Since June, Randy and I have had the privilege of being the "Community Coordinators" for our small apartment complex. This gives us a great excuse to rub elbows more often with our neighbors and includes a small rent stipend. While Randy does the bulk of our work on the Dikaios project, I have been looking for a relational outlet through which to put some of my strengths and gifts to work. This has been just the thing!
Opening up our home to our neighbors has been a great way to practice the hospitality that I love. We've had new neighbors move in and have invited them over for dinner, games, dessert and helped them get adjusted to L.A. and the Fuller community. The majority of our neighbors are Korean students who have come to Fuller specifically for the Korean language program which offers a D.Min. degree. It has been a JOY to get to know these sweet families and offer our friendship to them. There are 11 children in our community, between the six families in our building, from ages 9 months to 9 years. Most of the Korean husbands are associate pastors in a local church while they complete their degree, while their wives are unable to work due to the limits of their student visa. The best things so far are: 1) holding the 9 month old baby -- she's a little chunk and SO sweet (I've never heard her cry!), and 2) praying with the Korean women every other week. Asking how I can pray for them and their families has opened my eyes to a new level of struggles and challenges they face in America, where they know very little of the language or the culture.
It reminds me of the study I did in my Old Testament Survey class last fall on the topic of the "alien, sojourner, stranger" throughout the history of Israel. Frequently, the Lord spoke clearly to the Israelites to welcome the strangers (or foreigners) into their community and gave clear instruction to protect their rights and be gracious to them. Though the language barrier significantly hinders my ability to communicate with many of these families, we have grown to love and trust one another through shared meals, awkward charade-like conversations, and times of prayer together. I am learning so much from these amazing men and women who love their families and give of their time and energy to further the Kingdom of God through their service. They are extremely generous and thoughtful.
I leave you with two of my favorite images from my front door in the last few weeks:
1) my doorstep filled with "slippers", flip flops, and other shoes -- you know there are a lot off Asians around when there are THAT many pairs of shoes outside (the baby shoes are the cutest!)
2) a 15-lb bag of rice and 2 boxes of cereal on my doorstep -- an upstairs neighbor knows Randy and I are cereal lovers and rice eaters and left them for me one day while we were out. She didn't know this, but I was just getting to the end of my bag of rice and we were wondering whether we could afford to buy it again in bulk the way we normally do.
We <3 Koreans :)
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