Our first week in Korea was a transition week with the departing directors and they were showing us the ropes and roads.  I drove a few times around and on the base and then they left to return to the states.  I have to admit that I only retained a few of the locations that they took me.  The gas station and the bank are very close to each other and only a handful of blocks away from the house.  The base gate is either 1/2 mile away or 400 yards away depending on which one I chose.  To put this in perspective, the airport, where our stuff would arrive and need to be picked up, was 1.5 hours away, an express way toll gate, a bridge toll gate and 3 highway/freeway transfers.  When we arrived in Korea it was dark and as you know things look different in the dark than they do in the day.

Now the stage is set.  We received a call on Monday morning, in Korean, on my handed over cell phone to which I spoke in English and the person on the other end spoke in Korean.  I ended up hanging up on the caller.  A short time later I got another call, also in Korean, but this time I answered in English and after a few seconds a person that spoke very broken English told me our shipment had arrived at the airport.  I did not get much more than that in that call except a phone number and waybill number to reference.  I put a call into Stone, one of the regular attenders here at the house and an invaluable asset to the ministry in more ways than I can list.  I told him what I new and asked if he would call and get more information.  I sent him the paperwork that I had via email and he called the number that I had been given.  He emailed me later and let me know that indeed the shipment was in and we could pick it up at Incheon airport and I needed to bring my passport with me.  He then offered to go with me to pick up the shipment.  He gave me his available times and days.

Here is where it gets interesting.  After looking at our calendar and Stone’s availability it would be a few days before we could hook up and go to the airport and pick up our stuff.   We decided we would try to get it on our own.  The caller had mentioned that they were open 24 hours a day.  You see were this is going don’t you.  So it’s 6pm at night, the airport is one and a half hours away and we don’t speak Korean.  What could possibly go wrong!

We gathered the paperwork, passports and selected the airport on the GPS and headed out.  Now driving in Korea is not like driving in the states.  Let’s just say that if you are a nervous drivers then you should not drive in Korea.  We get about half way to the airport and Nate is about to explode because he did not use the restroom before we left.  We are on the “Interstate toll way” and there is no place to go.  I pulled over and got as close to the guardrail as possible and …………………….!  Now we are back on the road and making pretty good time.  We arrived at the airport without incident and by God’s good grace we saw a sign for “cargo terminal”.  Jonna and I both decided that we should start our journey here, so we exited the freeway and headed for the cargo terminal.

As it turns out there are three cargo terminals so we started with terminal “A”.  We pulled in and after a little searching we say a sign that read, in English, “Korea Customs”.  We parked and went in.  There was one person at the counter and his English was only slightly better than my Korean.  After 10 or so minutes he managed to make a few phone calls and proceeded to tell us that we need to hire a customs broker and come back on another day.  OK, we just drove an hour and a half and we are not ready to turn around just yet.

So…..we leave the building and call the number that we had been given.  Again, God was most gracious when the person answered on the other end we were able to get a person on the line that spoke English.  After a brief conversation we discovered that we were only one building away from where we needed to be.  Now were talking.  We proceeded to the building that held the person we were speaking with on the phone.  We thought that person was Korean Customs…..wrong, it was Korean Air.  Now our shipment went China Air but here we are in the Korean Air Cargo building.  We presented our paperwork to the person at the counter and he proceeded to get another and another person.  They talked and talked with each other pausing only long enough to ask us another question.  Then the spokesman for the group told us we needed to go across the parking lot to another building and show them the paperwork we had show him along with some additional paperwork that he had now added to ours.

So…..we crossed the parking lot and when  to the only person at the counter.  A young Korean girl that spoke no English.  We gave her the paperwork and she began to pull things up on her computer.  Next she gathered another group of Koreans (all very nice by the way) and about 15 minutes later we were given instructions to cross yet another parking lot (large) and go to yet another building.  Turns out that this building was the actual Korean Customs building.

So….we crossed yet another parking lot and entered yet another building.  This time there was already a small group of officials (about 8) that and we went to the counter.  Again a conference ensued followed by questions, paperwork, more questions, some stamping of papers, some copying of papers and then we were sent back across the parking lot to the building we had just come from.

So….we crossed the parking lot (snowing now), and gave our new signed, stamped paperwork to the person at the counter.  The young girl was gone and had been replaced by a young man that did not speak any English.  He took our paperwork, entered something into the computer, grabbed a calculator and punched in 36,000 (about $35) and indicated that we need to pay that amount.  We paid and he then walked us out the door, around the building to an open warehouse door.

I backed up the van and we loaded our stuff.  Pressed “Home” on the GPS and we were off.  The trip back was smooth and easy thanks to our GPS (English speaking).  We arrived back the Hospitality House at close to midnight with our pallet of stuff.

What an adventure we had.  God was most gracious to us.  We are sure that we did it all wrong and by His mercy he saw us through it.  We got a lot of strange looks, gather several crowds around as they tried to figure out what these crazy Americans were trying to do late at night without a translator.  All the Korean’s that we encountered that night were friendly and helpful and we were continually pleased by their generally good natured manner and their willingness to not only tolerate us but in fact I’m pretty sure they went above and beyond to get us what we were after.  I just wonder how many of them went home and told their spouses about these crazy Americans they helped.

I wonder what the next adventure will be?

com·mis·sion (k-mshn)

a. The act of granting certain powers or the authority to carry out a particular task or duty.

b. The authority so granted.

c. The matter or task so authorized:

Those definitions have some “umpfth” to them.  There are some powerful words used like, “duty”, “authority” and “task”.  In the process of preparing to leave for South Korea there have been many milestones that have had significance to our family.  Starting by getting our assignment to Osan, receiving our work visas from the Korean government, and booking the tickets.  However the one milestone I had been anticipating the most was being commissioned by the church body.  It felt like the finale stamp of approval on our journey.  It also made the reality of it sink in.  We really are getting on a plane on January 23rd and flying to Korea to live for the next two years!  I anticipate they will be the hardest and the best two years our family has ever had before.

Looking back this was not our first commissioning.  Michael and I were commissioned by Cadence International on January 30th, 2009 when they accepted us on staff with the ministry.  In Matthew chapter 28 Jesus gives all believers the Great Commission.  Each of these have been significant to us.  We appreciate having the backing of Cadence International, our church body and especially our Savior.  We take the charges within each commissioning very seriously and will give our best to preform our “task”.

Thank you for praying for our family as we being our service in Osan.

Pastor Jay Messenger introducing our family. (It warms my heart to see how Sarah and I have the same smile and head tilt.  That’s my girl!)

Paul Metko, our Cadence Mentor, prays for the ministry and our family. Thank you for being there with us Paul.

The cloud offering that I will suggest you use for this is Dropbox (www.dropbox.com).  You can create a free account that allows you to store up to 2GB of data in the cloud (internet).  This is where we are going to store the TNT database.

Steps you need to take:

1.  Go to the Dropbox website and download the software on each machine that you want to be able to access the cloud data.

2.  Find your TNT database and move the database file into the Dropbox folder that is created on your computer.  You only need to move the file on one machine because once you have done that the Dropbox software will automatically upload the file to the cloud and each time the file is accessed from any machine it will automatically be updated on all the machines that have access the cloud repository (assuming of course that you are connected to the internet).

3.  Open TNT (if you moved the file and didn’t copy the file TNT will prompt you to open a database).  Navigate to the Dropbox folder and open the TNT database file.  You will only have to do this step one time, after that it will automatically open the file from the new location each time you open TNT.

4.  Install TNT on each machine that you want to.  Once installed repeat step 3 on each machine and viola you can access TNT data from multiple machines and stay in sync.

As an aside once you have a Dropbox account you can store more than just the TNT database file.  You can store any files you want to access from any of the machines that you have installed Dropbox on.  In addition you can simply log into Dropbox from any internet connected machine via a browser and access your files.  Lastly Dropbox allows you to share the files or folders you create in the cloud with other people (use with care).  It works great for those large files that won’t go through email.

Blessings

PS.  If you have any trouble with the instructions below just post a reply to the blog and I’ll try to clarify them for you.

When I started checking on the cost of shipping our “essential” household goods to South Korea I quickly learned that it was a very expensive proposition indeed.  Our “essential” belongings needed to get less essential and by a large margin.  In the end it was decided, for budget reasons, that we would only take one pallet of goods.  That is 48”x40”x48” or about 60 cubic feet.  Just for grins you should mark an area on your floor (with tape) 4 feet wide by 4 feet long and stack some stuff up only 3’4” tall.  That is all the stuff that we are taking to South Korea.  Trust me, it’s not much, but there we are.

Our second hurdle was storage of the rest of our “essential” stuff.  Again, cost is a major factor since storage units are not real cheap and we are spending money that is graciously given by supporters so we want to be very prudent with that.  Our decision, store our stuff at my brothers house.  Easy right!  No.  If we were to store our stuff we would have taken up at the very least half of his shop space and we did not want to impose on them that much.  So we poured a concrete floor in his shop (it was dirt) built a room and managed to store our “essential” stuff in 8 feet wide 5 feet deep and 9 feet high.  Needless to say we did not store any furniture.

Now we needed to separate our stuff in groups.  They broke down into a) ship to Korea, b) put in storage and c) get rid of.  Now we began the process of clearing the house room by room and putting things into groups.  The get rid of group was further broken down into the a) James and Nikki group, b) Cassie group, c) sell d) hope someone takes and e) Goodwill.

James and Nikki, Cassie, some family, some friends and some church folks all picked what they wanted and the rest was up to us to figure out what to do with.  The problem was that the stuff left over was still substantial.  We kept encouraging people to take the stuff, Free, but, while the stuff was useful it was just not wanted.  A lot more than I expected went to the Goodwill and into the garbage.

Moving around the world is by a huge margin the most difficult move I’ve ever made.

In reflecting on this I have decided that even though we felt we did not have too much stuff we really did have quite a bit.  I also realized that the stuff held much less value than I had previously thought.  Both in my eyes and in the eyes of those that we attempted to give the stuff to.  That’s not to say that anyone was not grateful or gracious, they simply did not need the stuff.  As I think about all the time, energy, money and effort that went into getting rid of the stuff I also realized that much of that stuff very likely distracted me from putting more time, energy, effort and money into the kingdom of God.  I stood in the garage and looked at the stuff that was simply being disposed of either by Goodwill or garbage.  It was a substantial amount of money.  Much of that money could have been used better.  Sure we needed some of that stuff while we were there but there was also a lot of it that if I honest with myself and God was not necessary.  It took money to get it, time to use and maintain it, energy and effort to learn to use it, etc., all of which could have been used more eternally,

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating that we all sell off our belongings and live in a cardboard box.  What I am saying is that I can and should live with less.  Less stuff creating is own gravitational pull around me means more money, time, energy and effort spent on things that have lasting value, eternal value.

I’m just saying………………..

It was the first Black Belt that Mr. Barker received and has his name embroidered on it.  Mr. Barker told Nate that in his opinion Nate was a black belt student even though we did not have enough time to officially let him test for that belt level.  Officially Nate is a brown belt.  It was a special gift that Nate will always treasure and a proud moment for me.

I have been impressed and pleased with how Master Sam and Mr. Barker run their schools.  They place a great emphasis on honor, integrity, humility and manners as they teach the students the disciplines of Taekwondo.  Nate has grown much this year and it has been easy to see the influence these great men have had in his life.  Jonna and I are glad we were able to provide the opportunity for Nate to participate and are proud of the hard work and dedication that Nate has put into this.

For that last several months Nate has been in the “Masters Club” that allowed him to spend additional time at the Dojang and received additional training.  In addition he spent upwards of 5 hours a day working and/or training at the Dojang.   Nate really loved his time there and he really likes his instructors.

Nate with his Taekwondo instructors

Mr. Barker said that he only has one “first black belt” to give away and he did not believe he would ever have a better student than Nate to give it to.  I’m biased but I believe he’s right.  I know that Nate has a tremendous respect and admiration for Mr. Barker and it touched him (and me) deeply to receive that very special gift.

To Master Sam and Mr. Barker:

In my 40+ years I have had the privilege of having just a few great men in my life that invested in me and cared deeply for me.  They have been an incredible blessing to me and are men that I will never forget as long as I live.  I want to thank you two for being that kind of men to my son.  I know that he will never forget the personal investment you have made into his life and he is blessed because of it.  Thank You Both!!

Michael

For the last several years our tradition has been to have a large Christmas breakfast and invite over family and friends to share it with us.  Some of you participated in that annual event.  This year we will not be doing our Christmas tradition.  Our house is and will be in a state of chaos due to our transition to South Korea.  I have mixed emotions; part of me is excited for our move to South Korea and part of me is sad to not have our tradition.  I’m so grateful that even though our traditions may be interrupted the reason for the season, Jesus Christ, never changes and is always with us.  I find great comfort in resting in Him as my foundation when life gets chaotic.

Right now as I look around the house and see most of the stuff off the walls and boxes everywhere and multiple piles of stuff being sorted into the “get rid of”, “ship over” and “put in storage”.  It’s a surreal feeling.  For the last month we have been in various stages of preparation for our departure and as time grows shorter it seems to get a bit more chaotic.

Making this move overseas makes moving across town or even across state lines seem like a piece of cake.  There are a lot of moving pieces and it seems a bit overwhelming.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m actually invigorated by the process.  Lord willing we will make the transition and all will go smoothly enough.

I want to share with you our timeline for the next several weeks.  We will be in the Sandy/Portland area until the 10^th of January.  After that we will be in Central Oregon saying farewell to friends, family and partners until the 22^nd of January.  We will depart from Portland on the 23^rd for South Korea.  Once there we will be staying in a hotel for a week as we make the transition with the Directors of the Hospitality House.  Beginning the 1^st of February we will move into the Hospitality House and begin the ministry.  We will close the house to formal events for two weeks as we settle in and have a chance to meet individually with people that are part of the house.

During that first few weeks we will need to take care of many logistics like meeting with Chaplain’s, getting our ID’s, going over the house books, learning where to shop for food, learning how to pay the bills, banking, driving, etc.  I try not to think too far ahead or I get a headache.  Thankfully, we will have a full week with the current house directors to ask questions and be shown many of these things rather than have to figure them out on our own.

Sarah and Nate will take January off from school and start back into their studies in February once we move into the house.  Since they are already very comfortable with home school activities it should prove to be a smooth transition for them.  It will mean that they have school all the way through July because of taking January off.

James and Nicole will celebrate their first Christmas in their own home and we are very excited for them.  We passed our Christmas tree to them this year along with some of the ornaments that we have collected over the years that are precious to Nicole.  We will be spending time with them this year at their place instead of at ours.  I look forward to what traditions they will develop over time.

Cassie will have a Christmas party this year at her house and we will be attending that as well.  She too received some of the ornaments that have hung on our family Christmas tree over the years that are precious to her.  She will start her own traditions now that she is out of the nest.

It’s hard to say goodbye to some traditions but it’s OK for me because I know that it is the people we share the traditions with that are important.  Traditions come and go over time and transition but relationships are what shape our lives.  I’m grateful for my relationship with Christ and I’m grateful for my relationships with my children.  Thank you Lord.

Ministry Bullets

• Our blog is located at www.missiondownrange.com
  • If you are not already on our mailing list take a moment to sign up while you’re there.
  • Our contact info is:
    • Michael.payne@cadence.org
    • Jonna.payne@cadence.org
    • 541-728-3311 (this phone number will reach us in Korea)
    • Our Skype address is michaelandjonnapayne
• We still need about $1000 more in monthly financial support
  • Should God lead your heart in this area there are several ways to get that going.
    • Visit www.missiondownrange.com/aboutus/partner
• We are always in need of additional prayer partners.
  • If you are led to partner with us in prayer please visit www.missiondownrange.com/aboutus/prayerpartner
• Timeline
  • Now – January 10^th 2012 – Portland area
  • January 11^th – 22^nd – La Pine area
  • January 23^rd – 24^th – Flying to Korea
  • January 24 – as long as God will allow us to stay – Osan Hospitality House South Korea.

May you have a very Merry Christmas and my Christ be your foundation that all else is built on that you may never be destroyed by the enemy.

God Bless you this Christmas.

Michael

I wish life this side of eternity was not so messy but, it is.  It’s messy, painful and discouraging; and if this life was all there was then depression would be my constant companion.  There are lots of days that I think of eternity because it is that thought that gets me though the ugly in this life.  I also try very hard to stay focused on the task at hand, serving my Savior with all my being.  I never know beforehand who God will bring across my path nor do I know beforehand what He has for me to do in that persons life.  I simply try to be available and willing at all times.  Not an easy task and I’m not always successful.  Usually when I feel like I’m in a good place and have something to offer to someone else He doesn’t use me and when I don’t have anything to offer He asks me to step up and give something.  The one constant in all situations is that when I recognize that God crossed my path with another and I did not shrink back but did what I was asked, there is peace and contentment.  It’s hard to explain but it’s there.  Sometimes what is asked of me seems really trivial but when I do what I’m asked and don’t wilt from fear or shame then I’m satisfied with my life.  I know in my mind what God expects of me and He confirms that in my heart when I obey.  Over time, lots of time, I’m learning to recognize that prompting more readily and respond to it more boldly.  It’s a process.  God gives me opportunity and I respond to it when I recognize it, he confirms it in my heart and next time my eyes are more open and my ears hear better.  Conversely when I shrink back or am embarrassed and don’t follow that prompting then my heart is hardened just a little and each time I ignore the call I am less and less able to hear or see perceptively.

We were made to glorify God in our lives.  That is easy to understand intellectually, but very difficult to put into practice.  As soon as I commit anew to do better in this area Satan attacks and gives me ample opportunity to fail.  He offers compromise in so many subtle ways that I don’t even have a clue as to how often he has compromised me and I did not even recognize it.  I do know that I have been compromised more often than I want and certainly more often than I should have.  Sin is so prevalent today that unless I stay steeped in His word and prepared for the battle I’m easy pickings for Satan.  I don’t want to be easy pickings for Satan, I want to be a challenge, I want to be strong and solid for God but, I’m weak and my flesh is weak and unless I plug into the source of power I’m no match for the powers of this present darkness.

As I process through the transition to full time ministry work in South Korea I’m aware that I’m walking into the pit of hell to do battle with the powers of evil over the souls of those God put’s into my path.  I pray that I will be faithful, humble, kind, gentle, accurate and loving.  Most of all I pray that my flesh is subdued enough to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work though me for God’s glory.  I want to serve well and finish used up with nothing left to offer.  I want to give God my very best, holding nothing back.  Pray for me please.

by:Michael

On October 6th – 9th I went to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete in the Pan Am Open International Taekwondo tournament.  My parents were at a missions conference so they weren’t able to come with me.  My mom dropped me off at the airport.  Once we got to security I was on my own.  It went well and I got to the plane and everything was fine.  Once landed I was picked up by Master Sam, my Taekwondo Master. Then we went to the hotel, the Rivera.

This tournament was an international event with about 900 people competing in it. At the same time we were competing with junior Olympic teams from all over the world but not in the same categories as us. I was able to watch all the these really good kids spar and saw some awesome moves. It was very interesting to watch and I also learned I would never want to fight any of these kids.

I competed in three different categories. My first event was board breaking.  For my board break I broke five boards.  I managed to break all of them on the first try.  I was not as nervous as I thought I would be and yes, I got the gold for that one.  It hurt my feet so bad that I didn’t really notice the gold till later.

I also competed in forms.  Forms was interesting because we signed me up as a blue belt.  I’m a purple belt and blue belt is one level above me.  I had 30 minutes  to learn a brand new form.  That was intense but it went ok.  I would have liked to have done better.  Since there was no one signed up in my class for that one I still got gold.

The last one is sparring.  The guy I had to fight had 5 to 6 inches on me and 50 pounds.  I did very well for my first tournament.  The score was 3 to 1.  I was the 1 (sad panda’s), so there I got the bronze. I had a weird feeling afterward.  I almost cried because all the adrenalin in my body had to go somewhere.  It was the weirdest thing I think I’ve every felt.

All in all it was a fantasic trip and a good growing experience. I hope to compete in more tournements just hopefully not in Vegas.

They say time flies when you are having fun but we know it will speed by even faster as we prepare to move to our new home overseas. There’s a lot to do in the next two months, but with your prayers and Gods help it will come together as it should. We are deciding what we need to take, what to put in storage and what to throw into a large bonfire. It will be a struggle for me between the sentimental and the practical in deciding what needs to accompany us to Korea. I’m looking in the bookstores for “Moving to Korea for Dummies”. If you own a copy of this book please let me borrow it

This year we will be combining Thanksgiving and Christmas into one joyful extended family celebration on November 24. Then we will observe a simple immediate family gathering on December 25 rejoicing in the birth of the Savior. We will be moving out of our current rental home on December 31 and spending the beginning of the new year visiting family, friends and partners before the long journey. January 14th is my birthday and I can’t think of a better present then the one our family will have this year. We rejoice that the Lord is sending us to Osan, South Korea to participate in His wonderful ministry at the Hospitality House.

Family Update:

*On October 7th Michael and I participated in our Church’s missions’ dessert. The purpose of the event was to help members of the body connect with missionaries that are part of our church. It was a wonderful evening sharing the ministry of Cadence as well as our personal journey, and hearing about the ministries of several fellow missionaries.

*Homeschooling for Sarah and Nate is in full swing.

*Nicole and James are happy newlyweds. Nicole was recently hired at the Shane Company, a jewelry store in Tigard and is enjoying this new challenge. So if you need something sparkly, “Now you have a friend in the diamond business”. (Shane Co. slogan)

*Cassie has also begun a new job that she is enjoying at a retail store in the mall. She is renting a room in a house she shares with a good friend and loves stretching her independent wings. On September 26th she officially left the teenage years and completed her second decade of life.

*Nate is currently a purple belt in Taekwondo with his next belt test in a few weeks. On October 6th-9th he participated in his first international tournament in Los Vegas. It was a great experience for him and he returned home with one bronze and two gold medals. You can read about his trip in his own words on our website.

Prayer Requests

It goes without saying that we need your prayers, but we will say it again. Will you pray for us? Please pray for:

*Logistics, wisdom and perseverance in our upcoming move. That we faithfully follow God’s direction in this journey to South Korea.

*We’ve already had to say goodbye to Michael’s parents who are now in Arizona for the winter and soon will be saying goodbye to mine. While we are excited about the hello’s in Osan the goodbyes here are not easy. Please especially be praying for our daughters, Nicole and Cassie and new son James. Our leaving will be hard for them and us. We are thankful for Skype calls.

*Pray for Sarah and Nate that they remain focused in school with all the activity and excitement of this transition. Also for Jonna to be able to balance the teacher time with the tasks that must be completed to make the transition smooth. With so many irons in the fire we need to make sure their education remains a priority for us all.

In Christ, and Christ alone

Visit our website and blog at www.mepayne.com for more stories and details.

Click here for the newsletter in PDF format.  If you would like to view the newsletter in plain text you can click here

If you would like a printed copy mailed to you just send an email to michael.payne@cadence.org or Jonna.payne@cadence.org and we will drop one in the mail for you.