Hello! My name is JihyeChung, and I am a volunteer at YAV/DOOR in Atlanta for 2014-2015.  I was born in South Korea and grew up in Gumi,which is a small but very beautiful cityin Korea.  I'm a student at Hannam University in Daejeon and major in law. I want to be a labor lawyer for workers who can't defend their rights due to financial and social inequalities. After this program is done, I plan to prepare for the Bar examination in Korea.

I enjoy exercise and sports such as running and kendo. As a freshman, I learned kendo and enjoy competing when possible. Even though kendo is a difficult sport for women, I like practicing it because I want to break the traditional mindset that “women are weaker than men and need to be protected”.  What I enjoy most about kendo, however, is getting to meet people with different majors and life experiences. If I had to choose what I enjoy the most so far during my time at college, I would choose kendo.

I have known about the ‘YAV’ program since the Summer of 2013. My university was built by American missionaries from the Korean Presbyterian Church in 1954,so I often met with YAV’s from America in the church inside the campus. After traveling to Thailand for a mission trip in January of 2014, I was preparing to study abroad. However, I heard from my friend (who is now in Denver, Colorado with the YAV program) that the Korean Presbyterian church was looking for new YAV’s to send to the U.S. from Korea. At that time, I was unsure if I wanted to study abroad or go to USA for the YAV program so I prayed every day. After a while His answer came to me. I found out that I was suddenly unable to study abroad, leaving the YAV program as my sole choice.

Now, I have no regrets about applying to the YAV/DOOR program and to coming to Atlanta. At first when I came to Atlanta, it was very stressful. I still have difficulty in speaking with people but I know I’m getting better that before. I thank God that whenever it feels hard or difficult, He sends good people that help me along.

The reason I applied to this program was to experience the plan God has for me. I want to experience God in America and learn what others think and believe. I am sure this one year will greatly influence my life. I’d like to break my thinking and stereotypes influenced by the conservative society of Korea.