Exceeding abundantly beyond...

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, ..." Ephesians 3:20 (KJV, since that's how I learned it...)


Today was Children's Day here in Korea, which warrants a holiday, and so, I had the day off! Last week, I invited my praise team from Korean church to come over to my house on Children's Day, but, after having two similar invitations (with other people) fall through at the last minute, I was a little wary. Even when I issued the invitation, I counted on the fact that not everyone would come (20ish people simply would NOT fit into my studio apartment.), but as the day grew closer, I tried to mentally prepare myself for a poor turnout, or no people at all. I was told on Wednesday that there were to be 13-14 people coming to my house, but I was still bracing for the worst. (I even had a deal with myself for the budget of tomorrow's shopping trip to Myeongdong (One of my absolute FAVORITE places to shop!!) - if no one showed up, I could spend (approximated from KRW)  200 dollars, if 2-4, then 190, and so on...) I told myself, 'This time, if no one comes, I will go home and cry.'


So what happened today? Well, I got to the zoo (which we were scheduled to explore before returning to my house, a good hour+ away by subway), and there were 4 others (from my team, the place itself was packed) there, then 5, then 6. Me: Okay, well, they're not even coming to the zoo outing, how lame is that, so I guess I'll only have a few at my house. After getting in (btw, the zoo is DIRT CHEAP!!! It's only 3,000 won (>/= 3 dollars) to get in! 2,000 (>/=2 dollars) if you're a student (and several wore their old high school uniforms to take advantage of that deal).) and seeing a few exhibits, 3 more team members joined us, and, after strolling around for several hours (interspersed with frequent breaks... like, way more than I would have taken!) we exited the zoo to find 2 more members waiting to join us, and I'd learned that one was going to come to my house separately. I. Was. Excited. !!!! I convinced them that, instead of eating at the zoo, (we'd had some food, including corndogs, Korean-style... meaning that the hot dog part didn't really taste quite like hot dog) we could go straight to my house and have an early supper. By the time we'd arrived in my neighborhood, they were ravenous. (This did, in fact, confuse me, but I suppose I'm a lighter eater than I thought I was...) Now, the plan had been to order in dinner, but yesterday at lunchtime (at work), I was asked if I could use some of the leftover spaghetti. Come to think of it, yes, I could. (But I gave the sauce to my co-teacher, it was too sweet for my tastes...) Last night, I doctored up some canned spaghetti sauce into amazing spaghetti sauce (in my humble opinion...). When we arrived at my house, I creatively re-heated the spaghetti (I don't have a microwave, so I put it all in my largest available pan (one was busy warming the sauce), a deep and wide frying pan, and added some water, then stirred it up... a lot... It worked!) and sauce, then served them as soon as both were suitably ready. Well, the first serving (carefully rationed so that all 13 plates received equally) only whetted their appetites. I thankfully had additional spaghetti noodles on hand, which seemed to take forever to cook, but once the seconds went around, the groans of 'I'm hungry' (in Korean) were traded for groans of 'I'm full!'


After the spaghetti disappeared, the dishes were soon washed, and the baking fun began...


Anyway, to make a long story short, it was a great time of fun and fellowship, that so far exceeded my [meager] expectations I wanted to cry from happiness as I returned home after walking them to the subway station. God is good. He has richly blessed me today, and I thank Him with all my being.


Highlights from tonight:
- Getting the keypad on my front door to finally work, with a little help from friends. (who read and comprehend Korean)
- Being told that my Korean listening comprehension is really good.
- The cries of 'Wow! It's really delicious!!' (in Korean) while sampling the fruits of tonight's (baking) labors.
- The happy feeling of contentedness I get when a bunch of friends are together having a good time, and I'm totally part of it.
- The complete lack of protest/issue when I requested, at the end of the evening, when we had a short prayer meeting, that the prayers not be in tongues. (The reason why was never really aired, but I do not pray in tongues, and it's frustrating to me to sit in on a prayer meeting in tongues.)
- The team leader asking for prayer for me (as one of the prayer focuses) in the prayer meeting tonight.


He is AMAZING!!!