Playing pool with Nayeon's Dad....

I went over to Nayeon's house for dinner one night, and after dinner, her dad asked if I wanted to play Korean pool with him....now I've been to pool table rooms in Korea and they are pretty fun, but Koreans mostly play a game with 4 balls, not with pockets. We'll just call it "4 ball"...in this game you have to hit your (like you are the white ball) into the two red balls in the same shot, without hitting the yellow ball. It is really difficult, because it takes a lot of different spins and angles...I stink...but I'm OK because her dad wasnt that good either! ^^

He still beat me, but it was fun because we got to do something together for once...when we were walking together to the pool room, he was asking me questions about my future, my aspirations, things like that....he just wanted to get to know me better, which I thought was cool. Nayeon was telling me this is her dad's way of showing me he likes me, because he is a pretty tough guy normally...

got a small video of me stinking at this game...we'll probably never play again, because I am not good...but I hope I get to play some pocket pool with him, because then I might have a chance. He and I are both really competitive, so it would be interesting...

It is great that God is giving me more and more favor with Nayeon's parents. Continue to pray for her family, that we can be a good witness of Jesus Christ. They need Him just like everyone else does.

1 Year Anniversary Date...

Well it was July 15th...me and Nayeon's 1 year anniversary....I had bought some nice flowers and decided I was going to take a bus all the way to Nayeon's house and surprise her with them before we went out for lunch. I said I was going to sleep in, but it was a fib so that I could surprise her. Here is a video I took while I was on the bus....the flowers were so heavy....some nice grandma lady offered to hold them for me while I stood, then gave me her seat when she got off the bus....^^ check it out....

Here is the nice lady....

I picked all the flowers in the arrangement....i just grabbed everything that was pink....^^Nayeon loves pink...

Well, I finally got to her house, and Nayeon saw me and screamed! She loved the flowers...she said she never had nice flowers like this before...I'm happy I can give her nice things like this....(every once in a while^^ dont expect all the time....lol)

So we went to a nice Italian restaurant near our church, in Timeworld...they serve pretty good quality food...we ordered some seafood risotto and some shrimp scampi.....love this picture....this is a real Nayeon smile....she doesnt like this picture, but I think it really shows her personality ^^

mmm they put this thin layer of bread on top of the soup....mmm....

her favorite is shrimp scampi for sure....

here is our food....

She wanted to get a pic of me enjoying the food too....

Well she had to go to work around 1pm, but we had a good anniversary date with each other. I thank God for Nayeon. Love you.

July Newsletter...

Its a bit late....but here is my July newsletter...It has some good info to pray for and praise God about! Be blessed....Ill be coming out with August's letter soon! Love you guys!

Lunch with Evan...

Well we were in the area, and wanted to hang out with our friend Evan. He was my old roommate, but I moved closer to the church. He works at the immigration office near downtown Daejeon, and we also need to go their for my residence card, so we met for lunch!

Mike and I...Mike normally hates pictures, but I convinced him to give me one good picture. That is a good smile Mike! ^^

it was Samgyupsal time! mmm.....

Finally got my card....now I can get other things, like a bank, a phone in my name...and stay for a year in Korea....pretty cool....just hate the picture ughhhhhh

Logan decided to be the maker of our bokumbab.....good job dude....

Evan was eating my favorite.....dwaenjang jigae. the best!

As we were driving home, we saw a car full of dogs getting ready to be made into soup...^^ jk...do see the little van with the dogs inside? This looks like the dogs that they breed for eating, but im not sure...because I have never had dog before...anyways...

Taekwondo!

Yes, that is right! I started up learning taekwondo! It is really fun...plus I to punch and kick things....no im just kidding....^^ I've been doing it now for about a month....its really sweet...I go and literally sweat for an hour. I already lost like 6 lbs! (Well it is also summer time and I'm sweating a lot anyways) It is kinda silly because I'm really the only person that is an adult, everyone is in like elementary or middle school.....^^ lol

This place is really close to my school that I study Korean at, so I get over there at about 9pm, and then train for an hour, and then go home. My new friend from church, Bruce, who is an Californian that came out here to help with this school for 3 months invited me to come out and train with him.

Nayeon and I....she was trying for a while to do taekwondo also, but i think she's done...every once in a while she'll come and do some, but mostly she just watches....^^

Here I am learning how to do a roundhouse kick. The white guy in the back there is Bruce, my new friend from the church, and the other teacher is Master Kim. He speaks pretty good English and helps me out with my form. I love Nayeon's shock when he does his kicks, so funny....she gasps....then says "어마!" which means "Mommy!" lol

doing a little stretching....

doing some kicking and punching exercises...

But all this training and exercising without telling you my favorite part of our time. Usually, Nayeon and I both go, and I exercise, she studies or watches, but after, we just pray for our brother Bruce. He is always there for about 10-12 hours a day, working hard, teaching kids, exercising....you can tell it would be some what exhausting! I'm exhausted for one hour of working out like that. Also, none of the other Masters are Christians. Pray for Bruce that he can be a good example to the other Masters and the children, of a Christian that loves the Lord and walks in Him! Its great to learn Korean culture and exercise, but it is better to spend time after every lesson and pray in front of everyone for them to receive Christ and to live for Him. ^^

My Ben on Skype again...

I got to talk to my family the other day...that was pretty cool...because they had Jamie and Benjamin on skype too....he is pops, baby ben, and Jamie my older sis...

HUH?!?! lol

is that leftover popcorn on the ground?! mmm....im hungry...^^ i think this kid will think of food as much as I do....bwahaha

he's checkin me out.....love you kid...^^

My mom got in there to say Hi also....love you guys....

CheongJu Temple....

We were on our way to the CheongJu Jinsoo Bible Study, when we saw this crazy gold temple, and huge tiki things...we had to stop....we had some extra time to kill anyways...you can see Logan and I under those massive TIKIs....

There were two temples...dont know what the right one was....but i got a chance to go into the left gold one....

cool shot....with the beam of light..

i wanted to get in the shot....

this is a huge huge bell....

liked the flower on it...the bell was some type of brass or bronze coating....looked nice...

I love the bend of the wood on old Korean style houses and temples....really sweet....

they were missing the gong....^^

here are the front doors...I always wondered why...if this is where their god is....that it needs to be protected by dogs and dragons...my God cant take care of Himself....

Looking up at the temple....well about this time, the ground's keeper asked if we wanted to go in....I said "YEH OF COURSE!" The other guys said that they wanted to wait...so i went in alone...I really wish I could have taken photos...but they told me not to...so i will try and describe what I saw....

I walked inside and in the first room, there was this huge huge gold turtle...it took up about half of the room. It was covered with spikes and he had his mouth open....it was pretty cool looking, but I had no clue what it meant....then the guy took me upstairs....he made sure to tell me not to take pictures....

When we got upstairs, he walked up and bowed...not remember the shape of the building, kinda like a Christmas tree....well in the center was this ginormous statue that went to the ceiling...around this was four other smaller statues...reminded me of something like elders or priests of some kind....holding different things like scrolls and censers...but of course the main thing was the tallest statue, which they claim to be "god"....

All you see when you get to the top of the stairs is the feet and some of the robe that he is wearing....as you walk closer and look up, you see him with hands out, palms up, looking down into your eyes with his brown eyes....all over his robe was artwork, things that I translated as all the things this "god" created....deer, fish, rivers, mountains, plants, all sorts of animals, etc.

Now....what does this mean to me? Absolutely nothing...I think of it simply as art....they worship this thing was created by man, by hands...I worship a God not created by my own imagination, because there always flaws in that, making Him the way I want Him...thats not God....He is completely reliant upon Himself, nothing of what I can do...that is why God is so amazing....

The guy tried to say that this god and the "Western American God" is the same....so sad....people are really lost. It was good to learn a little bit of what this country suffers from spiritually....I think it prepares me more for ministering to their needs better. There truly is a battle for souls here...be praying soldiers!

So.....we walked around more...nice waterfalls outside....Logan is a goof....^^

ahh cha cha...^^ Just makes you wanna dive in huh?!

1 Year Anniversary...

My wonderful girlfriend and I have been together now for 1 year! I cant believe it, it has gone so fast. It has brought many great times, many trying times, but I praise God for her in my life. I'm so happy what He has done in each of us, and look forward to even greater things! Love you honey! Happy 1 Year!

Nayeon wanted to buy couple T-shirts (big in Korea....not so much in America but whatever^^) and get some pictures taken....hope you like it!

Wabbit Season.....NO! Duck Season! ^^

Well Nayeon and I went on Sunday afternoon to go take some pictures and have lunch together....

We went to a really popular place that had a really great dish.....

DUCK! Smoked duck that is....We also ordered some

See how packed this place is!? WOW!

Nayeon about to get the first bite!

Oh my goodness....doesnt that look amazing....smoked duck....it was so tasty! It almost had a ham flavor....^^

The motherload! YES!!! One of the best meals I have had in a while! Thanks for showing me where it was Nayeon....got to bring Pastor Mike here one time^^

Jeena's 4th Birthday....

We drove home from the retreat area and met back at the church....Saturday was Pastor Mike's daughter's (Jeena) 4th birthday....a lot of people stuck around to fellowship, play some Wii, get some air conditioning, and celebrate Jeena's Bday....

Here is her PORORO cake....Pororo is really big out here....pretty much the SpongeBob of Korea....^^

gotta have "Happy Birthday" candles....

shes getting big!

Really cute...blowing out the candles....Happy Birthday friend!