"Home"

I'm not quite home in Kansas City. Less than a week now..... I'm at "home" in Busan for my last visit with the sisters. My last week at the Olivetian Benedictine Sisters of Busan has been nothing but extraordinary. I spent a few days with Sister Anna Marie's family in Daegu (a two hour drive north). It was a special time for her to say goodbye to family before she flies out to the USA too. I'm grateful to have been invited. Her mom, sister and two nieces offered the kind of hospitality that I know now "runs in the family'. The two teenage daughters who are fluent in English were a blast to hang out with. They even invited me to join them in their Korean Paper Doll making class. We watched the Olympics and cheered for the Korean Taekwondo gold medalists. The conversations we had made me excited for conversations to come in future months! It is so much fun talking to people who speak fluent English. Imagine that?!

On Saturday I asked if I could say a "thank you" by taking the group of sisters out to dinner or at least buying them a mid-day icee snack (Pap-bing-su). They were up for a snack together in their cafe. 8 sisters sat around me as we shared the coconut, ice, sweet bean, canned fruity snack. All of the sisters I know took time off work to be there. I was surrounded by them yesterday afternoon. Yet I've been surrounded by them on each visit. Here I am at the end of four years in Korea and by far my "home" was made in the midst of these bearers of Christ. When I got off the train on Tuesday something in me told me I was going "home" one last time.

In this home I've seen a commitment to God and others that rivals nothing I've ever known. The way they live out welcoming the stranger (foreigner) in hopes of meeting Christ has transformed me and my engagement with life in Korea. They have been my place of refuge. I've always left here ready again to face my life in Korea. This time I'll leave ready to face my life in the USA. So it is no wonder this visit is so emotional.

Sister Agnes just prior to our starting had given me a special gift. Sister Agnes is in her 70's and has been a Sr. for more than 50 years. On my first visit she took me on a hike and taught me a Korean song. She was full of strength and life. And she still is. We are not able to communicate verbally much but her spirit--her aura--has touched my life deeply. When she gave me the gift I teared up. In that moment I faced in the most real way that I'm leaving Korea. She kept on suggesting I shouldn't leave. She'd hit me on the shoulder with her fist (with great force I might add) and shook her head in disappointment. In fact she told me she wanted to go in luggage. I wasn't sure if she meant my luggage or Sister Anna Marie's. I suggested that maybe she ought to go in Sr. Anna Marie's luggage and I'd come and visit the both of them.