Blessed Assurance (June 14)

• Today Winter and I visited Garden Lady again. I love just talking with her. Her facial expressions are fabulous and she's so sweet, and quite smart. And she tries to use English every once in awhile. I think she knows about the same amount of English as I know Korean...maybe a little more. After a little while, we headed back to my apartment for the bathroom and a sweatshirt (it's really cool here lately!) before going to search for dinner. I remembered that I wanted to give her some banana bread so I put some on a plate and we headed back there. She wasn't outside when we arrived, so we wandered into the shop. When I said "Hello!" she shouted back from the back room for us to come in! (There was a little kitchenette, office and another small room for her and her children to hang out in when business is slow.) I showed her that I brought bread - she said "Anja! Anja! Anja!" (Sit down! Sit down! Sit down!) and started bustling around to make tea (we had strawberry tea). She and her daughter loved my bread (!) and we got to talk even more, about crocheting, making tea, Korean schools, individualism vs. collectivism, and other things. It was really wonderful. A little while into the conversation, she said she thinks of me as her niece because I live alone and have no one to take care of me. I am so glad I decided to buy a plant from her!
• As Winter and I headed to the bus stop later, I encountered another first in Korea - we saw a woman peeing in the grass near the bus stop! Now, this is not tall grass, nor do I live on a deserted road. But there she was.
• The Heart of Music service tonight was really great. There are a lot of things I love about this Thursday night service - the regularity, the music, the people, the opportunity to shut everything out (and to PRACTICE shutting it all out). But tonight we did more sharing with each other and I loved it. I realized that there are a lot of things that I could/should be praying about right now, and that I need to make time to remember to lift those concerns up. But it also helped me remember/realize that, even though I haven't gone bungee-jumping or white-water rafting or anything else crazy or traveled to a ton of countries, I have had - am having! - an amazing time here because of the truly wonderful human beings that I have met. I am truly 축복받은 - blessed.