Changes: The Last Meeting

The last few meetings with Jacob were incidentally the ones where I got to know him the best. In fact, he even shared a bit from his past with me. When I asked him what he did in Korea, he told me that he was a Christian pastor at a church. I was shocked when I heard this, because he does not exactly seem the type for a pastor; I kind of imagined he would be a businessman from first impressions. I did not really know why he wanted to come to America to learn English. This struck me as odd because even though I had many meetings with Jacob this semester, I never really asked him why he was here. He told me that is learning English because it is the main language of Christianity. He thinks that if he can learn about the Christian faith in in English, its "native language", as he puts it, it will help his understanding of it and allow him to become a better pastor in South Korea. I was truly impressed with this and I think it is so cool that he is doing this. It is not an easy thing to leave your native country and learn a new language to further your religious belief.
Not only that, but Jacob is a dedicated father from what he has told me. His kids love animals, so he bought season passes to the Fort Worth Zoo. Every Saturday, instead of sitting around taking time for himself, he dutifully brings his children to the place they love best- the zoo. I think he took them there for five or six weekends in a row. That is some real dedication right there. Even when I went to the zoo a couple of weekends ago, I saw him there and we started talking. He introduced me to his wife and kids, and he looked really happy to see a friendly face. That was just a really cool experience.
Another eye-opening experience was when I asked about Sohee and Angie, two of his friends that had come to the meetings with him before. Jacob told me that Angie is back in South Korea and that Sohee is pregnant. I knew there had to have been a reason they had stopped coming to speak English with me, but I had just assumed that I was a bad teacher. It was really cool yet depressing to realize that people do change. I was a little sad because I knew that I would likely never see either of them again, but happy at the same time because life goes on.