This week's persecuted church: Tanzania

Christians in Tanzania have lost churches, homes, cars and livestock in a series of recent attacks, and some have received physical injuries. In the most recent attack, Muslims returning from worship at a mosque on Friday, Oct. 12, burned a car belonging to Bishop Muhiche of the Tanzania Assemblies of God church. After burning his car, the extremists moved on to destroy the pastor’s church.

That same day, in Ushirombo District of Shinyanga Region, Muslim extremists attacked the Reverend Victor Simbaulanga. Enraged by an open-air evangelistic meeting the pastor was leading, the attackers beat Simbaulanga so severely that he had to be hospitalized. A VOM contact is working to have the pastor transferred to a hospital in a safer area so he won’t be attacked again.

Thought of the Day:  4-0?
Song of the Day:  Psy-Gangnam Style

Prescription

I've been sick for just over three weeks now with this heinous cough that just will not go away.  But I got a nice prescription to relieve some of the pain.

Did you see Verlander go 'wow'?  Ha!

Thought of the Day:  Happy Birthday, 마.
Song of the Day:  Blur-Song 2

How about

them Giants???

We're going to the World Series, baby!!


Thought of the Day:  칼국수
Song of the Day:  OK Go-Here It Goes Again

This week's persecuted church: Pakistan

On Friday afternoon, Sept. 21, a mob of several thousand radical Muslims attacked St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Mardan City, Pakistan. The attackers, armed with rifles and kerosene, overwhelmed security guards and broke into the church. They destroyed Bibles and prayer books, desecrated the altar and set fire to the church building and several surrounding homes and buildings. The mob was returning from a protest against the film Innocence of Muslims.

Thought of the Day:  Zoo
Song of the Day:  Nirvana-Drain You

This week's persecuted church: Kenya

Gatei was in the room when a grenade exploded at about 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 30 at St. Polycarp, of the Anglican Church of Kenya, on the Juja Road in Nairobi. The explosion killed the boy and injured eight other children. Sally’s own son had been in there, too, only three minutes before.

“The most amazing thing, though, is that, although we thought we should cancel Sunday school the next Sunday, most children insisted we should meet as usual, even though the room had not yet been repaired!”

This attack came shortly after a Somali member of Al Shabaab had been sentenced to 59 years in prison after he confessed in court to planning attacks on Parliament. At his arrest, together with a second man, the two had, according to the police, confessed to have targeted four Nairobi churches.

Case of the Mondays

I usually wake up at 6 and leave the house by 7:20.  This morning, I woke up at 7:20.

Thought of the Day:  Horses

Song of the Day:  Jaci Velasquez-Sanctuary

Sick of Being Sick

I haven't been sick in over a year, so I started getting all proud of my health streak...until the other day.  I got a bad cold and the worst neck pains I've ever had in my life.  I even lost my voice for the first time so that was interesting and annoying.  Today, one of my co-teachers sent me this message:


i'm sorry Mr. Jung... you don't have to fill out the selecting the NEXT YEAR'S  English text books..
only Koren teachers.

Seeing  your sick neck, I feel very sorry ... poor Mr. Jung  ㅜ.ㅜ
Take care of yourself...



아 참..Question!..
show the inner side...대신 show the inner self.........the same?


Along with the message, she attached a picture of this:

Cause we all know how effective pictures of koalas can be for the common cold, right?  What a funny lady.

But I am getting better!

Thought of the Day:  Seven Classes!

Song of the Day:  Honey Family-우리 같이해요

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

This week's persecuted church: Pakistan

Human rights campaigners condemned the killing of Samuel Yaqoob whose burned and tortured body body was discovered on Eid, the celebration which marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
His lips and nose had been sliced off, his stomach removed and there was evidence that his legs had been mutilated too.

The boy had been missing since Monday when he left his home in the town's Christian Colony to visit a local market. His relatives identified his body from a distinctive mark on his forehead.
Yaquub was reported to be an orphan but in local newspaper reports his mother Asia Bibi was quoted denying he had been accused of blasphemy. "We neither received any phone call for ransom nor were we told that Samuel had committed blasphemy," she said.

Thought of the Day:  Bread of Life
Song of the Day:  Be Still My Soul

David Armand

I'd like to have him on my Guesstures team.  Happy Friday, everyone.

Thought of the Day:  Seating Arrangements
Song of the Day:  2NE1-Hate You

A Thousand Words

One of our head teachers just sent this to me.  Isn't that awesome?

I've also been using this picture in one of my powerpoints all week, and the same teacher sent me a link showing that she happened to be a Korean-American.  What a way to represent, huh?

Thought of the Day:  Sam
Song of the Day:

Sharpener

Every morning, I pray to God asking Him to make me into a better teacher.  This morning after my first period class, the co-teacher for that class asked if she could share some of her "opinions" with me.  Basically, it was a short list of SHOULDs and SHOULDN'Ts for me to keep in mind.  Short yet painful.  She is definitely one of the most experienced and professional teachers at our school, but that also makes me uneasy every time I have to teach with her.  I feel like I'm under her observance glass as she takes copious notes on my teaching skills (or lack thereof).  But I also know that teaching with her is sharpening me into a better teacher.  I just hate how sharpening always hurts.  What a curveball answer to my prayers.

Thought of the Day:  Caller/Receiver

Song of the Day:  Moby-Porcelain

This week's persecuted church: Kenya

A church was attacked and looted on July 7 by an armed mob believed to be sympathizers of the al Qaeda-linked Somali terrorist network al-Shabab.

"At three PM, attackers armed with guns stormed the compound and immediately began pulling down one iron sheet after another and soon 60 iron sheets were gone," Pastor Joseph Lokuruku, who helplessly watched the incident from a distance.  "It was terrible sight to watch the walls of the church come down, [but] I could not shout for help because the attackers could gun me down."

Despite the recent assault on Game-Loitiki church, however, Pastor Lokuruku refuses to be intimidated by the threats and continues to gather for worship on Sunday mornings.  "We will not move away from Game-Loitiki, but will trust God for his sustenance and protection," the pastor said.  "We are leaving everything to God."

Thought of the Day:  Bagels
Song of the Day:  The Presidents of the United States of America-Peaches