Teaching Korean

When I moved to Satsunai area in Makubetsu town, God had put us in a neighborhood where people were very close to each other. In one neighbor’s meeting, Mr. Hama asked me to join the town planning committee since I was working with IT related work. He was working for the town office and wanted me to be a part of the committee and give some input at the 10 year projecting town planning meeting. So I accepted that position since I wanted to get to know people in this town without a church. What this led me was to introduce myself to town office about who I was. Ever since then, I was a town planning committee member from the year 2000 to 2009. This led me to be chosen to be a Korean teacher at the cultural enrichment classes offered by the town office. I gladly accepted their invitation since I was looking for more involvement with the people in the town.

Because of that, I could meet more people and the town recognized me as one of the good input source as a voice from the people in town. So it was win-win situation. I got to meet more people, the town would get input from me as a foreigner and as an IT specialist. From this Korean class, several of the people who took my class wanted to continue to study Korean. Then I opened Korean classes for them along with other English classes. One after another, many of them began to join the classes.

From 2004, I began to have an outreach team with mothers from Seoul, Korea to teach how to make Kimchee and we had overwhelming response from all over Tokachi area. Some came from one hour away by car. It was sensational since it was boom in Japan at that time where many Korean dramas and movies were introduced. At the movie theaters, one third was Korean movies. Many watched Korean movies and they wanted to understand Korean more. Because of this, many wanted to study Korean. But then, they began to drag their eagerness to learn Korean because of their daily routines and they could not take time to study. The only time they could study was at the class time. This was not the way they could learn a language.

Their quick decision to study Korean faded quickly. They dropped out. But still others who wanted to study Korean would continue to join the classes. Still that classes are open and I get more people to get to know.

I thought it was God’s move for Japanese to look at Korean with respect. Korean missionaries are number 2 after American missionaries in number now in Japan. It was after world cup soccer co-hosted both Japan and Korea, that the cultural exchange began between the two countries. Korea was governed by Japan for over 37 years since 1919 to 1945. During these years, Korean was baned and Korean culture was discontinued by force. Many rebelled against Japan and died to protest during the time period. I was educated not to favorably accept Japanese from school since the teachers laid out the cruelty of what Japanese had done to Korean in the past. The pictures and movies were shown around Aug. 15th when Japan gave up the war against U.S.A. after the atomic bombs were dropped on the Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The emperor proclaimed that he was not a god. Then Japan had to wave white flag gesturing the nation would not continue to war.

It is ironic if you think of the past history that Japanese baned Korean for over 37 years. And now I was asked to teach Korean to Japanese. What a change and what an irony this can be!! I could only think that this was the move of God and the chance given by God for His purpose. There was big change in my understanding about Japan and Japanese. When I only saw Japan afar, it seemed enemy, but when I am inside in Japan, Japanese are my only brothers and sisters. I am grateful to God who brought me this far with better understanding of who Japanese are for me. God has goodness in Japanese and has purpose for Japanese in their eternity with God’s destiny.

My understanding of God’s redemptive purpose for Japanese is that they are warriors to be the final thrust to reach the unreached area of middle east. Many of them will be added as martyrs for Christ and they will be business people with missions. This is what I want to teach and lead in Japan in the future.

Abraham Lee@Gospel House