Learning to lean on Jesus

“결혼하면, 3일 만 지나면 다 똑같에”… “3 days after you get married, they all look the same.”

My host dad was talking about how little women’s appearance matter when it comes to marriage.

Sometimes over the dinner table, just to have a real conversation with my host family, I bring up my crush on the “강남여자”. The “강남여자” is a girl that I've had a crush on since 2006, and is a legend at the dinner table. My host family and I will have all kinds of discussions on relationships centered around her.

“데니얼은 성격이 얌전하기 때문에, 활발한 여자하고 맞을것 같아요.”
“Daniel, since you’re quiet and gentle, a very active girl would suite you.”

“이상형 같은 사람하고 결혼을 하는것은 어려운것 같아. 오히려 반대적인 사람을 만나는 것 같아.”
“People don’t end up marrying their ideal man or woman. Actually, they usually end up with the opposite kind of person.”

“12살 차이는 그렇게 많진 안은데. 선생님하고 학생결혼하는 경험도 꽤 있어요.”
“A 12 year age difference is not that bad. There are more cases of teachers marrying their students than you’d imagine.”

… When it comes to relationships, this is the kind of advice I hear from my host mom. They make dinners an enjoyable experience.

As for the “강남여자”, I think it’s time to move on and make a real statement by de-friending her on facebook.


4 months passed since I landed here in Korea. Things are on the up and up. Month 4 was a month of getting on the ball with some of the activities that I came to Korea determined to do. So without further ado, let’s talk about it.


The World Series Champs: The New York Yankees

Being away from home with a network of 70 English Teachers from all over the United States makes for an interesting MLB post season dynamic among our group.

My heart especially goes out to Mike Athy and David Wescott, two Phillies fans that care enough to hurt. And a perfunctory “congratulations” to New Yorkers Derek Hommel, Brigid Otieno, and Christina Rho.

It was an especially difficult month to be a Dodgers fan.

It wasn’t that we lost (yes, we). It was the way that we lost. The Phillies destroyed us, 4-1, just like last year. And we had a better team and season than last year.

So much for purchasing a $20.00 MLB post-season account just to listen to live-audio about how much we suck.

So much for doing a lesson on the MLB post season and forcing all my students to root for the Dodgers, even though all of Korea was behind Phillies and their beloved Chan Ho Park.

So much for bringing all the Dodgers gear that I own to Korea, along with a baseball signed by Nomar Garciaparra for good luck.

I feel your pain Philadelphia fans, and I tip my hat to the Yankees.


Learning to lean on Jesus more

One of the reasons things are on the up and up is because I am learning to lean on Jesus more. Every now and then, my friends and colleagues tell me that I’m a great guy. And… not to say that these comments are insincere, or that I am ungrateful for them… but how much of what I’m doing is simply for the sake of doing something good? How much of it is to clear my own conscience?

I was listening to a podcast by Tim Keller, who said something that resonated within me.

“If you are feeding the poor or clothing the naked to get to heaven, you are feeding yourself... you're not feeding them... you're clothing yourself." (Referencing Charles Spurgeon)

“Unless you know that your good works cannot do a thing to get you into heaven. Unless you know that you are utterly accepted right now, you can’t do a good work.”

“Until you know that your works are not any good… they aren’t any good. As soon as you realize that your works are not any good, they begin to have at least a germ of something real... because they are done in faith.”

(Quotes from the Seminar series “Preaching Christ in a Post Modern world”, Session 5: Applying Christ, Reformed Theological Seminary)

The uncertainty of my motives for being involved in the school for North Korean refugees or human rights groups for North Koreans leave me unsettled. I expected something by doing all of this. Whether it was recognition from people or to feel better about myself – there was an expectation.

We must find God’s grace free of the desire to justify ourselves through good works. There’s nothing that we can do to get closer to Him than what He’s already done. My works are worthless, and in a state of emptiness, I am trying to produce something real – something that is important.

Like I said, things are on the up and up… in Jesus.


Activities with North Korean Refugees

8 Fbrighters and I are now teaching English to a group of North Korean refugees and their children living in Seoul. We do this every 1st, 3rd, and 5th week of the month for 2 hours, in the ritzy neighborhood of Kangnam (where 강남여자 is from).

All of the adults are survivors. They are the lucky ones that have fled North Korea without being caught. This may mean that they crossed the Tumen River, bribed border guards, dodged Chinese authorities, and travelled to a 3rd country in South East Asia to safely get to an embassy that recognizes them as Refugees. After an interrogation by the South Korean CIA, and a government run integration program called Hanawon (하나원), the privilege of living in South Korea is theirs.

Some of them have endured sex-trafficking in China, others have left husbands, wives, sons, or daughters behind in North Korea to an uncertain fate. Who knows how the government punishes relatives of escapees?

Their children may or may not be survivors. Some of them were born in North Korea, somehow got across to China, South East Asia then to Korea. Some of them are half Chinese, and were born after their mothers were sold into marriage. (Women are in demand because of gender-disparities caused by the one-child policy). And others were born in South Korea.

The hukou system in China makes it impossible for people lacking citizenship to enter public schools. This leaves a dim future for the children born to North Korean mothers. That’s why many choose to leave. The exception is for children born to North Korean moms and Chosun (Korean-Chinese) fathers – these kids can go to special schools for Chosun people. Even so - North Koreans are sent back to the DPRK if they are discovered in China, due to the country's repatratiation policy.

We have an opportunity to teach a little English to these people a couple times a month. Just interacting with someone who’s been through so much is a humbling experience. The crazy thing is, they are the lucky ones.


Human Rights in North Korea is a cliché phrase.

It is important because there are real people dying for unjust reasons.
It is important because they lack basic freedoms such as speech, religion, movement, or the press.
It is important because concentration camps exist in North Korea where prisoners are treated and killed like animals. They are put there for a number of small reasons like being the child of someone who was “disloyal” to the party.
It is important because the North Korean people lack dignity.

For more information, please Wikipedia “human rights in North Korea.”


In Jesus... things are on the up and up.

My prayer request for this month is that I will have proper perspective in my relationship with God, for the march and demonstration for human rights in North Korea on 11/7/09 in Seoul... and, of course, to successfully de-friend the 강남여자 on facebook.

Peace and Grace,


Daniel Park

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face... and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.