A Page in Johnny's Diary From the Motherland 2!

Hey Basilea and YG!

Sorry I didn't sent out an update sooner, if anyone was waiting
I had no internet at home for the past two weeks. I ordered the little wireless modem thing so that I can use the internet on my laptop anywhere in Korea so I'll be able to stay connected.. That will be coming tonight. In the mean time, I'm using the internet at work.

I miss you guys! Little things remind me of the memories I had with many of you. Makes me smile and tear. Breaks my heart that I can't even visit.

The past week has been extremely hectic. I don't even know where to begin this email. It was an extremely long week.. Or week and a half since my last update.

Lets start with my interview that was October 6th. I hopped (not literally) on the subway with my dad and went from Geomam, Incheon, where I live to Jeonga, Bundang, where I had my interview. The whole trip turned out to be 2 hours and 30 minutes. Alot of standing and sitting with nothing to do. I went and did the interview, answering a series of questions. I was nervous but it turned out to be very simple. My dad came with me incase these guys were scammers but, i guess everything seemed legit haha. It's an international school (don't let that fool you, its the size of a hakwon). Kids come and learn all the different subjects (ie science, history, math, art, and etc) in english just like a regular public school in the United States. They also teach TOFEL, TOEIC, SAT, and other tests alike.

The position I was interviewed for was the recruiting department. Which really isn't a part of the International School but Brandon Bahk, the director, owns both the school and the recruiting agency. My job is to get in contact with people in the range of ages 22-35 and match them with a school/hakwon that needs a teacher. It's a tedious job that consists of alot of paper work and requires presistence and organization. Needless to say, I got the job. It's been busy busy busy the first few days. This is my 4th day of work. The first 3 days were horrible. I had no idea what I was doing. After a while I started getting the hang of things. Director Bahk gave me full authorization on how to manage the agency. I have alot of freedom but at the same time, there is alot of work to be done. By the way, if anyone needs a teaching job in Korea, contact me and I'll explain the details.

Last thursday I met up with my childhood noonas (family friends) that I knew before I moved to the States. It was a bit strange meeting them again but at the same time I was really excited. It wasn't as awkward as I pictured it would be. To my suprise, both noonas turned out to be very Godly women. It was such a relief!

One of the reasons why I left the US so quickly was because I wanted to attend Passion Seoul. I needed to buy the ticket quickly but I kept pushing it off until I couldn't get it. What a bummer, but God was gracious enough to remedy my laziness and provided me with a ticket! How you may ask? While speaking with the noona I met up with last thursday, I found out that she was attending Passion Seoul. Crazy how things work out, huh? The noona had a friend who was going to go to Passion but was busy so I took her spot.

Passion Seoul was led by, of course, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and David Crowder Band. When I arrived at the Olympic Stadium, where Passion was held, I saw a bunch of white people and korean americans, and heard english from all direction. Instantly I felt at home haha. But I think I felt so at home, not because of the familiarity in culture, but because of familiarity in Jesus. Just seeing this movement in Korea, I new that greater things were coming for this nation of ours.

I think, saying "Praise was AWESOME" would be such an understatement. We literally shook the house. It felt like an earthquake (not that I've actually felt one before) was happening in Seoul. Each of the artists sang one song in Korean. I believe Chris Tomlin sang "How Great is Our God" in Korean and I forgot what the others sang. But once Korean words came out of their mouths the crowd went wild hahaha.

The first night, after praise, Louie Giglio came out and explained what Passion was all about and where it began and the countries they've been to around the world (they had a translator the whole time who was AMAZING at translating btw - everything was translated immediately, precisely, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit!). Louie explained that each city/country, prays for the next city/country that Passion will be heading to. Vancouver, Canada was before us and prayed for us on the day of our event. After us was Tokyo, Japan! I'm thinking it was intentional, because Louie stated how beautiful of a picture it would be for Seoul to pray for Tokyo.

Few moments later, Francis Chan came out and spoke about grace and explained to us how that has been on his heart for Seoul. Given our cultural background where acheivement and works are all we know, he noted how hard it would be for us to understand grace. And the people agreed. We understood works, discipline, and fearing authority but grace was a whole different world for the Korean or Asian culture for that matter.. Francis said that he can see a generation in Korea beginning to understand what grace meant, in the HEART, and said that knowing both grace and discipline is a rarity in the Christian community. He explained that grace requires us to do absolutely nothing. Nothing. Everything is done by God and He alone. So in response to Francis' message, we sat and did nothing (hahaha seems funny picturing it in your head, 6000 people sitting and doing nothing) while praise was happening.

The next day was similar and grace was the biggie for Passion Seoul. And let me tell you, Koreans are prayer worriors. Once prayer time came (we prayed in 3s like Passion DC and Boston), all the voices combined were louder than the praise music. You can hear many speaking in tounge, many weaping and crying out to God. It was a powerful picture I would never forget.

I ended up not being able to go to the last session because the venue was so far from my house. It was 2 hours away and I had to go to church the next day. I really wanted to hear God through Francis again but finding a new church was priority one.

I went to this church called Onnuri. Maybe some of you have heard of it. It's one of the biggest churches in Korea and I also found out they sponsored Passion Seoul. I went to their 4:00pm english service. Honestly, I felt really out of place for some reason. It was so impersonal. I'm not trying to put down the church, they're great but I guess I wasn't use to a mega church.. Anyways, you know how I told you I really wanted to see Francis preach again but had to go home? HAhahaha, Francis Chan was the guest speaker for their Sunday english service. I love how things work out! Francis preached on Philipians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" and emphacized that this is a command from God but many don't read it as a command. He also says that this is the only command in the bible that is written in a repeated manner. The bible doesn't say "Thou shalt not kill; again I will say, thou shalt not kill". What shall we rejoice about you may ask? Rejoice in your salvation, and your space in heaven, and rejoice in grace. Because those are eternal and fixed. That will never change (unlike the economy right now, frikken sucks!).

I signed my contract with the recruiting agency this past monday and have been working since. Very busy.. I really shouldn't have used my work time to write this e-mail hahaha.

I love you guys!

More to comeeeee!