I first enrolled at Gateway Seminary as an online student while teaching English in South Korea in August 2019. I remember my first week and studying so hard for my Old Testament Introduction 1 class and I got 6/10 on my first quiz. I was so upset about it and kept telling my wife that if I couldn't handle it, I might have to drop out of seminary. I talked about it for two days resulting in an argument with my wife. Week 2 turned out much better and from then on I have gotten the hang of studying at seminary and enjoying it. Up until now, I have had a 3.61 GPA. Thank you, Lord, for your mercies and for helping me persevere!
When my wife and I arrived in California on December 20, 2020, I kept studying online and it was fine for the time being until I took Hebrew 1 in Fall 2021. During the first week, it was so overwhelming and I had no idea how to handle that class online since the homework was about learning all of the vowels and consonants during the first week! My wife thought that I had better take Hebrew in person, so then we decided to look into student housing. I dropped the online Hebrew class and did well in my other two classes for that semester.
We moved into student housing from my dad's home on December 19, 2021 (almost exactly a year later), I enrolled in Spring 2022 classes in person. Wow! What a difference it makes to take classes in person compared to online. It's just a much more enjoyable experience. I can interact with the professor and hear other students engage with the professor, ask questions during the lectures, go to the library, and even get coffee or snacks on campus. It's 10 times better being at school in person rather than learning online.
Side note: Just imagine all of those poor kids having to go to school on Zoom rather than in-person and imagine the horrors that the teacher had to engage with 25 students on Zoom. I applaud those teachers that endured through it and pray that we never have to ask kids to take classes on Zoom again.
To make a long story short, I have loved being on campus at Gateway Seminary. My wife and I have a nice apartment (Just $920/month for now until it goes up a bit in August) just big enough for us and the apartment is only 3 miles away from school. We're in an area with many choices of restaurants and I'm a caregiver of a patient that is only 4.7 miles away. I'm very thankful that the Lord has put us together in a good spot. The only negative is that our church is still in Santa Paula (2 hours away). I really don't know how that's going to work out once I start doing more church-related work next year for my practicum course. But Jesus is looking out for us and I'm certain that it will all come together somehow.
Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy
