This week's persecuted church: Nigeria

Police discovered the body of a 79-year-old Christian woman killed in northeast Nigeria, with a note in Arabic left on her chest reading: "We will get you soon," a witness said Thursday.

Her killers slit the woman's throat, then wrote a note with red pen they left on her chest, witness Audu Ibrahim said. Ibrahim said the woman's family believes the message is for her son, who is a pastor of a local church where the 79-year-old sang in the choir.

Thought of the Day:  LH
Song of the Day:  Panic-내 낡은 서랍 속의 바다

This week's persecuted church: Eritrea

A friend of Ruta’s sister, Zula, likewise attracted attention because of her ‘strange’ behaviour – she had refused to drink and dance at a military camp party. When asked about this, she admitted that she was a “Pente” and was immediately taken to prison.

Zula and Yonas were offered the chance to sign a statement, Ruta says, promising to abstain from practising their faith as a condition for release.

Both declined. Whereas Yonas spent two years in prison and returned to the army, Zula remains in custody.

“Until now, five years later, while my sister has been studying and has achieved so many things, Zula is still in prison because she decided to follow Jesus,” Ruta says.

According to USCIRF’s Annual Report 2011, there are between 2,000 and 3,000 people being held hostage by the authorities on religious grounds. Prisoners face horrendous conditions, such as being kept in airless metal containers in the desert heat or herded like animals in underground cells without toilet facilities.

Many contract diseases due to the lack of hygiene, while others die from starvation and hunger. The ones who do survive are tortured on a daily basis.

“It is physical but most of all mental punishment”, Ruta says. “There are so many things they do to the prisoners.”

She explains that prisoners are forced to do “ridiculous things”, like counting the grains of sand in the burning sun in the middle of the desert. The heat and the humiliating work makes some of them “lose it”.

For her there are only two options: “Either you come out stronger or you get crazy.”

Yonas’ experience has strengthened his faith and he told Ruta that the more they punished him, the more he loved God.

Thought of the Day:  Dominoes
Song of the Day:  BoA-Eat You Up

Dejuj Kries

Student:  Teacher, what is Dejuj Kries?
Me:  Where did you hear that?
Student:  My teacher she always said, "Believe in Dejuj Kries!"

So apparently, my student had a substitute teacher who always taught about Jesus in his computer and math class.  She ended up getting fired because she wasn't really teaching what she was supposed to be teaching.  A clear breach in state and church.  But what was interesting was how upset my atheistic student was with these "strong believers" of Christianity.  He began to tell me about another negative experience he had with a woman who was evangelizing to him on the street and saying that he would suffer painfully in hell for not believing in God.  My student is just entering 6th grade.  As you can imagine, he has a pretty bad image of evangelistic Christians.

Brennan Manning said that "the greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians..."  I remember hearing that for the first time in middle school and being surprised by such a profound idea and statement.  But through the years of being surrounded by both Christians and non-Christians, the surprise has only been replaced by sadness.  When people ask me questions about the Bible, my answers are inadequate and poor.  When people view my life, it is inconsistent with what I profess to believe.  When people see my Christian brothers and sisters, they don't see a community of believers.  I'm sad because I know that I too am a cause of atheism in the world today.

But thank goodness that God is greater than my failures and even the poor preaching and presentation of Dejuj Kries.

Thought of the Day:  STOP NORTH KOREAN REFUGEE EXECUTION!
Song of the Day:  Taru-Summer Day

The Jeremy Lin Show

My my my.

This week's persecuted church: Saudi Arabia

A Christian leader from Saudi Arabia explained: “The Saudi officials are accusing the Christians of committing the crime of mixing of sexes because if they charge them with meeting for practicing Christianity, they will come under pressure from the international human-rights organizations as well as Western countries. In fact, when an employer of one of the detainees asked for the reason for their employee’s arrest, the Saudi official told him that it was for practicing Christianity.”

Saudi officials strip-searched all the women and subjected them to an abusive body-cavity search, and assaulted the men. In a remarkable prison interview with the Voice of America’s Amharic-language service, one of the women, who contracted an infection from the search, attested: “We are traumatized by the strip search. They treated us like dogs because of our Christian faith. While talking about me during a recent visit to the prison medical center, I overheard a nurse telling a doctor ‘if she dies, we will put her in a trash bin.’”

Thought of the Day:  Resource Conflict
Song of the Day:  Humming Urban Stereo-넌 그날 (Gros Câlin Mix)

This week's persecuted church: India

Hindu extremists barged into a prayer meeting led by a pastor and beat him and stripped him naked.  They shouted at the Christians in coarse language as they started beating and kicking the pastor before parading the naked pastor in a procession throughout the village.  At about midnight they tied the pastor to a tree near a temple and sent for police.  The police took him into custody for questioning, was charged and locked up, but was later released the same night.

Thought of the Day:  Wedding Fairs
Song of the Day:  SNSD-Mr. Taxi

This week's persecuted church: Nigeria

The Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed at least 935 people since it launched an uprising in 2009, including more than 250 in the first weeks of this year.

The report said 550 people were killed in 115 separate attacks by Boko Haram last year, mostly in the far northeastern state of Borno, where the sect was founded in 2002.

Boko Haram has moved from drive-by shootings and petrol bombs to suicide attacks using large and increasingly sophisticated explosives. A suicide car bomb last year killed 25 people at the United Nations headquarters in the capital Abuja.

Thought of the Day:  Antarctica
Song of the Day:  Just As I Am, Without One Plea

This week's persecuted church: Uganda

A Pentecostal preacher who has converted thousands of Muslims to Christianity was disfigured when men shouting “God is great” in Arabic threw acid in his face in a Christmas Eve attack that has stoked religious tensions here.

Mr. Mulinde, a 38-year-old father of six, described the attacker who threw acid onto his face as a man pretending to be a Christian. The attacker approached Mr. Mulinde after the Christmas Eve service at his Gospel Life Church International, about 10 miles outside of Kampala.

“I heard him say in a loud voice, ‘Pastor, pastor,’ and as I made a turn and looked at him, he poured the liquid onto my face,” Mr. Mulinde said.

Mr. Mulinde said the man fled, shouting, “Allah akbar,” or “God is great.”

The attack disfigured the right side of his face and left him blind in his right eye.

Thought of the Day:  Luke Sermon Series
Song of the Day:  Etta James-At Last

This week's persecuted church: China

The brothers and sisters of Shouwang had no choice but to continue meeting outdoors on Jan 1st, 2012. The worship time was 8:30 a.m., so we rushed to the plaza [that had been Shouwang’s designated outdoor worship site], but unfortunately, at 8 a.m., the police had already taken into custody all the brothers and sisters who were making their way to the plaza. The plaza [was now] totally empty, with only one person in a red coat with a camera standing alertly in an inconspicuous corner looking as though he was ready to pounce. He photographed everyone in the plaza who passed by him. Police had used green tarp to enclose the entire plaza and block off all access to it, and several police vehicles were parked next to the plaza, their drivers waiting for arrests. We took a few cell phone photos, then walked the long way around to the Xin Dong Fang building next to the plaza, hoping to find a way through the building to the plaza.

Many brothers and sisters were in tears, not only because they could not worship indoors, but because they saw the government’s unbending attitude, unwilling to give any ground at all and unwilling simply to sit down and talk, an attitude of not giving up until the death [of Shouwang]...Because of the Sunday restrictions, if Shouwang brothers and sisters want to go worship in the plaza, they have to stay away from their homes starting on Friday and spend the night elsewhere.

Thought of the Day:  Crazy Arcade
Song of the Day:  The Killers-Mr. Brightside

Millenium Falcon

Me:  Would you ever eat human meat?
Student:  No.
Me:  What if it was just a tiny piece?
Student:  How small?
Me:  Like a little 삼겹살 piece.
Student:  No.
Me:  What if it tasted really really good?
Student:  Only if you ate it first.
Me:  Then you would eat it?
Student:  No.  I would call the police.

Me:  What if I said I would give you a Millenium Falcon?
Student:  OK maybe.

Thought of the Day:  현백
Song of the Day:  T-ara-Lovey Dovey

This week's persecuted church: Eritrea

Thirteen Eritrean hostages who are being held in northern Sinai, close to the Israeli border, have issued a desperate appeal for international intervention after being informed that they would be sold to organ traffickers if an exorbitant ransom is not paid for them.

The hostages said, "We have been beaten, tortured, humiliated in the most atrocious fashion. We have now received an ultimatum from our persecutors: if our families do not pay US$33,000 per head within 24 hours, we will be sold to clandestine clinics that traffic in human organs. We are calling on the civilised countries, religious people who abhor these atrocities, the United Nations and the European Union not to abandon us. If we had been Europeans or Americans, would you have left us in this terrible condition? We are young men and women who have fled from a country that persecuted us.”

Thought of the Day:  1000만원
Song of the Day:  Celine Dion-To Love You More

Smiley Face

"I have a friend who's just because of the way his face is made, he looks as though he's never smiling, and I remember him saying..his grandmother said to him one day, 'You keep that look on your face and one day God will freeze it.'  I actually think that happens.  I mean some of us are facially put together in such a way that we seem to be constantly smiling.  That's so irritating, isn't it?  But you know, nobody with ordinary health is incapable of smiling.  And some people almost seem to make a point of not smiling...Sometimes when I look into this face that used to be a young boy, I think, 'Have I made this face by the way I've lived?"  You do, don't you? You make your face.  It kind of settles in. Whether it's physiological or whether it's just disposition it settles in. You never smile.  You never laugh.  You're a frowner."
-Sinclair Ferguson

Sometimes when I have conversation classes with some of my students, I like to ask them what they would change if there was one thing they could change about themselves.  Whenever I used to aim this question at myself, the first thing I usually thought of was physical appearance.  I had wished I would look more like this or less like that.  But I know that if I were to ask my parents what they could change about me, they would say something along the same lines of my answer.  They would wish that I smiled more.

Next year is 2013.  That's the year when my California driver's license expires.  Three months later, that's when my passport expires.  Three months after that, that's when my visa expires.  That's the year I turn 30 (Korean age).  I remember telling someone that I thought it was going to be a very special year with all of the mentioned coincidences lined up one after another.  I remember thinking so many of my questions would be answered by then.

2012 is here.  Most of my questions remain unanswered.  When questions remain unanswered, it's hard to smile.  It's hard to laugh.  It's easy to be a frowner.  But I am hopeful.  I am hopeful because God gives me reasons to smile even when my questions become even bigger, more difficult questions.  I am hopeful because our mistakes and accidents are not coincidences, and our successes and joys are planned to the very last detail.  I am hopeful because even when you don't see me smile, God is turning me into someone who will never frown ever again.  But till then, I'll try to smile more.  =D

Thought of the Day:  Do you know the Muffinman?
Song of the Day:  Park Bom-You And I

This week's persecuted church: North Korea

"I spoke the night after the announcement of Kim Jong-Il's death with one of our VOM workers who works on the Korean peninsula, and his message was,  'Don't look for any significant changes, at least in the short-term.'"

It is estimated that between 50,000 to 70,000 Christians suffer in prison camps because of their faith. People rarely get out alive.

In practice, there is no freedom to build churches or to worship in homes. An estimated 400,000 Christians practice their faith in underground networks. Possession of a Bible or Christian material is illegal and punishable by death.

Thought of the Day:  2012
Song of the Day:  Third Day-Medley

End of the Year Reunions

Thought of the Day:  Happy New Year!
Song of the Day:  Voy-Ever Ever(Feat. 계피)

This week's persecuted church: Laos

Eight Lao Christian leaders arrested on 16 December for “organising” a Christmas visit with 200 Church members are still in jail. Village security forces entered the building, isolated the eight leaders, blindfolded and handcuffed some before marching them off to Boukham government headquarters, where they were detained without charge.

Thought of the Day:  Banner in the Sky
Song of the Day:  Clazzi (with 코타 & 주비 of 써니힐)-Sexy Doll

Reporting

Report #1


Report #2
I didn't get any of the public school jobs that I had applied to mainly because of email complications.  Looks like the tutoring gig stays for at least another eight months.

Report #3
Christmas gifts are FINISHED.  May the distributing begin.

Report #4
I have become a fan of Sinclair Ferguson.  "Our past sins do not paralyze God."  I like that.  I finished his Ruth and Christmas series.  So good.  Now I'm going to start James.

Thought of the Day:  Dream
Song of the Day:  어른아이-Oh Happy Day

This week's persecuted church: Iran

"When he first went into prison, they put him into solitary confinement in a tiny cell. After that, they moved him into another room, and he was with quite a few people," DeMars reports. "It was very hot in the room, and all he could do [was] sit down day and night. They couldn't [lie] down to sleep."

Now, Irani is in a regular cell, according to the ministry spokesman. "However, he's been daily beaten up by criminals there in the prison. The criminals have been asked to do it by the authorities there," the PTM founder relays. "From what we've been told, they basically stand by and watch while it happens."

Irani is in poor health. Relatives say he has a foot that is so badly injured that he might lose it. Also, his hair has turned completely white. But the pastor reportedly is not giving up hope.

Thought of the Day:  쇼핑
Song of the Day:  창 밖을 봐요

A Day in the Life of...

1st Class
아줌마:  My daughter goes to a gym.
Me:  Oh.  How often does she go?
아줌마:  She's fat.
Me:  Oh ok.

2nd Class
(learning the proper usage of "promise")
Me:  So we use this when someone has broken or hasn't kept a promise.
아저씨:  Oh.  Like "약속했잖아!"
Me:  Yes.  Exactly.
아저씨:  (looks at time and gets up to leave)  I need to go to the dentist right now.  I have a promise.
Me:  (not quite) Ok.

3rd Class
Me:  What's "Celebrations, Mom!"?
Student:  축하해, 엄마!

4th Class
Student:  Today, we watched "기생령."
Me:  What is that?
Student:  Do you know 기생?
Me:  Is that like a ghost that comes back to life?
Student:  Do you know 기생충?
Me:  Oh!  You mean like parasite?
Student:  I don't know.
Me:  Oh.  So it's like a parasite ghost.  A ghost that lives in other people's bodies?
Student:  Yes!  Then we watched 폐가.
Me:  What is that?
Student:  Abandoned House.
Me:  You mean Haunted House?
Student:  No.  Abandoned House.
Me:  Oh.
Student:  This is now Korean class!  Then we watched...


5th Class
Me:  So you believe in Santa Claus?
Student:  Yeah, he even wrote me a letter (points at wall).
Me:  I didn't know Santa Claus knew Korean.

6th Class
(talking about right and left hands)
Student:  With my left, I punch like this (punches straight).  But with my right, I hook...  (demonstrates hook).

7th Class
Student:  Hello, Teacher!
Me:  Hello, Mark.
Student:  How are you today?
Me:  I'm good.
Student:  Yeah, it's a little bit cold today.
Me:  Yeah, a little bit.
Student:  Today, I'm going to tell you about the background story of Dead Rising (zombie game).
Me:  (*sigh*  here we go) Alright.  Great!

Thought of the Day:  Christmas Gifts
Song of the Day:  Shocking Lemon-Under Star

Winter Coma

Today, my student imitated what I looked like struggling to stay awake during class.  I told him it was just that my eyes were really uncomfortable today.  I think he bought it.  But that imitation he did of me today...yikes.

Thought of the Day:  Mariah Carey Christmas song
Song of the Day:  자전거 탄 풍경-너에게 난 나에게 넌

This week's persecuted church: Ethiopia

On November 29, more than 500 Muslim students, accompanied by Muslim police officials, burned down a church.  The church was burned down after the police destroyed its roof four days earlier.  The Muslim students screamed, "Allahu Akbar!"  and "Jihad!" as they poured gasoline and burned the Saint Arsema Orthodox Church.

Thought of the Day:  Polar Express
Song of the Day:  수상한 커튼-겨울의 끝