The Great Big Wonder

This post has been written several times in various ways so I’ve decided to finally just write whatever I feel.

Originally I was not going to go back to Korea this summer, I was going to work all summer long and save up for backpacking across Europe post-graduation next May. Eventually, after several long chats with God, friends, and my family, I decided to sign up for the trip again. I am so glad that I did. Korea in 2014 was amazing, I had a wonderful time teaching every day and living in the Korean countryside but this trip was beyond words. Every day was an adventure. Every meal shared with the churches, homestays, students, and my peers were wonderful. There were many days spent in fits of laughter or moments of wonderful bonding. This trip was a complete blessing.

Nearly everything about this trip was wonderful, and yes I said nearly because there were some days when I wanted to throw in the towel, there were some days that the sun was too hot and the kids were too wild. But those days were far and few between. I could talk about this trip for hours discussing every detail about the food and Korean culture. ( If that’s really what you want then let’s grab lunch sometime.) However, there were two things that really stood out to me as major highlights of this trip.

First were the home stays. I’ve encountered homestays before, but I’ve never had my own. With my job at FLS I’ve dropped kids off at home stays and sent them fresh off an airplane to some strangers house. Yet I never imagined what it was like to actually have a homestay. For work, my students (here in California) stay with the same host family for three weeks. But for my three weeks while in Korea I stayed in ten different places, 10 to be exact. I moved around every few days. I thought I would say hello, and goodbye, and thank you for letting me stay in your home. However, my home stays were so much more than that.

My first host family sticks out to me most prominently. A family of three in Seoul. Ashley and I were made roommates (because everyone thought we were sisters) and we were placed with this new family. We lived upstairs in the grandmother’s apartment alone (the grandmother was away for the duration of our stay) and our host family lived below us. They treated us amazingly. They were some of the kindest and loving people I have ever met. Even though they only spoke broken English and combined we only spoke about 20 Korean words, we had lovely conversations around the dinner table, and over bingsu. They took us for a late night trip to Seoul tower. They showed us what unconditional hospitality and love was like and for that, I am so thankful. Other home stays I lived with, took me and two other teammates to the park, some took me shopping, and others took me to get so much bingsu and Ice cream its a wonder I’m still able to walk. In some homes I slept in a bed, usually surrendered by a family member. In other homes, I slept on a mat on the floor with a small blanket and apologies that there was no mattress for me. Some of the homestays cooked for me every day others took me out to restaurants. Each host family was different but there was one thing that was abundantly clear, they all cared for me, and every single one wanted me to be happy, and full, and to “take good rests”. After this trip, it was made clear to me that homestays are the best way to travel if want to truly experience a culture.  I definitely want to host people and students when I have my own house.

The second thing I learned was that the church can and does still love. I stopped enjoying church and going to church, in high school, I attended a church for a while during my high Sierra semester and occasionally made visits with friends, but the reality is that I at one point in my life I came to despise church. I wanted to like it and I wanted to find a place where I felt love and Gods presence, however,  I could never bring myself to get back into the church swing. While in Korea though I felt that love and presence that I had so craved. Specifically on the last day at our first Church. My fellow teachers and I were treated to ice cream by one of our TAs and then we were called to the meeting hall for our closing ceremony. The kids surprised us by signing us a song and then we sat with our classes and they prayed for us in Korean and English. It was at this time I looked up at one of my students and her face was covered in tears, she was absolutely sobbing just looking at me and sobbing. Naturally, I began crying too and shortly after all the other teachers were crying and looking at each other and their students. We were quickly escorted to our van where the church had loaded all our suitcases, our students carried our backpacks down and we were given goodie bags of snack and juice. Once we were loaded into the car the kids banged on the windows shouting goodbyes, crying, and waving. It was an emotional roller coaster and I knew then that the church and those kids really loved us and cared for us. They were truly sad to see us go. Because a crying student meant that I had touched at least one life, that my missions trip was successful and that God shows up in the best and most interesting ways and times.

Overall this trip was something so incredibly indescribable. I still think about it constantly and I think about all of the people I met and interacted with. I feel like so many people say that their missions trip was a blessing but I really truly and honestly felt so blessed the whole trip. I was supposed to be serving God and sharing his love to kids and families in Korea yet I felt like God was showing me that he loved me and cares for me the whole time.

Well, that’s all for now. Expect a travel & food-related post soon. Also, I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar errors, this was written on my phone / iPad so editing is quite difficult.

EXPLORE ON.

Ashlee,

Over and out.