When we think about North Korea here in America our minds automatically go to nuclear bombs. We automatically think about ourselves and the danger we might be in. I thought the exact same selfish thing before I knew the real story, before I was able to meet people and hear what is truly going on in that country. North Korea is ruled by a dictator names Kim Jon Il and his family. Every home, school or business must have a picture of Kim Jon Il hanging on the wall and everyone must worship this picture or you will be executed or sent to a harsh labor camp. A recent famine has caused many people to starve to death. There is no freedom of any kind. The leading family will not help the people. They only want to brainwash them to believe that all other people groups are wrong and that they are terrorists. But the people are still hungry. They believe that there must be something better. They hear stories of people who have escaped into freedom…. A land of food! Escape is illegal. If they leave and are caught they will be tortured or killed. Still many try it. Escape is not easy. The only way out is to swim across a river, which must be done under the cover of night in order to get passed the snipers who sit ready to shoot anyone they catch. Still many risk it. If they make it into China they must hide in fear of being caught and being returned to North Korea. I heard stories from girls who had made it into China but were victims of human trafficking. In fact, statistics show that 80% of all females (no matter the age!!) are sold into the sex trade. One of my students was a victim of human trafficking at the age of 14. Another at the age of 12. Many boys try their best to find work in order to get food, but if they are caught they will be sent back to face torture in a labor camp. I heard a testimony from a North Korean friend of mine who’s English name is Joe. He said that when he was in high school he was walking home from school and saw a public execution. Three men had been hung on crosses…. Because they had stolen food!! At that point Joe decided to leave North Korea in search of peace. He left without even telling his family. He crossed the river safely into China and found a job as a slave on a rice farm. As a slave he was fed very little, allowed to sleep very little and he even had to brush his masters teeth. He hated life. He was still searching for something more. That’s when he met a missionary in China who helped him get to South Korea. In South Korea he became a student at the school I taught at this summer, and there he met another missionary who led him to Christ!! Joe finally found the peace he had been searching for!! My friend is now preparing to return to North Korea in order to be a missionary and tell his people about the peace that comes with knowing Christ!!
The North Koreans I worked with this summer have story’s that broke my heart, but what hurts even more is to know that people are dying at this very moment without the knowledge of Christ! I had the privilege of living with a sweet girl names Stella for a week this summer. Stella became a Christian one year ago after arriving at the school I taught at this summer. Stella is a girl full of passion!! But she was not always that way. Growing up in North Korea she was very hungry and always felt depressed. Her family would pull bark off of trees and boil it in order to have something in her belly. As time went on there was no bark left on trees. So she went hungry. She felt unloved by anyone. She needed more. She needed to know what else was in the world. She finally made it to South Korea after a long, harsh journey. After learning about Christ at our school, she tried to run from God. She didn’t believe that He loved her because of all the bad things that had happened in her life. After realizing she could not make it on her own, she submitted her life to The Almighty. A year later I sat with her in her bedroom and every night we would read The Bible together and pray for North Korea. The last night I lived with her she asked through broken English for me to pray for her family that was still suffering in North Korea. She asked for me to pray that God would send manna down into North Korea just like He had supplied for the Israelites. WOW! When it was her turn to pray, she was weeping and rocking back and forth. I have never seen anyone pray with such passion. She wasn’t just praying for herself or her family. She was praying for a whole nation!! She was praying that people would receive food so that they could stay alive until they could hear about Christ! I believe that a prayer like that requires a BIG faith!! James 2:5 fits very well. “Listen, my dear brothers: has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him?” These students who have come to know Christ in the midst of all have such a BIG faith…. True faith!! Learning to have faith is one of the many lessons God taught me this summer through the North Koreans.
I also learned how to love. I learned how to truly love others and Christ by watching my precious orphans. While I was in Korea I actually “adopted” a child. This sweet girls name is Anna Mae. Anna Mae came to South Korea with her real mom in order to find food, but mostly to escape her harsh family like. Anna Mae’s father used to abuse her mentally and physically because she was a girl. This left Anna Mae broken and when she arrived in South Korea she was very malnourished. Now today she is struggling with an eating disorder because she still believes some of the things her father said to her. I’m thankful that I have also struggled with an eating disorder because it really opened doors for me to minister to her. Anna Mae now knows the love of a true father!! Praise God! Another thing about Anna Mae is that she taught me how to love with my whole heart. Anna Mae was the first North Korean that I told that I loved them because I had heard that none of the students would love us because one- we are Americans and two- because they know that we would just leave them. When I told Anna Mae that I loved her she said “me too very very love you!” From that day on the other teachers called her my shadow because she was always right beside me.
I believe that my love for God grew 100% throughout the course of the summer. As I was able to spend time in The Word, I realized that loving God completely was a very important part of my relationship with Christ that I had just left out for too long. Yes of course I knew him, but I don’t believe I was truly in love with Him! The summer was not easy and many trials came, but through it all, my Savior was still my Savior! From days spent weeping over a death by starvation to hearing stories of 13 years olds being raped, my heart was constantly hurting…. Yet in the midst of that, God’s love still remained! I learned through the hard times that I could do nothing but lean on Him!
One of my favorite memories from the summer would have to be listening to my orphans cry out “Abogee!!” (Which means Father) while they were praying. Another would be one day asking a student where he’s going when he dies and him saying “to the top!” Another would be praying with my teammates while we stood looking at North Korea. Another would be having a student ask me if I had a boyfriend because I had a ring on my ring finger. I told her “No. Boyfriend Jesus”. She said “OHH I want boyfriend Jesus!!” And yet another would be having one of our newest students come to know Christ at the English Revival Camp I worked at my last week in Korea. This student came to South Korea after spending a long time working in China. When he first came to our school he actually wanted to go back to China because of all the discrimination he felt in South Korea. At the camp he came forward after the message and asked to be prayed for. Then the speaker told the students that if they wanted to be saved to come forward again, and here comes that same student. Oh I’m so thankful for the blessed opportunity to pray with him each time he came forward. Praise God that this boy now knows a true and everlasting joy and praise God that he can now take this good news back into China!!
This summer was not comfortable… I mean how comfortable can you be when you eat dog, squid, eel, octopus and seaweed on a daily basis? But God proved to me that being broken and uncomfortable was exactly right where I needed to be. That’s where I pray that we get in America. I want to be completely broken so that I have nothing to do except turn to Christ.
God has big plans for North Korea. I pray that God will one day give me the opportunity to go into North Korea and tell the good news but until that day comes, I will be praying. Praying for manna to fall, praying for Kim Jon Il and his family to be saved, and praying that another person will not starve to death before hearing about God!
Please join me!! We must rise together in order to proclaim the saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior to all nations. We have missing family members our there….. Let’s go get them!
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