Ho-Jun a.k.a. "Tony"

Ho-Jun and Jenni are leaving tomorrow morning. Goodbyes are so hard. This summer has been really weird, it's like the interns spend all their time together and get to know each other really well, and then we all leave. Jenni likes to make me sad and say things like "what if we never see each other again?" Sigh. Anyway, I'm going to continue my writing about each intern, and it's Ho-Jun's turn. He's hilarious. Here are some good Ho-Jun pictures:

mohawk on the mountain
eating the Conquistador at El Patio (great Honduran restaurant)
taking a break after the hike
I have no idea

Ho-Jun's from Korea, and today is actually his one-year anniversary of when he arrived in the United States. He's been going to grad school in architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigne. That's how he heard about eMi. 4 of the interns here this summer heard about eMi from the Urbana conference, pretty crazy. Ho-Jun is an Autocad master. I always go to him to ask him random autocad questions or ask him to do things for me, and even though he always tells me no, he always ends up helping me :). He's also a really really hard worker. He has got a lot of work done this summer for Glen and has been a great blessing to this ministry. He and Adam went on the same trip to Honduras as me.

To me, Ho-Jun embodies courage. I cannot imagine what it would be like to just go to a different country and jump into things like he has. He said today as he shared at devotions that his experience of Colorado Springs is the first time that he's been in american society. In Illinois, he always hung out with his korean friends, but here he doesn't really have korean friends to hang out with. Whenever we go do something, it seems like his first time doing it, and he's always up for it. He never talks about being afraid, but trusts God as he steps into every new situation. One thing about Ho-Jun that has been a great blessing to me has been his willingness to dance. This boy (It's kinda a joke to call him a boy because he's 27 years old) is a really quick learner. I taught him to Lindy this summer, and he's pretty darn good. I was afraid when I came here because none of the interns danced, but Ho-Jun has been a great sport, and he Lindies in the park with me on tuesdays :). I've also taught him some hip-hop. It's been so fun Ho-Jun! He always acts like a little kid too, always a trouble maker, like when we were putting the puzzle together, he would steal pieces and break things apart while everyone else was working on it. It's hard to believe he's older than everyone else, he acts like he's the youngest ;).

Another thing is that he hates speaking in front of people, I think mostly because he's not very confident in his ability to speak english, but let me tell you, every time he gets up to speak in front of people, he says something that is profound and it touches your heart. In Honduras, we went to church and we all had to get up and say something. Jason told us that the night before, and Ho-Jun right away said "I'm not gonna do it". When we drove up to the church he pretended to hide in the van. When he got up there though, he spoke about his experience of coming to honduras, and not only did no one there speak korean, no one there spoke english. He looked through all the pictures of his family in korea, and felt really lonely when we got there. He then spoke of his understanding of God in that; that he knew he had a friend that understood everything, that could understand loneliness better than anyone. I felt really touched by that. He has a great understanding of God because of his willingness to be wherever God leads him.

Oh, the nickname. His nickname is actually his american name. When we were in Honduras, he asked everyone there to try to give him an american name. He is so particular. I must have listed off a hundred names before he sort of settled on Tony. He still cracks up whenever anyone calls him that, so I think he's not quite satisfied with it.

Ho-Jun shared today about how this summer has been a gift to him from God, and now he can say he has american friends. You do Ho-Jun, and you better keep in touch!!!