Sunlin Hospital: Class 3 of 10

Last night, instead of taking the 7:30pm Handong bus to Pohang (free shuttle buses are provided both ways-about each hour), I took Kim Dae Oak up on his offer last week of a possible ride to Sunlin Hospital. (Also known as "The Good Samaritan Hospital in English"!) Who is Kim Dae Oak you ask? He works at the Handong Chaplain's Office. He teaches a course on "Bible and Life", does a lot of counseling and manages several small group bible studies. He teaches the larger group of more than 20 doctors/nurses at Sunlin Hospital on Friday nights from 8:40 to 9:30 pm while I teach the smaller, more confident high-level students.
Today our class looked at multi-culturalism and how it relates to cross cultural mission work.
Our warmup ? was "What is the gospel "in a nutshell"?"
After several wonderful answers and good discussion, we looked at 1 Corinthians 15:1-8:

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

(The Apostle Paul)

It's important to remember that the cross is at the center of the gospel. Jesus died for our sins and rose again ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE.

We looked at this verse "according to scripture" to see where it was indicated this would happen hundreds of years and even thousands of years in advance. (Gen. 3:15, Gen 22, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22...)

I noticed that some of the students were more confident and bolder to speak in English tonight, Praise God!!

We looked at a few simple cultural info quiz sheets to get us thinking about other cultures.

Here are some of the ?s: (Check how you do yourself: answers to follow)

1. In Burma, the _____ is worn as an amulet for protection against evil. (fish/cat/frog)
2. In India, holy men and women usually wear the color _____. (orange/yellow/white)
3. In Thailand, a monk wears a(n) _____ robe. (orange/green/white)
4. A Moslem place of worship is called a _____. (mosque/church/synagogue)
5. The day of week of rest and religious observances is called ___. (Independence Day, Sabbath, Dave Day)
6. Among Arabs, the common headdress is called a _____. (Panama hat, Fez, Kaffiyeh)
7. What are the official languages of Kenya? (English & French, German & Swahili, English & Swahili)

(Answers:1-frog, 2-white, 3-orange, 4-mosque, 5-Sabbath, 6-Kaffiyeh, 7-English & Swahili)

We then took turns sharing cross cultural experiences we've had and then thought of one word (adjectives) to describe how the situations felt. (For example: strange, moving, frightening, sad, disgusting, funny, interesting...) Some of my students interesting cross-cultural experiences:

• In Cambodia, seeing wild pigs running around through the garbage on the streets.
• In Sri Lanka, having no toilet paper....
• In Cambodia, many families only able to provide one meal a day of noodles
• In the mountains of Mongolia, only having one cup of water with which to wash your entire body.
• In Nepal, being devoured by parasites that left scars for over a year and not being able to shower for 15 days.

Wow! I was so surprised to hear the personal experiences of my students.

We then ended the last few minutes with continuing our responses to possible ?s people on the mission field might ask us. (Keeping 1 Peter 3:15 in mind...) So far, the students are doing VERY well and I pray that God will truly prepare them to witness to those around them; not only on "the mission field" but each day to the individual people Our Sovereign Lord chooses to put in our paths.