My Real-Life Superhero

           Normally, people would think that she should wear some kind of white dressing gown with a huge cross symbol on it and she would be standing behind an enormous wooden podium while droning on and on about scriptures in the bible. However, of course, she wasn’t like that. She came in with jeans, a regular t-shirt, and an excited smile. “Okay, children! Are you ready for this?” she yelled with her hands flying in the air. We, children, were astounded by her entrance. At first it was a little awkward when she began talking unsteadily because she was pretty nervous; however, even the teachers and children were all shaking in their boots. The teachers wondered, “Will she be a good enough pastor? She’s so young.” The children wondered, “Is she going to be boring? Will she be mean? This is the worst case, but is she going to be crazy?” As she went along, she got used to the flow and led us to follow the current. After that, she smiled even wider and it really looked like she had fun speaking to us up there.
          I think, right then and there, I developed a liking towards her. She didn’t talk about things we kids didn’t care about. She knew that children understood more and that adults underestimated us, so she didn’t teach us the baby stuff. She talked about living life; she gave sermons about being innocent and free. Most of all, it was her smile that caught me captive. She was just emitting so much light and glee that I felt it and began grinning along with her; it was too contagious. Even though there were many sad and stressing problems that she had, she never stopped smiling and she always tried her best to make other people happy along with her.

Ms. Jennifer Kim (Jendo) is this very tiny and petite Asian woman. She doesn’t have large muscles or is very tall, but she is a very strong hero. Whether it’s when she’s herding a pack of church children to the cafeteria, distributing food to the homeless, hugging the orphans, giving a piece of her heart to the prostitutes in India, singing and dancing along with the Africans, making bread for the starving North Koreans, washing and praying over somebody’s feet, or just sharing her very touching and personal life story, she shows signs of being an amazing person and role model; she looks as though the definition of strength has nothing to do with physical appearances and the word ‘weak’ was a long forgotten word.  She taught me that everybody, even someone small and unsignificant like me, can make a difference for what they have a heart for.