Jeanna

East Asia

October 30, 2007

Hello Everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since I have written. Things here have been quite busy with the semester coming to an end. Joanna and I have had much to do this past month. We’ve had two visitors from home! My mom came to visit at the end of September and Joanna’s sister came from Thailand to visit this past week. It was so good to see them, but really hard to say goodbye again.

While my mom was here we went to Tumen to see the border of North Korea. That was so amazing and surreal. We went out on the river in a little wooden raft and were able to get so close to N.K. that we could reach out and touch it! Then we got to walk halfway across a bridge that connected North Korea and China. It was an awful reminder of how trapped the people of N.K. are in their country to see the big red line that marked how far I was able to go. I could see people working in fields and walking along the road as I looked over into N.K. They were so close to China, a land that is controlled so much by their own government, yet still seeming so free in comparison to this troubled land. My heart broke for them. I found myself thinking, “I wonder how many people have actually fled the country by swimming across this river?” and “Are their people hiding in these mountains and fields that surround me right now, just waiting for the opportune moment to escape?” Well, about two weeks later an unbelievable thing happened to me! I was out running around the school’s track when I saw a man standing in the distance. I looked over and smiled a hello at him and was going to continue running when I saw that he was trying to get my attention. I hesitated a second and then saw that he really wanted to talk to me so I stopped and went over and said hello. He said hello back, only it was in Korean, and began telling me that he was a teacher from N.K. and had recently escaped with his friend (whom I just began to notice was standing far away in some tall grass) and was very poor and in need of food! He kept begging me saying, “please help me please help me! I’m from N.K.” My heart about leaped out of my chest as I stood there not knowing what to do or if I should believe this. Was I being set up? What would happen if the authorities found out I helped a N.K. refugee? But the man seemed to really be in need and I longed to help him and his friend in any way I could. So I told him I would help him and to please wait there while I went and got some food. I sprinted to my room and told Joanna and her sister Rachel (who was visiting us at the time) what happened and called my supervisor and told her what happened and asked her what she thought I should do. She was amazed at what happened and said it was alright to give food but advised me not to give anything else. So Joanna and I excitedly packed up as much food as we could and ran back to the track pr*ying that they would still be there. Thankfully they were and so we gave them the food and began talking with them. One of the men opened his jacket and showed us his button identifying him as a N. Korean! The other man then began telling us of their journey to China. He said that they had escaped by swimming across the Tumen River just 15 days earlier! What’s amazing is that that is the same river we visited 15 days earlier! They must have swum across it that very night! I couldn’t believe it! G*d is so amazing! I had yarped as I stood on that border that G*d would bring people across that river and save them from that dry land and not only did He answer that yarp, but He gave me the privilege of meeting them and helping them in a small way. The two men were extremely grateful for the food. They said they were very hungry (they looked as if it might have been days since they had last eaten). I told them I would be pr*ying for them and that I hoped the food was a blessing.

That night I couldn’t sleep however. I was so worried about them because it was cold and they told me they had nowhere to stay. I laid awake for a long time pr*ying over and over that the L*rd would provide them with warm shelter. I can only trust that He has been faithful in answering that yarp.

They have been on my mind everyday since then. Please yarp for them too. Ask that they would be protected. One of them said he would be returning to N.K. sometime. I believe he will be bringing others out again. Please ask for safety for him.

This was an unbelievable experience. It has awakened me to the realities of what’s going on around me everyday. I just can’t believe I had the privilege of being a part of it. G*d has been so good to me. I ask for more opportunities to serve Him in this way.

As for my class, I am glad to say that things are going really well there. Thank you so much for yarping for me about this. I am actually building some really good relationships with my students. This week I hung out with two of them and had a great time. Next week I have plans to go swimming with another. I am so excited, the L*rd has really been opening up a lot of doors there. Please be yarping for me to have wisdom with my words and that His Spirit would guide me in these relationships.

I can’t believe our time here is ending. I have been thinking a lot lately about my time here and it overwhelms me to think about how the L*rd has worked in my life and still is working in it. I feel like He has changed me so much, but it’s hard to say how. My life is just different. My thoughts on reality and what’s important are different. But I admit that I’m afraid to go home. I’m afraid because I don’t want to fall back into what I was before coming to China. It’s so easy to get swept back up into the American way of life, please be pr*ying for me as I get ready to return home.