Series of Godwinks

since arriving in Seoul a few days ago, I have realized God walking with me and putting the right patient people in my path. For those who are unfamiliar with the book when god winks at you, I'd highly recommend it. The book tells a series of stories that show the consquences of god at work within the situation. In many of the stories God puts the right person in the characters path at the exact moment they need it. If you don't know me personally, I am very much a small town girl...always have been. In fact, when I moved Pittsburgh I had a hard time finding my way around. Navigating a foreign city like Seoul would be a challenge without the help of new friends, ministers, and randomly placed strangers. god definitely keeps showing up somehow to help me get from point a to b, which I'm so thankful for. Yesterday a business man walked me to the right bus station and waited for the bus with me to make sure the driver knew where I was going to get off. :) I was able to meet up with a friend of one of my friends from school who helped me get around the city some more. We went out for rice cake and traditional Korean teA, which was fabulous. My plan for Sunday changed a bit. I attended 100 memorial church. This church has several services because they are unable to hold all their members in their worship space for one service. I spoke with two of the 25 pastors and learned that between the services there's 6500 worship attendees. After a bit of confusion I was able to sit in on the worship service and listen to a translator translate. Though the church was non demoninational it was very traditional and had presbyterian undertones. I meet some English teachers who informed me that every week the church welcomes 3-5 new members...this is mainly due to the historical value of the church building. The church also had a museum of missionary service to Korea and a graveyard for foreign missionaries. It was interesting to read their individival stories. Monday I was able to navigate the bus system...with lots of help as the ,ap was in Korean and not English :) to myongi university to meet with the chaplains. Dr. Jae hong koo e head chaplain explained more about the history of the Korean church attributing the growth to church providing hope for future. He said Koreans are very passionate about prayers and hold prayer meetings daily....from 4-6am and all Friday night. He explained they take time to study the bible and have good and powerful pastors. The Korean church also does not hold year of the year budget meetings as all the members faithfully tithe since that is what the bible calls for and they desire to be obedient to the teachings of the bible. He also spoke of the new desire for quality over quantity of members staing he wanted members to be true Christiana and Christ followeers. We were joined by dr. Chung over a great Korean Chinese lunch. He spoke of desiring a strong passion from the younger generations... Similar to our situation in the us. When I arrived back to the hotel, an elderly man randomly approached me and we spent two and a half hours discussing missions, evangelism, and English literature. He explained he did his phd work in t.s Elliot's imagery and metaphor. Being an English major, it was great to speak with him at length about the great books. I also was asked to pray for his younger friend...grandchild to find a job and husband. I got the sense that she was considered about living life alone. It was great to chat with them. Random aside: I've enjoyed watching old lost shows as I wake up too early from jet lag :) Prayer requests: the chaplains at myongi asked for prayers for a continued And renewed passion for Christ. Please also pray for sage traveling and health along with my ATM card. I was able to draw out cash once then my cards keep getting rejecting. I'm hoping this issue will be resolved soon. Thanks and love in Christ, Amanda