I have a little confession to make.

When I wrote my last blog post, I was actually bursting to share a secret, which I wasn’t allowed to share until TODAY. I’ve actually been bursting to share it for about two months now, but the most I could do was write metaphorical posts sneakily expressing what I was going through.

The truth is that two years is not just a significant number to me right now because I moved to Korea two years ago; it also happens to be the amount of time I am committing to be part of a church plant team down in Busan, a seaside city at the Southern tip of Korea. A team of 6 of us are going down to join a church campus that was planted a year and a half ago.

The leaders at my church asked me to consider the move so long ago, and I said yes so long ago (two days after they asked), that all this seems like old news to me, but as my pastor publicly announced our team today, I was reminded that this is actually a pretty big deal.

I’ve never even been to Busan. For me, this decision was one of those big leaps of faith, a cliff jump. I did it simply because I felt God inviting me to. I said YES to God because I knew that with God, it was going to be an amazing adventure. The unknowns were part of the thrill. But as I leapt into the air, I unexpectedly found some of my closest friends jumping into the air beside me.

Surprise! My roommate and some of my other very close friends are going, too!

Before I got the fateful email asking if I would consider moving, I had a feeling God was going to send me on a church plant at some point. My church is on our fourth church plant and planning to do many more, and God specifically said to me during worship one week, You know if I sent you on a church plant you would go. (I immediately burst into tears, because I knew God was right.)

I felt nervous as I considered where God might possibly lead me in the future, but I simply made two requests: Please give me a heart for the city you send me to, and please give me friends.

Wow. God answered both of those prayers better than I ever hoped.

I know that just as God has already provided for me relationally, God will provide for me in every way through this transition: job, housing, community, connections, opportunities, everything. I can’t wait to see what happens. (Plus, I’ll be living near the beach! And housing is much cheaper, so I’ll finally get to live in a nicer place! Woohoo!)

I still have six months until the big move.

In the past these transition times have been weird for me. I have felt anxious and unsettled, made stupid decisions, and generally felt lost. But this time is going to be different. It’s already different because I am being sent as part of a team and because I am being sent by my entire church community.

God has always been on my side. He has been guiding me my whole life. But I have to say that it’s different when you have a community around you that manifests God’s love and wisdom to you day by day. It’s different when you are part of a TEAM that is committed to one another. It’s different when you know you are covered by the protection of spiritual leaders who you are committed to and who have committed themselves to you. It’s different when you can video chat with your future pastors and leaders and hear them say that you are already part of the family.

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