HomePlus Plus

What your local Target store is to any American suburb, HomePlus is to us here in Korea. Its the department store where you can find nearly everything you're looking for and at a quality that is usually about a step above what you find at Wal-Mart. So you might imagine that a trip into town to shop at HomePlus would be an adventure that my wife (who rarely sets out upon adventures) would be motivated to undertake. And that is exactly what she did.

Hopping onto the University's shuttle bus (here, though, shuttle buses are not like those you would ride from the long-term parking lot at the airport to the terminal -- they are the size of a full-scale Greyhound touring bus), Sandy rode the bus as far as its route went into downtown Pohang before turning around to head back to campus. Exiting the shuttle bus, she crossed one of the busiest streets in Pohang to catch the local 101 city bus that would take her further south passed Jukdo Market where she would get off and then walk -- a few blocks -- to HomePlus.

That was the plan, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men -- they often go astray. And, its extremely easy to "go astray" in downtown Pohang where the streets are configured in no particular pattern and where street signs are of very little help -- even to those who can read the language -- and of even less assistance to those who don't. In a certain way, though, Sandy did not go "astray" since she just kept walking along that same street where she had exited the 101 bus. She walked and walked. At each intersection, she looked and looked for that HomePlus sign (it at least was in English) -- but to no avail.

After nearly an hour walk about, she decided to head back toward a familiar landmark -- Joyful Church -- where we help to teach a kids Sunday School class each Sunday. Feeling quite disappointed in her efforts to locate her desired destination, she was almost at the point of giving-up. In one of those times of conversational prayer, she expressed a readiness to accept that today was not to be the day that she was to shop, but just in case the Lord had other plans, could He send along an English speaker to be her guide.

Within minutes, as Sandy was continuing her walk back toward the church, she encountered Abdul, one of my students from last semester who is now a first-year law student at Handong International Law School. What was even more interesting was the fact that she was able to recognize him and felt comfortable in approaching him because he and another of my former students, Prophete, had just -- the week before -- taken Sandy and me to dinner at the restaurant on campus. He just happened to be on his way to KBStar Bank when their paths crossed.  When asked, Abdul was not only willing to show Sandy the way to HomePlus, he offered to help with the shopping too.  He mentioned that he had had good practice helping his own mother do shopping in their home country of Afghanistan.

The two of them perused the aisles on each floor and ended-up filling a big cart with all sorts of groceries and household items.  In many ways, Abdul reminded Sandy of our son Justin -- a young man ready to be a help in any way that he can even when it means changing his plans. So, with full bags in hand, Sandy and Abdul caught the 101 bus back to the spot where they transferred to the University shuttle and then made their return trip to campus with even more than they had both bargained for -- all in all, a real HomePlus plus!