Over the last few years, I began praying for God to direct my life on how He wanted me to serve Him, whether vocationally or in the ministry. Through the death of my grandfather, a retired missionary and pastor, I realized that life is too short to waste. I was burdened to see how the Lord could use me. It was shortly after this that Korea was placed on my heart. I began to pray and ask the Lord for direction in regards to helping or serving in South Korea.
Through various meetings with trusted godly mentors, and my family, I knew the Lord was calling me to serve Him through missions, specifically in South Korea. As a result of His direction in my life, I am answering that call to serve Him in South Korea with the Gospel to refugees and young adults through sports, arts, and teaching English.
But why Korea?
The Lord used my cousin's interest in learning Korean to point me to Korea. I downloaded a language learning program and began to learn Korean. As I started to learn Hangul, the Korean alphabet, I realized this was more fun than I thought. Thankfully, learning languages has come easy to me, and I am able to pick up basic Korean fairly easy. However, learning Korean past the beginner stage is a whole different conversation.
After a few weeks, I began to research everything I could from history, Korean music, TV, entertainment, nature, animals, etc. . . to find out anything I could about the country. While I had learned about Korea in school, I never remember learning much past the US involvement in the Korean War. Through learning about the country and culture, I began to have a burden for a people group I had never met.
Through various conversations and prayers with my family, church, godly-mentors, and other missionaries, I knew the Lord was calling me to use my life in South Korea. However, the burden didn't stop there. Because of growing up with a missionary family background through my mom, I have always been interested in history and other cultures. Through learning about Korea, I inevitably came across more about the two countries of North and South Korea.
Wait - there are 2 Koreas?
Yes and No. Technically, North and South Korea are still at war with each other as there was never a peace agreement signed between the two countries. Instead, there is a virtual stalemate since 1953 when an armistice agreement was signed. Since then, there has been continual tension between the two countries. Through the leadership of the Kim family in
North Korea, millions of people have been held captive to the regime and banned from the outside world with concentration and labor camps still active for those that disrespect the regime.
Through learning more and more about the Korean people and how North Korean people are subjected to horrendous living conditions, food shortages, and forced "worship" of a man, my heart was burdened even more. Last November, a documentary, Beyond Utopia, was released documenting the escape of several families to freedom through a missionary. After seeing this documentary and reading several books about missionaries helping North Koreans, I knew what direction the Lord was leading me towards in South Korea.
The Lord has been continually working on my heart to work with refugees that have escaped into South Korea. 40% of refugees in South Korea are teens and need help both spiritually, physically, and academically in order to survive in this new world they find themselves in. Many are adjusting to a new world and carry the weight of leaving behind their families in North Korea with possible consequences for those left behind.
While I will be in language school for the first part of my ministry in order to become fluent, I will be working with the local church and assisting refugees and other teens through sports, art, and English lessons. After language school, I will continue serving in Korea and look forward to seeing where the Lord leads me.
I am so excited about what work the Lord is already doing in South Korea and for how He is leading me to use my strengths and weaknesses to serve Him. Would you please pray for me as I am raising monthly support through ministry partners to get to the field? Would you pray for the Korean people that I will come across to have open hearts to the Gospel?
Questions
Email me at ahuskeytokorea@gmail.com so that I can answer them in another blog post. I love to share and am so grateful for your prayers!
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