song

i got back from dc last night. wow. God is SO good.
even though the trip was only from sunday to thursday and we only got 4 days to do actually work, it was SO good. when we left church on sunday, i really didn't know what to expect. i guess i thought that i wasn't gonna get much out of the trip and looking back on it, i don't even know if i wanted to get much out of the trip. but man, God definitely changed that.
from the first time we saw the kids, they ran up and just showed us so much love. i was afraid of the kids being passive with having see another group come and go, but thankfully they were incredibly open and awesome. even during the day when we were just working in the Hope Center cleaning and filing, waiting for the kids to come, it was such a blessing doing all that work because i knew that we were somehow helping the few interns there who constantly had alot of work. man, with those interns, they're truly an embodiment of what doing God's work is. their passion and love for the kids was so beautiful to see...even in the rough economic situation they had to live in (in order to live in the same community as the kids), the joy that they carried is truly awesome.
it was also awesome getting to know alot of brothers and sisters on the trip. i never truly knew the humor that is tony lee, who is a great driver btw , nor did i truly know the closet gamemaster in Kyoung Lee (or should i say gamemonster? j/k)...i'm glad i got to know everyone better, and it was just a good time to bond w/ ppl outside of just church.

i'm missing the kids already. right now, i'm remembering when we were sitting in a circle after math heroes was done on tuesday night, and a 5 year old girl sitting next to me whispered into my ear, "can i sit on your lap?" oh man...that absolutely melted my heart. and even johnathan picking me up to show me how strong he is...hehehe...and taquisha lookin at me like i'm short when clearly i am a good foot and a half taller than her...hahahaa!
i really miss these kids. i'm contemplating whether or not i should help out with the summer camp if i can. we'll see...
God really opened my eyes up...and i'm so grateful and amazed and wonderfully surprised about how he can break my heart in new and different ways. man.

some pics (more located here
the Hope Center: headquarters of Little Lights Urban Ministries

 

the team
(altho John Park went MIA on this picture and payter and sarruh didn't arrive until later.)
 

Johnathan and me...he calls me Mr. Jonathan...haha cool stuff.
 

Shannon...what a cute kid.
before the pic, he was like, "Gimme my hat!!"



Taquisha and me...she called me Shawty...
 

he actually picked me up. what a beast.
 

Kayla, Steve and Mary Park's 8 month old daugther.
 

a rare picture of us just chillin at the Hope Center.
 

hehe...
 

group three in the world's most "culturally biased" game (according to liz and ej): Cranium

[...]
okay... so these next pics have a story behind them.
one night, i took out my contacts and was wearing my glasses because my eyes were dry. sarah chang thought that i looked like the biggest dork in them (altho i do admit that i'm proud to be a dork), i decided to do some field research and see how truly dorky people are and how certain things (such as eyewear) can bring out the dorkiness in them. so i present to you, the Dork Collection. go ahead, laugh it up. just don't get offended, because to be a dork is a privilege and not a curse...

the originators: sarah chizzy chang and jonathan hoonster park



Sarah Chang: the closet dork. don't be fooled by her daytime appearance.
she's the biggest of them all.
 

Tony Lee: while not lookin too dorky in em, i'm not the first to admit that
Antonio Caesar Escobar Chavez Motana III looks like a terrorist with my specs.
 

Daniel Li: he looks like he could pass for N.Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il's son! uber dork.
 

Michelle Lee: the glasses are too big for her. that's about it.
 

John Park: wow...he looks like a korean ahjuhshee...who happens to be constipated.
 

Susy Park: she really digs the frames. no really.



Ji-Won Lee: lookin studious. mega dork.
 

Peter Park: the original FOBman.
 

Eun-Jung Jeon: dork. she doesn't need the glasses to prove it. haha.
 

Pastor Sue: looks like a mug shot or something.
again, like EJ, sue does not need glasses to prove dorkiness. just a playground.
 

Eddie Song: Special Ed, silent dork. those who know him, know he's one.

that concludes my study of dorkdom. good stuff.

[...]
some quotable quotes and memories from these past days:
-Tengo Hambre Contigo!!
-Hope Center Rule 3: No cursing or name-calling is allowed.
   "'No name-calling? Then what do you call them??" [EJ...hehehe]
  [two minutes later...]
   "What do you call them then??" [Liz. God bless her heart ]
-"Stop calling me Antonio. What if the kids find out and start calling me that?" [Tony]
-Gamemaster Liz and the Frustration showdown against John Park...
-the "culturally biased" game of Cranium, according to EJ and Liz
-Quiero Pelear Contigo!!
-Stern-faced Tony Montana...and "bbijussuh" tony.
-"Conejo Tonto! Trix para los ninos!!"
-"Do you have any female...sisters?" [Special Ed]

what a great week it has been so far. i can't believe the mission trip is already over, and i'm so incredibly glad i went. special thanks goes out to pastor sue for getting us connected to little lights, for daniel being the designated bus driver, for tony transporting us to and back from DC, and for eddie and john for letting me crash in their suite. aiite well it's real late. have a great night yall...imma leave with one last pic.

what a great picture.

nite yall.

j.HOoN

wow. what a great weekend.
friday: the campus got its first glimpse of snow this year, as well as its first glimpse of Russiaman, protector of truth and justice of innocent students and faculty of the UNC campus. (ask me personally, and i'll recount the story). hehehe...me and the boys balled some as well. then a bunch of AO people went to carecare's house and we ate pizza and watched Bad Boys II. good times just chillin with good friends.
saturday: got $200+ for returning books i didn't need for classes. then headed over to duke and chilled w/ sarah, grace, lydia, nancy, vivien, and stopped by sam's...and a great day for sports! the panthers advanced to the conference finals (even tho i was clearly the only one excited about it in the room...lol), and michelle kwan won nationals again (it was crazy. and yes, i watch women's figure skating. but only when shelly is on...haha)
sunday: church. then NAPPED for like 3 hours. balled at duke with NCKPC people. and the heels stompedGA Tech!! yeah that game was fun.
it's great to be back. great friends definitely make it worth coming back to school...now i'm about to pass out b/c the tylenol PM has kicked in...nite.

i was reading chapter 6 of "The Purpose-Driven Life" devotional, and today's chapter seemed to resonate a response to the october 11th entry about homesickness...here are a couple of passages that spoke out to me while i was reading:

"A fish would never be happy living on land, because it was made for water. An eagle could never feel satisfied if it wasn't allowed to fly. You will never feel completely satisfied on earth, because you were made for more."

""Your time on earth is not the complete story of your life. You must wait until heaven for the rest of the chapters. It takes faith to life on earth as a foreigner."

"When life gets tough, when you're overwhelmed with doubt, or when you wonder if living for christ is worth the effort, remember that you are not home yet. At death, you won't leave home -- you'll go home."

those three passages brought me so much comfort in recognizing that there's a reason why i don't feel at home wherever i go, not only because of the circumstances of my own family, but because i am not created to be a citizen of the world, but of something greater. although i try to remind myself daily that i'm not meant for this world, sometimes by reading other people's opinions and works, those daily reminders become all the more real.
Rick Warren, the author of this devotional, mentioned in this same passage a story about a retiring missionary and the president of the states returning home on the same boat. while the predient was welcomed home with a huge crowd, a band, red carpet and the works, the missionary wasn't even noticed in his homecoming...but the God reminds him, "my child, you're not home yet". in a similar tangent, i realize that as Christians, we are here on this earth as missionaries whether we realize it or not. the purpose of a missionary to leave the homeland to win others back to Christ in a foreign country or territory. but if we're all created for heaven, or better yet, if our home is in heaven, then that must mean our mission here is to win back non-believers in this foreign territory that we call earth.
now don't get me wrong. i'm not writing this as a call for everyone to drop what you're doing and heading off to a third-world country to preach the Gospel. but i feel like the purpose in writing this is to create an awareness of the perspective we should take as Christians when it comes to living our lives daily while we're on campus, at work, or wherever. are we being good ambassadors for Christ? (ambassadorship is another thing that Warren touched on). or have we gotten to comfortable with the things of this world to realize that we have been set apart from it?
jonathan

P.S. my favorite part of this song is when he asks the congregation:
"How many of you wanna see Him one day??
Open up your mouth and say HALLELUJAH!!"
this song is so powerful, i love it....

fall break started yesterday...finally! my brother came and i'm back in his apartment in DC...it's definitely nice to get out of Chapel Hill and just rest for a day or two before hitting the books hardcore. last night, we went to a korean restaurant in annandale, and it was weird for me...i dunno. the food was really good and stuff, but i guess i wasn't used to the environment of korean restaurants anymore....it was crowded and loud, but it's that kind of restaurant environment that i definitely miss when i'm at school. i mean, yeah, lenoir is always crowded and noisy as well, but it's not the same, mainly b/c it's not the smell of korean food that comes out of the kitchen. oh well...

last night i was watching "25th Hour"...the one with edward norton. man, that movie is good!! the basic theme of the movie was based on Norton's character who got busted for the first time dealing drugs (he started dealing to help his dad's financial troubles) and had 24 hours before having to serve a 7 year prison term. while i was thinking that 7 years is something that comes and goes, Barry Pepper's character basically said in one particular scene that 7 years is a lifetime. even if he did survive the 7 years, everyone that he knew and loved would have moved on without him. so those last 24 hours he spent were crucial in putting closure in that part of his life, so that he could move on during his 7 year term and his new life that will start up after he gets out of prison. it's a REALLY good movie, yall should watch it or borrow it from me if you want to. one reviewer on amazon.com said it the best: if you had 24 hours left before you had to say goodbye to everyone you knew, your family, your friends, your life, how would you spend those last hours? what would you say, how would you feel, what would you do?

anyways, i think i'm getting sick so i'm gonna try to sleep it off. have a great day, yall
j.HOoN