Greetings!  No doubt you’ve been wondering how thing were going out here in South Korea.  Here is a snippet (albeit a long long snippet).  We (my wife and I), are living in Busan with her parents now.  We moved from Seoul about 6 months ago after my English teaching contract with SDALI ended.  I visited my dad and some Wildwood friends in the states for a short while.  These days I feel the seemingly unshakable burden of personal financial responsibilities on my back, while also bearing the yearning of Christ for souls around the world.  God knows my desire to Reach 1 Million Souls for Christ.  How to do it, and whom to do it with becomes more relevant and more clear as my burden’s are lifted away.  So far, I plod steadily toward a distant victory, but I request to God for a mighty angel to help me bear the load.

In other news, no, my wife does not yet have any bread in the colloquial oven (no baby yet), but I have found peace in a 40 day spiritual fast.  Intercessory prayer has also become a regular part of my life for this past month, as at 6 pm each evening, I pray for 6 people on my prayer list that I also submitted to the local church (at the pastor’s request).  It would seem that the accountability of knowing that there are others also praying for the same list impresses the urgency more fervently on my psyche.  I would strongly recommend you try this successfully at your church.  Print out two copies of 5 or 7 lines.  Then write the same names of people you’d like to see join your church or come to Christ, or have a very specific change in their lives.  Then submit just one list of names to your church to pray for, and keep the other list.  It’s like a covenant.  Then set an alarm on your cellphone and be faithful to pray at that time.  It helps if the alarm itself is somewhat different.  I sometimes have a hymn play when it’s prayer time.

The other day I was praying for my former student, Terry.  I don’t think his parents are Adventist, but at a little over 12 years old, he’s curious about good things, and about God.  He was the one student in my class to ask me about the Bible.  Because I was teaching there, I was able to open the Bible to him and show him a short Bible study.  I told him no more than he asked about, and boy did he have questions.  He read everything I gave him to read.  Now, he’s asking me questions about what I eat and why.  I gave him my reasons and he asked if crab was okay.  Well, I chuckled and told him I try not to eat anything with a mother, or a liver, or is related to it.  He was quiet for a while, then he informed me that he wanted to lose weight, so he became vegetarian.  My mouth dropped open as I read his text.  For a Korean to go vegetarian, is like a Muslim becoming Adventist.  Most Adventists here aren’t even vegetarians.  I’m sure we’re not the only ones, so I guess you can understand my surprise.  So, now I want to meet with him and have lunch and explain as much as is right, in a short time, to a young student. (Update: I took him ice skating and gave him a Steps to Jesus in English and Korean.)  Pray for Terry, will you?  Thanks a million!

Another student I’m praying for is Sun.E.  He is part of my business English class at an influential marine manufacturing plant near Busan.  Unlike the usual laughs-for-lunch, soju-for-supper crowd (soju [soe-joo] is Korea’s vodka/whiskey/moonshine), this precious soul is a real gem.  Unlike most engineers, he is not only intelligent, efficient, and precise, but he’s also amiable and faithful to his family as well as his duties.  He rarely misses a class and is the hero of his two daughters.  In the States, this is business as usual, but in Korean corporate culture, it is almost mandatory to drink till 1am every night and then return to work at 8am till 6pm, only to be pressured by the boss (who seems to never leave, for fear that while he’s away, the cats will play) into staying till 9pm, 10pm, or sometimes 11pm.  At that point, the boss usually calls them out for a drink, and anyone who doesn’t attend is looked upon with disfavor.  A very sad situation indeed.  They could find reason to fire such a person, simply based on that, at some companies.  So, Sun.E found a department that didn’t have such pressures and found it easier to be a loving father to his daughters and is loving it.  So, I introduced Steps to Jesus to Sun.E and he accepted it.  Now, he’s on my prayer list and receiving encouraging messages daily from our prayer group.  Please also pray for him.

Just yesterday, from the time this was written, I made the difficult choice to remain in Busan another 6-12 months, even though my good friends are in Seoul.  The reason I decided to stay was not to make more money, or to enjoy a cushy job with a large salary and pension (all of which the other job I turned down in Seoul was offering).  No, I decided to stay because I wanted to be faithful.  God told me He places me in certain places to affect people’s lives for good.  Tell me, when I was near you, did you feel the presence of God nearby?  I’d like to know.  Apparently, God is using me to touch people’s lives here too, and just when I begin to see a difference, or a change in their lives, that isn’t the time to leave.  He told me there needs to be follow through with my acquaintances.  I suppose that goes for every Adventist, wouldn’t you agree?

These days, we are in the process of promoting Total Member Involvement or TMI in the church.  Thus the need for every member to pray.  In January, I was fortunate to provide assistance for Clarence, the pastor of the Dongnae International Church.  He took a 4 week trip to Peru and returned this last week.  During that time, I preached a series entitled Tent Building (not to be confused with Tent Making).  It was a series on building up the physical, mental, spiritual, and congregational sanctuaries.  Though I thought I would buy the farm on those sermons, it turned out that God answered my prayers and the church responded warmly.  They began a new tradition of praying after the service in a circle, bringing their requests before the Lord, requested GLOW tracts to do ministry (the 1000 Missionary Movement missionary there asked for those), and gleaned health reformer recipes from my wife.  As the Presbyterian Christians in the men’s Bible study I’m attending say, Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord.

Yeah, I was introduced to a Christian men’s Bible study group, right after, I mean, the same day I was praying that the Lord would give me a Bible study I could attend or start.  I was also looking for someone to share the faith with.  Lo and behold, the Lord sent Brent all the way from Seoul.  He had a contact.  We joined the study.  Now, I’m sharing some “milk” with a group of people who think the First Testament is Old News, and that grace means liberty to drink beer while studying the Bible, which in some strange coincidence is precisely what they achieve during the 2 hours they spend commenting on Acts chapter by chapter.  Though I’m less concerned for my health and wellbeing than for their souls, I can’t help but question how exactly the Lord will use me to reach these guys.  Perhaps He will call me to sacrifice for them in a way I wouldn’t normally think to.  Perhaps He will open a door for me to share the health message.  Whatever comes, I am excited to discover His will.

I’d like to say that I was able to finish the video series that I was working on earlier.  Frankly, I believe I need to update my computer and editing software, but am hesitating for lack of a system that is less invasive.  Needless to say, the current software doesn’t take full advantage of the “horsepower” my computer is capable of generating.  As such, editing is painfully slow, the media conversion tools are necessary, rather than editing the video files in their native state.  So, rather than hold my breath for a perfect system, that allows me to retain full autonomy of my data, I may have to just bite the bullet and jump on the cloud [data mine laced] bandwagon with the rest of the world.  Or perhaps there’s Linux… but I’ve just not attained that level of nerdy-ness, sorry fellow tech heads, nothing personal.  A new and updated system is one need we have.

Is there anything else to report?  • My wife has taken up violin.  • Brent has been collecting voices to put in his audiobook that he’s written himself.  Way to go Brent!  Now, he’s more familiar with Logic Pro, a popular audio editing software.  Hopefully he’ll be able to sweeten the sound on our videos soon.  • I went to a friend’s wedding and met a girl from Brazil who is a video producer.  I hope she has a passion for missions and would be willing to assist in production.  Though it’s all volunteer, perhaps we could work long distance collaborating through the internet.  • I’ve started writing a series of poems related to NEWSTART, that each can be sung to popular folk tunes, that also might be at least partially acceptable to the secular mind, but retains Godly principles.  • An opportunity opened for me to play the accordion at a Korean music teacher’s recital for her child students.  Some of the parents at the restaurant venue had children who also attended the place where I teach part time.  So, I mentioned that before I played, and said I volunteered to play as a gift to the students.  Later, I found out God arranged it, so I would have favor in the eyes of the administration where I worked.  One student who had constantly been watching me play as I came in for 15 minutes here, and 20 minutes there, was so impressed, he begged his parents to join the English school too.  What do you know?  God can work miracles.  Now the director smiles everyday she sees me.  Praise the Lord.  I wasn’t even that impressed with my own performance.  Who knew?

And, shall I tell of all the times when I’ve had to pull out my wife’s homemade herbal salve to heal the bleeding fingers and atopy that seems to plague the children?  Shall I tell of the usefulness of Tea Tree Oil and Echinacea as well as Golden Seal and Propolis?  Shall I tell of the wonders of the Comfrey patch we found on the abandoned elementary school between the buildings (actually, I think I already mentioned that in a former post)?  God does work through His natural remedies (or natural therapies, depending on who’s listening).  I have discovered that when it comes to this body, which God made, it’s God, not man, who knows the most about how it works.  It’s no mystery to Him, so why not use His methods of healing?  If you’re sick today, and I know some of you are right now as you’re reading, why not lean on the natural remedies God has placed right around you?  If you can cut back on something you know is harmful, do it.  If you can grow an herb garden, do it.  If you can change a habit, do it.  Ask for God’s angels to help, He will send them, seriously.  If you want more help, view this link.  I’ve found this book priceless.  You might already own it.  Here it is online. [ http://www.pathlights.com/nr_encyclopedia/index.htm ]  May God bless you as you receive the help you need by His hand.

Well, that’s our update.  A lot happens in 6 months.  If you have some encouraging words to write to me or my wife, please do so.  Pray for us, pray for me, and pray that we reach our goals.  If you are a devout Seventh-day Adventist, and can contribute to editing in Korean and/or posting to our Youtube page, let me know.  Thanks!

Handle and Minjoo.