This week's persecuted church: Pakistan

A 14-year-old girl with mental disabilities was arrested for defaming Islam on August 16 after she was allegedly spotted by neighbors with a plastic bag containing burned pages of the Quran.  After being held for more than three weeks, the case took an unexpected turn on Saturday when a local imam was accused by a member of his mosque of planting the burned pages in the girl's bag with the intent to drive Christians out of his Islamabad neighborhood.  However, once you have been accused of blasphemy it means the reolocation of your family even if you are acquitted by the court.

Thought of the Day:  Molinism
Song of the Day:  Sara Groves-When It Was Over

추카추가

Welcome to the club, guys.  Congratulations!

Thought of the Day:  Dracula
Song of the Day:  Keane-Everybody's Changing

9.18

I turned 6 years old in Korea this past Tuesday.  This was the first time I had forgotten about my overrated anniversary.  Does this mean something?  Some of my friends like to use words like "lifer" or "forever" whenever they talk about how long I've been here.  In the past, it used to make me sad.  But maybe now, I'm starting to embrace it.  Just maybe.

September 18th also marked my third month at my school.  I had my first observation class and got a score of 89.  I hadn't written a proper lesson plan in so long that I had forgotten to put in any explanations or directions.  After all, lesson plans are merely references and outlines for the teacher.  I totally could've gotten an A-.

Anyway, the kids are getting ready for the midterms, which means I'm getting new lessons ready for post-추석.  I had a lot of trouble thinking of a good first activity for my third year students but finally came up with a press conference.  Here's what I'm going to show to introduce the lesson:


You have no idea how much I've come to embrace powerpoints and Youtube in the past three months.  Happy Friday.

Thought of the Day:  Book Orders!
Song of the Day:  Sara Groves-First Song That I Sing

This week's persecuted church: Somalia

A Somali Islamic fundamentalist group accused Christian aid workers in Somalia of spreading Christianity in the coastal city of Merca.  The group said that if the Christianization in Somalia does not stop, the people have a right to jihad.  The vice chairman of the group said in an interview tht all Somalia Christians must be killed according to Islamic law.  He concluded his interview by saying that Somalis are 100% Muslim and they will always remain so.

Thought of the Day:  Waterguns
Song of the Day:  Jay Sean-Down

Naked Taboo

I've been playing Naked Taboo in my classes these days.  Korean teenagers never fail to surprise me:

Word:  "Bulgogi"

Taboo:  Clue given-"fire meat"
Charades:  Clue given-student points at his thick dark arm.  Team gets guesses correctly.


Word:  "Milk"

Charades:  Student acts out cow and milking the cow.


Word:  "Ballet"

Charades:  This is hilarious every time.


Word:  "Still"

Charades:  Student pretends he's going to steal a base.


Word:  "Still"

Charades:  Student does "Gangnam Style" dance.  No one gets it and in frustration he goes, "야 니네들 스타일 뭔지도 모르냐?!"


It's Friday!


Thought of the Day:  Martin!
Song of the Day:  Paul Oakenfield-Starry Eyed Surprise

Teaching Ups and Downs

My head teacher likes sending me random jokes from time to time.  Today, he sent me:

그 강아지는 숲 속으로 뛰어갔다.

The dog ran into the woods. (X)

The dog ran into the soup. (O)

Today, I kicked out one of my students for the first time for talking too much.  But when I went outside to go talk to him and bring him back in, he wasn't even in the hallway.  What an adolescent.

Thought of the Day:  Stye

Song of the Day:  Psy-강남스타일

This week's persecuted church: Uzbekistan

Eleven Protestants in Nukus were questioned at the public prosecutor's office and pressured to convert to Islam.  They were also threatened with being shot, though the city prosecutor denied this.  He also tried to have a Protestant expelled from his university medical course, but the man has resisted the pressure.  This kind of pressure is also continuing elsewhere in Uzbekistan.

This week's persecuted church: China

Peace in the Lord! On this past Sunday, we held the thirty-fifth outdoor worship service of this year. The weather remains sunny and hot. As far as we know, one sister was taken to be detained at a hotel on Friday. And on Sunday morning, at least twenty-two believers were taken away from locations near the platform for attending the outdoor service. They were then sent to three different local police stations. Thirteen believers were released by noon, and the rest of them were released one after another by 20:00pm on Sunday.

Xie Min, maltreated during her detainment last Sunday, now temporarily moved to live with another sister. However, after Xie moved in, they often got harassment. They got strange visitors, and the home phone number of the host even got posted on the webpage of a website providing housing information. We strongly protest against such harassment.

Thought of the Day:  G-Dragon
Song of the Day:  S.E.S-달리기