Hi Everyone,

Wow! Where to begin, first of all, God is good! This has been the adventure of a lifetime. I feel as though I’ve spoken to almost all of you since I’ve moved so this doesn’t like my first update from Korea. Thank you so much to all of you who have reached out, encouraged me, prayed over me, and continued to financially raise support for me over the past few weeks. I am in awe of where I am currently. Literally standing in my dream.

I know so many of you have been excited for an update and I’m sorry it’s taken so long to put one out. I’ve since come to realize that moving to the other side of the world is a bit more complicated than I would have thought haha. Either way, I’m starting to settle in and I can’t wait to share how this has gone with you. There have been some incredible things, and some really difficult things, and I hope to share as much of it as I am able. This is going to be a pretty long one haha.

But first! This IS an update, so if you don’t know what this is about feel free to go to my about page! You can click that below. For everyone who has been keeping up with my updates so far I would love if you would continue reading!

About My Journey and How This All Began

I guess I’ll start from my last update. Qatar 👀. Beautiful airport, would highly recommend, wouldn’t recommend the stress that comes along with changing your flight less than a day out though for sure.

Getting to Qatar, I felt as if I was able to breathe for the first time in a long time. So many issues had piled up and beyond the traveling I was just frustrated. Changing my ticket the day before I was supposed to fly out and then flying out that night was crazy. On top of that one thing I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with was the fact that when they switched me from Japan Airlines to Qatar airways my luggage was no longer included in my ticket. I ended up having to pay 315 dollars to check my bags. In context - that’s about my already a bit tight budget for a months worth of transportation and phone service.

The past week and a half I’ve had so many unexpected bills and fees, and that has been pretty discouraging. I have to keep reminding myself that God provided a way for me to get here, He is going to continue to provide a way for me to stay here.

That airline ticket fiasco still frustrates me, but I believe it worked out in my favor. While it added about a days worth of travel I ended up being able to be picked up a few hours early! I think going all the way around the world helped with my jet lag somehow, maybe that was just God though.

Thankful for this team already! Andy, Rhian and Ria picked me up from the airport. They are some of the leaders here at Lifehouse Seoul! So thankful for them. Not pictured here - The three suitcases they helped me lug around. A bit surreal seeing them in person for the first time.

__________

Stepping through immigration really felt like stepping into a different world. I guess you can intellectually prepare for everything to be different, but it’s something else standing in it. Not a single thing has been the same.

For my first week I got an Airbnb right by the University I’m studying at. Little did I know it was on the 5th floor. That was fun, bringing my luggage up that flight of stairs. Thankfully I had Andy to help me with that. As soon as I got settled into my AirBnb they took me out to get food. My first experience eating Korean food was this incredible fried chicken. I literally dreamt about it the other night. I’m in that phase where I’m amazed at every single thing, whether it warrants my amazement is another issue lol, so far everything has been incredible

And my second day here we hit the ground running. I met my new (old) friends at a station not too far from the university and we went looking for a new venue! We have been meeting in person for a few months every other week but the venue they’ve been at has turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. They originally had a pretty safe/ clean place to host a service on Sundays - but when the country started to pick up more traffic and return to pre-covid activities, the owner didn’t keep up with it. The area that used to be very clean, turned into a dump with people hanging out still drunk from the previous night. That had to change immediately. So we went on the hunt.. First venue we looked at for the day and we found a winner.

We found a perfect venue with a beautiful LED wall, and good space. It’s already set up for hosting small recording sessions and mini pop up concerts, so the audio is great! It can host about 60 people at it’s max and right now if we had everyone come we’d maybe be a little over 20, so there’s room to grow in. It was a huge answer to prayer. We looked at a few more but it was obvious this was the one. It’s also in the perfect location, right in Hongdae which is where we want to be located. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s close to really yummy cafes and restaurants.

I’ve had an incredible time so far and I’m just getting started. I can’t wait to see what happens next. Once I got settled and dealt with my jet lag it was time to find an apartment. This was a bit challenging considering I don’t know the language. The next few days were a bit frustrating as I ran into one problem after another it seemed. The stress of it all really hit me at that point.

Everything was different and I was running into money issues on top of that. In Korea when you rent an apartment you are usually required to put a significant down payment on the apartment. That can range from about $5,000 to about $30,000. Thankfully I have enough for the down payment but my bank was having issues releasing that amount of money to me in one go. I didn’t have enough days to take it out in their time frame either or I’d be sleeping in a subway bathroom like Will Smith.

Thankfully dad had a friend in Seoul that I was able to transfer that amount to through PayPal and he took it out in cash Since I had to get it all at once though, I was still charged a pretty hefty fee of almost $140. With all of the other fees and transfer issues I was getting a bit upset. It really hit when I found out my Magic Keyboard for my iPad Pro got ruined somehow. I genuinely don’t know how it happened. It was next to my Mac and that was fine so this was a bit heartbreaking considering it was pretty expensive and I’ve used it every day for almost 2 and a half years.

It was about that same time I found out I had to pay a big realtors fee for the guy who helped me find my apartment. A fee I was happy to pay considering how helpful he was but still that was just another thing I didn’t even know to budget for. I wasn’t expecting to have to get an apartment in the first place, so the costs have been adding up. While the money issues have been a bit pressing, like I said earlier, God has been providing this whole time, and I’m trusting He will continue to do so. Thank you again to those who have continued to support me during this process.

Speaking of provision, God provided the perfect apartment for me, I really don’t know if I could be happier with it. It’s a great size, and in a really good location. It’s in my budget too so I’m thankful.

Eunju, the girl who helped us look for a venue, had her mom help me through the apartment process. She looked over my contract and asked all of the necessary questions and translated for me. I have so many people who have made a way for me to be here and I’m so grateful!

I moved in a few days ago and I just started Korean classes this week. Not going to say I’m not overwhelmed but it’s good! I think that’s to be expected at this point. This past Sunday we had our first service at the new venue and it went so well! We had about 13 people, which was a little lower than normal but we had a few couples on vacation. The big win is that we had 3 new people! One is planning on bringing his girlfriend when she arrives in Seoul. Hopefully they all come back. It seemed as if everyone had a great experience.

The atmosphere felt alive and it was just such a joy to be standing where I’ve been dreaming and praying about for so long. I am extremely grateful. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated, and is continuing to donate! I am here because of your faithfulness and partnership in this endeavor.

I am having the time of my life, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. There’s so much more I could say about Seoul but this has already been such a long update. I’ll put some pictures at the bottom.

Here also comes the part where you may be wondering if you are able to help. There is opportunity to join with me in every area.

Please join me in prayer! I need more prayer now than ever before.

Please stand in agreement with me and continue to pray for protection over me, mentally, spiritually and physically!

Please pray that I would be blessed with vision and leadership over the areas I will have influence over at our Campus here!

Please continue to pray over our Campus and the leaders we have here.
- I am praying that it would grow in numbers, that we would be blessed, that we would grow in influence, and that God’s favor would be on each of the decisions that we make!

Please pray for continued provision!
- My unexpected move to the apartment instead of the dorm has significantly impacted my monthly budget. I’m short just over $300 per month. Many people have asked if I’m still raising support and that answer is a yes! God has faithfully provided to bring me here and like I stated earlier I can’t wait to see how He continues to keep me here.

Please consider if God is leading you to help me financially

If you have prayed through it and feel as though God is leading you to donate I have the details on how to do that here.
Any amount is helpful.

If you are interested in donating, please pray and ask God if He will give you an amount for you to donate on a monthly basis or if He is leading you to donate a one-time or annual gift.

GIVE

Please also consider sharing my story! This is a journey that I have not been able to walk alone in.

Many of my donations have come through people who heard about my story, not through me, but through many of my friends and family!

If God puts me on your heart, share my story in conversation with your friends, prayer teams, or small groups. I need the prayers of others!

Thank you so much for all of this. I know how faithful you all are, and how you have already been moving to help me! I can’t wait to see how God continues to move in this situation.

This was such a long update and if you’ve read through it all, I truly appreciate it. It really does mean the world that you’ve been walking through this journey with me! I will continue to keep you updated over the next few weeks! I’ve got more pictures below ^-^

Thankful for you,

Colin

Contact Me