Nam 1

Hamin Nam (Tim)

Professor Paulette Koubek-Yao
ESL 33B
1 October 2015
Best Friend
I want to work with people, and I want to work in the church for poor, youth and
young adults; moreover, I love to meet people who live in different cultures. However, there
was a period that I was a bad person to other people, and I hated everyone who was around
me even my parents. My father is a pastor in South Korea and I abhorred church and pastor
even though my father is pastor. When I was in 6th grade, I started to smoke, and I learned
how to drink when I was 8th grade from my peers. At that time, I thought that everyone hate
me. Finally, I was kicked out from middle school, and I had to go to another school;
moreover, I had to go to hospital to meet a counselor. My parents decided to change my
school to the Christian high school, and I met guys who were different from me.
I remember the date, and I remember the weather of the day that I first went to the
school. It was raining, and students were running to not be late at chapel. My parents
expected me to change my life, but I didn't change at all. In the chapel, there were students
who worshiped God radically, but I couldn't understand them, so I was sleeping during the
chapel. What I remembered after chapel was not God or Jesus; it was students who I couldn't
understand.
One day, when I tried to go out from the dormitory to smoke, one student held my
hand, and he said, "Please, do not go out". I said okay, but I went out to smoke, and ignored
him. Next day, I tried to smoke again, and I met him again, and he said, " I am praying for
you", but I ignored him again. This same situation repeated for a month, and at the end of the
month, I started to think about praying, and I felt happiness when I met him. Finally, he led

Nam 2
me to the prayer meeting, but I didn't know anything about Christianity, so I was listening
what they prayed about while they were praying. I could hear what he prayed, and his prayer
was enough to shock me. He prayed, "God, I don't care about my life, but I hope you to
change his life, you must save him". I don't know why, but I just cried out, and my life
changed from that day. His name is Daniel, and he is my best friend. Daniel and I are not a
blood relationship, but to me, he is more than brother. If I continued to ignore him when he
held my hands in high school, I can assure that I might seriously died. Because of Daniel, I
could be a leader in high school, and I could feel empathy to other people who have trouble
that I experienced before. Now, I am studying theology to be a pastor. The influence of one
person is beyond one's imagination, and I want to be a person who can have a positive effect
on someone's life.