In February 2011, I was still working as a public service worker. One lady I'd known came to me excited, expecting to soon free me from my military duty. She asked me if I would be interested in teaching through voluntary service without pay. If I wanted to do it, she said she could help me find a suitable place to teach. I said I'd been praying for it for some time now, and she introduced me to a small church. On my first visit to the church, good-looking Pastor Kim and his wife welcomed me and I met some children there. As some were living in a one-parent family and others were from needy families, each of them had family difficulties of their own. I took on teaching three high school seniors, Han-Kyeol, Seung-Cheol, and Hwan-Deok.

Our first meeting was very awkward. It was my first time teaching seniors, so I was nervous. Every time I met them, I tried to be truthful to them. I confessed to them that when I was also their age and a senior, I experienced some difficulties in my family as well. My parents got divorced. I told them what I felt on the very day they got divorced and my real mother went away from me, and also how I've gotten over many things that confronted me since then. From that moment on, our relationship became more cordial and it became much easier to teach them.

Of course, it is not always happy time throughout the whole 1 year. We went through a hard time during the college scholastic ability test. Each of them experienced few slumps, especially during the summer. Han-Kyeol was optimistic but lazy, so she wasn’t good at enduring her daily 'burden' of studying. One day, when I came to church to teach, Han-Kyeol was absent. Pastor Kim and his wife said they had called her but she didn't answer. I was very worried because I vaguely knew what was distressing her. As I was coming back home, I called her and she answered. We met in the nearby park and talked about many things. I guessed she needed an outlet and I was right. After the conversation, she got back into church and resumed her pace of studying.

Now, Han-Kyeol and Hwan-Deok are college students and Seung-Cheol is preparing his second test. Whether they have succeeded or not is not important to me. What is really important is, I think I'd been really helpful for them all through that time. I will not forget the first time they called me "Hyung“ and "O-ppah” (elder brother) after the test. At that very moment, I felt relieved from the burden to be so helpful for them. Throughout the course of preparing for their test, I felt some pressure because it is their first important hurdle in their life. So when they called me "Hyung“ and "O-ppah”, it came as a more pleasure than I had expected. From that one year of experience, not only did they grow both physically and mentally, but I had also grown. I gained the ability to sympathize with others by lending an ear and helping them achieve their goals. Also, my English ability improved extraordinarily through teaching the students. But the best thing I got from this experience is that I got three good brothers and sister. I feel I have a very close friendship with them because we got through the hard times together. As co-workers experiencing the first hurdle in life together and as friends stepping forward into the future together, I wish our friendship will last forever.

Kwon Keon-Hoon(Junior, Dept. of English Language and Literature)

keonhn@naver.com