Chaotic Week Part 1

Monday August 31st
We are officially bums. Jobless, homeless and not sure of direction. We are so confused. We had been praying throughout the spring months about whether we should return to Korea or not. We felt we had the go ahead with returning for a few months during the fall and then finally going home for good at Christmas time. We are convinced that all things are for purpose and that God has a reason for leading us back to Korea, but we're just so confused at this point. Blake is also facing complications with his contract and school. He has been dealing with some malicious women this entire year and they are being very difficult at this point. It looks like he will be losing quite a bit of money at this point. While we are not in desperate need of this money, it's discouraging because it is unfair.

On a completely different topic, I wanted to share a little about the church we have been growing with these past few months. It is a small church plant in Seoul headed by a Korean couple who received training in the US. We have grown to absolutely love this body of believers and have been so richly blessed by them. I especially have grown to love the pastor's wife Hannah. She is our Korean teacher and we've been having so many heart-to-heart talks lately. She is so open and honest about struggles, but has faith like very few I know. I am learning so much from her.
Blake has also been growing in leadership and the church has been recognizing his gifts and providing outlets for him to use them. I have been seeing so many changes in Blake.
Because this is a new church plant there are so many things that are not established. God has been directing the leadership team in some very clear ways, but it is requiring us all to be seeking God continuously for direction and where He is leading.
One of the things that has been happening as of late is that the small office building where we have been meeting is now too small. The church is growing and it's time for a new location. The problem with a new location is that rent is extremely expensive. Seoul is one of the most expensive places in the world to live and so you can imagine that price of rent right in the heart of Seoul. At this point the church is not able to afford the rent and have been calling on other ministries for support during these initial months. However, these attempts have been fruitless as of late. It became clear that God was calling on the church to go forward with the move and step out in faith regarding the finances.
The pastor and his wife (Jae and Hannah) used to run a school for teaching kids English (called a hagwon) before they began their ministry training in the US. It was a lucrative business and Jae was so successful that he was asked begin a counseling business for other hagwon owners. Because of this experience, Jae and Hannah felt that God was calling them to support the church ministry with a hagwon business. The hagwon would be run during the week while the church would be held in the same location on the weekends. There would be opportunity to make connections in the community with the kids and this could be used to reach them and their families with the gospel.

This brings me to now... we have just found out that we no longer have our jobs. We were brought back to Korea and are not sure why. A few hours after we receive this news, our pastor Jae called us to say that they went ahead with the new church location with the hagwon business. There were four classrooms in this place and they were simply praying that God would bring teachers. We told our pastor that we had just lost our jobs and he went silent. He said that he had just received word that another friend at church (Dan) had a similar situation with his visa. Our other friend (Ben) was finishing a contract and needed a job.

While we were on holidays in Canada, the church felt God's leading to go ahead with this move which would require 4 teachers. A few days later 4 teachers in the congregation were all jobless. Crazy! We are not sure if God is truly leading us to participate in the hagwon, but we do recognize how seemingly bizarre this situation is. Our pastor has offered us the position and we are praying for very clear direction. Please pray with us!