Second stop - Seoul, South Korea

Korean High School

We arrived in Seoul, South Korea late on a Friday night. We had traveled a lot that day so we were exhausted, but we were warmly greeted by students from the Christian Korean High School where later in the week we would be leading an English camp. The students that attend this high school live at the high school Monday through Friday. So when we got there everyone in our team was assigned a room with 3 students. It was a great way for us to get to know them and start building relationships with them. We slept well Friday night and Saturday morning we got settled in a bit more and then met together as a team before we went home with a student for the weekend. That was an awesome experience for all of us. Each person on our team went home for the weekend with a student from the school. We stayed in their homes and spent time with them and their families. They were thrilled to have us. My home-stay student’s English name was Esther. She was wonderful and a joy to spend the weekend with. Her family did not speak any English, but Esther spoke pretty good English. I was very relieved that she and I could carry on a conversation. We did some fun things that weekend, like eating silkworms (mmm-mmm, let me tell ya!), seeing a Korean fresh food market, and riding in a boat on a lake with swans. After arriving back at the high school after the weekend, our team was excited to see one another and prepare for the week. We began the week with a worship service and orientation time. It was heavy on our hearts to be praying that this would be a week that the students will not forget because our heart was that it will be a week that they had a divine encounter with the Living God. Only 30% of all of the students are Christians, and we have been given complete freedom to share and lead them into His sweet presence. Each of us was assigned to teach a class in English for the next three days (14, 50 minute classes with a homeroom class in the mornings). It was really neat to get to do this. I had a precious homeroom class that made beginning the day quite pleasant as I led them in a short devotion time to get our day started. The class that I was assigned to teach was Writing 1. I was a bit nervous about teaching the class because I’ve never taught a classroom of students before but after a couple of periods on the first day, I had a good routine that was working smoothly for me and for the students. I used the time that I had with them to challenge them to see how God and His glory are in everything and to be creative so that they could begin to appreciate writing. I grew attached to my students, and after the days there were over and it was time to leave the high school and go into Seoul, I was very sad to say goodbye. This week’s highlight was us getting to share the gospel through our dramas and testimonies to the entire student body. Around 20 students met Jesus for the first time plus there were many others who thanked us for changing the way they viewed God and that they now understand that it is possible to have a loving relationship with Him. After leaving the high school, we traveled to another part of Seoul where we would complete our stay in South Korea at the YWAM base and receive a week of teaching about missions. Our stay at the YWAM base was great; the teaching was refreshing and encouraging. Because the base was a small base we were able to share close quarters and get to bond more as a team. South Korea was a wonderful experience as we saw God at work overseas and in hearts that are hungry for Him.