Chungdong's 2012 VBS

Chungdong's Vacation Bible School was a fun and challenging time. I learned so much about the children and myself. I knew it was Gods calling for me to be there at that place and time. It wasn't until I went to the Elim House that I realized I was being challenged as a leader. I never knew how much energy it took to entertain kids and keep them busy.  Every two seconds the kids were pulling on me, trying to sit in between my legs and playing in my hair.  It’s funny because, most of the students in the camp had never saw braids before and had come up to me many times just to touch them. I felt I was some unusual creature or Lady Gaga. In addition to never seeing braids before, some of my students had never seen a person with black skin before. The first day I met them they said “Teacher you’re so brown" or tried to wipe off my skin. But I told them my skin was permanent and they would not be able to wipe off the brown (lol). They even flipped my hands back and forth because they were confused that one side was black and the other was white. It was something I had never experienced before, but I was not rubbed by it and it didn't make me love them less. I figured that it was just out of the ordinary for them, and they may have never seen someone my complexion before.

During the camp, the staff had tons of activities for the kids but the three biggest ones were the water games, the talent show and the festival. 

Water games and the talent show had to be my favorite as well as the kids. 

Water games were a fun time for everyone to let out some aggression. 

For teachers to get back the kids that didn't cooperate so much and for kids to get back teachers who gave them too much work. 

The talent show was a big night for my kids (lol) and the other groups (lol). Me and the other teacher (Monica) for our class thought the kids how to do the Cha Cha Slide as their performance. It was so cute! A lot of the kids were embarrassed to shake their butts to the crowd, so they shake in one spot the whole time (lol).

The proudest moment for me being with my kids was to see how much they wanted to learn English. Seeing how determined they were to get the bible verses right lightened my day. One day, one of my girls named (Choo-Young) was really upset and threw a tantrum at the end of class. But no one knew what was wrong with her at the time. Later that day, she told someone she was upset because the class didn't get to finish our day lesson. That everyone didn't get to learn the whole memory verse and learn together. When I heard that it brought so much joy to my heart. To see someone so young wanting to learn is just incredible.

The hardest part of my trip was understanding the Koreans and having them understand me. Having someone speaking another language to you can sound like a bunch of mess. It can get you really upset; you must have patience when dealing with someone who doesn't speak your language. You feel as if you’re on a total different plant and your language means nothing. Sometimes you might just blank whatever they might be saying out because you don't understand and it's challenging (especially, Asian languages).