Why? part 1

As I prepare to go to South Korea I often get asked why I'm doing this. I usually give some quick response, but really it's nearly impossible for me to lay out all the different motivations I have for doing this. There are so many vastly different reasons.

To start everyone should know I put a lot of thought into this. A LOT. I am not someone who just jumps into things. I think things out, and weigh the many pros and cons. When thinking about the pros and cons of this the pros well outweighed the cons.

One obvious motivation all understand is money. Since getting married my wife and I have had a very difficult time getting our hands on any, and had a harder time keeping it when we got it. Through moving at least once every year, to car repairs, to bills, bills, and more bills financial security has regularly escaped us. There's a reason we've spent the past year living with first my wife's parents, and then my parents. We couldn't find work that would enable us to keep doing it on our own. A lot of people are in this situation (especially people in their 20s like us).

There are few long term solutions to this problem, and even less short term. The long term solution we decided on is going back to school. It's what I definitely feel called to do, and my wife feels called in that direction as well. I'm likely to go to seminary, and that is cheaper than most schools, but not always. In order to go back to school without taking out tons of money in student loans to go on top of the student loans we're already paying off we need some financial stability. Teaching in South Korea for a year will make that possible. Living rent free with no gas bill for a year makes it pretty easy to save some money.

So there's one reason. There's really no better way to gain the financial stability we need. Even if there was, however, we'd still probably do this thanks to the countless other reasons. Reasons I will soon spell out in other post.

Taylor K.