Last Friday I just had one student in my 6:30PM class at LG TV (not unusual since it is a Friday night) so rather than doing what I'd planned we just talked (yeah, sometimes my job is extremely easy). The topic eventually landed on North Korea. I'd asked him on his perspectives and he shared with me this story.
When he was in China he met a woman who was North Korean. Ok, first of all, for anyone reading who doesn't know, North Koreans are not allowed outside of the country, and have to receive passes to even travel to a different town. So this woman's presence in China is definitely out of the ordinary. He asked her how she ended up in China and this is her story.
She replied that she'd swam through the river, confident that she would not make it across without being shot and killed. The river between China and North Korea is heavily guarded and those attempting to escape are shot. Miraculously, this woman made it across the river and she began her new life, in China, as a free woman. She was able to get a job and begin to make a life for herself. While she was in China a Christian befriended her and taught her about the teachings of Christ. She decided to become a Christian and was so empowered by her newly found Savior she had decided, she told my student, that she was going to go back to North Korea to share the good news of Christ with her people. When my student had talked to her, she was unsure if she would make it back to North Korea alive as she would need to swim across the same heavily guarded river that she'd risked her life crossing before. She may be captured and placed into jail for who knows how long. Even if she was thrown in jail, she said, she would greet the opportunity to share the love of Christ with those imprisoned. Even though her future looked bleak, she embraced the mission set before her.
A few days later my student returned to South Korea, and will most likely never see this woman again. When he shared this story with me I was humbled and was reminded of the boldness I lack. So many opportunities to share pass me by because my own laziness and timidity.