North - South

As you may have seen on the news, the conflict between North and South Korea has escallated through the recent attack of the South Korean 'Choenon' navy ship killing 46 soldiers. It was concluded that this attack was, in fact instigated by North Korea.

As a way of punishment, the South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak commanded all trade ties between North and South Korea to be halted. This will no doubt increase the already, hostile relationship between these two nations and cause Koreans to question how this situation will unravel. Many people I've spoken to here feel as though this has been a burden of uncertainty on their shoulders, not knowing what & when North Korea will do if forced into a corner.

The main factor in all this is North Korean President Kim Jong Il who is worshiped by all his followers. If you don't know much about North Korea, know that it is probably the most closed nation in the world right now, with some of the most devastating conditions, including mass malnutrition/starvation, concentration camps & re-education camps (with an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 prisoners) for any sort of political dissenters & their entire families, & almost no freedom of expression, religion, press, or movement even within the country.


I would ask that you join us in prayer as we intercede on behalf of North and South Korea. That the same God who humbled the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar would also humble the foolish pride of North Korean president Kim Jong Il. Pray that China would not come to North Korea's aid but will join with the UN in hopes of denuclearizing this world threat and that the South Korean President (a Christian man!) would be given godly wisdom in how to approach this issue. We need to pray that North Korean threat would be smothered & that the North and South would one day unite as one as a nation dominated by God's word.

I'm confident in God's activity and capability to intervene. It's a privilege to be caught in the middle of what breaks God's heart and participate in prayer for a peaceful resolution to this threat. Let's believe in the power of prayer!

"But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites." 1 Samuel 7:10

My Korean Friends

Don't give up!

The Next Generation!

Things are heating up quickly in Daegu now that May has arrived. SungJin and I went to turn on the AC today only to find it broken so we're hoping the church will provide a new one so we don't melt away in our stuffy apartment. Let me just say that heat over here is a lot different from heat back home in Canada. People here always assume Canada to be a place of ice, snow and polar bears but I have to explain that we do actually encounter a decent amount of heat in the summer and so this is always surprising for Koreans. The only major difference with the heat here is the high humidity levels. As I experienced living in Taiwan last year, humidity can be a suffocating reality in the summer months and so I'm preparing for another intense summer season here in South Korea. Theres nothing better then coming home drenched in sweat with the AC set to 'North Pole'. Looking forward to getting that AC...

I've been experiencing a lot of great community in these last few weeks as SungJin and I have opened our apartment up to the youth and University Students in the church and area. This has been such a refreshing time of growth for me, being an 'expressive introvert' (someone who appears to be an extrovert but is secretly an introvert..shhh!) and having people hang out at my place all the time, eat my food and sleep in my bed with me has been a good test for me but I'm really learning a lot about valuing community and investing in the youth here in being a source of encouragement and stability in their lives. The other night at 2am one Korean buddy comes into our house, turns on the light and says "can I sleep here?" Half asleep, annoyed and concerned I half muttered him to come in and so he jumped right into bed with me and slept the rest of the night. This 'open-door' policy definitely has its moments but praise God that these youth can have a safe place to come and hang out. We will provide this for them.



We've put on our wall a map of the world with the hopes to inspire the youth to get a vision for where in the world God has called them to go as well as big pieces of paper where we write down our prayer requests, visions and every-day things we're thankful for. This has made for such a encouraging and empowering atmosphere to have vision and gratitude a constant reminder in our times together.



Learning to value community in Christ,

Jer