You were always there for me when I needed you most.You were by my side through the ups and the
downs.You were my joy in times of
stress.You were always patiently
waiting until the next time we met.
You were my comfort, my protector, my teammate, my supporter,
my treasure, my best friend.
It’s been half a year now since my dog passed away.She was pretty much the best dog in the
world, a billion times better than your dog. No dog could ever replace her.
My dog’s name was Kamp.My dad bought Kamp for my brother and me because one summer the Ko
brothers won many trophies from a two week long music camp.Since we got Kamp because of camp, we named
her Kamp.Get it?
Kamp was the only puppy in the litter with one white paw. That set her apart from all the other puppies. She was smaller than all her brothers and sisters, but she the most beautiful. The first night at our home, she slept in a cardboard box in my room. We fed her milk and bread.
"The Korean Jindo Dog
is a breed of dog originating in Korea. The Jindo is a hunting dog,
originally from Jindo Island. The Korean Jindo Dog is well known for its unwavering loyalty." - Wikipedia.org. This statement is absolutely true. Kamp has killed countless number of bugs, a grip of birds, a handful of opposums, and left a couple neighborhood cats moribund. Any intrudors in our yard was dead meat.
The only "trick" my dog knew was sit. I don't like the idea of taming dogs. I like them to be free. I like them in their natural, wild state. They shouldn't be brainwashed into doing things humans want them to do. They should be doing things that dogs like to do and in Kamp's case that is to kill. But I didn't want her ability to sit to go to waste. Therefore, I taught her to always sit on her prey after she kills it as a sign of her triumphant victory. Her record is infinity wins and zero losses. (some information was slightly distorted)
Kamp was a mother of five wonderful puppies. One boy and four girls. I remember my dad took her to "visit" a male Jindo gae one night. I wanted to go but my dad didn't let me. And a couple months later BAM!!! we have puppies!! A few years down the line I realized why my dad didn't invite me to Kamp's "visit". We kept the male puppy for a while. We named him Orion because he was so big and strong. But he always had this baby face. He reminds me of Andrew Bynam, hahah!! However, we had this incident one day when Orion and Kamp fought over food. I got in the middle of the fight and ended up in the emergency room. Kamp bit my hand on accident. On the upside, my weeping stopped the dog fight.
This is what happens to walls when Andy hears bad news. This occured the first morning of summer. I woke up thinking, oh baby! summer has begun! I am ready to be really happy! The first thing I did that morning was go outside to feed Kamp. She usually runs to me when she hears me open the screen door. However, that morning she wasn't there. I walked around the backyard with a can of chunky meat in my left hand and a can opener in my right hand. I said, "oohhh Kampy Wampy!! where are youuu!?! are you hiding from meee!? where are youuu!?!?! quit playing games, I don't play! ::sniff:: where are you?!?! ::tear:: " I ended up not opening the can.
Had I known this was going to be our last picture together I would've worn better clothes and brushed my hair.
The following is an exclusive footage of Kamp in a training session. I, a pseudo mountain lion, am sparring Kamp to sharpen her hunting skills. Also features Kamp eating honey out of a bee.
Goodbye my loveeeerr. Goodbye my frieeend. You have been the one. You have been the one for me. Rest in Peace Kamp.
I went to Thailand a couple weeks back for summer missions. It was truly an awesome experience. I've gotten really blessed from the people there, and I hope we were a blessing to the Thai people as well.
I'd like to share my experience with you. Here are some pictures, and a couple videos. Enjoy!
Part I: Traveling - LA to Korea to Thailand.
We're at LAX Tom Bradley International. Some people came to send us off. We were supposed to meet here at 9:00 pm. I got there on time, but everyone else came 30 minutes later. I hate asian time.
Korean Air is the best. I love the Korean flight attendants. I chilled with them for a bit in their little compartments. But one downside was no dduk bbo sahm for dinner. I also made my blanket into a cape and ran through the plane.
My very first encounter with "banana ooo-yoo" Dang, it tastes so good. It tastes just like monkeys and cows mixed together.
I met this really cute hunk at the Incheon Airport.
We finally arrived at the Thai Airport after 16 hours of flying. Those things hanging from our necks are real flowers.
Part II: School - our team taught English at a local public school. The school was a combination of a middle and high school. We taught from 8am to 4pm and 3 to 4 classes a day.
This is the school. It's a pretty nice place.
Every morning the students gather at the quad and have a morning devotional thing to the king.
Jinwoo taught the kids English slang or "hip-hop" language. This is an example of how to say, "let's chill...". Other words Jinwoo taught: foh sho, naw bro, i'm popping my collar, let's bone out, my bad.
My goal was to teach every student the word "ooooOO-wwWWeeEE". This word is a pretty difficult concept because there are so many uses for it. However, I only taught the introductory course to them which contains only 3 definitions out of a total of infinity. After teaching about 4 classes a day containing 30 students for 5 days, 600 students learned "ooooOO-wwWWeeEE".
We went to a music class and learned to play the Thai instruments. This is the action shot of our band, Thai my Shoes.
Muay Thai is crazy. These guys reminded my of Ong Bak. That guy in the left corner who's just chillin is the really crazy one. Tae Kwon Do is still better though, haha.
Some Thai girls came into the teacher's lounge. They showed us a Thai dance. I tried to learn, but my wrists just don't bend that way. Later I gave them a special treat.... a sample of how I dance. Although I couldn't verbally teach them how to dance like me, my hips did most of the talking (universal language).
This is a snack shack at the school. They sell porkcabobs and other bangin stuff.
This is the best cafeteria food i've ever had. Dude, every Thai food you can imagine is there. The best part about it is the price. ONLY 15 baht for a dish. That's equivalent to 50 cents.
We were seriously like celebrities wherever we went. Kids popped out of no where just to get a glimpse of us.
I carefully listened as our friend played beautiful music with his violin.
Ballin
hahah my favorite picture. I'm owning Dookie right here. Looks like Dookie is saying, "OOOOOHHHHH" Dookie 0 :: Andy 1
Chillin with some kids who ditched class.
My homies.
The popular girls. Everybody in Thailand has an English nickname. My friend Im (the girl two spots left of me from your perspective, the one right next to Hannah) gave me the best nickname in the world. My nickname is Somchai, meaning strong and perfect man. I don't know if that's accurate, but i'll take it.
Friends.
More friends.
and then some.
After surviving through a monsoon, we jumped for joy!
WWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Part III: Kanchanaporn Church - After we taught each class, we told the students that we'll be holding free English lessons at the church. When the students came, we played games, sang songs, and ministered to them.
We're playing this game called Boomchica boom boooom boom boom, it's called Sahchigi sahchigi sah pah bbo in Korean. So it's this chain reaction imitation type game. But what ended up happening was only me and judy playing and everyone just watching. See it's not fun when everyone isn't involved. AND just makes me look like an idiot.
Praise and Worship. I wonder what the Thai students were thinking and how they felt. Those two girls wearing the blue in the middle and far left look Japanese to me. That girl in the white is like 4 feet something.
Keb - Pastor Udomporn's son. He has gimongous eyes.
Kahn - Pastor's daughter. She has hairy legs.
ok guys... this isn't what it seems to be. the only reason i took this picture with her is because of her name. Her name is Auawee. When you say it, her name sounds exactly like, "oooOOOO-wwwWWEEeeeEE"
This is my friend Penelope. So one day I heard Penelope mumbling words to herself. I wanted to know what she was saying. I found out she was practicing for a English speech competition. She rehearsed the poem for me. I noticed that she had no emotion or body language when speaking. So I gave her some pointers on that. This past week I got an email from her that said she used all the tips i gave her for the competition. Penelope got 1st place in the speech competition. Congradulations!!
Part IV: Pilloki Church - this has got to be the craziest place i've ever been to. we drove two hours to get to this huge lake. Then from there, we rode this small canoe type boat for an hour to this jungle island. Dude, this place was insane. I don't think you can find this place on google map. But the craziest aspect about this island is that 80% of the tribal inhabitants are Christians. It's such a blessing and a miracle to know that God works even in these remote places.
Here we gooo!! That Harry Potter looking guy in the very front is Hah Min. He's the Korean pastor/missionary's son. He's only 13 and can speak English, Korean, and Thai fluently.
Jack & Rose
Straight up jungle fever.
As we neared our destination, the islands became junglier.
Finally!! We safely arrived.
Home Sweet Home
the kitchen
the sink/bathtub. the spout on the left side of the picture collects rain water and dumps it in the basins. this place is a rainforest, it constantly rained while we were here.
the bedroom/dining room/living room. we put up masquito nets when we slept, but i still got bit by these malaria filled giant vampire masquitos.
the bathroom. notice that the bathroom is on the second floor. the reason for this is so that when you flush the toilet, the waste drops directly beneath you on the bottom floor. your poo and pee is food for the pigs.
the balcony
the backyard
Children at the church
Our prodigal son skit. we stepped on a bunch of bugs during our performance.
our journey back to the mainland
bye bye bulls
Part V: Recreation- floating market, elephants, waterfall
Floating Market
Floating fruit. Thailand has so many exotic fruit i've never had before. Mancoot by far is the best fruit i've ever tasted. It's the blackish purply fruit on the boat. Inside there is this white fruit that looks like garlic. But when you eat it. Oh myyy. So bangin.
Banana boat
Riding the boat. We couldn't rest our hands on the boat cuz then it'll tip over and i'll would drown.
Thai food was bombs! I don't think there was one meal I didn't enjoy. I think i gained one kilo from the trip.
Sit! good girl!
Baby elephant
Elephant's skin is hard and rough. Their hairs are really prickly. They eat peanuts. They have good memory and are scared of mice. Their nose is long because the alligator bit it and stretched it.
Waterfall
Inside waterfall
Part VI: Videos
What's up baby?!
I went around and talked to some kids after teaching my boys how to say, "what's up baby?!"
What's up man?!
I taught my friends that guys to girls you say, "what's up baby?" and girls to guys you say, "what's up man?"
Thailand is such an awesome country. I'm really thankful for the oppotunity to visit and serve in Thailand.
Let's keep Thailand in our prayers. Less than 1% of the Thai people are Christians. The people really need Jesus and we must show them His love and pray for them.
in case you're wondering why i turned out the way i am.....
i was raised by bunnies.
i'm in thailand now for missions. (july 3 - 16 or something) please pray for me. please pray that i'll go with the right heart and attitude, and that i'll serve and love the thai people. thanks
Hi everybody. no pictures this time. but lots of words!
This was an entry from my brother. he is so smart and so cool and so nice. i spilled latte on my shorts. i think he's a really good writer, but i hate it when he edits my essays cuz i practically end up rewriting the whole thing. i hope you guys take the time to read the whole entry although it may be long.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Sing to me. Dance with me. Say that you love me.
It's been a while... I've been doing a lot of reading lately and doing a lot of thinking...
It sucks to not be loved. It sucks when we put our time and effort into showing someone that we care, but we get rejected as if we were the filthiest thing on the planet. It sucks to feel that no one cares. It sucks having to put up fronts in order to protect ourselves.
But it occurred to me one day that while I was worrying about the "speck" in my brother's eye, I was oblivious to the huge "plank" in mine. More specifically, I was upset that people did not trust in me while the whole time I was not trusting in Him.
About a month later, I was dumbstruck by a similar realization. While waiting to receive "love," was I giving any in return? How do you love someone anyway?
So I started reading 1 Corinthians 13 and the answers were right there: 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.
I realized that when I was not patient, not kind, envying, etc., I was not loving. But what I found being especially profound were the phrases "[love] is not self-seeking" and "[love] keeps no record of wrongs." The first phrase was easy to interpret. If love is not self-seeking, it means that love is about the other person and not myself. It means that I give and give and do not expect anything in return. It means that when my motives or my yearnings get in the way of helping someone else, I am not loving. The second phrase was a little harder to interpret. What does "keeping no record of wrongs" mean? Does love have amnesia? On the surface, it can be interpreted that way, but I thought a little harder. I remembered from 1 Peter 4:8 that love covers over a multitude of sins. I also remembered the phrase "forgive and forget." I was then able to conclude that when you love someone, you are able to forgive all of their debts against you. Furthermore, when you truly have forgiven someone, then are you able to forget and keep no record of wrongs.
After these realizations, I started to love everyone around me to the best of my ability, but I felt that something was missing. So I waited for God again and soon He answered me through Matthew 22: 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[2]38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[3]
In effect, I felt that I was missing something because I was missing the main point: Love the Lord first with all my heart. Loving others would be an overflow of loving God.
During the next couple weeks, I observed how many non-Christians and Christians alike were oblivious to God's love because they were decieved by the notion that life is an eternal struggle between good and evil. In this situation, it is difficult to distinguish between "good people" and Christians. For example, what is the difference between Habitats for Humanity, a humanitarian group who builds homes for the poor, and Christians who decide to build homes for the poor because they decide it is a "good thing to do"? There is hardly a distinction. It brings to mind this humbling truth in Matthew 7: 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' This verse reveals that only those who do the will of God the Father are known to Jesus. Just because you believe in the existence of God does not mean that you are saved. 1 John 5 says, "3This is love for God: to obey his commands." How is obeying God loving God? I believe that the following line of reasoning is one way of looking at how this works. If we obey someone, then we must be able to submit ourselves to whoever gave the command. In the act of submission, we are at the same time "trusting in" or "believing in" this person. In reference to 1 Corinthians 13, love always trusts. Therefore, obeying God = believing in God = trusting God = loving God.
As Black-Eyed Peas put it, "Where is the love?" If we were created to love God, why don't we all love God? Why don't we love one another? Sadly, our obliviousness to God's love is the "pattern of the world," mentioned in Romans 12:2. In our world, Satan is hiding God's love from us. Think about it. If our greatest commandment is to love God, then wouldn't the enemy of God want to separate God from those He loves? How does Satan do it? Many times, the enemy feeds our need for genuine love that only comes from God with counterfeit idols. For example, when kids run away from home or join gangs, are they not pursuing a sense of "family love" that they feel that they are not getting at home? When people pursue careers for prestige or a meaning to life, are they not pursuing a sense of being accepted and belonging? When churches become complacent, are they not confusing the pursuit of God with worldy success and well-being? When we delight in the gospel only because of the fact that we are saved, are we not deceived into believing that the centrality of the Bible is about our salvation and not about the God's glorification? All of these deceptions are idols in our hearts that have been derived from self-love. Only God is worthy of being worshipped in our hearts.
Therefore, if idols in our lives are the result of the idol of the love of self, how can we truly worship God? Answer: Luke 9 23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
Turn to God. He loves you and forgives you of your sins if you "believe in" Jesus. James 4 1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?[1]6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."[2] 7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
