If you know me well enough (like Buckman and several of my closest friends do), and saw the kind of effects I brought back last time from Korea with me, you knew I brought a decent amount of bags of Jagalchi with me. Jagalchi is, without question, my favorite snack food. Period. You can have your Doritos, your Curleh~ Mustache with Pringles, candy bars, Pop Tarts, whatever. Give me a bag of Jagalchi, and I'm complete.
Jagalchi is a type of chip you can only find in Korea that I'm aware of, unless you live near an Asian food store. It's squid flavored. Yeah, you heard me correctly. This sounds gross, but I can't get enough of them. When Hyunsil visited in 2007, she brought some with her, and gave me a bag of my own. And I loved them. When I came here last year, the first time I saw them, I got some. And the love affair began anew.
So naturally, if I'm in the mood for a snack over here, I'm quick to head to 7-Eleven to grab some coffee, a Pocari Sweat, or a cider, and a bag of Jagalchi. And today was no different.
I don't think I've referenced this yet, but there is a young North Korean girl here. She is no more than 5 years old, but I've estimated 4. I could be wrong. Whatever her age, I first encountered her on the first Friday I was here. When I met her, Seol explained that she was deaf. And it's pretty apparent; she is inattentive to voices or even sharp noises, and often makes loud shrieks and noises, unaware that she is even doing so. There have been times when I can hear her at midnight doing so.
Seeing her, God just placed her on my heart. I don't know why. And honestly, I have really only seen her close to Seol, Joseph, Hana, and Pastor Chun's wife, and no one else. So I could already tell that she doesn't trust easily.
Fast forward to today. I'm sitting in the office, eating a bag of Jagalchi, and drinking some coffee. She walks up behind me, and notices the bag. And I knew she wouldn't do anything near me. She hadn't the entire time I've been here. She wouldn't even get near me hardly. But I could hear God just telling me, "Give her a chip."
So, with her standing right beside me, I pick up the bag, and offer her a chip. And she takes one out, and eats it, and walks away. I thought she was gone. So I'm sitting there, still eating, while checking Facebook on my Droid, but I can detect the presence of another life-form behind me. They weren't casting any shadows over me, so I knew it had to be her. And sure enough, she was looking over my shoulder.
I turn to look, and she hides behind my other shoulder, giggling. I turn to the other shoulder--same thing. Repeat this process several times. And I can tell she's playing with me. I start moving my head really fast and she starts cracking up while still trying to hide. I center my head again, wait about 5 second, then jerk it back to the shoulder she's looking over, and she ducks, laughing.
Then she pulls out the chair beside me, and sits down, and we split the bag. God just keeps telling me stuff to do. Nothing super spiritual. In fact, I looked petulant. Things like putting two chips over my eyes, putting one on my nose. Something I have reservations in doing. But she was laughing her head off at it. Then she followed suit, trying to make me laugh. And any time she got me to laugh, her smile got bigger, and she laughed harder.
Shortly after I got here, a group of Koreans living in Taiwan came here as well. One of them walked in, saw her with me, laughing. And all he could was say was, "Dude, how'd you get her to like you?" All I could say was "Snacks."
But that did confirm my suspicions. She doesn't trust people outside her circle. The closest I got to her was when she fell asleep in Joseph's lap at church one night, and was able to take a picture. But otherwise, I had only seen her with him, Seol, Hana, and Pastor Chun's wife. That was her circle. But suddenly, here I was, sharing a bag of Jagalchi and seeing her laugh with me.
We were close to the end of the bag, and I needed to use the bathroom. I wound up pointing to the bag, then to her, letting her know the rest was hers. She smiled and took the bag, and went back to Pastor Chun's wife's desk. And I went to the bathroom.
But it was that type of moment that warmed my heart. I had no clue that this type of event would occur. This was not in the brochure. This was not something I was expected to do. But this was something God wanted. And if anything, this girl's heart had a transition of sorts.
I may never know the ramifications of this afternoon's snack with her. But I do know that this was a time where I entertained an angel.
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