Kpop FTW

Just a list of some of my favorites…all these songs are amaaaaazzing. Ask me if you want any of them!

Abracadabra – Brown Eyed Girls
Oasis – Beast
Gone feat. 주희-에이트 – Dynamic Duo
Hello (feat. 다라) – G-Dragon
초콜릿 – K.Will
사랑의 길 (Love’s Way) – SHINee
너 아니면 안되는 걸 (Romantic) – SHINee
누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay) – SHINee
It’s Okay (ft. Hwayobi) – Untouchable
Tell Me Why – Untouchable
다줄께 Ft. 한선화 – Untouchable
헤어지지 못하는 여자, 떠나가지 못하는 남자 (feat. 정인) – 리쌍
Etude – 소녀시대
3년 6개월 – 시크릿
I Want You Back – 시크릿
Where U At – 태양
나만 바라봐 – 태양
죄인 – 태양
Baby, I’m Sorry – 태양
Kiss Kiss Kiss – 화요비
이노래 – 2AM
I Don’t Care – 2NE1
In The Club – 2NE1
Let’s Go Party – 2NE1
Again & Again – 2PM
I Hate You – 2PM
돌아올지도 몰라 – 2PM
Only You – 2PM
What A Girl Wants – 4Minute
안줄래 – 4Minute
Tomorrow – 4Tomorrow
잘가요 내사랑 – 8Eight
Empty Heart – 8Eight
눈물을 닦고 (Wipe the Tears) – AJ
잔돈은 됐어요 (Keep The Change) (feat. Garie, Bumky) – Dynamic Duo
죽일 놈 (Guilty) – Dynamic Duo
왜 벌써가 (Be My Brownie) (feat. Bumky) – Dynamic Duo
청춘 (Spring Time) (feat. 김C) – Dynamic Duo
Wannabe – Epik High
넌 내꺼 – Kim Jong Wook
Dalmatian Love – MC Mong
나는… (Feat. Ivy) – MC Mong
Y.O.U. (Year Of Us) – SHINee
내가 사랑했던 이름 – SHINee
Do You Know? [Duet Ver.] [Feat. Jea of Brown Eyed Girls] – Someday
Oh – Untouchable
Girls – Wheesung
Show Me Girl – Wheesung
사랑비 – 김태우
Memory & Remembrance – 김태우
I Love You (Ft.미료) – 나르샤
눈물도 아까워 (feat. 현아 from 4minute) – 나비
사랑한 후에 – 박효신

Do Not Worry

I don’t know if I’ve been so stressed out or frantic in my entire life. Not the ideal start to law school, but just need to remember to take things in stride. I’ve got to remember:

Do Not Worry

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Random note: K-pop is a great stress reliever.

Trip Recap 8-6-09

There are a couple questions that George wanted us to reflect on, so I will try to jot down my thoughts the best I can.

1. What does missions mean to you now?

I discovered that missions does not necessarily equal suffering. Missions really just means being obedient to God and putting your faith in His plans for you. I met numerous missionaries during the trip who showed me that missions is all about being faithful: Pastor John Lee, Jaroony, Missionaries주환 and 화연, Nathan, Pastor Lee (countryside), Principal (or disciplinarian lol) Jung, and many more – these people were able to leave the comforts of home and just come to do God’s work.

I think that a few common impediments that hinder people from considering missions is; financial stability, whether or not you will make a significant impact, and feelings of inadequacy – but these are very worldly worries.

Financial stability – Long-term missions requires faith. Even if you aren’t financially secure, if you feel God’s calling, you have to be willing to drop everything and just follow God like many of the people that I met. Otherwise, you are just like the rich young ruler who does everything he is supposed to do, but when asked to sell everything he has and follow god he turns away sadly.

Your impact – You have to remember that you probably won’t change the world. You have to understand that there is just too much pain and need in this world. So refusing to go on missions unless you think that your going to save the whole world is just naive. Rather, you just need to find what your heart breaks for and then respond faithfully. Your job isn’t to save the world. It is to obey God, and trust that He will use you.

Inadequacy – Some people feel inadequate to serve as a missionary. You might feel like you aren’t spiritually mature enough or that you are not a worthy candidate for missions. But you have to realize that no one is perfectly qualified, and we all fall short. Jesus was the only perfect missionary. A missionary we met named 주환, provides the perfect example that proves that God uses anyone to do His work. 주환 doesn’t like kids, and he helps his wife with a kindergarten. He does not like to try out new foods, and he only eats the same dishes at the same restaurants. He does not like change. He’s not good at English, and he is serving in a ministry that teaches English. So as you can see, 주환 may seem unfit to be in Cambodia; but he has faith in God, and that is all you need.

2. What will change when you get back?

The goal is to remain missions minded, so I hope to change in a few ways. Practically, I hope to notice Cambodia in the news more. The trip definitely made me more aware that there is a world around us in need. People still live in some pretty poor conditions in this day and age. Also, I hope to be more aware of how I spend my finances and my time.

I realized that a dollar can really go a long way in Cambodia. During our first visit to the local market, my goal was to be awesome at bartering and getting stuff for cheap. But later on, I realized that I was playing around with peoples’ livelihoods. Whatever money I spent would be the money they would survive on. For me, bartering was just a game. I learned this lesson as Dick and I needed to go to the airport, so we called a tuk tuk. The driver asked for $6, and we naturally proceeded to bargain for one dollar less. I don’t know why we tried so hard to save a dollar, when a dollar doesn’t really mean much to us in the states. Everything is already cheap to begin with in Cambodia, so just go ahead and pay full price. Hopefully, when I’m back in the states, God will remind me to be mindful of my finances and become more aware of what I can do to help. Maybe I can eat out one less time per week and save up that money to give to NIBC or something. There are just a lot of small ways that I can change regarding my spending.

Also, I hope God will challenge me regarding how I spend my time. I know that I will be very busy with law school, but I hope that I’ll remain mindful of Cambodia and the many servants God is using in the country. I hope that I will pray for the missionaries that I’ve met and the students as well. I know I’m lazy and forgetful, so if I remember to pray at least once a month, that’d be great.

I know that once I start law school, my world will begin its tailspin and life will suck. But amid all the suckiness, I hope to keep my head on straight and remember what is really important to me.

Closing Thoughts:

Something I realized during the trip is that I really love kids. Kids can provide hope for a country, especially in a country like Cambodia. That is why there is so much being invested in the kids, so that their generation would grow up to be leaders for the country. NIBC is opening up an elementary school this October despite having no building, teachers, nor missionaries. They realize that they can’t let the kindergarteners who graduated get lost into the world. They have invested too much into the kids, and they need to keep up their efforts, even if it means going against their instincts to build a school with no definitive plans.

This mission trip has definitely been a roller coaster ride of emotions, and my eyes have been opened to so much; how little faith I have, how I am so ignorant of the world around me, and how much need there is. At the same time, God has encouraged me by introducing me to many faithful servants. God has shown me that He will take care of you and respond to you, maybe not in your timing, but in His. And God has also made me think about the possibility of doing long term missions work in the future. I never thought I would consider it, but even just the fact that the thought entered my mind is amazing. Yea, God definitely opened my eyes to more than I ever expected to see.

-Cambodia 2k9

Richard Park

8-5-09

Today, we took the bus back to Siem Reap. I didn’t expect much of the bus ride and was actually set on just sleeping through the whole trip. However, God even used the short time on the bus to show me something new.

On the bus, I sat next to a college student named Sophal, and I got to hear a lot about his life. He is a 20 year old civil engineering student who lives in Siem Reap. He has two older brothers who go to school in Phnom Pehn. His grandparents and parents survived the Khmer Rouge. And he went to a school called University of Nations before college to learn English for a year. He said Philippine missionaries run the program, so he was exposed to Christianity, but is not a Christian himself. When we arrived at Siem Reap, we exchanged email addresses, and I gave him a Bible and told him that he should use it to practice English at least. He happily accepted it and went on his way. This was my first experience “evangelizing” really, but I don’t know if you could really call it that. I just had a conversation with him, and I can only hope that God planted a seed in him that day. He seems like a really good guy, and I hope the best for him. 

8-4-09

It’s really amazing what God can do in just two days. We taught at a school called Hosanna School, and I was paired up with Richard Lee to teach a class of 4^th and 5^th graders. We only had two classes and I already felt so attached to the students. Everyone taught their class a song, and we had the students perform in front of one another. When my class was singing in front of everyone, I just felt so proud of them. I didn’t think much of our time at Hosanna school before we started because I knew that we were only going to be there for a couple days. However, God really showed me that He can use any experience to teach me, regardless of how short it is.

8-2-09

We visited a church called International Christian Assembly today, and a pastor named Tim Paton spoke to us from 2 King 6:24-33. The passage talks about a famine in the city of Samaria, and how a woman cries out to the king in distress. The woman goes on to tell the king that she had a deal with another mother to give up her son to eat one day, and then they would eat the other son the next day. However, the other woman had hidden her son the next day. 

The noteworthy point about the passage is not the mother’s cry for help, but the king’s reply in verse 30, “When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his robes.” The challenge is that you should respond in the same way when your heart is broken for a country for some social injustice. When people hear about third world countries and how much need there is in this world, they often respond with indifference or pity. However, if your heart is ripped open, then that is probably a good indicator that God wants to use you. In whatever capacity God will use you may be unknown; but if you keep your clothes torn and your heart open, then God will open doors for you. 

The message is particularly challenging for me because I am not entirely sure if my heart is torn open for Cambodia or any other country for that matter. I feel like I lack so much faith and that I am not ready to be used by God. The way that I have selfishly planned out my life is that I will go to law school, get a nice job, get married, have a family, and only after I have completed everything on my list, will I start to focus on what God wants me to do. I think this mission trip has really challenged my faith and outlook on life, and I really need to pray about how God is working in my life…

8-1-09

I can’t believe that our stay in Siem Reap is already over. God definitely showed me how He is working there and introduced me to a lot of amazing people. I wasn’t looking forward to the 5 hour bus ride to Phnom Pehn, but it was much better than what I expected. We ended up taking a comfortable tour bus, and a lot of seats were empty. So I just lied down across a few seats and slept the whole way to Phnom Pehn. I really needed the rest, so thank God for that. Upon arriving in the city, I could immediately sense the difference between here and Siem Reap. There were paved roads, the streets were bustling with cars and people, and it was much louder. We also encountered something we never did in Siem Reap…traffic.

7-31-09

Sarah and I had our last class with our BGU students today. I am really going to miss these guys, and I am very thankful that God allowed us to share our testimonies and visions with one another. Whether it was class time, playing ping pong, or lifting ridiculously heavy cement bags, God used various means to help build and strengthen our relationships. I hope that God will keep them close to my heard even though we live on opposite sides of the world, and I that I will keep them in my prayers as well. There are only a few students at BGU, but they are the founding class of a school that hopes to build up future Christian leaders in Cambodia. 

Later at night, the NIBC president, Pastor John Lee, came to speak to us. He shared his testimony and his long term vision for NIBC. He learned at a young age that while he loved God, he did not let God have full reign over his life. He was in a relationship with a woman who he thought he would marry, and he had a successful career path. However, these were things that that he wanted and did not ask God once if these things were according to His will. He did not allow God to be Lord over certain parts of his life. He learned that God had different plans for him when his relationship ended and when he quit his job. Now he is serving God through NIBC, and his vision is to raise leaders all over Southeast Asia. He shared to us that they plan to make an elementary school at the NIBC center in Cambodia so that the Rainbow School and Kontrak kindergarten graduates can attend. The elementary school is crucial because otherwise, the kids would have no school to go to, and all the time and effort put into their education thus far would go to waste. NIBC plans on opening up the elementary school in October of this year, and at this point, there are no missionaries or teachers, and the building is still under construction. It would make more sense for them to wait, but they are putting their faith in God that He will provide.  

Pastor John Lee’s testimony was just so encouraging, and in many ways, I could relate to Pastor John Lee’s testimony. I also feel like I am going through life doing things the way I want to without first consulting God whether or not it is His will. NIBC is building the elementary school fully relying on God to provide, and I hope and pray that God pours out His blessings unto this ministry. Please pray that God would oversee this project and that His glory and presence would be further magnified here in Cambodia.

Cambodia 7-30-09

Very tired today, so I’m going to be brief.

I am really beginning to feel comfortable around the people at NIBC, including my BGU students. I even started cracking jokes with a few of them. Praise God for allowing me to be more open and bold.

And cement bags are really heavy.

Cambodia 7-29-09

I started to feel a little more comfortable around the BGU students today. I noticed that a little effort can really go a long way in helping to build relationships. In my case with my relationships with Pong, Ratanak, and Soken, the progress is a bit slower than what I hoped to expect, but there is progress nonetheless.

Sarah and I asked them to show us around the NIBC center today, and we got to walk around and see the different buildings. It allowed us to spend some time together outside of a classroom setting. I think it was the first time that I had a real genuine with Pong, and Sarah seemed to be getting along very well with the girls.

Later in the afternoon, after finishing up some work for Jaroony (the Rainbow School director/teacher), Dick, Phil, and I played ping pong with the BGU guys. Sam was ridiculously good. Í also managed to finally exchange a few words with Ratanak after dinner. We washed dishes together and had a decent conversation. Ratanak seems like a really fun person, and hopefully I can get to know her more.

I have no idea why I’ve been so shy, but God is slowly allowing me to come out of my shell. I think the problem is that I’ve been thinking that I have so much to offer the students here. However, if I rely on myself, I have nothing to offer these guys. Only by trusting in the Lord will God be able to use me. I am thankful that God is slowly working to build my relationships with my students, and I am excited to see what’ll happen next.