First of all, a big Sorry is in order for all of you. There's nothing like being kept hanging for days and days. I could pretend to have some good excuses (like internet is still rather hard to come by and I got sick and didn't leave the house for three days) but I know they wouldn't satisfy. So here's the story:

Last Friday, when I met Mrs. Kang, she took me out to eat at a kimbab place (nori-maki in Japanese, California rolls in English) and showed me off to all her friends. We sat around a small table in the back of the small shop and the ladies ate and talked for a good hour. I tried to pay attention to what was going on in hopes that the Korean would some how start making sense. Mrs. Kang, of course, re-told the story of our meeting a few times and the women sat around discussing the very few details they knew about my life. After a while, Mrs. Kang and I left and she took me to a friend of hers who ran a Taekwondo gym and who also could speak a little English. He translated between us and I finally learned a few things about Mrs. Kang. First of all, she was not, as I had supposed, the owner of the brothel. She merely cleaned it as her job. She did however know the owner and ended up introducing me to her later that evening. And she learned a few things about me; that I was a Christian and I was studying Korean so that I could share Christ with people downtown. I heard the translator mention the word missionary even though I hadn't brought it up which prompted me to ask him if he was a Christian. He was and told me it was my job to make Mrs. Kang and her son a Christian. I laughed. It was a very Korean way of putting things- like I can make anybody become a Christian.

After about twenty minutes of conversation some of the man's students came in as well as his wife and two young children. After sharing with them what I was doing in Pohang it became very evident to them that I needed to learn Korean. One of the students, a high schooler, sat down with me and in limited English taught me the days of the weeks, the months and other simple things like aunt, uncle, cousin, younger brother/sister, older brother/sister. The whole group of them huddled around me, laughing and encouraging me as my young teacher quizzed me. It was fun, but I truly didn't learn very much with all the commotion buzzing around.

After a while, Mrs. Kang and I said goodbye and left. It was time for her to clean the brothel. She drove us back downtown and parked outside her brothel just in time for me to meet the real brothel owner who was walking by at the time. She was a cranky looking lady of about 75, her black hair was streaked with white and pulled to the top of her head in a tight bun. Mrs. Kang pulled me over to the woman and told me that this was the grandmother friend who lived in the brothel. The woman talked with Mrs. Kang for a few moments and then they walked inside. I said goodbye and walked back to my apartment.

I have many thoughts regarding these events but the most important one is this; I have realized that a missionaries work is absolutely relational. The more people I can get to know in that area of downtown, whether they are directly related to the red light district or not, the better it will be. My work at the moment consists of meeting people, who ever God leads me too. I have no idea what the outcome of my relationship with Mrs. Kang will be but it has a place in God's plan and so I am satisfied with that.