Pastor James' Blog

The team just left for the airport and will soon be in the US!

Thank you everyone for reading the journeys of our Korea Mission Team.  Thank you more so for your prayers and support!  We hope that we were faithful ambassadors of Higher Connection Church and especially of God Almighty!

Our mission team will be preparing their Mission Report this Sunday, 8/22 at all three services.  Come and hear all that God has done!

Hwalih Han:

It’s almost 5 am Saturday morning as I’m writing this - so I ask you to forgive the random string of thoughts and grammatical errors!  We just finished packing and cleaning and almost everyone has fallen asleep awaiting our departure at 7 am in the morning.   This past 2 weeks flew by faster than I expected and there is so much I have yet to absorb and reflect on.

We were able to use the last day for free time. Some of us spent the day with relatives, others stayed around church and just relaxed – as for me, I went with P. James and the rest to Lotte Mall for the movie theatre experience in Korea. We then went to Hyundai Mall at night to pick up my glasses, but also to enjoy one last meal – the BEST donkatsu I have ever had! =)  Once again, it was a meal provided by Immanuel Church – another demonstration of their love and servant heart, even until the last day.

At 9:30 pm, we all attended the Friday Night Prayer Service – and it was by far the most powerful service for me.  I felt like God just showed up and touched everyone there. Although mentally, I couldn’t understand anything during the worship time, but my spirit was touched and tears overflowed in my eyes the entire time.    I could sense the Holy Spirit moving so mightily as we witnessed our church praising God with all our hearts.   Reverend Park shared about David’s sin during a period of rest when he counted all his soldiers (1 Chronicles 21:10).  Because this act displeased God, David sin resulted in a consequence of 70000 deaths.  Rev. Park reminded us that obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22), and Satan can find any crack to sneak in during our ‘rest’ times. With that charge, we were geared up to be on guard against Satan.

I realized that we were more eager to fight him in prayer during our actual mission time than the last few days as things relaxed more with the graduation and English Camp over.  It’s true that we had more sickness during the camp, and suddenly everyone feels ok.  We literally spent most of our team funds buying ‘jook’ or porridge for all the sick folks.  The enemy’s attack was more evident during our camp, but today’s message reminded me of how much more guarded we need to be as we end our mission trip and return home.  Although we will be able to rest and relax, but we cannot let our guards down, but must pick up our sword and shield and be on the offensive against the enemy’s schemes.  Because I believe God is going to continue to move  in amazing ways in Immanuel Church, and Higher Connection Church, I know Satan has not stopped scheming.  But I am confident that victory still and always belongs to us – His redeemed.

Near the end of the service, Reverend Park prayed over each of the team members – and it was such a blessing for me.  After the prayer time, my heart was overwhelmed with a genuine peace, joy, and hope in the Lord that came naturally, which was so different from how it was the weeks before.  Rev. Park is truly a humble and anointed servant of God and our team is blessed to have him and Samonim (Pastor’s Wife) with us this whole time.

Since it was the last night – many of the children we taught came by to say hi/bye and just greet us.  It was a sad moment, but also filled with much thankfulness to see how the Lord brought us through so many moments.  I remember in particular the graduation night when we finished making our song power point and a goodbye video literally seconds before rehearsal. God made it entirely impossible for us to rely on our own power – but on His alone.  Glory, as always, goes to Him.

There is so much more I have yet to digest from this trip, and more to share.  But I hope to have that opportunity on an individual level when I return home.  One thing that sticks out the most is the extreme servant hood of the pastoral staff, members, students, and just our team.  During my prayer time today God reminded me of Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as  a ransom to many.”  Immanuel Church truly models a church that lives to love God by serving and loving His people.

I just want to also say thank you to each one of you on behalf of our team – for those that supported us financially, through prayer, through fasting, and through all the preparations in fundraising and logistics up to the trip.  We definitely could not have done all of this without you and we are grateful for your obedience to the Lord in your giving.  We pray that you will experience the overflow of His blessings because of your generosity and love for each of us. We love you and look forward to returning home! =)

Josh Hyon:

Today was a slow day contrast to others. Most of us who didn’t have relatives to visit woke up around 9:30 – 10:00 and spent the time away sleeping, taking a walk, or going to shopping areas and movies. Moreover, it was a time of reflection on the days gone by.

At around 9:30 the Immanuel Church held their final service we would be attending, and the pastor prayed over us after his sermon. Afterwards the team went out to get some Korean fried chicken for a bittersweet last minute get together.

Looking back on the two weeks spent in Korea, time has gone by faster than anyone on this mission’s team could have expected. The moxie of morning prayers at the break of dawn, teaching and playing with the Inchon kids, being spoiled daily to exceptional korean food— have all blurred past us in the blink of an eye.

For me personally, this whole mission’s trip has been beyond what I could’ve expected. I’ve never expected to be served so selflessly by everyone in the church that we came to serve. Never did I expect actually going to nonrequired morning prayers and Korean services. I’ve never expected having such a fun time teaching kids that I had a language barrier over and then miss having them around when they left. From getting stuff out of sermons I couldn’t interpret to teaching improvised lesson plans and having to manage 15 rowdy kids running around the classroom with no English speaking translators one day. I quickly learned that many times things never really go according to plan and everything you expected can change.

What God has shown me from all this is to be led through him and not to rely on ourselves to get where we want. I am closer now to understanding that without God’s guidance there is nothing we can do that will get us anywhere. In reflecting back I see that no one person did anything by themselves on this trip to advance the mission. It was only in team unity through Christ that anything was ever accomplished. Through this realization I have been humbled to Trust in God to lead you at all times.

Sharai Bryan:

Today was the last full day of being in Korea! Wow, it’s almost over! And as I think about the two weeks we spent here, I cannot help but be thankful that I survived!

For me, these two weeks were one of the most spiritually grueling times of my life. While on this trip, I watched my spiritual footing shatter into pieces, leaving me falling aimlessly in the air.  As I struggled to find some vine, some rock, anything to stop me from falling and gain my bearings, nothing worked.  Each time I felt I was okay, God brought a person or an experience to shake me up again.  I was soo mentally, spiritually, and emotionally overwhelmed that one day, during the debriefing time, without my consent, my walls came crashing down.  It seemed like a never ending stream of tears poured from within me!  The more I tried to contain them, the more they came. The tears just wouldn’t stop!  As you can imagine, that was one of the most embarrassing times of my life.

As I struggled to contain the chaos within my mind, all I could hear God telling me to do was to “Let Go.”  The first time I heard God say “Let go, “I felt flabbergasted! What do you mean let go?! What else do I have to hold onto, you’ve taken everything from me!  However, the words “let go” continued to ring in my ears. Nonetheless, throughout the trip, God slowly revealed to me more of what he meant.

Those who closely associate with me know me as an open person. One who likes to share her joys, her concerns, and her thoughts.  However, I have never exposed my pain and the turmoil of my mind with anyone. Not even my family and in some ways, not even God.  Yes, God knew and knows everything I feel, hear, and think. However, I refused to surrender my burdens up to him.  Why?   Doing so would have been admitting that I had baggage.  And if I admitted I had baggage, I would have had to come to terms with it. Yet, God’s request to “let go” pulled at my heart.

Last week, God freed me from the constant chaos of my mind. Now, there is so much peace.  Today, as I placed my hand over my heart while Pastor Park and Pastor James prayed over me, I felt a release.  God was fixing my awful elementary attempt to mend my own heart, by healing my heart.  Now, I do not know if the process is completely finished.  Nevertheless, I have made up my mind that I will surrender all my baggage to God. No matter how painful it is, my Abeoji (Father) will take care of me.  God, I let go!

Brian Chen:

It’s hard to believe that the mission is finally winding down to a close. The graduation ceremony last night was truly an evening overflowing with joy. It was not only from proud parents but also of servants—separated by distance, culture, and language but unified by Spirit—who worked so wholeheartedly together looking on at a job well-done.

And so here we are… mission accomplished!

Today the team was rewarded with a free day to explore the city of Seoul. We awoke a little more sluggishly than was our hyper-drive mode throughout the English camp, but we were eventually on our way to ride into the city by subway train. We went first to Myeong Dong where we split into smaller groups to peruse the fashions that we’ll see in the US in maybe 2 years. We also had lunch and, for those of us in my group, went for some delicious patbingsoo—a perfect treat for a hot and sweaty Korean summer afternoon. Later, we went to shop around in the Namdaemun area and had dinner at the high-end Shinsegae department store’s food court. Finally, we ended the day with a long bus ride through the rush hour-packed streets of Seoul back to Incheon, affording us a different view than the one we came with.

Looking back on the mission, though, it is phenomenal to think how far God has brought our team in the last 10 days or so. God has really challenged me to truly understand the 3 words he gave me nearly a year ago: love the church. I will remember this missions trip as the first time I fell in love—with the church. Not only have I fallen in love with HCC over this past year, I have really fallen in love with our co-laborers at Immanuel Church as well. The fervor, love, faith, and servitude of both truly embody the Light of Christ in us.

I was the last person to fall sick on the team, going into this home stretch. I fell ill with what was probably some stomach virus suddenly on Sunday night into Monday morning, feeling feverish and nauseous all day, eventually “purging” from both ends (sorry for the details).

God really convicted me in that period about rest, faith, and surrender.

I realized that because I did not properly rest on the Sabbath when I should have, I probably put my body over the edge because I definitely went to sleep half dead the night before. I also recalled what P. James shared in daily debrief—that we should let other people serve us and not rob them of their service. I am often a doer, especially when I have been really challenged by the incredible servantheartedness of Immanuel Church, and this sickness has forcibly made me rest as well as let others serve me. Not only receiving love and concern from my own team, but from church staff, parents, volunteers, and even our students! Despite the language barriers with me, they inquired after my well-being, made phone calls where necessary, and prayed hard for me to be released from illness. Finally, though I was initially extremely frustrated to have gotten sick in the last couple days with the kids, God has comforted me that everything we’ve done here in Incheon and the very success of this mission is not ever our doing but is entirely his.

HCC Missions Team, I don’t express enough how much I love you and appreciate your obedient and faithful submission of your lives and your gifts to the will of the Lord. So here is your shoutout.

Rebecca Kim:

~The Last Day of Teaching~

Most of us went to bed past 1:00 while working on projects for the graduation ceremony and the last day of class with our kids.

But, that was okay, because most of us slept again after morning prayer.  We also did laundry yesterday (finally), but forgot that we needed lots of space to dry everything.  But not to worry! We are an inventive bunch and have managed pretty well.

Our breakfast was simple and filling (bread from Paris Baguette, and milk).  I even ate three rolls by myself!

Today, as it was our last day with the kids, we decided to just enjoy spending time with the kids.  We ended up playing games all morning, playing cops and robbers, the name game, and even just laying down and relaxing out in the main room.

After lunch, which was Dongatsu, with cabbage salad, rice, and soup (Oh So Delicious!), we had a scavenger hunt.  There was 4 different hunts, and each group in the class got different ones, and all the hints were different, and ended with either Kyungmin unni or Kristen, who gave out prizes in return for the correct 10 hints.

First, they thought it was just “find as many pieces of paper as you can”, but when they got around to asking for prizes, we had to explain to them that they had to actually read the hints.  One of the hints read, “Find the man with the guitar, and make a (enter feeling here) face at him for your next clue”.  So of course, P. Han decided to wander around the whole church.  One of the other hints read, “Find Mr. Brian, and ask him 20 questions to figure out what animal he is thinking about”.

So, the evening went by very quickly, and at 4:30, we went directly to eat Moorl Neng Myun.  I ended up eating a whole plate of bite sized mandoo by myself.

The graduation ceremony was held at 7:30, and the kids were too adorable.  However, their short attention spans caused them to keep up a constant drone of noise throughout the whole thing.  Nevertheless, God is good, and I know that many were blessed tonight.

When it was over, we rushed to e-mart and had desert and fries at the Lotteria fast food place.   That was the basic gist of the day.

However, before closing, I really wanted to share a couple of things that God has spoken to me about throughout this trip.  Most of us have been sick at one point or another during this trip.  I had decided that it was really just Satan attacking us, to bring us down.  However, the day after I recovered, I realized, that it wasn’t just that Satan was on the attack, but it was that God was letting Satan attack.  He was letting Satan attack us, because he wanted us to be wholly dependent on him.  That afternoon, during our nightly meeting, Pastor James, told us, “We need to be completely dependent on God”.  I took that as good enough confirmation.

Not only have we had to be dependent on God for just our health, but for energy, love, joy, patience, and even curriculum and planning.  Most of the time, I was without a plan until that very morning, when God would just put these idea’s in our heads, and we would have a completely useful activity and set schedule for the day.  Praise God!

I also think that our team is perfect.  Every single one of us, has something to offer, and every one has played an essential role in the team.  I feel that God has really been revealing everyone’s full potential throughout this trip.  My team in particular, we have Kyungmin, who is not only translator, but mediator, planner, and the person that makes sure everything runs smoothly.  We also have Josh Hyun, who has little words, serving as the perfect teacher for the quieter 5th graders.  We have P. Han, who is adored by the kids, and plays guitar during worship.  We also have the two most awesome AV people, Kristen and Brian, who also happen to be Chinese (a + with the students).  It is truly amazing all the ways things have worked out perfectly for us.  Praise God!

The other thing that I wanted to share, was about serving.  While I have been here, I have been served so well, that I am starting to see that what I had thought was serving, was only partially serving.  The team has witnessed true serving.  If anything, that was the reason for us being called here.  It seems crazy, that we were called on missions to be served, but that is how I honestly feel at times.  I am pretty sure I am coming home heavier than when I left.

God has truly been good to us, and I pray that our team may come out strong, better learned in serving, better learned in depending on God, and better learned in each of our own individual gifts.

Jon Shin:

Done! Or well, not exactly. God is never really done, and He will continue to work His way around all parts of Incheon and even all over the world. We just have to be available and open vessels for Him to work through. Exciting thought, is it not?

It was as if the world was going at 110mph. Things had to be prepared and time is hardly ever on your side in a situation like this. Pastors and deacons were coordinating, teachers were preparing and planning, students were running around, worship set had to be rehearsed, and then there was the thing we like to call dinner, which we also had to get done. For time’s sake we decided to eat NangMyun (in my case, inhale NangMyun) so we could quickly get back to the church and prepare for the evening’s graduation service. As we sweated our way through the service, each of our classes performed an array of acts to display their newly learned English speaking capabilities to their parents. Pre-K and young elementary students sang worship songs with body motions, older elementary students played “20 Questions” and “Charades,” and Jr. High/Sr. High students performed a skit. All went smoothly and goodbyes were sadly said, but praise God that we made it through, and praise God that He has a plan for all of these children and all of their parents. Whether or not lives were changed, God’s plan is God’s plan, and God’s plan is a perfect plan. Praise God for that.

Kristen Chang:

As our penultimate day of teaching began, God reminded me of the fundamentals of serving others. As with most days, my internal alarm woke me up around 3am to join members of Immanuel Church in their 5am Morning Prayer service. Normally, I read Korean lyrics and sing hymns without understanding, hypothesize about passages via English/Chinese cognates, or receive Pastor James’ help translating. Although I only grasp 15% of the Korean, God still gets through to my dense head. Today was no different.

Prior to service, I read Galatians 5 (my VBS kids learned the fruits of the Spirit in English, so I felt obligated to memorize them in Korean) and Romans 13-14. Romans 13 speaks about submission and cherishing fleeting time, two topics Pastor James impressed upon us during debriefings. In Galatians 5 and Romans 14:1-8, God reminded me of the spiritual gifts that He gives each of us, the fruit He develops in us, and the fact that I stand because of Him and for Him alone… even in my weakness. My community in Christ accepts me in serving wherever I am spiritually, mentally, and physically. God iterated this again as we read 1 Chronicles 9:24-33 in the service. As usual, I failed to comprehend most of the Korean, but God still spoke - we all have God-given spiritual gifts and roles, in the church and on this trip. The Peter Principle, the idea that people rise to incompetency, does not exist in the church since the body’s arms, ears, and other parts work in sync as they serve with their own gifts. I needed to go back to the basics in using my gifts to serve.

While God encouraged me with this, I took a couple roles that I usually shy away from and saw how I relied more heavily on Him by going in without a mental plan. After teaching (geography and “Six Corners”) and eating jab-chae (잡채) for lunch, we (Brian, Josh, Kyung-min, Rebecca, Pastor Han, and me) led 4^th-6^th grade worship and played Twister.

We spent the evening at the Hyundai department store where church elders took us to VIPS (hint: V.I.P.), a steakhouse with a buffet “salad bar,” (much more than salad), where we ate exceedingly well. For me, some highlights include the fresh fruit and a chance to share a steak with Jannifer and Brian. However, what struck me most during the meal were the servant hearts of the church leaders even as they gave us this delectable gift. As our hungry team headed for the buffet line, I waited a bit, but was taken aback when I noticed four elders lingering at the tables. With my nearly-nonexistent Korean and some rudimentary hand signals, I realized that they were watching the team’s belongings (forgotten in the rush for food, hehe… I would too) while we got food first. Even as I defiantly sat in a chair to wait in their place, they insisted on staying with me. How rare is it in the world for elders who deserve much honor and respect to stoop and serve someone like me? They wholly encompass the word “deacon.” Because of the elders and the members of the church that I witness serving (seeing someone go into the kitchen everyday to prepare our breakfast, observing their concern for our health/rest, etc.), I am incredibly humbled and encouraged to learn from these pure-hearted, abundantly “fruitful” people. I look forward to taking the example they set back with me… to grow in the basics of serving with one’s gifts, but more importantly, with a pure heart.

Thank you for reading, my apologies for the verbosity. I hope I did not waste your time.

Jamie Han:

Its been 11 days since we have been here. I can’t believe our time here will be coming to an end so quickly.  It has been such a blessing spending time with the children here.  I have been working with the Jr. High Students here.  They are very willing to learn everyday.  I find myself looking forward to seeing them every morning.  I have been so blessed by our children and also all the faithful servants at Immunel Church.  They have been serving us and have been so generous toward us especailly with food.  They have truly taught me what it means to be like Jesus.  Like in Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”  All of the Pastors and faithful servants of Christ here at Immunel Church has truly shown us how to serve others as Jesus serves.

Pastor Han Oh:

Today was a short teaching day. We had the morning (until lunch time) to teach the kids and spent the rest of the day out. It was a new week and the number of children went down from the previous week. We were thankful that we were not overwhelmed, but also sad because of the kids who were not there.

After teaching, our team went out to Songdo (20 minutes outside of Incheon) where we were treated to “Mr. Pizza,” a pizzeria that was right across the street from Rev. Park’s (Senior Pastor of Immanuel Church) residence. It was the first time eating here for many of us, and let me just say, that it was an incredible treat for us! There were so many unusual toppings such as: octopus, potatoes, shrimp, and shrimp wrapped up in baked spaghetti noodles! The crust was sweet potato and it actually made getting to the end of the slice enjoyable! I got through 2 slices without problems, but by the time I got to the end of the 3^rd slice, I was ready to call it; we had a special dinner planned and I wanted to save myself for that as well!

After “Mr. Pizza,” we headed over the Rev. Park’s residence where we were served fruit and given a chance to relax a bit. I was so blessed because two of the leaders were there just to serve us the fruit; they came earlier to prepare for our arrival. I was extremely grateful that Rev. Park opened his home to our team; it was blessing to be there! We had a great time just relaxing a bit, but had to run over to a department store where we spent some time walking around.

The department store we visited was an upscale shopping plaza located not too far from the Incheon soccer stadium where the World Cup took place in 2002. It was really nice to walk around in the air condition, but Pastor James and I messed up by ordering hot Café Lattes; we ended up hot even though we were probably in the most air-conditioned building! After almost 2 hours, we headed over the subway station where we began our trek back to Immanuel Church. The subway was clean, fast and efficient! We were back to where we came from in no time!

After getting back, we literally had 15 minutes to drop some stuff off so that we could go to dinner. I could tell many of our team members were still full from lunch, but we were all looking forward to the meal we were about to have. A church member wanted to treat the entire team to “Sahm-gyup-sal,” which is slices of pork belly cooked on the table. We wrapped this with lettuce, while putting veggies, and Kimchi cooked in the pork grease (trust me, pork grease never tasted soooo good).

We ate until we couldn’t eat anymore; we had plenty left over after everyone was satisfied! Walking back, we thanked our dinner hosts, and headed home. As I look back on this day, it was truly a blessing. Our lunch was provided by Rev. Park’s wife and dinner by a blessed member of the church; they were all given to us as a blessing because of their thankful hearts. We were treated to these meals because Immanuel Church felt blessed, and yet we were just as blessed by their service to us and to the Lord.

I am grateful to the Lord and humbled for giving us a day where we could receive so much for our service to Him and the church, but I know that the trip is not over yet! We still have two full teaching days and the graduation service left. Please continue to pray for us and that we would finish strong; the finish line is in sight and we are poised to cross it on full steam! Praise God for everything!

Sharai Bryan:

When packing for Korea, one thing I forgot to bring was an alarm clock. Every morning, except for Saturdays, there is 5:00 am morning prayer. Today, God was my faithful alarm clock and woke me up at 4:40am.  Usually, during morning prayer, I spend my time pouring my heart out to God, confessing my flaws, and asking him to fill me. However, today I just rested in His presence, keeping my heart and ears open to hear from Him. I felt such peace, and time passed by sooo quickly!

After morning prayer, breakfast was served around 7:30 am. It was a simple breakfast of toast and cereal & milk. When breakfast was finished, I got ready, and had quiet time around 8:30am. Quiet times are usually done with your spiritual partner. Hwalih, my spiritual partner, and I teamed up with Kristen and Jannifer for quiet time.  After quiet time, last minute changes were made to the curriculum and class began at 9:00am.

Today, Jannifer, Andre,  Jamie, Haeseong, and I taught the junior high and high school kids how to: express their emotions using English, explain why they are feeling those emotions, and how to differentiate between the past tense and the present tense. (Hasesong is one of our teacher assistants.) Our teaching methods were very hands on and interactive.  I truly believe the kids learned a lot and had a great time. Usually, we are given 2 sessions to teach the kids English; each session is 3 hours long. Yet, time always seems to fly by.  However, today we only taught one session.

Why? Our team went to eat lunch at Mr. Pizza! The pizza was sooo delicious. Pastor James ordered two types of pizza for us to try. The first type had bacon, corn, mushrooms, cheese, potato, seasoning, and ground beef on top. The second type was a fish pizza, with olives, octopus, shrimp rolled in spaghetti, etc. Both pizzas’ crust were filled with sweet potato and covered with melted cheddar cheese. It was sooooo good! After eating dinner we went to Senior Pastor Park and his wife’s house.  Im sorry, I cannot remember the correct way to address her in Korean. Their house was very beautiful with a classic design, sophisticated but not convoluted.

After visiting the Senior Pastor’s home , we went to a department store for an hour. After that we went back to the church for about 20 minutes. Then we went out for dinner and ate Sanggyupsahl, it was pretty good. John was at my table and devoured two thirds of the pork. We had 4 plates of pork!

After eating, half our team went to e-mart and the other half went back to the church.At 8:30 pm our team had our debriefing time. The scriptures we read were 1 John 3: 11-24. Verse 14, “anyone who does not love remains in death,” and verse 18, “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth,” really impacted me.Debriefing was a great time of worship and fellowship. It always seems that God ties in everything I have learned or struggled with for the day through the debriefing time.

So that was my day! Thanks for reading!

Hwalih Han:

I can’t believe our team has been here for over a week, though it feels longer since everyday is jam-packed. Some updates since the last entry - We had a 9 pm Friday night service where Pastor James preached from Joel 2 about functioning in the spiritual as opposed to the intellectual. When it was over, we found out Annie had to leave and spent some time praying over her. It was really hard to see her go, but we knew God had a purpose even in that. Saturday was the last day of VBS for the base team and it ended well! Our particular class (1^st – 3^rd graders) just had a water gun fight for 2 hours in the afternoon. I was drenched – but had so much fun with the kids. The retreat team came back in the afternoon via a long bus ride. It was good to finally have our team all together. An elder in the church treated the team to eat delicious bulgogi, although some of us who were still ill, stayed back and had chook. Saturday evening was the joint service with the College/Young Adult group, where Pastor Han preached the sermon from Ephesians 2 about “But God” moments when He breathes life into things that are dead. They broke our team up into groups – with about 5 members from their group and 2 members from our group and had a time of charades to break the ice. Afterwards, we went into smaller classrooms with our groups for snacks and Q&A session. It was a bit awkward due to communication issues (especially since Paul and I are in the same group) but we managed. Even though we both weren’t able to understand much, we can sense their heart to welcome us and serve us.

Sunday was a long, but restful day in the Lord with 4 services for many of us, especially Pastor James and Kyungmin (who did an awesome job translating). We were also able to take a lead in the 11 am Children’s Service as Brian (4-6th),Paul (1-3rd), and Jon (Pre K-K) shared a sermon in English for the children, while the rest of us lead body worship in English. I could tell the children really enjoyed it! The most enjoyable service for me was the 3 pm afternoon one where our team took a major lead in all aspects – Pastor Han, along with Rebecca, Jon, Sharai, and Anne, led worship – singing Adonai, and some others songs, in Korean. I can tell that really encouraged the members. We were also able to show our “Heroes” skit (translated) – which brought much laughter. Pastor James then preached a sermon on God’s Ways from Ps 103. We ended the night with another bulgogi fest served by the church.

Personally, the beginning of the week was an uphill battle for me – mentally, spiritual, but especially physically. After a delicious tang-soo-yuk/cha-cha-mieng meal Tuesday night, I was sick with vomiting and fever for 3 days quarantined in a small room with Christie, eating chook, and sleeping it off. Knowing this was one of Satan’s scheme to distract our team (2 Cor 2:10-11), Pastor James reminded us to not pray for the sickness, but for the mission at hand, and then the healing will come. Not surprisingly, after this realization, most of us felt better the next day. When I went to morning prayer that day, I felt like I was really able to break free of whatever was inhibiting me and pour our my heart to God about all the things that were on my heart. He confirmed some promises, gave me new ones, and reminded me of all the victories that belonged to us, which we have yet to claim. I left that morning with such joy and thankfulness in my heart.

I remember sharing that my hope for this trip is to know that God is enough for me, that His Presence is my answer, and His friendship is my reward. I really feel like the 5 am morning prayers have taken whatever intimacy I had with God to another level. I also wanted to leave Incheon with a confident expectation in a God who can lift me above all circumstances that tries to cut off my supply of hope in Him. Satan was trying to deter my focus and hope in God through the food poisoning, but it was through it, that I found complete dependence on God. During this time, God gave me 1Cor 2:1-5 “So that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom but on the power of God.” Also, I had hoped for the1 John 3 miracle of seeing our team become a family and army of marvelous comrades loving, serving and willing to die to ourselves to give life for another. Through everyone’s sickness, we’ve been able to witness this miracle and as of today, I really feel like this has become a true family.

Many others have already shared this, but I feel like our team is being served so much more than we are serving the church. They provide all our meals, our rides, our living arrangements (A/C and showers), and just show such genuine hospitality.  God has been so good and real to us and I just hope we will do our very best to finish the rest of the week off in a way that most glorifies His name.

I miss all of you back home and pray that the Lord is also moving in mighty ways at HCC.

Kyungmin Lee:

I went to four services today. Before first service, Kristen, one of my team members, was generous to get Kimbob from the kitchen for my breakfast. Then, the first service began, followed by the second service and the third. In one of the services, Pastor James emphasized our Aaron and Hur Prayer ministry and how the Word goes with prayer. Our team went upstairs to eat the lunch that the church members graciously prepared. For me, I wanted to fast because I knew that I have to completely rely on God and that fasting would remind me physically to depend on Him. Fourth service started and our praise team led the worship. It was so refreshing to hear our band play oversees and how God is using them to bring people together to worship Him. I was so encouraged and recharged after our worship. We got to show the video that we made for the coffeehouse in the service and everyone enjoyed it. We took a lot of pictures throughout the day with different groups of people. Then, we had a delicious dinner and had an hour and half break. At 8:30pm, we debriefed to wrap up and reflect our day together. We are going to back to teaching English tomorrow and even though I am physically tired, I am so excited for tomorrow!

I had the opportunity to translate Pastor James’ sermons in all four services. Yesterday, Pastor James shared about simply using the gifts that God has given us to glorify and honor Him and for me, it was my ability to speak and understand Korean. Honestly, I was extremely anxious and was not prepared for acting as a translator. In Saturday night service, Pastor Han spoke about having a “but God” moment. This allowed me to re-evaluate and prepared my heart for today. I knew that today would be filled with “but God” moments because I never translated anyone or anything extensively before and I am not a good public speaker. However, the Holy Spirit moved through all of our services and people approached me after the service saying how the sermon was a blessing and that they were touched by it. I know 100% that it wasn’t what I said or anything I did, it was all God and using the gifts that He gave me. I feel so humbled and honored that God can use someone like me to carry His glorious name on the day that He created us to worship Him. I realized more today how much I have to be dependent on God and that I need to always fix my eyes on Jesus in everything that I do. It seems like God is teaching me about being entirely satisfied in Jesus and finding joy only in the presence of God. Even before this mission’s trip, I prayed that in this season of my life, I will be absolutely in love with God above all else and I think God is teaching me step by step and guiding me little by little to have a heart and a desire that is fully devoted and pleasing to Him.