Pictures…

Here are some random pics from this past week… enjoy…

Min Shik and Hae Ji are two of our 5th graders in the home and are both ultra competitive.  I was playing a game of Connect 4 with Hae Ji when Min Shik stopped by.  Immediately the trash talking began and the challenge was set.  Goofy kids.  When they finally stopped talking and got into the game they both froze up and made a lot of dumb decisions.  I had to laugh as I watched.  Goofy kids… not related by blood, but still the sibling rivalry…

Poor Hae Ji… too much pressure after all the talk… she could have won but missed her chance and Min Shik ended up winning… score one for the men! =)

I gave little Hyun Bin (on the left) a piggy-back ride to his room (Shalom Room) after dinner and took a couple pictures of him and Han Bin

Han Bin and Hyun Bin acting goofy

In Chul (Han Bin’s hands)

Yong Hee

After a lot of the boys in Shalom Room ran away from me because of the camera, I went to Love Room to talk with the dorm mom a little.  The girls saw my camera and begged me to take pictures of them.  Girls love the camera… here is Da Heen (Han Bin’s sister)…

Min Seung and Hae Ran acting goofy…

I took this picture in between their goofy expressions (there were plenty more pictures of them)

Soo Yun, Min Seung, Hae Ran

Hae Ran

Soo Yun

Sun Ran and the three girls… Koreans and their poses…

With Da Heen, Choi Eun Ji (younger), Hae Ran, and Min Seung

That’s all for this week.  God bless!

Kingdom Perspective

I’ve started discipling a few brothers at my church and so far things are going really well with them.  Right off the bat the first thing I emphasized to them is that if they want to get anything out of our time together they must have a kingdom perspective.  What I mean by that is they can’t view our meetings as time where they can just get fed and grow on their own.  They have to have a reason for receiving.  And that reason has to be to give it away.  “Freely you’ve received, now freely give” (Matthew 10:8).  I’ve led many discipleship groups before but have noticed a number of the brothers fell away or struggled soon after we ended the group.  They did well when we were meeting but once the accountability/mentoring was gone they returned to how they were before.  Much like Peter and the disciples returned to fishing after Jesus was crucified.  The Dead Sea goes by that name because it only receives water but doesn’t give any away.  The water sits and becomes salty and stagnant.  A kingdom perspective is one that not just receives the living water but lets it flow through into others.  Our life isn’t our own, its meant for Him and His kingdom!

John 15:12 – “My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you.”

New Kids

Our home has received a number of new children in the past month.  Here are pictures of them with a few extra pictures of kids…

Chae Bin

Jin Hwa

Jin Hwa’s older brother Do Kyoon

I tried to get Do Kyoon to smile a bit bigger…

Hyun Bin… he has been with us for a few months now, but I don’t think I’ve posted an individual picture of him

Kyung Min

Kyung Min’s older sister Eun Suh

Their oldest sister Eun Ji

Myung Soo

Myung Soo and Kyung Min

Soo Ah and Hae Hyun… check out how much of Hae Hyun’s hair has grown back! =)  (now healed of liver cancer)

Jina… the girls love to have their picture taken =)

God bless!

Justice Waiting

Rather than me write a blog update I’ll let Pastor Kris Vallotton share.  This is worth your time.  May this clip help spurn your heart to pray. 

Psalm 139:15-16 – My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Numbers 35:33 – Do not pollute the land where you are.  Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

2Chronicles 7:14 – If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselve and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Picture Clean Up…

These pictures include pictures from my friend Semy’s camera from a couple months ago, pictures from a wedding, and pictures of my home’s guinea pig whom I’ve named “Munchie.”  Some mad cute pictures in here.  Enjoy…

Little Jina playing chess… one of my favorite pics

Se Bin and Se Min

Hyun Hee and Semy

Soo Jin

Young Eun

Sun Mi and Hae Ji

Some of the girls excitedly gathering around the restaurant’s TV to see the band “Big Bang” sing

Sun Hee and Hae Hyun (since this picture Hae Hyun’s hair has been growing back… yaay!)

Soo Ah

Girls sleeping… I like how one of them ended up under the blanket/thin mattress

Hae Ran kissing Hyun Woo while Sun Ah sits happily on the potty trainer

Se Min

Soo Jin dorm mom with Sung Joon

Sun Ah hugging Sung Joon…

Eun Ji and Hae Ran

Munchie!!!

Munchie and some rabbit getting in the way

Munchie deserves three pictures… Jung Ho and Da Heen are feeding them leaves

With friends Norberto and Monica at their wedding (they are in Mozambique style clothes for the reception)

With Heidi Baker, Norberto’s American mom from Mozambique (she wrote the book “Always Enough” about testimonies of the amazing things God has been doing in Mozambique)

With Pastor Surpresa and his wife… Pastor Surpresa has had the privilege of praying for 6 dead people back to life in Mozambique…

Last, a picture from the missions conference in Thailand of myself with Pastor Sinai and his wife Somalay…. they head the orphanage ministry in Cambodia (New Hope 4 Orphans) that I visited

God bless!

Am I Ready?

A number of people have been asking me recently what my plan is.  A friend asked me, “If North Korea were to open today, would you go in?”  I found myself responding to him without even a pause to think, “No way!!!  I’m not an idiot.  I would never go into that country unless God told me to go.”  I didn’t mean to respond so strongly, but I’ve just learned over and over through Scripture and through watching missionaries succeed or fail that it is CRITICAL to wait on the Lord.  You go without Him and you get routed (Numbers 14) or even lose your calling (1Samuel 13).  You wait on the Lord and… you wait a bit longer… and wait some more… and… BAM, God’s favor is all over you and you are right in the place God would have you be.  Just look at the lives of Joseph and Daniel.  I have to constantly remember their stories, because I am also a foreigner in another country with a calling I feel too strong to be reckless about. 

So with all that said, I don’t have a very clear answer about my future.  God knows and He will let me know in His time.  I just want to faithful with the little things I have now and ready in the Spirit for that BAM.    I will NOT go on my own.  Without Him, I’m about as useful as a pile of dirt.

Psalm 27:14 – Wait for the Lord.  Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. 

Chris Tomlin – With Me (Hit the play button located on the bottom left corner of the white bar above.  I love this song).  God bless!

Seoul Orphanage Olympics

A few weeks ago most of the children homes in Seoul gathered at a big park for the annual orphanage olympics.  It wasn’t as fun as last year when my home dominated (including the soccer championship), but we still had a good time.  Enjoy the pics!

Kids sword fighting with the sound making balloons (meant for cheering)

Seung Hwan (Min Shik using my camera again)

Goofy boys

Soo Hoon winning his race (I rewarded by allowing him to play xbox that night =))

Yo Han dominating his race (he too played xbox that night =))

Soo Ah and Hae Ran preparing for their race… sadly, neither would get to play xbox =D

Trying to be cool with Il Ho… trying…

My kids staring at another orphanage’s cheer team doing some somewhat “scandalous” dance moves… ugh…

Our cheerleaders… they were embarrassed to have to follow the other orphanage’s dance routine…

Ours routine was a little more simple and a lot more tasteful

Some of the boys doing a 6 legged race…

Girls harassing a random mascot

Same girls doing tug-of-war

A little hard to see, but this is my friend Josh (white guy on the right) playing tug of war against a bunch of his kids… and Josh was winning… this was fun to watch

Myung Bae, Seung Hwan, Jae, Young Oong, and Sang Yong waiting for the next game

Seung Hwan running on a sheet that the older kids were holding stretched out above ground… this was a relay

Young Eun playing a weird version of dodgeball

Yo Han again (second from left), this time starting out the final race… the baton relay of each homes’ best elementary school, junior high, high school, and dorm mother runners.  These races were of four homes each.  Aside from the soccer tournament, the directors take the most pride in their home being able to win this event.  We probably would have won, but one of our boys dropped the baton.  Oh well… next year!

Geon Christian Children’s Home (4th grade – 12th grade)

God bless!

CAMBODIA

After my short visit to Myanmar (see previous entry below) I went to Cambodia for about 4 full days.  I visited a number of orphanages and stayed with Pastor Sinai and his family.  He heads New Hope 4 Orphans in Cambodia (http://www.nho.org.kh/).  Enjoy the video clip and pictures from my visit there!

In this clip one of the boys from the orphanage went up a coconut tree with a machete and is cutting off some coconuts for us to eat.  Two other boys are catching the coconuts with a blanket.  First time I’ve seen this…

This is a picture of one of the first orphanages… a poor hut built on stilts because of flooding (Pastor Sinai is to the right)

This is where the girls sleep and keep their stuff

This is a new home under construction… much nicer!

All the other homes I visited were like the new one above… here are three girls and a little boy in one of the girl dorms at another home

Here are some of the boys in the boys’ dorm

The littlest one in this home

The kitchen… old school (every home had outhouses and a well for water)

One of the girls with a puppy… the kids loved having their picture taken

Cute naked boy and some girls playing on the swings

Some of the other boys… playgrounds are a great blessing for the kids

Some of the kids posing

Bye-bye!

A Christian international school located in one of the orphanages… 10 of the kids from this home are able to attend it so their English is very good.  Quite a blessing!

A banana tree in one of the homes… I wish my home had fruit trees!

This home had a small farm in it… here are some of the piglets (and a cute girl)

Mama pig

Chickens!

The barns from a distance

Rebecca, Angela, and Deborah… Pastor Sinai’s children

Playing soccer with some of the boys

Most of the homes also have churches in them and I attended the Phnom Penh orphanage’s church on the Sunday I was there.  Here is the praise team.  All of the boys grew up in the children homes.  Some are still in high school, but most are currently attending Bible college.  They were anointed!  Praise God!

A couple kids wanted to be in the picture too… I allowed them to be in the second one, but soon almost all the kids wanted to be in it!  My white knees stick out quite a bit…

One of the dinners I ate at Pastor Sinai’s, cooked by his wife Somalay (the mangoes on the bottom right were killer, my mouth is watering just looking at them)

Somalay and one of the girls who grew up in one of the homes and now lives with Pastor Sinai’s family and helps take care of the house

I also met this girl while at a market in Phnom Penh.  I was trying to decide which tropical fruit juice to order and I asked her what she was having (she was the only other foreigner around).  I talked with her a little and thought she was European because of her accent… but then found out she is American, is deaf, and was reading my lips!  I’ve never met a lip reader or deaf person who could speak so well.  Cool stuff!  Her name is Ronise and she teaches at a school for deaf children in the city.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.  God bless!