Shoe Shine Anyone?

When we arrived in Korea we had around 10 days of orientation in Jeonju. We then headed for Ulsan where we live now. When we arrived in Ulsan, all 70 teachers teaching in the Ulsan area met their co-teacher. I met mine as well. His name is Mr. Sung. One of the first things I found out about him is that he's a Christian. He invited us to his church two days later so we accepted his invitation.

Mr. Sung picked us up at 10:30am and we were off. We went to a local town named Yangsan. We parked and went up to the 3rd floor of a building in the center of town. We were greeted by several Koreans, a Chinese pastor, a Filipino pastor and the Korean pastor. We sat down and we sang, we prayed, we sang, we prayed, we listened to preaching, we sang, we ate lunch, we sang and finally we prayed some more. We left for home around 3:30pm.

About four weeks ago at church, I was sitting at the table after lunch and a man came up to me and asked me to give him my shoes. At first, I didn't know what was going on but I said okay and away my shoes went. Thankfully, he gave me some sandals to wear while my shoes were gone. About ten minutes later he came back with my shoes and they had never looked so good. The church member had taken my shoes and shined them like nothing I'd ever seen before. They looked like a mirror.

This man has found a way to serve the members of the church. About once a month he will go around and take each persons shoes and shine them. You can tell he is doing the best job he can do as he works. As I thought about this the week after it happened, I could not help but think of Jesus going around the room after the passover feast and washing the feet of His disciples.

John 13:12-17 "So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

I believe humility and faithfullness are two of the keys to being a servant that pleases the Lord. As I write this a few people come to mind. One is my father, Lennie Gardner. I know he is someone who would give up anything for his family and friends. He thinks of himself last. When we eat dinner at their house, you either leave the house having turned down several offers to take something with you or you leave with a bag of food for later. It's easier to just take the food at the first offer. He also uses the blessings God has given him to serve others, whether it's through his knowledge of so many things or through his business. He will one day reap his rewards for his humble faithfulness to God.

Another person is Karen's father, Jerry Guin, who is now enjoying everlasting life in heaven. He was also a true servant of God. He never wanted recognition for what he did, he just did it and moved on. He would save every penny and use it for others. I know he is already reaping the rewards of his humble faithfulness to God.
May we all look for for opportunities to ask the question, "Shoe Shine Anyone?"

Home At Last!

We arrived at our home, for the next year, on August 28th. God has truly answered our prayers. We were prepared for anything. We were really prepared for the worst. We have been given an apartment which includes the entire fourth floor of the building. It is very spacious (I'm guessing around 1100 sq. ft.) with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and it's brand new. The bedrooms are good sized and the kitchen is nice. Ashley was able to get an apartment in the same building which is also an answered prayer.

It wasn't but a couple of days into us living in our new home when we began realizing some differences and difficulties. These types of things seem to become large when they're all you focus on. Karen and I were talking and she said, "We really have been blessed by God and we can deal with these little inconveniences. God truly answered our prayers just by providing this place."

I was thinking about this later and I realized that many times we're not happy and we get frustrated because we have outrageous expectations. We ask God for things and when He answers our prayers we're still not happy. We seem to file away in our minds how all of the details should be as well. We really should be thankful for what He decides to give us even if we think He missed some details. This over expectation, I believe, leads to most of the frustrations believers have in their lives. We've not learned to be content in whatever situation we face.

Whatever God gives us is His "Divine Plan" for us. It's what He desires. However, God WILL give us the desires of our heart. When we walk close to God, our "heart's desire" will be His. Our heart's desire will be to say,

"nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt."
Jesus

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:5

We've Arrived

posted by James

After four airports and a 3 1/2 hour bus ride we made it to orientation. We are staying in a dorm room with two bunk beds and air that is controlled by the engineering office of the dorms. It is on sometimes and off sometimes. We never know when those times will be.

The people are great. Their culture is one that has its roots in Confucionism. Because of this they are caring, giving and they want to share everything they have with you. The younger respect the older and the older feel responsible to take care of and positively influence the younger. What an example of how Christians should act. We are taught this in God's Word, we simply must follow the teachings in a practical way each day.

We are slowly getting adjusted to the change in times and to the food (not really the food so much). It will take awhile. They had french fries on the buffet today just down past the Kimchi. Aaron had a plate full of fries and ketchup. He even went back for seconds. Overall, we are adjusting well and the kids are doing great with all of the travel and changes.

We must say that God is taking care of us. We made all of our connections on the planes even with very short layovers. All of our luggage made it to our destination. No one has been sick.

We have met some great people at the orientation who are from all over the world. We met a man today who is a Christian from California. We were able to tell him and others about how we came to be in Korea. The first question we get from most people is, "What caused you to bring your entire family to Korea?" From there we can explain how God led us here.

Continue to pray for us as we have not yet arrived to our final destination, Ulsan. We want to really reach souls for Christ so when we reach our FINAL DESTINATION (Heaven) we can have them there with us.

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!