Well, crazy times here in Korea. We are all still healthy and well, but several of us team members have been experiencing some difficult times lately. My Grandfather, Menno Simon Hofer, passed away this past Tuesday evening and I found out about it via email from my parents on Thursday afternoon. I am grateful for his 80 years of beautiful life spent in loving service to our Lord, as well as for his 60 years of faithfull marriage to my grandmother and the witness of a Christ follower for all of his grandkids. He was a wonderful, wonderful man, and I will miss him greatly. The sparkle in his eye could warm your heart in an instant, and his sweet little wink made you feel like the most loved person in the world, even if for just a moment.
I have made the difficult decision to stay here in Korea and miss the funeral, but the Lord has given me a great peace about this. My grandparents devoted much of their lives to missions, and I believe that being here in Korea is the best way to live out my grandpa's desire for me right now. They invested greatly in this trip I know they believe greatly in what my team and I are doing here.
I would appreciate all of your prayers for my family (my immediate family is all split up right now and my grandma, dad, and aunts are suffering from the loss of their husband and father).
I had a wonderful time in China touring for 5 days, and I am back in Korea now finishing up an English camp. We have one more English camp to do next week, and I look forward to seeing how God uses us in our last week of service here. He has been so faithful to our team so far on this trip and it has been eye-opening to see how huge our God is and how He moves so actively all around the world. He is a great God, and I am daily learning more and more about how GREAT HE really is.
I will be back in the States in 9 days and look forward to seeing you all again.
God Bless,
Karissa
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Half-way point!
I believe that tomorrow marks my halfway point... not that I'm counting or anything! :)
I really have had a wonderful trip so far, full of interesting, new, and wonderful experiences, but the time seems to pass fairly slowly. I have a hard time believing that it was just over two weeks ago that I sat in the airport making my last few phone calls as I waited to board the plane. God has been faithful, though, and He is certainly working, even way over here in South Korea!
Our team has been afflicted by many difficulties of various kinds and it is obvious that Satan has been at work here, but God is bigger than Satan, and for that we are grateful! Many people have been sick, but have recovered within a day. The immigration police paid us a visit at our first location and threatened to deport us since we were 'teaching' under 'tourist' Visas, but many of the police officers saw what we were doing and said they would try to help us out... we have not heard anything of it since. Praise the Lord! A team member has been struggling with back problems (we are on our feet ALL day long!), but she has received much prayer and even some Korean acupuncture, and was feeling much better today. I actually had some sort of eye infection suddenly on Saturday, but the church we are at this week called a doctor to come visit me, he gave me some sort of antibiotics (gotta love overseas meds... who knows what it is!!) and some eyedrops that seemed to clear it up almost immediately. It ends up that he is normally a missionary doctor in Russia and he gladly gave me the medicine for free in exchange for prayer. I was so grateful, and I feel honored to pray for such a generous man. In fact, his wife drove to the store to buy me the eyedrops while I was still in the office with him... what service! People here are more generous than anything else I have ever experienced. They are truly beautiful people.
All that is to say that the Lord is at work here with us. He is watching over our team, and hopefully He is working on the seeds we have planted so far. Short-term missions are always difficult because you rarely see the fruits of your labor, but we have total faith that we are somehow being used to advance God's Kingdom. Please pray that we are able to make some sort of impact for God's Kingdom in our short time here.
There are too many stories to share in a silly little blog, but trust me when I say that I am happy and doing very well here in this foreign land! I am teaching lots, and learning tons!
God Bless you all... I love you!
I really have had a wonderful trip so far, full of interesting, new, and wonderful experiences, but the time seems to pass fairly slowly. I have a hard time believing that it was just over two weeks ago that I sat in the airport making my last few phone calls as I waited to board the plane. God has been faithful, though, and He is certainly working, even way over here in South Korea!
Our team has been afflicted by many difficulties of various kinds and it is obvious that Satan has been at work here, but God is bigger than Satan, and for that we are grateful! Many people have been sick, but have recovered within a day. The immigration police paid us a visit at our first location and threatened to deport us since we were 'teaching' under 'tourist' Visas, but many of the police officers saw what we were doing and said they would try to help us out... we have not heard anything of it since. Praise the Lord! A team member has been struggling with back problems (we are on our feet ALL day long!), but she has received much prayer and even some Korean acupuncture, and was feeling much better today. I actually had some sort of eye infection suddenly on Saturday, but the church we are at this week called a doctor to come visit me, he gave me some sort of antibiotics (gotta love overseas meds... who knows what it is!!) and some eyedrops that seemed to clear it up almost immediately. It ends up that he is normally a missionary doctor in Russia and he gladly gave me the medicine for free in exchange for prayer. I was so grateful, and I feel honored to pray for such a generous man. In fact, his wife drove to the store to buy me the eyedrops while I was still in the office with him... what service! People here are more generous than anything else I have ever experienced. They are truly beautiful people.
All that is to say that the Lord is at work here with us. He is watching over our team, and hopefully He is working on the seeds we have planted so far. Short-term missions are always difficult because you rarely see the fruits of your labor, but we have total faith that we are somehow being used to advance God's Kingdom. Please pray that we are able to make some sort of impact for God's Kingdom in our short time here.
There are too many stories to share in a silly little blog, but trust me when I say that I am happy and doing very well here in this foreign land! I am teaching lots, and learning tons!
God Bless you all... I love you!
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