October 25, 2008

October 25, 2008
Well, we did it. We have been here in Seoul for 2 and 1/2 months, and we finally drove ourselves to church today. We left our apartment a little late this morning, and we knew we might not be able to get to a Taxi and get to our bus stop on time. We did not want to wait two hours for the next bus for the afternoon service, so we jumped in our Kia Carneval II van, and off we went. We left in such a hurry, we even forget to take our GPS system with us! We thought about going back for it, but I was confident that I could find the way. After all, we have been to Yewon to church at least 10 times on the bus. I knew the bus was taking a long route to be able to pick up a number of other passengers. So I got on the main road and drove toward the Han River. Once we got close to the river, I just drove by instinct, and followed the signs I can now read a little better. They use roman alphabet letters on all main road signs in Seoul, but even then the names of roads and bridges and sections of town are so long in spelling, and the pronunciation so difficult--it is still hard to navigate with traffic.

We were astounded how fast we got to the church. With the bus it was always at least a half hour ride. Today we got there in 25 minutes, and that was in spite of a 10-12 minute traffic delay at the end of the bridge for construction. Yes, on Sunday! We knew parking was going to be difficult, but we were committed now, we had to find a parking space. So we turned down a side street close to the church. When we did not find a space right away, we drove closer to the church. When we got to the church, we found a space not 50 meters from the door of the church. It was a perfect spot! Elder Samuel told us later, sometimes they come by and put parking tickets on cars parked there. We were lucky I guess. Next Sunday, Elder Samuel will arrange to have a space for us in the Church's parking garage.

Pastor Chong (Mook-as-nim=Pastor) had another great message on the Beattitudes today. Today he talked about "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth". I have decided he is a very good Pastor. Each week he seems to say something that just inspires me to want to give myself over to the Lord in every way. I suppose that is what we all seek in our Pastor, someone who nurtures and teaches, and still challenges us to become even more aware of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives. Today there were more foreign visitors like us. A couple from Jeju Island, located off the southern coast of Korea, came to church and lunch with us. We always have so much fun fellow-shipping in these times with Korean (very healthy) food. The husband was from Spain, and they actually live in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. Someday, we would like to visit them on a vacation. They told us that many American businessmen retire there. Hmmmm....

Sue and I spent most of Saturday pulling more things out of boxes. We still have about 50-60 boxes left to unpack! I suppose we will be busy right through Christmas, getting our apartment organized. School is going well, but we are busy. This week is the last week of the marking period, and next week we have parent conferences. The following week is the Cross-Country Banquet. I do not get to go with my team to Japan, since half of the athletes are girls and they must send a female chaperone with the Head Coach. Our two other assistants are able to go, since they will not miss any days of pay. The student-athletes will have plenty of support and chaperones. I just hope they relax and run the best races of their young lives!

We are enjoying our SKYPE and with a new speaker system and webcam, we are able to talk with anyone and see them in real time. What an amazing system! If you don't have a PC with SKYPE and webcam/microphone, we can still talk on the phone. But SKYPE is free to download, and since we call so many numbers in the US and Canada, we pay only $5.95 per month for unlimited phone/picture calls. Get hooked up and type in our email address, so we can communicate in this manner with you too.
Windows messenger does the same thing and we have it too. We also have Google Talk if you prefer.

It is hard to believe it is almost November, and we still have barely scratched the surface of exploring Seoul, let alone Korea and Asia. I think it will take many years here to ever see everything we want to see here. The temperature has finally matched the season. Our days are filled with cool sunny air, 64 for the high and 42 for the low, on most days. A little rain falls now and then, but most of the time it is sunny and cool now. Great football weather...speaking of which, what is going on at Michigan. No, don't tell me, I would rather wait and see what happens in a couple of years! I think I am better off with only a little bit of sports on TV, and a lot more time to read, study, travel, and reach out to the many people here who do not know Jesus as their saviour yet! See what I mean, these Korean preachers are really rubbing off on me! Kergyma=Greek for preach or proclaim the Gospel to all nations, for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God! I think we will see many people seeking God's face in the days to come.

Christians who are thinking about moving to Canada, depending on the outcome of the election, should seriously consider why God has blessed us so much to be a part of a great nation! In spite of who leads us, we can still be the one who introduces our neighbors and co-workers to the peace that passes all understanding. America in Korean is "Mi-Guk", and it means "beautiful land". Half way around the world there are 48 million people who refer to the country we are citizens of, as a beautiful land! If that doesn't make you want to stand up and say the pledge of allegiance...you might be ready to move to Canada. It has been refreshing to stand up and say the pledge with my high school students every school day morning. I don't think it would be a bad idea to do that again in schools in the USA! No one is forced to say it, but everyone stands in respect. I say it loud enough to be heard every time, and my students do not even question it...they do the same!

SUMMER 2008

Friedhelm & Susan Illian
a.k.a. Sung-Ho & Su-Ji
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us; to him be all glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever, Amen"