 400 children there from orphanages around Seoul.  Later in the afternoon we had lunch and then went to Seoul Land, a small amusement park nearby.  Enjoy the pics!

Some of the kids lining up after we arrived (early in the morning)

Young Eun working on her painting

Dong Chan

Se Bin

Hyun Shik (dorm father), Che Ho, and Kyung Min as Che Ho is working on his poetry

Che Hyun and Jin Seul with their painting

Here are a couple of the menu options we had for lunch… nothing like mixing bones of a cow’s leg with outer leaves(?)…

Magnetic field?  I’m interested.  Bowl of rice capped?  Sounds delicious!

At Seoul Land, while the other kids ran off in small groups, I stuck with a couple of the dorm mothers, Hyun Shik, and two girls who were a bit timid of the rides, particularly the roller coasters.  Here is a pic of Se Bin and I on an airplane ride.  I need a tan.  Desperately. 

 

Hyun Shik, Eume (dorm mother), and I got little Hae Ji to ride a kiddie coaster with us.  It was pretty simple with just a couple tiny drops and a spin, but poor Hae Ji was screaming with her eyes closed the whole time.  Afterwards she said it was really scary, but that she had fun.  

Here are some of the boys sucking on flavored ice cubes (causing goofy expressions)

I think I’ll finally be considered a true Korean when on a bright sunny day at an amusement park I want some baked, buttered squid to chew on…

Group shot at Seoul Land (I was taking the pic)

Hope you enjoyed!  I got some great sleeping shots of the kids in the van, but I’ll save those for another time.  God bless!

Chris Tomlin – Overflow

PRAYER

It is not the amount of prayer we put into things but our relationship with God that truly affects the outcome.  Sometimes God has led me to pray for years about things, but I have yet to see clear answers.  Other times God has put things on my heart that I prayed about and I saw immediate answers.  Sometimes I feel like I must invest a looong time in prayer for something to truly feel confident to do it… but in truth I’m trusting more in my time spent in prayer than in the One who actually hears my prayers.  Matthew 6:8 says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” 

What matters isn’t the amount of prayer you spend before God or the amount of offering or sacrifice you give Him… what matters is your heart.  “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).  Hebrews 5:7… “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.“ 

Final GEM update…

Application Deadline:  May 6th
Volunteers will know if they have been accepted by May 9th
Support Raising Cost:  Plane ticket to Korea + about $200 for food and travel within Korea… this cost will likely range between $1300 and $1700 depending on plane prices and how well GEM’s travel agent does.
GEM Dates:  Approximately July 19 – August 9

See my posts below for more GEM details.  And check out that video.    God bless!

A little taste of GEM from last summer…

http://comequicklyministries.org/jm/thisistheday.wmv

Enjoy

Oh, and former volunteers… I encourage you to both recruit and reflect also… its good to look back at what the Lord has done.

GEM 2006!

GEM (Global Education Mission for Youth) is a short term mission of English camps held in South Korea that I have attended the past four summers.  This year’s camp will likely consist of two weeklong VBS camps, both in the countryside.  After the two camps, there will hopefully also be a four day service/praise camp here at my orphanage.  The approximate dates of GEM are July 19 – August 9.  Support money will be anywhere from $1300 – $1700… it will cover your plane ticket, food, and travel within Korea.  Housing, location of camps, and materials will be taken care of here.  I’ll be helping staff the time at the orphanage.

If you are interested or would like more information, e-mail GEM2K6@gmail.com.  Click this link for the application… http://www.angelfire.com/ex2/jmucp1/gem2k6/index.html.  More information will be posted at that site soon.

Pics from past camps…

GEM 2005

Prayer meetings are a huge part of GEM, ask any former volunteer…

GEM 2004 in Nonsan

Classes were named after countries that need Christ.

GEM 2003, also in Nonsan

First time seeing Solomon dance… scarring experience… 

GEM 2002 in Daejun (only a couple pictures, I didn’t have a digital camera then)

Sleeping on the subway after an all nighter our last night in Korea

GEM is an awesome short terms mission, especially for college age Christians.  I encourage you to pray about it.  God bless!

United Live – Tell the World

Please read… this is an excerpt from Heidi Baker’s book “Always Enough.”  Heidi and her husband were led by God to plant orphanages in war torn Mozambique.  Let this story touch you…

 

… Another girl, Constancia, was abandoned on our bakery stairs.  She might have been five or six.  She was so traumatized that she couldn’t speak.  The Lord told me to chase her.  I would, and she’d let me catch her.  She wouldn’t scream or cry out, but tears would silently flow down her sunken cheeks.  I would hold her until she fell asleep.  I understood the Lord’s heart.  He wanted to chase her with His love and hold her in His arms.  She was filled with inexpressible grief, a most broken child. 

  Understanding this grief and what it was to be unwanted and unlovely, Beatrice (another young, abused and abandoned orphan) reached out to Constancia with love and compassion.  Even though Constancia couldn’t speak, Beatrice would talk to her all the time, holding her hand and taking her on walks. 

  One day I was amazed to see Constancia standing in line to be baptized.  I thought, “How am I going to baptize a girl who doesn’t speak?  How can she understand?”  I asked her, “Do you really know what this means?”  There was a line of over one hundred and twenty people that day.  I was standing in an old laundry tank.  By this time the water was a murky green from all the people who had been immersed in it.  I asked Constancia again, “Do you really know God is speaking to your heart?  Do you really want to be baptized?”  She nodded. 

  I simply picked up this frail, broken, beaten little girl and placed her in the water.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit I baptized her.  When she came up from the water, she smiled for the first time among us.  Her face radiated the glory of God.  That day she suddenly began speaking again and told me she wanted to lead the children’s choir.

  Later she also told us that she had seen her parents being shot and their heads cut off.  Until then we had no idea what horror had so frozen her spirit.  But Jesus came to her in that baptismal water and turned her mourning into joy.  Both Beatrice and Constancia want to be missionaries and lay their lives down for Him.

 

I encourage you to buy the book: “Always Enough” by Rolland and Heidi Baker.  Come, Lord Jesus!

I got back safely from the Philippines a few nights ago.  The trip was definitely not your average vacation, but it was good.

My second night at the Philippines I joined some friends’ church members in going into the slums of Manila.  We went through a narrow maze of tiny houses carrying sound equipment and a guitar.  We set up at a small open area and had praise time and then each of us (including me) shared short messages.  One of the church members translated for me.  This evangelism had not been in my plans, but God guided me through it and it was truly a blessed time.  Everyone there was surprised to see a white face in their poor neighborhood.  The kids laughed and crowded around me.  Even some of the old people thanked me for coming afterwards.  Here are some pics of the kids there…

The next day I visited a Christian orphanage outside Manila.  There are 40 children there, mostly babies and toddlers.  There were also two special needs girls that are a bit older.  Unlike in most Korean orphanages, the children are all adoptable because their relatives signed off from being their guardians.  This place was full of God’s love, I was blessed by my time there.

(twin girls to the left)

My new friend Dhen and one of the children.  Dhen took great care of me while I was in Manila.  He is a great man of God and encouraged me a lot.

Dhen’s pastor Joel and Joel’s wife sister Carol.  Pastor Joel dropped out of school after 5th grade and worked in the markets.  He found God later and gave his life to Him.  Despite his lack of schooling, he is a mighty man of God.  He reminds me of the first disciples and the first martyr Stephen, who all caused the “educated” to wonder where the poor fishermen and other young men got their amazing wisdom.  Praise God for the Holy Spirit! 

Their church is about 30 people who have all given their lives for the Lord’s work.  It is basically a church of missionaries.  Everyday (except one rest day) they go out and do different evangelism in the Philippines.  They don’t have much, but somehow God provides all their needs.  They have a lot of amazing stories and really demonstrated God’s love to me.  Here are pictures of the praise team… I joined them for their worship practice (in both English and Tagalong).  The electric guitarist’s right hand has fingers that are short with the middle two stuck together from birth defects, but despite the handicap he can play the guitar wonderfully.  God is good!

A picture of their church (3rd floor) and pastor’s house.

All in all it was a good trip.  I didn’t do much touring aside from seeing some of Manila, but I did stay by myself at a hotel my last full day and got refreshed from a day of prayer, reading, and watching some NBA on TV.  I needed that time.  Praise God for safety and provision, and I got my one-year Korean visa too!  I’m glad to be back in Korea, its only been three months but this orphanage already feels like home for me. 

Chris Tomlin – Kindness (one of Dhen’s favorites)