June 22

I've had the pleasure of going out in field service with the English group. I'm also including some pics of us doing park witnessing. We are always looking for English speaking people wherever we go. During door to door, we look for multicultural marriages. Usually the wife is a mail-to-order bride or something from Vietnam, Cambodia or Bangladesh. They are women escaping their weak economic system in hopes of something better abroad. It is sad for me just thinking about how dangerous that can be. They may be without basic rights in a developed country. They don't have a voice. They cannot speak Korean and have to learn throughout the years. They sometimes speak a little English. But to get through to them, the sisters in the English field must be on good terms with the mother-in-law who usually lives with them. We write letters to areas we cant get to. But get this: they speak/read Vietnamese or Thai so basically, we find a paragraph to copy on the website and copy the funny characters/letters one curvy squiggly thing at a time!
Since this day, I'm enjoying learning how to meet that specific populations' needs, as I consider them my neighbors and want them to enjoy a higher quality of life.

Not all parts of this now developed country are glamorous. 

Boon-shik (inexpensive streetfood/little dishes) for lunch!

Writing letters.

Ddok Bok Ki for a pre dinner snack.

A walk in the park doing informal.

A friend needed to pick up her sister's wedding photo album.Got to tour a wedding hall. Korean weddings are held not at all like the ones back home. It's really efficient. You rent the dress from the studio. After the hair and makeup team doll the bride up, they move onto the picture taking room where friends and family come through in an organized fashion. Then moving onto the food. People give a monetary gift, the larger the sum if you're closer to the couple, in order to receive something like a ticket in for the meal. The gifts are then traditionally given to the parents of the couple. Interesting, right? <--Standing on the catwalk the bride enters on with the works-dry ice, fog and lights. Needless to say, I had fun!!! I'm not the type to think about a fantasy wedding or anything. But I don't think I'll be getting married in Korea.

I'm going to prison, guys...

Military service in Korea has always been an extremely sensitive social issue. Particularly among Korean men, there is a (justifiably) huge sense of sacrifice for devoting two to three years of their prime of youth to serve the country. Few ever enjoy the military, alternately filled with mistreatment(from older ranks and same ranks as well) and boredom. But they all must report.  Here's how one guy feels about how the collective experiences of the Korean military can reduced to this image: 

"...  gives an idea of what Korean military experience is like. (That pose is called Wonsan pok-gyeok, which translates to "bombing of Wonsan." Wonsan is a port city in North Korea. This punishment is applied liberally for various causes, such as being slow in marching, losing a soccer game, or overcooking sarge's ramen.)"

How preparing for this mandatory duty affects an adolescent male's psychosocial development when others his age in other parts of the world are preparing for adulthood and other goals is an interest of mine lately. It isn't exactly dinner conversation.
Especially not for family members of males in that age who are Jehovah's Witnesses. These men make personal decisions based on teachings,as one puts it, like " 'people will learn war no more’ and to ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ I also learned that principled love can motivate us to love our enemies. Based on these and other scriptures and as a result of my firm personal convictions, I made the decision to refuse military service.” It isn't to get out of anything. It's strictly a moral decision.
If you're looking for a good small production film, try a South Korean indie film called "Frozen River" about one Korean Conscientious Objector.
The film does a great job of conveying the internal struggles Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as other pacifists, deal with when faced with conflicting attitudes from family members. For an objective director, the motivation of the politically neutral conscientious objector was pretty accurately portrayed. At least I thought so.
Here's an article from Wall Street Journal by Jason Strother that you don't need a login to read.

So I will be going to prison to visit a conscientious objector this Thursday. If you have any questions for him or words to share, comment or better yet, email me.