The Seniors went to Korea?!?
Korea Summer Project!
by Christine Lee
This past June the Seniors had the opportunity to go on our first-ever virtual mission trip! Over the course of a week, we were able to put on three sessions for eleventh and twelfth graders at Wolgwang Christian School in Gwangju, South Korea. From busy planning meetings to last-minute dry-runs, our team prepared topics such as life as a college student in America and the Christian perspective on current events to share with our students.
Although our sessions were online, we still found fun ways to engage and bond with our students through fun icebreakers like gif charades and games where the loser had to do push-ups! All in all, us seniors feel so privileged that we had this opportunity and feel blessed by this experience and the lessons we learned from it! Keep reading below for some highlights and takeaways from our seniors Adrianna, John and Christine! :)
Adrianna
Considering our current conditions I was going into a lot of activities with a negative mindset and a not-so-upbeat attitude, but the virtual mission trip to Korea was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. As soon as we got to working on our topics and scripts we felt like teachers trying to minister to those that maybe a bit lost or trying to gain a better understanding of one another during thesea times. We planned according to the topics of interest at the time, which included George Floyd and Covid-19. Although the material was intense, we were able to shed some light on the importance of the soul and how Christians should view another during the chaos.
As a team we were able to bring together some ideas and facilitate discussions that would be relatable for Korean students. Not only did we have fun planning we also had a great time getting to share our personal stories and the Christian view of today’s current events with the students. Our only hope was that this experience was as joyous and rich for the students of Wolgwang Christian School as it was for us.
John
Going on a virtual mission trip, I was excited for the opportunity to reach out to the Korean students at Wolgwang Christian School, but was often skeptical at how it would turn out. From my perspective, there were a lot of uncertainties going into it, such as, if the students would be willing to listen to our talks, if there would be any video issues, and if the students would even be able to understand English. However, it was through this mission trip where I truly got to see how God can be at work, through our prayer times and our devotionals through the books of Psalms and Ezra. It was throughout these times, where I was challenged to trust in the name of the Lord and not upon my own perceived strengths.
Ministering to the Korean students it was amazing to see how they were able to understand a majority of what we presented upon and found our content and testimonies to be useful and applicational to even their own lives. Later, we were blessed to see how the international studies classes that we ministered to sent us thank you letters, expressing their interest to come study in the US for college. Overall, I’m thankful and awed to see how by placing our trust in God and giving it our all, God can work far more abundantly than we can think or imagine!
Christine WA
Coming into this mission trip, I was skeptical of whether our team could really make an impact through a virtual mission trip. I also felt unsure of what to expect and felt pretty preoccupied with different things going on in my own life.
However, while prepping for this mission trip I was reminded of the stress, anxiety, and pressure of being a high school student struggling to prove and secure my worth. During one of our mission trip sessions, I was able to share a bit about where our value really lies as Christians. That contrary to what I once believed, our accomplishments don’t secure our worth. Through this mission trip, I was given the chance to reflect on how God has worked in my life since high school. This helped me to realize what an amazing opportunity that my peers and I now had to share with and encourage these high school students who were likely facing similar stresses and burdens that we had also experienced.
Our team’s key bible verse was Ephesians 3:20-21, which talks about how God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or even think. Although I was skeptical initially of what I could do and what our team could do, I’ve truly been blessed to experience what God could do in us and through us during this mission trip (which was definitely far more abundant than what any of us initially thought!)
While going into this virtual mission trip none of us seniors really knew what to expect, through it, we had the chance to put our summer to great use! Not only were we blessed by experiencing how God can work in our daily lives, but we also got to grow in our understanding and ability to articulate the Christian perspective on current events and topics such as COVID-19 and George Floyd. Finally, we are truly thankful that even though we were in different countries and time zones, we were still able to share God’s love with these high school students and see Ephesians 3:20-21 in action!
