Grace is All Around Us

Hi everyone! Long time no blog update from my end… but we’re back! Up until this point I was really proud of myself for not going over two months without a blog update LOL. This time around it took a bit longer for me to identify things I found worth sharing as well as to reflect on and make sense of how God has been moving in my life. But now I am ready and excited to share some updates!! Here are some of my reflections and updates since my last post in April~

Beautiful sights from 여수 (Yeosu) <3

Twenty Eight

As I’ve hit the 5 month mark of my time in Korea, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about my dad. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t seen him in person since I arrived here (I got to see my mom and sister more recently when they visited Korea in February/March, which you can read about in my previous blog post here). Maybe it’s also because I’ve spent more time with my mom’s side of the family here in Korea so far. But recently, I had the realization that I’m the exact same age that my dad was when he immigrated from Korea to the States.

In the year that we turned twenty eight, we both left the countries where we were born and raised to move to the other side of the world. Of course, there are significant differences between our experiences. But for both of us, this was an intentional decision, albeit one that was made not without a sense of sacrifice and loss. I grew up hearing stories from my dad about challenges he faced as an immigrant, but now I am appreciating the struggles he experienced more in light of moments I’ve struggled here in Korea. There have been moments, like when I accidentally sat in a seat reserved for the elderly on the subway (and got called out on it by an elderly man), or when I’ve pulled out the translator app in admission of defeat after trying to decipher the instructions on my packages. No matter how well I can assimilate in how I speak, dress, act, etc. here in Korea, there’ll always be a moment, a “slip-up,” that reminds me that I’m not from here. When I do get to talk with my dad on the phone, it’s much easier for me to just share the good - because, for the most part, things are really good here, but also because I never want to worry my parents, especially when they’re on the other side of the world. As I write out this reflection, however, I’m encouraged to be more willing to share about the less positive moments, the moments of struggle, for my dad experienced much of the same, if not more, when he, too, was twenty eight.

Surprise letters from my family in the mail :')

정 (Jeong)

During our orientation back in January/February, one of our cultural workshops touched upon the concept of 정 (jeong), a uniquely Korean concept that essentially refers to a sense of warmth, love, and/or connection between people. At the time, we were encouraged to develop 정 with the students and staff that we work with at school, and as I reflect on my time at school over the past two months, I feel grateful for the ways that I’ve been able to experience 정 so far. At school, I share an office space with the gym teacher, and we’ve had conversations about all sorts of random things, ranging from simple topics like our plans for the weekend and Korean entertainment to more complex things like elections and my family’s immigration story. After it came up in conversation that I had never had 막국수 (mak-guksu), a staple dish in the area, he treated me and another teacher to it one Friday after school. At lunch, I often eat with the staff who work in the administration department. When I had recently mentioned that I was planning to spend a day in a nearby city on one of our days off, one of the ladies who works in the department sent me a bunch of recommendations for places I could eat at while I was there and even explained which ones would be within walking distance from the bus terminal and which ones would be farther away. My main Fulbright co-teacher has also consistently made herself available to me and has often encouraged me to not be afraid to speak up if I need anything - a reminder that I’ve been so grateful for because I’m not naturally inclined to vocalize problems I face. In my interactions with other teachers and staff, I’ve been really blessed by how willing many of them have been to look out for me and take care of me in both little and big ways.

Because my school is in such a rural area, it actually receives a lot of money from the government and therefore has a sizable budget (as a means to incentivize more people to live in this area). This has translated to lots of fun trips! In late April, I got to join the 4th-6th graders and their homeroom teachers on a “City Culture Experience Learning” trip in which we spent three days and two nights in Seoul. Through this trip, I got to check off a lot of things that were on my personal bucket list (riding the Namsan Tower cable car, going to Gyeongbokgung Palace and wearing a 한복 (hanbok) there, spending a day at the Lotte World amusement park, etc.). I also got to enjoy some things that were not quite on my bucket list but were still fun lol (like going to a legit baseball game - I learned that Korea takes professional baseball VERY seriously). On the first day of May, our school went on a day trip to 속초 (Sokcho), a city on the eastern side of 강원도 (Gangwon Province), where we got to ride a cable car up to 설악산 (Seoraksan) and then visited one of the beaches in the area.

With some of the sixth grade girlies at Gyeongbokgung Palace + with some of my coworkers in Sokcho~

Something that has been a big culture shock for me has been seeing how free the students are to roam around without supervision - I had already seen this at recess, when they’re allowed to play outside on the school playgrounds without any adults hovering over them (something that would NEVER fly in American schools), but I was surprised to see it even during these trips, like when my students were free to explore Lotte World in their own groups for 9 hours while the teachers chilled in a lounge area (I was the only teacher to join one of the student groups because I had wanted to ride the rides with the kids LOL). Being that this is the only Korean school I’ve been at, I’m not sure if this is the norm or if it’s specific to my school (especially since we have such a small student population). Regardless, there’s certainly a culture of trust between the students and staff, and my initial apprehension (the American in me who can’t trust kids to be left on their own) has evolved into an appreciation and a sense that this is how it should be - in a perfect world, kids should be able to play on the playgrounds and roam around amusement parks without any fears or worries. While we obviously don’t live in a perfect world, I’m happy to see that my students in Korea have been afforded a certain freedom that, from my observations, most of them have been able to handle.

As fun as the trips have been, what I have especially enjoyed through these excursions has been the opportunity to spend time with my students more closely outside of the classroom. I experienced 정 with my students in moments like when the girls wanted to hold hands with me as we walked through Gyeongbokgung and Lotte World together and in times when we got to chat over shared meals and bubble tea. Beyond these trips, I’ve seen a sense of 정 enter the classroom as students’ calls for 선생님 (teacher) have become shortened to 쌤 (a friendly, informal word for teacher that students generally use when they are comfortable with their teacher). It’s still pretty early in the school year here in Korea, but I am excited to see how God will continue to move in my relationships with my students and coworkers, especially as we head towards the second semester.

Students from my youngest class making the heart sign for "H" :')

Church is Not a Building

I concluded my previous blog post by sharing my reflections on the church search, a search which was made difficult especially due to factors such as distance and travel time. Since my last update, I did get to visit another church in Seoul, but to be honest, more weeks were spent tuning into online services rather than going to churches in person. The discouragement that I shared about in my last blog post persisted, and the more I found myself not attending service in-person, the more I found myself starting to also feel less motivated to go. For some time, I found myself feeling distant from God, and this started to show in my lack of motivation to spend time with God in His Word and in prayer. Looking back, I know that not being part of a church community here in Korea was a big reason why I felt so distant - I lacked the physical, regular accountability that I had become accustomed to with my home church in the States, and I was feeling the spiritual effects of that. I found myself even feeling less motivated with the Fellowship & Bible Study group I was still co-leading after orientation ended. Fulbright had a spring conference in late April in which our entire cohort attended workshops and excursions in 경주 (Gyeongju) for a weekend, and the thought had come up in my mind to initiate a gathering for our Fellowship group during our free time, but I didn’t act on it (and wasn’t going to) until my co-leader, Josh, brought it up. We ended up meeting as a group for the first time in-person since February (since orientation, we had been meeting on Zoom) and I left our meeting feeling so spiritually full and blessed, in a way I hadn’t felt in a while. I felt some conviction in knowing that if it weren’t for Josh, I would’ve allowed spring conference to pass without initiating a meeting, but I also felt really grateful for the accountability that God provided me through my co-leader at a time when I really needed it.

Some members of our Fellowship & Bible Study Group at our spring conference!

After returning from the Fulbright spring conference, I started to really see God move in connecting me with Christians in the most unexpected places. The English teacher who used to be at my school last year had told me a while back that there was another native English teacher in my town at the middle/high school right next to my elementary school, but we were never properly connected until right after spring conference ended. The native English teacher, Florence, had her lunch break at the same time as me, so we decided to meet during our lunch break that week. As we talked, we found out that we were both Christian! It turns out that Florence, who had been in Korea since August through a different English teaching program, had also been looking for an English speaking church and had also been struggling with the search. I was amazed - all this time, I had been praying for God to connect me with other believers in my area, and I had no idea that this whole time, there was one who was literally in the next building over. I also felt somewhat validated, too, in seeing that I wasn’t the only one struggling to find an English speaking church being from this particular area. Since then, Florence has become a really great friend and sister in Christ, and we got to visit a church in Seoul together!

Me and Florence on the train back from church!

Just a couple of weeks after meeting Florence, I was invited to attend a tennis and barbecue gathering in the community. I decided to attend because I figured it would be a good opportunity to get to know some more people in the community (it’s not because I’m any good at tennis LOL). We ended up not playing tennis that day because it was raining all day, so we just had a barbecue. At the barbecue, I ended up sitting next to a woman just a few years older than me who had recently moved to the area. She was an English teacher at a local academy and had returned to resettle in Korea a couple of years ago after having spent most of her life in Europe. We initially bonded over our shared profession of teaching English and having lived abroad while being ethnically Korean, and as we talked more, we found out that we were both Christian! She said that she had wanted to meet more people since she hadn’t been in the area for too long, and I told her that I had wanted to connect with Christians nearby. I was amazed that once again, God had connected me with a believer who was not too far from me this whole time.

Around this time, I also started virtual tutoring outside of school through a volunteer program run by Fulbright. It is a tutoring program specifically for people who have defected from North Korea. Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, I am not able to share too much about my student, but my student also happens to be a Christian. In just a matter of a few weeks, I went from not knowing any believers in my area to God connecting me with three different individuals in different settings, all of whom also share in the faith. At a time when I was feeling very disconnected from God and struggling in the church search, God was again reminding me that even in the waiting, He already had a form of Christian community for me, in addition to the Fellowship & Bible Study group from my program. Through this group, I also was able to start a more intentional accountability partnership with my friend and sister in Christ Lana (who I MCed with at the Korean Language graduation ceremony during our orientation back in February, which you can read about here). Our accountability has been an immense blessing to me, as we’ve kept each other accountable with spiritual disciplines and testimony sharing on a weekly basis. I’ve just been so blown away by how generous God has been to answer my prayer to be connected with other believers, especially at a time when I knew I was not drawing near to Him as consistently and as earnestly as I had before. This truly was a measure of God’s grace and provision.

While God was generously connecting me with other believers in my area, He was also reminding me of the community I have at home through various friends from my home church who happened to visit Korea recently. I got to meet up with Kristin and Christian, a married couple from my home church who visited a church in Seoul with me on the day we met up. As we chatted over grilled meat and dessert after service, I gleaned so much practical wisdom from them and was blessed by their encouragement to enjoy this particular season of my life (my “riding my bike in a village era” lol) while being open to how God is forming me in it. A few weeks after seeing them, I met up with my friend and sister in Christ Yelin in 익선동 (Ikseon-dong), where we got to catch up over 로제 떡볶이 (rosé tteok-bokki, my first time trying this flavor!) and really good steamed bread at a fancy bread cafe (that we waited like 20 minutes in the rain for, but the wait was worth it!!). As Yelin and I shared life updates, I felt really excited for both of us, as it was clear in what we shared that God is moving in our current seasons through the joys and challenges - we may not know where exactly this will lead us to practically, but we can trust that the Lord will lead us as we continue to walk with Him. Lastly, just last week I got to see my friend and brother in Christ Andrew as well as his brother Peter! Andrew’s been a longtime friend of mine since college, where we served and led a small group together (shout-out Sophomore Life Group 2015-2017!!). I had a lot of fun hanging out with them! It was my first time seeing Peter, his younger brother, in years, and I was so blown away by how mature and well-spoken he was as a high schooler - definitely very excited for his future and how God is going to use him. All in all, meeting with my friends from my home church was a really sweet reminder that God has a community of people at home who are for me, for which I am deeply grateful.

So good seeing people from home :')

With regards to church, there’s a particular church in Seoul that I’ve been following for some time, mainly through watching their online services and recently with some in-person visits. The first time I visited was when I went with Kristin and Christian, but the second time I visited by myself. I was a bit nervous about going by myself this time around, but since I had visited other churches by myself in the past (like my home church), I was willing and even excited to do it. As soon as I got to church that day, I ended up seeing someone there who I had first met at my home church once last summer! She is not from my home church but had visited since one of her really good friends attends my church. At the time, we had connected over both having plans to live in Korea, although we had never really followed up with each other. The day that I visited this church in Seoul just so happened to be her first day serving on the hospitality team. I felt grateful for God’s timing, that He would allow us to reconnect on the first Sunday I happened to visit this church by myself. Like most churches, this church does offer small groups, although I had long seen this as something that I wouldn’t be able to join because I live so far from Seoul (making it out on Sundays was hard enough considering the distance, but trying to make it out on weekdays would be essentially impossible). When I had talked with another member of the hospitality team after service, however, I found out that they offer a small group that meets virtually! I felt hopeful and encouraged that I could try to perhaps join this group when they start meeting again in the fall.

Through the joys and challenges of my church search over the past several months, God has been reminding me of that classic saying: that church is not a building but a people. Even before I’ve been fully plugged into a church here, God has been moving in the most generous and kind ways by showing me the community of believers that He has for me both in Korea and at home. I’ve been blessed by the ways that God has allowed my interactions with other believers to shape my time here in Korea thus far and am excited to see how this will continue to evolve especially as I hopefully get closer to getting more plugged into a church this year. Please continue to keep me in prayer with integrating into a church!

<3

Other Highlights

The following are bullets of other highlights from the past two months that I wanted to briefly share! I won’t go into much detail about them here (because this is already a long post lol), but feel free to reach out if you want to hear more about any of these highlights:

• Personal color analysis and skeletal analysis: If you know, you know hahaha

• Solo trips! I got to explore some cities in Korea on my own like 춘천 (Chuncheon) and 여수 (Yeosu)

• Ran my first 10K with some Fulbright friends! Crossed off a bucket list item, not just with running a race in Korea but also with running alongside the 한강 (Han River)~

• Encounters with friendly strangers like the taxi driver in 여수 who became my unofficial tour guide and a poet who was trying to catch the same bus as me from Seoul

Thank you all for making it to the end of this post! I appreciate that people have been taking the time to read even a bit of my reflections here. I pray that this post can bless and encourage you in some way and that you can see how God is moving in your life, too~ God bless!!!

Love, Jen