Six Months

As of today, I have officially been in Korea for six months.

In celebration, I got to see Sara again (she just returned from her trip to the States) AND her parents. We had a lovely day together. I realize I've learned a lot and adapted to a lot of things in six months.

Praise the Lord.

Collecting Dried Flowers

On Sunday, Pastor Eddie talked about drying "flowers" from God. These "flowers" basically represent daily gifts from the Lord. Pastor Eddie used the example of how girls always like to dry flowers that are given to them... to remember special people/moments/etc. Pastor Eddie encouraged us to learn how to "dry" God's "flowers" to remind us of His goodness and generous gifts. (In college, I went through the Bible study Falling in Love with Jesus. In the study, these gifts are referred to as "kisses" from the King.)

So... in effort to put this teaching into practice AND catch you up on the last couple of weeks, I will share some "dried flowers" with you:

God, I thank you for...

• My vacation time - this week and last week. It's nice to have time to just RELAX.
  
• An email that I received last week from a dear friend encouraging me to enjoy my vacation time and spend lots of sweet times with Jesus - time that is NEVER wasted! I had been worried about wasting my vacation time... but her wise words were such an encouragement to me. So, I've had lots of relaxing, UNwasted time. =)
• The opportunity to use my gifts to help plan an upcoming ministry fair at our church. It's exciting to use the gifts I've been given to serve!
• A phone call from my mother at JUST the right time last week. A moment when I was feeling terribly homesick and ridiculously emotional... God's timing is perfect.
• Lots of time to sit at cafes and read good books.
• An encouraging package that came at just the right time from a dear family friend.
• Good times with amazing friends.
• Replacing lies from the enemy with the TRUTH of God's Word... it's amazing how easily I can get discouraged sometimes...
• Reminders to place my HOPE in Christ ALONE.
• Encouraging words from a fellow teacher.
• Prayer time with my friend Grace, a "kindred spirit."
• Isaiah 26:3-4 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD is the Rock eternal. (This verse has been mentioned to me personally THREE times over the past week!)
• Reassurance that God is holding my hand along this journey...
• Confidence that God will continue to provide for me, regardless of how terribly the won exchange rate plummets.
• Reminders to keep my mind and heart focused on eternal things, rather than temporal things.
• Hearing that one of my teachers from last semester has MET JESUS!!! Such a beautiful thing God is doing in her heart!!! It's such a joy and privilege to know Christ and make Him known...
  

Babysitting...

On Saturday, I had the privilege of babysitting Bok ja's lovely 3 year old twins and their friend, Hee ju for an hour and a half. It was so much fun!!!

I think the most interesting thing that happened while I was babysitting was our reading time... they asked me to read them a book. No problem, right? Except it was in Korean!!! Rather than thinking to make it up, I struggled through and slowly read the story to them (although they gave me a few confused looks). Fortunately, we found a couple of English books after that and our reading time went much better...


Hee Ju, Song mi, & Cheung mi... three of the most adorable Korean 3 year-olds...


Cheung mi & Song mi... (they love being in front of the camera!)


Aren't they adorable?!


Hee Ju was totally content reading her own little book... (my kind of girl...)


Good times...




Already doing the Asian poses...


Wearing masks to protect them from the cold (a very common practice in Asia...)

Definitely NOT Asian...

Thursday night I had dinner with two of my dear friends. They are both Asian, but native English speakers. They do spicy food and chopsticks much better than I do. (Normally I do okay... but things just didn't go well on this particular night...) I had to add water to my meal because it was so spicy. I couldn't even get the food on my plate because it was so slippery! They had to put it on my plate for me. Definitely humbling... I felt like a failure at adapting to Korean culture.

I'm just not Asian... as hard as I try sometimes... Fortunately, God has blessed me with amazing friends that are incredibly kind and understanding and patient with my non-Asian-ness.

Daeboreum

On Monday, I had a delightful lunch with Kyunghan (one of my co-teachers) and her boyfriend, Seong-phil (pictured below).


They are so sweet... and so much fun to hang out with! We had a delightful time together. =)


We had a TON of food. I tried samgaetang (soup with rice inside of a chicken) for the first time. It was pretty good - although I wasn't quite sure how to eat it. =)


After lunch, we went to the Namsangol Hanok Village for the Daeboreum celebration. It's only ONE subway stop away from me... and I have been completely unaware this whole time!


Daeboreum is traditionally celebrated each year 15 days after the lunar new year; it's the celebration of the first (and biggest) full moon of the year. People traditionally pray to the moon. I'm not sure how much people actually believe this now... Seong-phil and Kyunghan are Christians, so they don't pray to the moon. I was really thankful that they shared this tradition with me, though. It was quite educational and I really enjoyed learning about some old Korean traditions.


This is the wishing tree. All of those bright colors are people's wishes. In the evening, they burn the tree and then the ashes are used as fertilizer for good crops (according to tradition).


At the village that we visited, they had lots of traditional Korean games. Here, Kyunghan is trying to keep this metal rim off the ground. It was actually quite a challenging task!


An old-school traditional Korean home (for quite wealthy people). Seong-phil was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of these buildings. I think my Dad would have enjoyed hearing about it... since he's a builder and all. =)


Making popcorn the old-fashioned way!


Reminded me of my Grandpa and Papu... we used to eat popcorn together all the time! =)

Traditional Korean dancers and musicians. I have grown to appreciate and enjoy these performances.


I went back to the village later on that night with some friends after dinner. We got to see them light the tree on fire... it was a pretty intense fire... and ashes were flying everywhere. It was another one of those things that we see here in Korea that just would probably never be done in the States. lol.

Graduation Day

Last Thursday, our 3rd graders (9th graders) graduated from Cheongryang Middle School. I was kind of excited to attend the ceremony, since I'd never attended a graduation ceremony in a foreign country.




We don't have a gym at our school, so we had to use the Cheongryang High School gym (conveniently located next door to our middle school).



It was mostly similar to our ceremonies at home... except for the following:

- It was in the middle of the day.
- The students just wore their regular school uniforms (didn't get dressed up at all).
- Interesting awards such as "Most Economical" were given to students.
- The students (of course) bowed three times when they received their special rewards.
- The teachers were not required to attend.

I'm glad I went. I was proud of my students... and thankful for Kyunghan's translating!

Another Lesson on Faith

Last week, one of the teachers at my school informed me that she had to have a biopsy to check for breast cancer. She was really worried... and I was really concerned about her as well. So, we prayed together (she is also a believer)... asked several others to pray as well... and decided to trust the Lord to heal her.

Thursday afternoon she received a phone call from her doctor - saying they won't need to see her until August!!! We had such a time of rejoicing when she received the call. Praise God for granting peace to her heart and restoring her health.

She told me that she is so thankful for this experience because God really taught her to thank Him for each day - the exciting days and the "mundane" ones (what a good reminder for me as well). What a gift life is! How easily we forget and get bogged down with worry. The Lord is faithful!

It was a good "faith-builder" for me... as I've been realizing more and more lately that this is certainly an area for me to grow in. Before, I would have been too nervous to pray for healing - afraid that God wouldn't heal her. But I've been challenged to pray with more faith as I've been reading through the Gospels recently.

Psalm 105

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.

Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced...

Alive Again

Today all of the teachers and students came back to school!!! I was SOOOOOOOOOOO happy! They are only back for one week (it's the final week of the school year) and the 3rd graders (9th graders) will graduate at the end of the week. Then we'll have three more weeks of winter vacation before the new school year begins in March. Thus, "teaching" is rather interesting this week. I knew that there was no sense trying to plan a lesson with expectations of them listening attentively and actually gaining new information. So, we just played a fun English game and they still had to practice speaking, writing, and listening. It worked out for the most part. However, even though several students misbehaved... it did not make me nearly as frustrated as I would have felt last semester. I was just so happy to have them back!

I'm learning that although I really do love and cherish alone time... I really need PEOPLE! It's funny. Even though I didn't have a ton of significant conversations, it was just meaningful to have people running in and out of the office, hearing the copy machine running like crazy, exchanging greetings with students and teachers alike, even eating the Korean cafeteria food with the rest of the teachers in the dining room, etc. I found myself walking around with a bit of a bounce in my step - something that I think has been missing for awhile, maybe.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

Completion of Winter Vacation Class

Friday was my last class with my seven winter vacation students. It was a bittersweet day. I really enjoyed teaching the class and had great students. However,it was such a nice feeling of accomplishment to have it finished. I think we all learned and grew a ton from it! (I know I did!!!) One thing I realized: I really love teaching literature and writing. That was somewhat of a surprise to me, not sure why!

Friday was the appointed day for them to turn in their book reports and book covers. They did some great work:


Shawn


Hannah - she loves Amelia Bedelia just like I did when I was a kid!


Helen


Lucy


Mary


Tyler


Jenny - she was a little shy

I challenged the students to read 100 books as a class throughout our winter vacation... the results:

I was SO proud!


My dedicated and hard-working students

Their reward: a pizza party and movie!!!



It was a nice way to end.