More Like Mary

"Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away form her."

- Luke 10:38-42 -

"Are you a Mary or a Martha?" - I always hesitated in answering this question. 

Two months into Vietnam, I'm realizing that I was a more of a Martha than a Mary. It's so easy to get distracted with serving. MUCH serving. Living a life running around, panting, so many times we find ourselves anxious and troubled about many things - "What next? Did I forget something? Gotta do this, gotta do that. What about this? What about that?"

I'm sure there are many reasons why God led me to drop everything and come to Vietnam, but I think I may have found one - to become more like Mary. 

Silent Night

M E R R Y  C H R I S T M A S

It's an odd feeling being away from GCC during the Christmas season. No service on Christmas Eve and no GCC family to spend time with on Christmas day. 

Christmas is not a National Holiday in Vietnam, nor is it a day to be remembered as Christ's coming. Everywhere you go you see beautiful Christmas decorations and hear Christmas songs playing, but nobody seems to really know what Christmas is. So many people celebrate Christmas and say the very words, "Merry Christmas," not realizing what this day truly means. 

It's quite a different Christmas experience; one that I've never experienced before. I'm not busy. The holiday season is usually a time of busyness - writing cards, buying gifts, preparing performances, going to retreats, etc. However, this Christmas is seriously a "Silent Night". No running around, no packing bags, no staying up all night writing cards, no eating out late...

Growing up in America, I think I've fallen into the trap of a "worldly" Christmas. Although I attended Christmas service, I can't remember a time when I really spent Christmas thinking about Jesus' birth. "Merry Christmas." Yes, it's a merry Christmas for us, but what about for God? I'm sure He was delightful at the fact that through Jesus He would save the world and be able to restore the relationship He had with mankind, but on the other hand, I think that God may have been very heart-broken. Jesus' death was already set as He was sent to earth. God gave life to Jesus so that He may die. God gave up His perfect Son in order to give us the perfect gift. 

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"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3:16-17

Carl's Jr.

Bacon Swiss Burger

1st American burger I've had in the past 2 months.

There's a Lotteria right around the corner so I've tried that once, but it's definitely NOT the thang.

Pastor Kim and I went to Carl's Jr. for lunch yesterday. (It was his suggestion, not mine!)

He's from America, so he missed American food as well. Apparently SMN's not a fan of American food so they always eat Korean food, and it's not like the church deacons ever take us to eat burgers....

Bacon Swiss Burger. I LOVE! Carl's Jr. fries. I LOVE!

Finally experienced the "American-FULL" after 2 months of getting full off of Korean and Vietnamese food. Praise God for Carl's Jr. in Vietnam! :)

Christmas Service

"구원 잔치" (Salvation Festival)
PhuMyHung Bethel Church

We had our Christmas Service on Friday, December 21st.
All the Korean churches here are shared with a Vietnamese church. (I'm guessing it's some kind of policy?) Therefore, we're not free to use the church whenever we want.

Apparently in the past years they rented out a school auditorium or something and all the Bethel churches held their Christmas Service together. However, this year they decided to hold their own service at their respective churches.

The Youth Group took charge of 4 parts:
1. MC
2. Praise
3. Choir
4. Body Worship

The teachers put me in charge of Body Worship.
The only Body Worship I can fully remember is "Who Am I," but there is no Korean version of this song so that was out of the question. Thanks to GCC (Shannon Song), I gave them the YouTube link for "Oceans Will Part (주의 나라 오리라)". At first I told them to watch it and learn it on their own, but after a while i realized it's not going to work. (Actually, I think I might have known from the beginning but I was in denial because I didn't want to have to learn it myself and teach them.)

As the day was approaching, there was an URGENCY to get this body worship put together. I'm not a slow learner, but then again, I'm not a super fast learner either. So... I prayed. I told God I don't have hours and hours to learn this and asked him to grant me the ability to learn this in a short period of time.  And guess what? God answered my prayer. I think I learned the whole song in an hour or so :)

I don't think the students have ever done a body worship like this before. I thought I was 몸치 but umm... they're on a completely different level. I had NO HOPE. And so... I prayed. And guess what? God answered my prayer AGAIN. They didn't do as well as I would have wanted them to (ahem. perfectionist syndrome), but they surely FAR EXCEEDED my expectations.

Other than preaching, it was the first responsibility given to me.
It wasn't me... it was all God! I really experienced God's grace through this event.

It's kind of fun and exciting unexpectedly experiencing God in these small areas.
"Greater things are yet to come" :)

진경 . 다운 . 해리 . Anna . 혜진 . 세란 

Father's Heart

Change my heart oh God

Make it ever true

Change my heart oh God

May I be like You

You are the potter

I am the clay

Mold me and make me

This is what I pray

Change my heart oh God

Make it ever true

Change my heart oh God

May I be like You

"You've Got Mail"

Received this in the mail yesterday :)

It's the first mail I received other than bills and advertisements.

From the Love Ministry. "Awwwwwwwwww" <3

Musical

"Fame"

Korean International School, HCMC

Korean International School of Ho Chi Minh City is the only Korean school in this city, so the majority of Bethel Youth students attend this school (except those that attend American, British, Australian, etc. international schools). 

I was invited to a musical by a student at Bethel - Kyung Ryul Park (Deacon Park's son).

I would say it was one of the most exciting things I've done after coming to Vietnam.

Although they're not "professionals", I was actually quite impressed. The musical was performed by a club they have in the school, and the whole musical was organized and run by the students - acting, singing, music, lighting, etc... 

(For those of you that watch Korean television shows, this school and the musical team came out in 무한도전. 무한도전 annually makes their own calendars. This year they had people send in requests for personal delivery by a 무한도전 member. A teacher at this school was selected so 하하 came to deliver the calendars. The musical team happened to be at school practicing on the Saturday that the calendars were delivered! They recorded a clip of their musical and it was actually shown on the TV show. Pretty cool!) 

"FAME" Musical . Park Brothers

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There are so many talented students out in the world. All they need is an opportunity and a place to bring out those talents! I hope that churches today can be a place where students are encouraged to bring out and develop their talents; a place where they will be taught and encouraged to have bigger dreams and visions; a place where they will learn to use their gifts & talents not for this world, but all for the glory of God!