Touching Lives

As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to South Korea this past Summer to help out at two English Camps. In no way do I regret that decision.

After arriving back on the mainland from Jeju, we had a period of three days to mingle with the rest of our team. We stayed in Songtan at a place called "Royal Plaza." In my opinion, it was great being able to stay there, because I pretty much lived there when my family was in Korea (one of my best friends lived in Royal Plaza, which means that I pretty much lived there, too). Inside of this apartment building, is SYME (School of Youth Ministries in English). Many of the students who attend this school end up going to WOLBI in Jeju afterwards.

Benjamin (left) and Jacob (right) playing Foosball at SYME

The guys testing some activities to do during camp.
I think they're having a bit too much fun. ;)

For me, mingling with the team meant mingling with the other teachers, JC's (Junior Counselors), and my roommates. I didn't hang out with many other people until the camps themselves. Why? Because almost the entire time I was at SYME, I was lesson planning. I went out a couple of times with the Florida team ("out" meaning, to the store or to the hair salon), but apart from that, I was at SYME planning my lessons. There were ten lessons to prepare, and I had three days in which to prepare them. Did I mention that this was the first time I had ever prepared lessons? I ended up being one of the first teachers done with the planning, which kind of surprised me. Each teacher had a JC assigned to them for the camps, to help inside the classroom. I had the pleasure of Anna Nicholes' assistance! During the prep-time, I put her to work making posters (posters we actually never really got around to using...but thanks anyway, Anna!) and thinking of games and activities. She was wonderful! I wouldn't have been able to do it all by my lonesome.

Saturday morning, the Florida team went to tour the DMZ and the rest of us cleaned up SYME and had our bags loaded into a van. We then split up into groups and headed to the subway station. About and hour and a half later, we arrived in Bucheon, the city in which camp was to be held. The camp was held in a large building of five stories. The bottom floor contained the dining room and several other rooms that were unused in the duration of camp. It also was one of the best places with wifi. The second floor had the large auditorium and the guy cabins. The third floor was where I usually went to get online, as it was closer to the fifth floor (the girl cabins were up there) and I didn't have to go as far. The third floor also had a couple of classrooms. The fourth floor was where the majority of the classrooms were located.

We spent our day getting moved into our cabins and decorating the place. After our pizza dinner, we treated ourselves to Baskin' Robbins. Hey, we deserved it after all the hard work we did! :D

Rae, me, and Anna taking a rest

Preparing wall decorations

Theme of Camp: Root of Life

While I would label Saturday as a pretty good day, it was also extremely hard. I had found out that morning, before clean-up, that my Great-Mimi (my dad's grandmother) passed away. I refrained from telling anyone else about it (except for posting one status about it on Facebook), as I didn't want to be a burden -- especially since everybody was so busy and had their minds on other things. So I went through my day, sometimes genuinely cheerful, other times forcing myself to appear cheerful. Finally I told Anna about it on the way to Baskin' Robbins, and I felt a little better. When I arrived back at the camp site, I broke down. You can ask Anna if you don't believe me. One minute, I was lying down on the mat in the auditorium, and the next, I was running from the room so that people wouldn't be around when I gave in to my tears.

After a few minutes, I went back down to the auditorium and sat on the stage with Anna. Just then, a guy from the Florida group, Thomas, came out from his room and gave me a hug. I told a few people about what had happened, and other people heard the news and came to try to comfort and cheer me up. I started to feel like I was gonna cry again, but for a different reason. Here were these people who I had only just met, and they were caring for me, loving me during this hard time. I can't tell you how much their care meant to me. I was pretty overwhelmed... So, thank you all so much!

Camp started the next day. I was on the welcome committee, which meant I had to dress up, go outside, act all crazy, and scare all of the new campers half to death. Hey, it was best they knew what they were getting themselves into from the beginning, right? :D

The camp itself was amazing. Every morning, we would start with two hours of English Class. Meaning... No Korean. No Chinese. No Japanese. Only English. Not too hard, right? Especially for the teachers. ...Yeah right. I grew up in South Korea and China, people. I forget certain words in English because I always say them in either Korean or Chinese. As you've probably already guessed, I spoke in a language other than English. I was also late to class once (shhhh... don't tell anyone!). During the first week, I co-taught my class with Benjamin Nicholes due to lack of available classrooms. If you arrived even thirty seconds late, he punished you. Yes, of course there were punishments. If a camper spoke Korean, their team (there were two teams: red and blue, and at the end of the week, whichever team had the most points, won) lost points. If they were late, we wrote on their faces with markers. When teachers were late or spoke in a different language, the punishment was simply markers. Observe:

After the first couple of days, we got creative with our drawings. Swirlies, crosses, stitches, and cat faces... Gotta love it. The campers enjoyed punishing me. :(

My students were totally and completely awesome. I had the best of both weeks, I think. They were attentive and were very good at participating. Not to mention that they were hilarious. I mean, who all can boast of having the future Iron Man in your class?? One of the boys was nicknamed Iron Man because he said that's who he wanted to be when he grew up. And besides... all my students said that I'm the better Rachel (there were three Rachels at camp), which automatically makes them my favorites. In the afternoons, there was a time called "Study Hour." At that time, I had my students journal to me. They could write about anything: stories, their day, their feelings. Then I would write back to them sometime during the day. Then, the next day, they'd write again, and so on. I really enjoyed reading what they wrote, as it gave me a glimpse into their lives. We had loads of fun in class, playing games, reading dialogs in strange voices, and having very interesting discussions.

There was also a drama class. One group of students learned a skit, and two groups learned songs with motions. The leaders of these classes were awesome.

 

Apart from classes, there were camp activities. We played various games such as water balloon toss, Prison Break, and Amazing Race. We went to the pool and one day, there was a craft time.

For the Amazing Race game, teams had to take pictures of different things

Acting like a guy

Prison Break

Trying to see how many guys can fit on the mat without feet touching the ground

The most important part, though, was that through these camps, we were able to touch these kids' lives. Each night, we had an evening message based on the theme: "The Root of Life." These messages, along with interactions between them and their counselors/teachers/JCs, challenged the campers and helped open their eyes to the Truth. I am soo happy to say that by the end the two weeks I was there, 30 campers came to know our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! 44 of the kids re-dedicated their lives to Christ during that time, too, and 15 of them dedicated their lives to full-time occupational Christian service. One camper told of his school, and how it was really bad. Drugs, smoking, and embezzlement were involved. He shared his mission: turning the trashcan (his school) into a recycling bin for God. I was and am sooo proud of him. We heard other stories and testimonies from campers throughout the camps, and each time, I was encouraged. God did mighty works throughout the course of just two weeks.

For me, one of the most encouraging things was watching the kids make decisions and grow in God. Seeing how the workers interacted with the children. Watching all of our team encourage and lift each other up. All of these are reasons why I have no regrets about going to South Korea. I wouldn't take that time back for anything!

Even now, the Florida team leaders are preparing a new team to go back to SK in 2014, to help again at these camps. Please pray for them during this process that they will grow more in Christ and that when they return to SK, many more lives will be touched through them.

Three Days in Jeju

Hot. Dirty. Beautiful. Amazing.

That pretty much sums up the three days I spent on Jeju Island, South Korea in mid-July.

My purpose for traveling to SK was to work at two English Camps. I traveled a week early so that I could visit the Word of Life Bible Institute (WOLBI) in Jeju. I'm not sure what I expected was going to take place during those three days, but I'm pretty sure it was not what I anticipated.

On June 15th, I flew from Yanji, China (the town in which I live) to Incheon International Airport in South Korea. There was an overly attentive and generous flight attendant who showered me with gifts every ten to fifteen minutes, which was slightly embarrassing. But other than that, my flight was very smooth. Upon arriving at Incheon, I was met by some very dear friends of ours. We knew "Uncle" Mike and "Aunt" Alicia Nicholes when we were living in SK when I was little. Aunt Alicia went to language school with my mom, and they are very close. They have three young children: Michaela, Charis, and Josiah.

We drove from Incheon Airport to Gimpo Airport, so that we could catch our flight to Jeju. Once there, we met up with a team from Florida, who had also come to SK to help with the camps (they were AWESOME, by the way). Most of that team were on an earlier flight than the Nicholes' and I. Two of the boys on the team, Harrison and Tevin, were on my flight. Tevin carried an entire pizza through security and onto the plane. I don't think anybody even ate it when we got to Jeju. But thank you for your help anyway, Tevin. :D

The flight to Jeju went pretty smoothly. There was a little bit of turbulence, which was enough to make my heart fly into my throat (there's not much in this world that freaks me out as much as turbulence does!), but other than that, it was great. I love the airline we used. You got your seat assignment by zone instead of by "32 A" or "18 C." I was in Zone B, so I could pick any seat in that zone. The flight attendants wore polo shirts, jeans, and ball caps. It was totally awesome. ;)

After we arrived, Mr. John Spalding picked us up and drove us to WOLBI. I got a kick out of how the Florida team thought Korean driving was crazy. I was excited that the drivers were actually doing what they were supposed to be doing, the majority of the time. In Yanji, driving is crazy. I mean, how many drivers do you know who pull into the far right lane to make a U-turn? But that's for a different post at different time.

I gotta say: I loved the WOLBI campus. There were three cabins, and a fourth was being built. Only the second floor of Cabin 3 had wifi, but that was okay. I only really used it once. I was too busy and tired (...really, I was too lazy) to trudge past two cabins and up a flight of stairs to use it. The cabins were beautiful log cabins, and had a basement, the main floor, and then an upstairs floor. In my cabin, a family (Steve and Rhonda Nicholes and their children) lived in the basement, another family (Mr. John and Mrs. Jean and Daniel Hawkins) lived on the main floor, and the girls (there were five of us) all stayed upstairs.

After we got settled in, three of my four roommates (Jordan Spalding wasn't on the Florida team, so she did not attend) and I went to a little meeting. I got to know the Florida team a bit better. Paul and Helen Shoemaker, along with Miss Elaine White were the leaders. Their team consisted of eight teenagers: Thomas, Luke, Riley, Jacob, Tevin, Harrison, Rachel, and Laura. The group was preparing for this trip 2 years beforehand. And they pretty much adopted me. ;)

Left to right Back: Riley, Thomas, Jacob, Tevin;
Front: Luke, Harrison, Laura, Rachel

After the meeting, we went back up to our dorms and got ready for bed. Jordan Spalding and I stayed up for a loooong time, talking. She and I had been corresponding through facebook for about 3 or 4 years. She's good friends with several of my friends who live in South Korea full time, and had heard several stories about me (many false... truuuuust me!), so I had to put her straight.

The next morning, we walked down to the dining area. Breakfast was pretty yummy. Then we had a QT sharing time. I really enjoyed it. It was awesome being able to see what all God was teaching other people, and He often used what they learned to speak to me.

After that, we were forced to do manual labor. Weeding. I don't mind working, especially if it's outside. I like working outside. So, I didn't have a problem with it, except for the heat. It was... pretty hot. ;) We cleared weeds from five or six flower beds that day, and were rewarded with frozen sprite. Then we washed up and went down to lunch. We each volunteered for kitchen and clean up duty for certain meals, so I helped clean afterwards, then joined the others so that we could go to the beach.

SOOOOOO pretty! I had left my swimsuit in Incheon with most of my stuff (I didn't need to bring both of my bags for a three-day stay in Jeju), so I headed into the water with the intent of just getting my feet wet. Five minutes later, I forgot about my jeans and shirt and waded in waist deep. I didn't care. ;) While at the beach, we inspected some sinkholes (which, in my humble opinion, were made for stepping into), walked on slippery rocks, and played Human Foosball. :D Talk about a fun game. If you've ever played the actual Foosball game, you might be able to imagine what a painful experience I had. What, with the ball being kicked into my stomach, sand being kicked up into my face, my feet getting stepped on by my opponents and allies, my arms sore from having to stay linked to my teammates, my knees hurting from being dragged in the sand by my teammates who were rushing to block the ball... It was awesome though.

We arrived back in time for me to hurry and change clothes, and then rush down for kitchen duty. After dinner, I helped clean and then went to my room. Rachel and I discovered each other's voices and had a sudden moment of bonding time as we sang "Part of Your World" (The Little Mermaid) at the top of our lungs. Then we had a jamming session outside, with me playing the guitar as Rachel and Luke played their ukeleles. Theeeen we had an orientation meeting up in the wifi room. That was pretty cool, as we were able to learn a lot about WOLBI. If you'd like to learn more about this school, you can look at their website, here. It's a pretty amazing place. During the rest of the night, I emailed home and then just chilled until bedtime.

The next day was similar to the first. We weeded some more, and then split up into different work groups which included carving, cleaning the dorms (since we were leaving the next day), and cleaning the entire kitchen. I was on kitchen duty again, along with several other people. We cleaned it top to bottom and were done quicker than expected. So I went to go help clean the girl's dorm. After lunch, we went touring. :) Our hosts took us to Hallim Park, which was extremely cool. There was a Bonsai Garden, and the guys seemed to think it was a great day and place for a photoshoot of them, so... my camera is full of crazy pictures.

There was also a mini folk village, a lava-tube cave, and a water garden.

 
Then, upon leaving there, we drove up to some cliffs where there was an incredible view of the ocean crashing against the rocky cliff edges. Simply breathtaking...

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After leaving there, we went to one other spot that was really pretty. :)

To end our day, we went to a Korean Barbeque and stuffed ourselves silly. A couple of the guys and I had a competition to see who could eat the most spicy pepper spice/sauce in one bite. Who do you think won? :) When we had finished, we drove back to WOLBI and had one last meeting. We were all so tired that everything made us laugh. ;)

The next day, after breakfast, we said our goodbyes to our hosts and headed to the airport. We were mainland bound, ready to start on the next league of our journey.