Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound

After living together maybe an hour, Brooke—my teammate and roommate this summer—and I discovered we both love to sing. Apparently the students who are our roommates began to notice us singing all the time. One of them, Maggie, came up to me the other day and asked if I would teach her the song I had been singing that morning.

“Was I singing a song this morning?” I asked.  I didn’t really know what she was talking about.  I constantly am humming something, but I normally do it without thinking. So, when she asked me to teach her the song, I had no idea what song she meant. I turned to ask Brooke, and she didn’t know either.  

But Maggie insisted I sang a song that morning—a “beautiful song,” she said. Brooke and I looked completely confused. I really had no clue what she was talking about, but then she tried to sing it. In spite of her limited English, I could tell she was singing Amazing Grace.  

“Oh, you want to learn how to sing Amazing Grace?” I asked.

“Yes, yes!” she said. “Please teach me.”  

During the lunch break, we went into the chapel and started to teach her the lyrics of Amazing Grace. We wrote them down for her in English and slowly sang it verse by verse, over and over again, until she was singing it with us confidently. It took her about 45 minutes to really learn the song and be able to sing it on her own.  

Maggie has such a beautiful voice. I only know a little about her story and her journey to South Korea, but I know enough to recognize her singing this song is a powerful thing.

At the end of each verse, I asked her if she knew what that verse was saying and what it meant. At first, she was slow to respond, but then she started talking like she couldn’t contain her words. She explained to me that her favorite part of the song was the third verse about how the Lord has promised good to her and how he will be her shield if only she believes in him. The minute I understood what she was saying, I started to cry.

How beautiful is this wonderful girl who has been through a crazy, painful journey. In the midst of everything, she is starting to understand how much God loves her and cares for her. Even now, I still here her humming Amazing Grace as she is reading or doing her homework in the apartment. Most of the time, I get a huge smile when I hear her. But then there are those couple moments when tears start to slide down my face, because I know that I have a sister in Christ whose faith is growing and who really trusts her Savior in all things.

Caitlin Campbell, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, is serving with Go Now Missions in South Korea.