How it all started

posted by James

The following is how God lead us (James, Karen, Aaron-12 & Kharis Gardner-8) to go to South Korea. We are excited and hope that through reading this blog you will see how truly amazing God is and how He still speaks to His children.

November 2005

Almost 4 years ago, I had a missionary to Hong Kong come to Liberty Baptist Church's mission conference named Wayne Purcell. While at the conference, Wayne mentioned to the church that individuals could come to China and teach English and that the government would pay them to do this. This caught our attention but was put in the back of our minds.

September 2008

Fast forward 3 years... A man names Steve Kim, a native of Korea, came to our church on a Sunday night to hear the message. We met him and found out he wanted to learn more about God's Word. Steve and I had several lunches and the subject came up about teaching English in Korea. Something inside told me that this was something to consider. I prayed and told God that if this is something He wanted me to pursue that I would want Karen to have the same desire. Later that same day we went out to eat at Denny's. I told Karen about my day, casually mentioned teaching English in Korea and went on to another subject. Karen stopped me in the middle of my sentence and said, "If that is something you would ever consider, I would be all for it." I was surprised but said nothing about my prayer at that time.

A couple of weeks and many Google searches later

I told Karen about my prayer and she remembered her response at Denny's. We knew that God wanted us to continue pursuing teaching ESL somewhere in the world.

November 2008

After speaking with a close pastor friend of ours, we decided to pray that God would confirm our thoughts through answers to specific prayers instead of a general feeling that this was His will. The following are some of the examples of how God confirmed our move:

Pastor Green

One of our concerns was that our current employer and pastor would support our decision. After meeting with him in November, 2008, I left Pastor Green's office with not only his blessings but he said he would hold my position at Liberty for me for a year. God is amazing.

Our children's education

Karen has always said she would never home school! Somehow she feels that she can do this now with the Lord's help.

Our home
We are not selling our home so we didn't know how we would afford to keep it without our current salaries. A young couple who will get married in September came to mind and we approached them about renting our home. They were excited and that has now been confirmed.

Our van
After telling a close friend of ours about our decision, he asked what are you going to do with your van? He bought it and is going to pick it up August 10th.

A church in Ulsan
A friend called me on July 6th and said you will never believe who I am having lunch with. I got on the phone with his lunch guest who was the founder of the Korean Baptist Bible Fellowship, has pastored 3 churches and founded two Bible colleges in Korea. I had lunch with Brother Choo two days later in Raleigh, NC and he said I know the perfect church for you and your family in Ulsan, Ulsan Bible Baptist Church.

Expenses
Pastor Green volunteered to purchase the one-way tickets for my family to get to Korea. Liberty and a few other churches are going to give a one-time gift to us to help with the transition and you know about our home and our van already.

We titled this Blog "What were we thinking?". What we were thinking is that whatever God wants us to do, we will do. We are anxious and excited at the same time. A new country...a new home...a new school for Aaron and Kharis(our living room)...a new job. We know God is in control and we can't wait to see how He is going to use each person in our family to reach more souls for Him.

Bookmark this blog to keep up with info, photos and videos of our journey and contact us if we can ever help you!