Ok, so I didn’t blog yesterday. I gave in to peer pressure and went to bed instead of taking 30 minutes to outline the pretty mundane details of my day. I hope you weren’t too disappointed. Hopefully I will make up for it with a better one today.
One thing I do want to mention about yesterday – I was kind of acting like a baby. More in my head, but I really wasn’t happy that we were going to have to work over our vacation days in Seoul. And I had a pretty big attitude, and even was complaining about it to some guys in the room. Eric started reading some scripture later, and I just realized that it wasn’t really right for me to hold on to my anger. So I said, “Ok Jesus. I’m not really happy. But I love you more than being upset about this. So, the ball is in your court. If you want us to do an extra camp, I’ll do it [happily].” And ever since then, I’ve felt better. I guess it’s all about reorienting our focus, day by day, to Jesus Christ.
Today, my class owned their idiom tests. People who did poorly on the last test got 100’s on this one. We better get the ice cream party – we OWNED that test. And here, that means I’m a GOOD TEACHER! YEAAAA!
We had fun later- writing stories about traveling to outer space. Grammar was frustrating, but it was present progressive. English has so many exceptions to every rule. Ugh. They caught on quickly, it’s just hard to explain all the exceptions and the reasons why.
Tonight for the rally, (oh, last night was Hawaiian night – very interesting. We did the hula and hot potato/pineapple for an hour – no idea how that lasted as long as they did). Tonight was our last night rally, and we played the balloon game (tied to shoes), and shuffle your buns, which actually turned out to be pretty fun. Face painting took an eternity. And as a Children’s Pastor, make a mental note, NEVER give kids balloons when trying to preach the gospel message. Christy did a good job of explaining how the love of God compels us to reach others – it’s why we are here. And we want them to know that love. I was praying during the whole thing – in the beginning the translator was kind of goofing off, but he got serious when Christy was serious. It went well.
Tonight during devotions, I realized I want to have joy, in each and every circumstance. Finding that joy and fighting for joy. When I reflect on what God has done in me, and taught me during this trip, I realize that fighting for joy is probably one thing I definitely want to commit to do during my pastorate.
Ok, that’s about it for tonight. I’m so tired. Have a good day everyone.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Day 31
I feel like when you’re in a foreign country for over five weeks, it’s really not that interesting to blog about the minor details of my life. Teaching kind of blurs together after a while.
These are things that Korea has on the United States:
1) You can ‘unpress’ buttons in the elevator. As in, when those obnoxious people push all the buttons, you can unpush them. Why haven’t we done that yet?
2) They eat ramen with chopsticks. Genius.
That might be it.
Lunch was good. Beef and rice. I didn’t eat dinner because I was busy preparing for the Hawaiian rally, music wise. Had ramen with chopsticks afterwards. Talked with the guys. Finished my novel. Read a book on children’s ministry.
My parents are currently stuck in Miami. Pray that they find their way home safely.
These are things that Korea has on the United States:
1) You can ‘unpress’ buttons in the elevator. As in, when those obnoxious people push all the buttons, you can unpush them. Why haven’t we done that yet?
2) They eat ramen with chopsticks. Genius.
That might be it.
Lunch was good. Beef and rice. I didn’t eat dinner because I was busy preparing for the Hawaiian rally, music wise. Had ramen with chopsticks afterwards. Talked with the guys. Finished my novel. Read a book on children’s ministry.
My parents are currently stuck in Miami. Pray that they find their way home safely.
Day 30
Last Sunday at Shinkwang Presbyterian Church – English Service portion. We had to randomly do the special music after the powerpoint didn’t work for song service – and at that time we really didn’t know what we were even going to sing. It ended up being “Here I Am To Worship.” It went okay.
Had lunch at the place down the street – they hollow out baguettes and fill it with meat and vegetables – very good.
Rested, read, and watched The Great Debaters.
Went out with the team for dinner. Walked through the pouring rain to eat chicken and pizza.
Had lunch at the place down the street – they hollow out baguettes and fill it with meat and vegetables – very good.
Rested, read, and watched The Great Debaters.
Went out with the team for dinner. Walked through the pouring rain to eat chicken and pizza.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Day 29
Lets talk about Jesus. The Great I Am is He. The Lord of Lords Supreme throughout eternity…
And I guess I should talk about today. The day of rest, yet it was 12 hours of scheduled team bonding, haha. We first went to the movie theater by way of taxis, but we were running late and the first movie was sold out so we went to get haircuts instead. Asian haircuts are among the best in the world, especially for nine dollars.
After that, we saw Inception, which was amazing. Oh, also had a Starbucks visit in there with some “Think Orange” time, which was really good.
Did some Korean Karaoke, dinner at a place that was like McDonalds (lunch was bibimbap), and then strolled around. Finished the OT tonight, and called Ashley Dukeman because she is getting married today in the States.
Lord, help me have your joy in each and every circumstance. I love you.
And I guess I should talk about today. The day of rest, yet it was 12 hours of scheduled team bonding, haha. We first went to the movie theater by way of taxis, but we were running late and the first movie was sold out so we went to get haircuts instead. Asian haircuts are among the best in the world, especially for nine dollars.
After that, we saw Inception, which was amazing. Oh, also had a Starbucks visit in there with some “Think Orange” time, which was really good.
Did some Korean Karaoke, dinner at a place that was like McDonalds (lunch was bibimbap), and then strolled around. Finished the OT tonight, and called Ashley Dukeman because she is getting married today in the States.
Lord, help me have your joy in each and every circumstance. I love you.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Day 28
There’s an old song that goes something like, “Lord, Don’t Call Me to Africa.” And today, I really wanted to change the name to “Lord, Don’t Call Me to Korea.”
The Lord is stretching me. In ways I am not fond of stretching, nor in ways that I thought were possible to stretch. He likes doing that though, I think.
Ok, so I didn’t go to bed til like 2am last night, and then woke up several times throughout the night and could not fall asleep because I had some pretty significant pain in my spine. I think it is a pinched nerve. And I just couldn’t sleep in any position that was comfortable. It was not a good way to start the day. I probably got one, maybe two hours of sleep.
I talked to Leah a little later today, and I got some drugs to help relax the muscles around the spine and icy hot and junk and spent the morning trying to get better. It helped a little. Went to lunch after a long morning of attempted napping and stuff. Teaching in the afternoon was a lot of fun, actually. All we really did was prepare for the parent’s night tonight. The kids were really sad that “teacher was so sick.” It really didn’t stop them from talking up a storm, or having a FIELD DAY when it started to pour. They were just distracted. However, Parent’s Night turned out really well – they did their speeches and we played an idiom game and I praised each student separately in front of their parents. I’m not sure how much they really understood, but that’s ok. It took an hour.
Pray for us. Today has been rough not only from the pain in my spine/neck, but there seems to be confusion over the communication over when our contracts end with the college here. This won’t affect when I fly out, but pretty much if I get any days off before we leave to sightsee/buy souvenirs. It’s kind of stressful for all of us to be told today we’re actually working an extra camp that we didn’t plan on. So, we’re serving Jesus, seeking Him, and relying on his strength so we (I, in particular) don’t stress and get premature heart disease.
Lord, you can call me to Korea, if you so desire. Because I love you more than I might be frustrated with Korea today. And that’s what matters.
Please pray for my neck/back. It still is giving me pain as I write tonight.
The Lord is stretching me. In ways I am not fond of stretching, nor in ways that I thought were possible to stretch. He likes doing that though, I think.
Ok, so I didn’t go to bed til like 2am last night, and then woke up several times throughout the night and could not fall asleep because I had some pretty significant pain in my spine. I think it is a pinched nerve. And I just couldn’t sleep in any position that was comfortable. It was not a good way to start the day. I probably got one, maybe two hours of sleep.
I talked to Leah a little later today, and I got some drugs to help relax the muscles around the spine and icy hot and junk and spent the morning trying to get better. It helped a little. Went to lunch after a long morning of attempted napping and stuff. Teaching in the afternoon was a lot of fun, actually. All we really did was prepare for the parent’s night tonight. The kids were really sad that “teacher was so sick.” It really didn’t stop them from talking up a storm, or having a FIELD DAY when it started to pour. They were just distracted. However, Parent’s Night turned out really well – they did their speeches and we played an idiom game and I praised each student separately in front of their parents. I’m not sure how much they really understood, but that’s ok. It took an hour.
Pray for us. Today has been rough not only from the pain in my spine/neck, but there seems to be confusion over the communication over when our contracts end with the college here. This won’t affect when I fly out, but pretty much if I get any days off before we leave to sightsee/buy souvenirs. It’s kind of stressful for all of us to be told today we’re actually working an extra camp that we didn’t plan on. So, we’re serving Jesus, seeking Him, and relying on his strength so we (I, in particular) don’t stress and get premature heart disease.
Lord, you can call me to Korea, if you so desire. Because I love you more than I might be frustrated with Korea today. And that’s what matters.
Please pray for my neck/back. It still is giving me pain as I write tonight.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Day 27
Today was a great day. We worked most of the day on speeches, with idioms and reading and writing interspersed. It went really well. The kids and I are on the “same team” now, and we have a good relationship. They worked really hard on their speeches. They are supposed to be 2 minutes long, but I’m realizing that’s really hard for some non-English speakers, so after telling them time and again “Add four more sentences!” I think I’m just going to be happy with 90 second speeches.
After lunch, we had a game that raised tensions with the team members. We still love each other, don’t worry. Basically, we had to travel to the five different classrooms for 10 minutes apiece as we tried to cram all kinds of trivia about Korea. And then we had to play a game show and answer questions after cramming in our five different classrooms. Most stressful thing yet. And our whole team winning and getting a pizza party kind of came down to this last game. And today our team started in forth place. No pressure, Joshua, but if you want to escape kimchi tonight, you need to do well.
Well, I won. It was awesome. And the grace of God. I remembered things that I didn’t even think I remembered. For instance, one of the questions was how many calories are in bibimbap? The answer is 730 kcal. That was a random number that popped into my head – and I was right. Maybe now I’m starting to realize how I got through college with all A’s – good cramming skills.
We won, but we lost overall first place by two points. Sad day. And I was told if I taught my kids better, I would have received more points. Sometimes, I don’t think people exactly know how they say things, but it just reminds me to be careful how I phrase things. We like to be results-oriented in the United States (and apparently Korea), but results do not define people, nor to they give or take away worth.
Had a fun night at the rally – it was crazy hair night. We spent like 20 minutes just spraying hairspray and mouse. Hard to breathe at times with all of that. Then we played a few games – pumping the tunes are my thing. Rocking it like it’s 2010.
Watched “What Happens In Vegas” with the team tonight, and then had a good, good talk with the team until like 2 am. So pumped for this weekend.
After lunch, we had a game that raised tensions with the team members. We still love each other, don’t worry. Basically, we had to travel to the five different classrooms for 10 minutes apiece as we tried to cram all kinds of trivia about Korea. And then we had to play a game show and answer questions after cramming in our five different classrooms. Most stressful thing yet. And our whole team winning and getting a pizza party kind of came down to this last game. And today our team started in forth place. No pressure, Joshua, but if you want to escape kimchi tonight, you need to do well.
Well, I won. It was awesome. And the grace of God. I remembered things that I didn’t even think I remembered. For instance, one of the questions was how many calories are in bibimbap? The answer is 730 kcal. That was a random number that popped into my head – and I was right. Maybe now I’m starting to realize how I got through college with all A’s – good cramming skills.
We won, but we lost overall first place by two points. Sad day. And I was told if I taught my kids better, I would have received more points. Sometimes, I don’t think people exactly know how they say things, but it just reminds me to be careful how I phrase things. We like to be results-oriented in the United States (and apparently Korea), but results do not define people, nor to they give or take away worth.
Had a fun night at the rally – it was crazy hair night. We spent like 20 minutes just spraying hairspray and mouse. Hard to breathe at times with all of that. Then we played a few games – pumping the tunes are my thing. Rocking it like it’s 2010.
Watched “What Happens In Vegas” with the team tonight, and then had a good, good talk with the team until like 2 am. So pumped for this weekend.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Day 26
Today was awesome. And I’m trying to remember why. So hopefully you and I realize by the end of this post.
This morning, I don’t think I wanted to get up – I feel like I feel like that most mornings – like I never get enough rest. Oh, last night I talked to a good buddy of mine and it made me pumped to see some of my friends in the States when I’m back.
Anyway, so got up this morning. Walked into the classroom this morning not really motivated, but got a lot accomplished…11:50 happened on me before I was actually ready for it. Did a fun project about writing a schedule for a lazy day that the kids really enjoyed actually. Got to experience what some teachers do with high stakes testing – had to take a lot of heat because my kids had the lowest scores on their idiom tests – and I really didn’t know what to do with kids who just have no motivation to study. I’m going to have to try harder this week.
Anyway, went to lunch, and after lunch, we worked on their speeches they have to give when their parents come this weekend and I have to teach in front of them for 2 hours – yeah, found out about that today. YAY! That took up all of our grammar time, and probably will for the rest of the week. I’m not too bummed about that haha.
Did the art station, and snuck upstairs to score some grilled cheese sandwiches in breaks, where we lock out the kids and just make them for ourselves, haha. They were SOOOO good. A little bit of American heaven. When the kids were banging on the door to be let it, I frustratedly shouted, “See, that’s what it’s like to be forever separated from God’s glory!” ☺ Maybe we make too many spiritual jokes because we can’t evangelize directly and they couldn’t hear us anyway.
During group game time, all of my students started showing me their appreciation – and I also experienced that in reading some of their speeches – they think I am kind. One wrote, “Sometimes, he gets angry. But he tells us “Good Job” and that makes us feel better.” And we had good team bonding, though we are probably in last place after today (getting the worst grades on the idiom test didn’t really bode well for us either). But it’s cool.
We went to Stu’s house for dinner tonight. He is a fellow teacher we’ve been teaching with since our first week. We had grilled chicken, pork, and hamburgers, Can someboday give the Lord a shout of praise?!?! Hallelujah! It was positively glorious. Eric pulled me into the inflatable pool on the roof with my shirt on…and then he pulled Amanda in with a dress on. I think she was the unhappier one out of the two of us.
After we left, we went to the rally and I played all Disney songs. They tried to (very unsuccessfully) run a game of Steal the Bacon. Royal Rangers has trained me well in the game of ‘Steal the Bacon’ and it failed on every level tonight. Eric walked over to the sound booth saying “I HATE THIS GAME!” lol.
Had a great talk later with Eric and Dan about the dreams that the Lord is giving Dan. I’m eager to see where he ends up.
Finished Amos tonight. I have like 4 minor prophets to read tomorrow.
That’s all. Woohoo!
This morning, I don’t think I wanted to get up – I feel like I feel like that most mornings – like I never get enough rest. Oh, last night I talked to a good buddy of mine and it made me pumped to see some of my friends in the States when I’m back.
Anyway, so got up this morning. Walked into the classroom this morning not really motivated, but got a lot accomplished…11:50 happened on me before I was actually ready for it. Did a fun project about writing a schedule for a lazy day that the kids really enjoyed actually. Got to experience what some teachers do with high stakes testing – had to take a lot of heat because my kids had the lowest scores on their idiom tests – and I really didn’t know what to do with kids who just have no motivation to study. I’m going to have to try harder this week.
Anyway, went to lunch, and after lunch, we worked on their speeches they have to give when their parents come this weekend and I have to teach in front of them for 2 hours – yeah, found out about that today. YAY! That took up all of our grammar time, and probably will for the rest of the week. I’m not too bummed about that haha.
Did the art station, and snuck upstairs to score some grilled cheese sandwiches in breaks, where we lock out the kids and just make them for ourselves, haha. They were SOOOO good. A little bit of American heaven. When the kids were banging on the door to be let it, I frustratedly shouted, “See, that’s what it’s like to be forever separated from God’s glory!” ☺ Maybe we make too many spiritual jokes because we can’t evangelize directly and they couldn’t hear us anyway.
During group game time, all of my students started showing me their appreciation – and I also experienced that in reading some of their speeches – they think I am kind. One wrote, “Sometimes, he gets angry. But he tells us “Good Job” and that makes us feel better.” And we had good team bonding, though we are probably in last place after today (getting the worst grades on the idiom test didn’t really bode well for us either). But it’s cool.
We went to Stu’s house for dinner tonight. He is a fellow teacher we’ve been teaching with since our first week. We had grilled chicken, pork, and hamburgers, Can someboday give the Lord a shout of praise?!?! Hallelujah! It was positively glorious. Eric pulled me into the inflatable pool on the roof with my shirt on…and then he pulled Amanda in with a dress on. I think she was the unhappier one out of the two of us.
After we left, we went to the rally and I played all Disney songs. They tried to (very unsuccessfully) run a game of Steal the Bacon. Royal Rangers has trained me well in the game of ‘Steal the Bacon’ and it failed on every level tonight. Eric walked over to the sound booth saying “I HATE THIS GAME!” lol.
Had a great talk later with Eric and Dan about the dreams that the Lord is giving Dan. I’m eager to see where he ends up.
Finished Amos tonight. I have like 4 minor prophets to read tomorrow.
That’s all. Woohoo!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Day 25
Did you ever have one of those days where you just want to write the un-recommendation letter to the Lord (and everybody else) about why you’re completely unqualified for him to use you? That’s what I went through today. Something like “Lord, this is how I’ve messed up Just TODAY! How are you ever going to work in me when I am probably going to make so many more mistakes that just what I’ve done on this trip? What if I have a bad attitude tomorrow, or the next day? Lord, What do you even see in ME?”
I guess we all have these days. I felt a lot like Zacchaeus in the Bible. He didn’t even really pursue Jesus – He just kind of watches him go by from a tree. He doesn’t even really feel worthy to go down and try to seek Jesus out – but he is intrigued. So he just chills, because he doesn’t really feel good enough to go and talk to Jesus. And Jesus looks – and sees him, right where he is. Tax collector and cheater and slime of the earth that He is. And Jesus calls him down, and goes and shares a meal with Him. Why? It’s not like Zacchaeus even pursued Jesus.
But this is what 1 John 4:10 says “Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that HE. LOVED. US. And sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
And in my mopey mood of “Jesus really shouldn’t love or choose me because I am not really good at living life perfectly,” I came across Hosea 2. The prophet is talking to a generation who has REALLY screwed up – they’re going to be exiled because of their massive amounts of sin. Yet, the Lord still loves them. He says,
Ok, Israel, you’ve messed up, but let’s try again. I’m going to woo you into the wilderness and we’re going to start over. I’m going to show compassion to you (Yes, I know you don’t deserve it.) And I’m going to call you mine (yes, though you have rebelled time and again). You are my people, and [you] will say, You are my God.
Wow. I’m not deserving. Neither were Zacchaeus or the Israelites. But to quote a [ex]popular song, “The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair” (Relient K, for those who appreciate citations). Maybe today, the Lord is trying to teach me, and perhaps you, a little bit about grace.
Unmerited. Undeserved. Grace.
Thank you, Jesus.
I guess we all have these days. I felt a lot like Zacchaeus in the Bible. He didn’t even really pursue Jesus – He just kind of watches him go by from a tree. He doesn’t even really feel worthy to go down and try to seek Jesus out – but he is intrigued. So he just chills, because he doesn’t really feel good enough to go and talk to Jesus. And Jesus looks – and sees him, right where he is. Tax collector and cheater and slime of the earth that He is. And Jesus calls him down, and goes and shares a meal with Him. Why? It’s not like Zacchaeus even pursued Jesus.
But this is what 1 John 4:10 says “Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that HE. LOVED. US. And sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
And in my mopey mood of “Jesus really shouldn’t love or choose me because I am not really good at living life perfectly,” I came across Hosea 2. The prophet is talking to a generation who has REALLY screwed up – they’re going to be exiled because of their massive amounts of sin. Yet, the Lord still loves them. He says,
Ok, Israel, you’ve messed up, but let’s try again. I’m going to woo you into the wilderness and we’re going to start over. I’m going to show compassion to you (Yes, I know you don’t deserve it.) And I’m going to call you mine (yes, though you have rebelled time and again). You are my people, and [you] will say, You are my God.
Wow. I’m not deserving. Neither were Zacchaeus or the Israelites. But to quote a [ex]popular song, “The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair” (Relient K, for those who appreciate citations). Maybe today, the Lord is trying to teach me, and perhaps you, a little bit about grace.
Unmerited. Undeserved. Grace.
Thank you, Jesus.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Day 24
Hello USA people. Today was good. I’m trying to remember what exactly. Nothing too eventful. I taught English. Most of the day. Then I worked the art station and had them make headlines and illustrations about what they liked about English Camp. They flattered Amanda and I, as we were their judges. My team told Amanda that she was a great dancer and that I was very handsome. They didn’t win though because the other team owned them with better pictures. We also snuck up to the cooking station and scored some Grilled Cheese – SANTO! It was so good!
We had devotions. I shared from Hebrews 12:1-3: Persevering, and fixing our eyes always on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Such powerful, timely words. We also spend some time encouraging each other.
Oh, another thing I thought about today. Daniel, and his friends had to face culture shock too – and with the Lord’s help, the succeeded, so much so that they were promoted to government positions even while being foreigners. That’s awesome. Another thing I thought about today with that story is that Daniel and his three friends asked to be put on a special diet. Obviously, this had to do with their dietary restrictions that the Lord gave the Israelites. But I wondered – wouldn’t most of the people Daniel was with have also been Israelites? And yet we’re only told Daniel and his friends asked to abide by it? I want to be one who serves Jesus even when other people who supposedly do fall by the wayside. Anyway, just something to think about…
Played an obstacle course tonight. I got to play some electronic music I never thought I’d listen to when I got it for free off iTunes…now those free singles of the week are coming in handy! Also played “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars – some of the kids told me “Teacher! Play different music – this music is scary and we don’t like opera!” Haha.
Thank God for Eric Billstone. He is a man of God and I am honored to be working with him. He’s sound and grounded and I don’t know how sane I’d be if he wasn’t my roommate while I was here.
Prayer Request: Lindsay and Dan start a new camp tomorrow for Japanese students. These are students who weren’t good enough to study at universities in the United States, so they’re going to a Mormon camp in Utah after this camp for a year – pray that the Word of Truth would be presented to them and the Holy Spirit would open a door for Dan and Lindsay to share their faith in the next two weeks with these students.
Thanks about it. Shalom. From Korea.
We had devotions. I shared from Hebrews 12:1-3: Persevering, and fixing our eyes always on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Such powerful, timely words. We also spend some time encouraging each other.
Oh, another thing I thought about today. Daniel, and his friends had to face culture shock too – and with the Lord’s help, the succeeded, so much so that they were promoted to government positions even while being foreigners. That’s awesome. Another thing I thought about today with that story is that Daniel and his three friends asked to be put on a special diet. Obviously, this had to do with their dietary restrictions that the Lord gave the Israelites. But I wondered – wouldn’t most of the people Daniel was with have also been Israelites? And yet we’re only told Daniel and his friends asked to abide by it? I want to be one who serves Jesus even when other people who supposedly do fall by the wayside. Anyway, just something to think about…
Played an obstacle course tonight. I got to play some electronic music I never thought I’d listen to when I got it for free off iTunes…now those free singles of the week are coming in handy! Also played “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars – some of the kids told me “Teacher! Play different music – this music is scary and we don’t like opera!” Haha.
Thank God for Eric Billstone. He is a man of God and I am honored to be working with him. He’s sound and grounded and I don’t know how sane I’d be if he wasn’t my roommate while I was here.
Prayer Request: Lindsay and Dan start a new camp tomorrow for Japanese students. These are students who weren’t good enough to study at universities in the United States, so they’re going to a Mormon camp in Utah after this camp for a year – pray that the Word of Truth would be presented to them and the Holy Spirit would open a door for Dan and Lindsay to share their faith in the next two weeks with these students.
Thanks about it. Shalom. From Korea.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Day 23
Woke up this morning with plenty of time to get ready and go to church. But the same can’t be said for the whole team. So we were a little late in getting to church. Normally we’d be arriving at church by 9:30; we got there around 10. So Aubrey didn’t get to do special music, and we came in during the sermon. It was a cool service, from the little that we got to experience. Eric gave a testimony during the “English Zone” part of the service at the end. It was good.
We were supposed to go to Gran Piato, the great Italian restaurant, but we couldn’t find the lady, so we just went back to the University. This may be a record for the shortest amount of time I’ve ever spent in a church on a Sunday. Literally was in and out. After this trip, I also won’t be driving to church anymore. That kind of excites me. Worshipping Jesus without fear of persecution or spending money on gas to get there. It’ll be sweet. I’ll just have to pole vault over the privacy fence that separates my yard from the church yard and leap over giant puddles/snow/rabid gophers and I’ll be there lickity split.
We came back, ate in the café (which was pretty spicy, but tasty). There was only meat and rice that were somewhat appealing to me. Came back, journaled about yesterday, did some emailing, and then Bible reading and took a glorious Sabbathical nap. It was amazing. Woke up when the A/C decided to shut off (it does that a lot) and I was sweating up a storm. Read some in a novel I have here, and then later we went for dinner in the café I think. If I recall, all there were was some dumplings that were really good. Lindsey scored some soy sauce – and that made the meal better.
Eric, Leah, Lindsey, David, Dan, and I headed out with Yoshi (that’s not her real name but I can’t remember what is) to an old Korean village tourist spot thing. And we didn’t know we were going there, or we would have taken cameras. But it was sunset so I don’t know how many good pictures we would have gotten anyway. We made our way into the town and walked around window shopping. Not my favorite activity, but whatever. Stopped at a great restaurant called Asian Spoon. Eric and I had creamy chicken pasta. It was for like 8 dollars – so good. Shopped a little more, Lindsey and I discussed missions, families, and relationships. Took the bus home after Dan & David bought some clothing at a store that reminded me a lot of the Gap.
On the bus ride home, I was thinking about Jesus, and satisfaction in life. Am I completely satisfied in who Jesus is. Moreover, am I so satisfied that I long for nothing else in life because who He is and what He did on the cross is totally enough for me? Something I’m going to be thinking about this week – putting the cross before my eyes and thinking about how Jesus is everything – there’s nothing more I need.
We were supposed to go to Gran Piato, the great Italian restaurant, but we couldn’t find the lady, so we just went back to the University. This may be a record for the shortest amount of time I’ve ever spent in a church on a Sunday. Literally was in and out. After this trip, I also won’t be driving to church anymore. That kind of excites me. Worshipping Jesus without fear of persecution or spending money on gas to get there. It’ll be sweet. I’ll just have to pole vault over the privacy fence that separates my yard from the church yard and leap over giant puddles/snow/rabid gophers and I’ll be there lickity split.
We came back, ate in the café (which was pretty spicy, but tasty). There was only meat and rice that were somewhat appealing to me. Came back, journaled about yesterday, did some emailing, and then Bible reading and took a glorious Sabbathical nap. It was amazing. Woke up when the A/C decided to shut off (it does that a lot) and I was sweating up a storm. Read some in a novel I have here, and then later we went for dinner in the café I think. If I recall, all there were was some dumplings that were really good. Lindsey scored some soy sauce – and that made the meal better.
Eric, Leah, Lindsey, David, Dan, and I headed out with Yoshi (that’s not her real name but I can’t remember what is) to an old Korean village tourist spot thing. And we didn’t know we were going there, or we would have taken cameras. But it was sunset so I don’t know how many good pictures we would have gotten anyway. We made our way into the town and walked around window shopping. Not my favorite activity, but whatever. Stopped at a great restaurant called Asian Spoon. Eric and I had creamy chicken pasta. It was for like 8 dollars – so good. Shopped a little more, Lindsey and I discussed missions, families, and relationships. Took the bus home after Dan & David bought some clothing at a store that reminded me a lot of the Gap.
On the bus ride home, I was thinking about Jesus, and satisfaction in life. Am I completely satisfied in who Jesus is. Moreover, am I so satisfied that I long for nothing else in life because who He is and what He did on the cross is totally enough for me? Something I’m going to be thinking about this week – putting the cross before my eyes and thinking about how Jesus is everything – there’s nothing more I need.
Day 22
Today we got to sleep in a little bit – and then embarked on a journey to visit a Korean public swimming pool. Let me paint the picture for you. We disembarked off the huge tour bus that we’d just spend 45 minutes from the University, and then we had to make lines with our teams. The kids were then kind of ordered to do about 20 minutes of exercises before we entered the pool area. This was kind of crazy to watch – I guess the idea was to make them sweaty before they got to enjoy the pool. The sky was very overcast when we first arrived, and the weather was cooler than it had been all week. We walked to the “section” that had been designated for our group (probably 90 of us in all). We strode past the pool, which has five mini-waterfall/sprinkler things spraying above our heads and into the pool below. The water was very cold. There were also two other smaller pools with short waterslides, and a few kiddie pools.
Our area was marked with a giant blue tarp for all the kids to sit on. The kids were then allowed to change into their suits, one team at a time. And when they got back – culture shock, round 3. A good majority of all the males in Korea seem fond of sporting very small, tight swimsuits. Most of them are in the speedo form. In addition to this very different sight at a public pool, almost all the children wear swim caps. Combine that with half of them wearing goggles, and it was quite a new experience for those of us from the States. I leaned over to one of my friends, and I said, “This would be the most ghetto swimming pool if we were in the US.” It truly was.
We had a great lunch. I thought it was beef, rice, and cheese, and we also got mayo and soy sauce for toppings (I used the latter, not the first). I learned later that it wasn’t cheese, but shredded fried egg. Whatever, it was delicious. It was hard to find a place to sit to eat it – the blue tarp was covered with 75 or so children, so David and I eventually found a bench along the wall that was tilted so that if you didn’t have your feet on the ground you’d probably fall off. Eventually, it dawned upon us that we were in someone else’s seats, and they congregated closely. So we went over and found some “poolside” longue chairs next to Leah and Aubrey to eat. The afternoon consisted predominately of throwing people in the water, including soaking me with a water bottle and then throwing me in when I was dry, haha. Some of the guys also threw the PA’s in after they had changed into their dry clothes. Eric and I fell asleep on the way home. Question: why is it always the hottest time of the day after you change into dry clothes and leave a pool?
Got back, everyone enjoyed a good nap, and then we met for devotions. Amanda and Christy have TV in their room, so after hearing from Eric about Cross Cultural Servanthood from Jesus’ perspective (Phil 2), we gathered round and watch August Rush before going to change and go to dinner. We took the bus all the way into downtown Jeonju, and ate at OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE! Pure awesomeness! Medium in Korea seems to be a little more rare than Medium in the US, but that was ok – the sirloin was delicious. I hope God never calls me to be a vegetarian. It was a lot of fun fellowship and taking a “Sabbath” from English camp and just having a relaxing night with friends and fellow teachers. Lindsey, Aubery, Eric and I shared a table. We discussed the difficulty sometimes in trusting the Lord, and other people. Sometimes it’s easier to trust people over the Lord because we’re physical, yet sometimes it’s hard to trust people if we’ve been hurt before. What is important in both cases is to try to fully realize the incredible fidelity of our Heavenly Father. As I’m journeying through the canon, I’ve realized Israel really screwed up – like royally, but the Lord never abandons them. Even in exile, the Lord doesn’t forget about them, and promises a time of restoration. Such a principle I could do more to internalize. The Lord is faithful. Through the ages.
Not much left to say. My family is now in Bolivia. Pray for them over the next week as they do missions work with local missionaries down there.
Our area was marked with a giant blue tarp for all the kids to sit on. The kids were then allowed to change into their suits, one team at a time. And when they got back – culture shock, round 3. A good majority of all the males in Korea seem fond of sporting very small, tight swimsuits. Most of them are in the speedo form. In addition to this very different sight at a public pool, almost all the children wear swim caps. Combine that with half of them wearing goggles, and it was quite a new experience for those of us from the States. I leaned over to one of my friends, and I said, “This would be the most ghetto swimming pool if we were in the US.” It truly was.
We had a great lunch. I thought it was beef, rice, and cheese, and we also got mayo and soy sauce for toppings (I used the latter, not the first). I learned later that it wasn’t cheese, but shredded fried egg. Whatever, it was delicious. It was hard to find a place to sit to eat it – the blue tarp was covered with 75 or so children, so David and I eventually found a bench along the wall that was tilted so that if you didn’t have your feet on the ground you’d probably fall off. Eventually, it dawned upon us that we were in someone else’s seats, and they congregated closely. So we went over and found some “poolside” longue chairs next to Leah and Aubrey to eat. The afternoon consisted predominately of throwing people in the water, including soaking me with a water bottle and then throwing me in when I was dry, haha. Some of the guys also threw the PA’s in after they had changed into their dry clothes. Eric and I fell asleep on the way home. Question: why is it always the hottest time of the day after you change into dry clothes and leave a pool?
Got back, everyone enjoyed a good nap, and then we met for devotions. Amanda and Christy have TV in their room, so after hearing from Eric about Cross Cultural Servanthood from Jesus’ perspective (Phil 2), we gathered round and watch August Rush before going to change and go to dinner. We took the bus all the way into downtown Jeonju, and ate at OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE! Pure awesomeness! Medium in Korea seems to be a little more rare than Medium in the US, but that was ok – the sirloin was delicious. I hope God never calls me to be a vegetarian. It was a lot of fun fellowship and taking a “Sabbath” from English camp and just having a relaxing night with friends and fellow teachers. Lindsey, Aubery, Eric and I shared a table. We discussed the difficulty sometimes in trusting the Lord, and other people. Sometimes it’s easier to trust people over the Lord because we’re physical, yet sometimes it’s hard to trust people if we’ve been hurt before. What is important in both cases is to try to fully realize the incredible fidelity of our Heavenly Father. As I’m journeying through the canon, I’ve realized Israel really screwed up – like royally, but the Lord never abandons them. Even in exile, the Lord doesn’t forget about them, and promises a time of restoration. Such a principle I could do more to internalize. The Lord is faithful. Through the ages.
Not much left to say. My family is now in Bolivia. Pray for them over the next week as they do missions work with local missionaries down there.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Day 21
I will never lead or organize a Scavenger Hunt in my first year of Children’s Ministry.
I made a child cry today when asking her to read her sentence a little louder.
Lunch was nasty.
Dinner was awesome.
I gave my children homework for the weekend because they were not obeying me.
I’m getting sick.
Had a great time with “Guy’s Night” tonight. It considered of us taking naps and talking. And unsuccessfully searching for a toilet plunger. I’m taking Benadryl and going to bed.
And Ezekiel could own Jeremiah in a fight.
I made a child cry today when asking her to read her sentence a little louder.
Lunch was nasty.
Dinner was awesome.
I gave my children homework for the weekend because they were not obeying me.
I’m getting sick.
Had a great time with “Guy’s Night” tonight. It considered of us taking naps and talking. And unsuccessfully searching for a toilet plunger. I’m taking Benadryl and going to bed.
And Ezekiel could own Jeremiah in a fight.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Day 20
Today was full of good moments that are sure to make you laugh. Just twenty minutes ago, as I was desperately trying to finish Jeremiah, I exclaimed, "OH CMON JEREMIAH! DID YOU HAVE TO BE SO LONG WINDED?! You're worse than Luke!" My roommates burst out laughing at the absurdity of my comments. I guess it's not really very nice to criticize the Biblical original authors. Dan says that Jeremiah had no real future, so he's allowed to whine and complain with as many poetic images as he wants. I guess he's write. But I would have better said it like this. Edom, Babylon, and all you other guys....You're dead. Maybe not today, but watch your back. You're going down. That could fit in one text message. Jeremiah, you really should get with the 21st century lingo and technology. haha.
Today i also was trying to demonstrate how not to play the Wii when snowboarding, and ended up slamming my skull into a child's skull, and guess whose skull was harder? I made a 12 year old bawl. I gave his team five points because I felt really bad. It was also my team, so I think really all things do work out for the good, haha. (It was an accident though - if I didn't make that clear).
Taught kids how to turn sentences into questions, and then introduced how to use interrogatives. Talked about the fall too, and taught the last idioms. They have a test tomorrow.
I don't ever know when teachers pee during the day. But Koreans never ever drink water, or anything else for that matter. Apparently drinking during a meal is bad for your digestion. They drink like a little shot glass cup of water at every meal and are good. I look like a nerd lugging around a huge water bottle thing (that my mom made me bring - she got it at the goodwill for 97 cents - and I'm glad she made me bring it). Dinner looked nasty tonight, so I ate 2/3 of a bag of ChexMix. Make a note: Josh Rowand likes ChexMix (when you want to send me packages when I am living all alone on the Jersey missions field). We also had pizza later with the Korean Program Assistants. Korean-American pizza isn't half bad. Better than Korean pizza, although i don't mind that either. It just looks nothing like an American pizza. It's like egg and seaweed and octopi legs I think. Very different.
I finished Jeremiah. And hopefully Lamentations before I go to bed. And you can keep Eric in prayer - and me too. I had to push him around in a wheelchair all day bc he's still taking it easy on his knee. I don't know who has it worse, haha. Team devos are going great, and team spirits are high. WHOAAAAA, we're halfway there...WHOAAAAA Livin' on a Prayer...
Goodnight. From JeonJu.
Today i also was trying to demonstrate how not to play the Wii when snowboarding, and ended up slamming my skull into a child's skull, and guess whose skull was harder? I made a 12 year old bawl. I gave his team five points because I felt really bad. It was also my team, so I think really all things do work out for the good, haha. (It was an accident though - if I didn't make that clear).
Taught kids how to turn sentences into questions, and then introduced how to use interrogatives. Talked about the fall too, and taught the last idioms. They have a test tomorrow.
I don't ever know when teachers pee during the day. But Koreans never ever drink water, or anything else for that matter. Apparently drinking during a meal is bad for your digestion. They drink like a little shot glass cup of water at every meal and are good. I look like a nerd lugging around a huge water bottle thing (that my mom made me bring - she got it at the goodwill for 97 cents - and I'm glad she made me bring it). Dinner looked nasty tonight, so I ate 2/3 of a bag of ChexMix. Make a note: Josh Rowand likes ChexMix (when you want to send me packages when I am living all alone on the Jersey missions field). We also had pizza later with the Korean Program Assistants. Korean-American pizza isn't half bad. Better than Korean pizza, although i don't mind that either. It just looks nothing like an American pizza. It's like egg and seaweed and octopi legs I think. Very different.
I finished Jeremiah. And hopefully Lamentations before I go to bed. And you can keep Eric in prayer - and me too. I had to push him around in a wheelchair all day bc he's still taking it easy on his knee. I don't know who has it worse, haha. Team devos are going great, and team spirits are high. WHOAAAAA, we're halfway there...WHOAAAAA Livin' on a Prayer...
Goodnight. From JeonJu.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Day 19
I need sleep today. This is doing ministry on Jesus’ strength and not mine. Woke up, fighting every urge in my body to go back to sleep. Unlike any normal job, I couldn’t take a sick day. Not that I would ever take a sick day just because I’m tired, but this would have been a morning that I definitely would have skipped class. My body did NOT want to get out of bed. At all. Yet I courageously got out of bed and journeyed to visit the children and teach them the joys of English.
This morning went very smooth. I had the bright idea to have them make comic strips using their idioms in the dialogue instead of just writing A & B dialogue. Took up more time (Hallelujah!) and was fun for them. Also taught about the season of summer, and taught past tense and contractions in both present and the past. Not always the easiest to teach. When I let them go for lunch, they complained to the Program Assistant that I hadn’t given them homework yet. I was thinking, “seriously?!” So after lunch they were giving me grief working on the grammar section with contractions. They were frustrating me and asked me the time every 2 minutes, so I assigned them an extra page for homework on turning sentences into questions. Then they REALLY started whining. By that point, I had no patience with them. And I didn’t care how much they balked – they have an hour study period every day before dinner to do homework – one page was not going to boggle them down. And if they hated it, I hope it taught them a lesson. Do I sound like a frustrated elementary school teacher? I will never take them for granted again.
I also had to run the Jenga spelling game station for the millionth time. I say that somewhat sarcastically, but I actually enjoy running it. I also sometimes Facebook during that time when they take 5 minutes deciding what Jenga piece to take out after they’ve misspelled a word (seriously – they study the little Jenga tower like their life depends on what piece they decide to pull out). Today we had a lot of trouble with jail, halo, and wheels. Other than that, it was good.
Dinner was awesome. Meat and rice. What every Korean man wants to come home to every night, I bet. And maybe kimchi. Victoria, if you are reading this, you can tell me if your husband meets these criteria.
Our rally also went really well too. It was hula hoop night. Who knew you could do so many games with a hula hoop. First, we played the game where you all hold hands and pass it around the group, and if the music stops when it’s on you, you’re out. Second, we did one where you had to jumprope with it to a certain point and come back. We also had to roll it to a certain point and back in another relay. And then we had a representative hula hooper from each team see how long they could go, and also with teachers. And I don’t think you really care, but I’m making note of it because one day as a children’s pastor I will need all of these games as a resource. We ended the night with the Cha Cha Slide. If I haven’t mentioned, I am doing an incredible job at being a DJ – a career I am not really looking at pursuing, but if I get good enough at it, maybe I’ll burn a CD for my own wedding or something. Haha – I am that cheap.
We went out for David’s birthday later tonight – the girls tried to order buffalo chicken pizza…we ended up with a plate of fried chicken. I saw this coming while they were ordering to a waitress who spoke no English. But the chicken was very good so I’m not complaining. Pizza was phenomenal too – thank God for food that doesn’t taste like seaweed or kimchi. And you might think I am ungrateful or rude for saying things like this – you don’t know what it’s like to have everything taste the same for 54 meals in a row (18daysx3meals). So I give all the praise to the Lord when we have a change in pace.
Had a great talk about missions again tonight with Dan and Eric. Continue to pray, readers, for the 1/3 of our world population who still has yet to hear the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Pray also that out of the relationships and connections we make here through our teaching in Korea that the Lord will open doors for us to share the gospel. Peace out – from JeonJu.
This morning went very smooth. I had the bright idea to have them make comic strips using their idioms in the dialogue instead of just writing A & B dialogue. Took up more time (Hallelujah!) and was fun for them. Also taught about the season of summer, and taught past tense and contractions in both present and the past. Not always the easiest to teach. When I let them go for lunch, they complained to the Program Assistant that I hadn’t given them homework yet. I was thinking, “seriously?!” So after lunch they were giving me grief working on the grammar section with contractions. They were frustrating me and asked me the time every 2 minutes, so I assigned them an extra page for homework on turning sentences into questions. Then they REALLY started whining. By that point, I had no patience with them. And I didn’t care how much they balked – they have an hour study period every day before dinner to do homework – one page was not going to boggle them down. And if they hated it, I hope it taught them a lesson. Do I sound like a frustrated elementary school teacher? I will never take them for granted again.
I also had to run the Jenga spelling game station for the millionth time. I say that somewhat sarcastically, but I actually enjoy running it. I also sometimes Facebook during that time when they take 5 minutes deciding what Jenga piece to take out after they’ve misspelled a word (seriously – they study the little Jenga tower like their life depends on what piece they decide to pull out). Today we had a lot of trouble with jail, halo, and wheels. Other than that, it was good.
Dinner was awesome. Meat and rice. What every Korean man wants to come home to every night, I bet. And maybe kimchi. Victoria, if you are reading this, you can tell me if your husband meets these criteria.
Our rally also went really well too. It was hula hoop night. Who knew you could do so many games with a hula hoop. First, we played the game where you all hold hands and pass it around the group, and if the music stops when it’s on you, you’re out. Second, we did one where you had to jumprope with it to a certain point and come back. We also had to roll it to a certain point and back in another relay. And then we had a representative hula hooper from each team see how long they could go, and also with teachers. And I don’t think you really care, but I’m making note of it because one day as a children’s pastor I will need all of these games as a resource. We ended the night with the Cha Cha Slide. If I haven’t mentioned, I am doing an incredible job at being a DJ – a career I am not really looking at pursuing, but if I get good enough at it, maybe I’ll burn a CD for my own wedding or something. Haha – I am that cheap.
We went out for David’s birthday later tonight – the girls tried to order buffalo chicken pizza…we ended up with a plate of fried chicken. I saw this coming while they were ordering to a waitress who spoke no English. But the chicken was very good so I’m not complaining. Pizza was phenomenal too – thank God for food that doesn’t taste like seaweed or kimchi. And you might think I am ungrateful or rude for saying things like this – you don’t know what it’s like to have everything taste the same for 54 meals in a row (18daysx3meals). So I give all the praise to the Lord when we have a change in pace.
Had a great talk about missions again tonight with Dan and Eric. Continue to pray, readers, for the 1/3 of our world population who still has yet to hear the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Pray also that out of the relationships and connections we make here through our teaching in Korea that the Lord will open doors for us to share the gospel. Peace out – from JeonJu.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Day 18
Woke up first this morning and washed my hair since I showered last night. Read some of Jeremiah. And then I walked to staff meeting. Ok, this part was really weird. Because as I was walking across the campus of JeonJu University with my shoulder bag hanging off my shoulder, my mind drifted back to my first semester at Valley Forge, where I was making those same confident strides walking across the campus to some early morning class. Completely different moments at different times in my life, and I felt the same. Kind of. It’s so weird. Four years ago I was walking across a college campus as a freshman. Today I’m walking across a campus at a Korean University as a paid English teacher. Weirder? I’m about to become a full-time children’s pastor. Do I feel more spiritual than I did then? Or more qualified for Jesus to use me? Not really. But one thought remains the same, in both walks. I’m enjoying Jesus, and the journey.
Not much else to say. Teaching today was challenging, as always. Had to teach present and past tense, in addition to teaching about seasons and spring, and idioms and reading books and poems. The poem portion really did not go over so well. Ahh, what can you do but move on?
We ate meals, we had a night rally (where we did this skit about making kimchi with a director and had to do it like 8x – fast, slow, laughing, crying, in Spanish, as Kung Fu Fighters, and in opera. I laughed so hard. We had a blast. Also thru in the Cha Cha slide, the egg-chicken-dead chicken-fried chicken game, and the YMCA. Oh, and they had to eat a watermelon through a stocking over their face. And government officials were there to observe us. It was a blast.
Eric hurt his knee tonight. He’s going to go to the hospital tomorrow. Please keep him in prayer – I know he is in pain and a hospital visit in a foreign country isn’t the most comforting thing I would like to be doing.
Biggest thing I came to peace with today – I’m exactly where God wants me to be. I’m right in the center of his plan, and I think I’ve been there all along. I’m excited for where I’ve been (four years at VFCC), where I am now (JeonJu, Korea), and where God’s taking me when I get home (Bridgewater, NJ). And I’m enjoying Jesus today, as well as the journey.
Not much else to say. Teaching today was challenging, as always. Had to teach present and past tense, in addition to teaching about seasons and spring, and idioms and reading books and poems. The poem portion really did not go over so well. Ahh, what can you do but move on?
We ate meals, we had a night rally (where we did this skit about making kimchi with a director and had to do it like 8x – fast, slow, laughing, crying, in Spanish, as Kung Fu Fighters, and in opera. I laughed so hard. We had a blast. Also thru in the Cha Cha slide, the egg-chicken-dead chicken-fried chicken game, and the YMCA. Oh, and they had to eat a watermelon through a stocking over their face. And government officials were there to observe us. It was a blast.
Eric hurt his knee tonight. He’s going to go to the hospital tomorrow. Please keep him in prayer – I know he is in pain and a hospital visit in a foreign country isn’t the most comforting thing I would like to be doing.
Biggest thing I came to peace with today – I’m exactly where God wants me to be. I’m right in the center of his plan, and I think I’ve been there all along. I’m excited for where I’ve been (four years at VFCC), where I am now (JeonJu, Korea), and where God’s taking me when I get home (Bridgewater, NJ). And I’m enjoying Jesus today, as well as the journey.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Day 17
Culture shock I’ve always known about in theory, but this morning, I think I got a taste of what it feels like. Knowing I was a bit out of sorts today, I asked some of you to pray for me, knowing that it was probably going to be a rough day. I just want to say – your prayers worked. The Lord has been faithful. But here is the long version of the day.
Woke up a little later than normal (enjoyed my time “sleeping in”). David and I got ready. I was pretty pumped because all we had today was icebreakers and an opening ceremony. After having done two opening ceremonies, I knew it was nothing to worry about. So, I put on shorts and a T shirt, ate some muffins I bought from Paris Baguette, and headed off with David, Christy, and Aubrey to the office. We get there, we chill, and then we head over to the Opening Ceremony. When we walk in, Mr. Park comes over and looks at David and I and says, “What is this?” We apparently weren’t dressed up enough for his requirements (I wish someone would have told me ahead of time.) Scott jetted us back to our dorm (which would have been a 10 minute walk), and we changed into shirts and ties in record time. Got back, didn’t really understand any of the ceremony, but successfully made it through. I felt really bad that I showed up in shorts. One thing I’m learning to do is getting over things a little quicker than I normally do. Sometimes you make mistakes – you can’t let it get to your forever.
Went to lunch afterwards because our rooms weren’t ready yet and the computers and internet weren’t working. Lunch wasn’t too bad, we had these meat nuggets with broccoli. I never thought I’d be so glad to eat broccoli in my life. After lunch, since the computers still weren’t working, we had a small break before we had to teach for two hours. My class, once I did teach them, was pretty good. I think they will be a fun group to teach. There is one loudmouth who SCREAMS every time I ask a question. I’ve called him LoudMouth and Jabberwocky so far. I ran out of ideas to entertain them towards the end so we played Pictionary.
I enjoyed teaching. While this morning I think I wasn’t having a good time, especially with the clothing thing, after teaching, I think I felt a lot better. We met for devotions as a group before dinner and talked about having a better demeanor and attitude, persevering as the book of James teaches. It was a refreshing time, and I think we all left with better attitudes.
Dinner was also good – yogurt, rice, Swedish meatballs, noodles, and some kimchi flavored fruit thing that I didn’t touch. But seriously – one of the better meals we’ve had since we’ve showed up. After this, we had a few minutes before the night rally. Basically, the night rally is just a lot of fun and games (which excites me because it sounds like I will be having one of these a week at my new job, so I’m learning a lot of games to use there). I was the DJ – and played music during Chubby Bunny, and Wizards, Elves, and Giants (it’s like a lifesize version of rock, paper, scissors). I had a blast. We also did the Kidstuf version of “Happy and You Know It.”
After all the kids were dismissed, us teachers had a “Dance Party.” Now, before you go all old school A/G and think my soul could be in jeapordy, I will elaborate. I put on Cotton Eyed Joe, and we had a farmer dance/hoedown. We laughed so hard, and it was the PERFECT ending to this day. I love these people, and this team. Thank you Jesus for these awesome people.
Got back, got a shower, had some good talks with Dan and Eric about the post-modern church, our views/the church’s view on missions in the 21st century, and practical implications for our lives. We also realized the imminent importance and reality of unreached people groups in our world, and spent some time in prayer for them.
Jesus, you rock. And just when I think I can’t do things in my strength, you remind me I don’t have to and that You will accomplish great things through me when I operate in Your strength.
Thank you all for the prayers today. They were very much appreciated!
Woke up a little later than normal (enjoyed my time “sleeping in”). David and I got ready. I was pretty pumped because all we had today was icebreakers and an opening ceremony. After having done two opening ceremonies, I knew it was nothing to worry about. So, I put on shorts and a T shirt, ate some muffins I bought from Paris Baguette, and headed off with David, Christy, and Aubrey to the office. We get there, we chill, and then we head over to the Opening Ceremony. When we walk in, Mr. Park comes over and looks at David and I and says, “What is this?” We apparently weren’t dressed up enough for his requirements (I wish someone would have told me ahead of time.) Scott jetted us back to our dorm (which would have been a 10 minute walk), and we changed into shirts and ties in record time. Got back, didn’t really understand any of the ceremony, but successfully made it through. I felt really bad that I showed up in shorts. One thing I’m learning to do is getting over things a little quicker than I normally do. Sometimes you make mistakes – you can’t let it get to your forever.
Went to lunch afterwards because our rooms weren’t ready yet and the computers and internet weren’t working. Lunch wasn’t too bad, we had these meat nuggets with broccoli. I never thought I’d be so glad to eat broccoli in my life. After lunch, since the computers still weren’t working, we had a small break before we had to teach for two hours. My class, once I did teach them, was pretty good. I think they will be a fun group to teach. There is one loudmouth who SCREAMS every time I ask a question. I’ve called him LoudMouth and Jabberwocky so far. I ran out of ideas to entertain them towards the end so we played Pictionary.
I enjoyed teaching. While this morning I think I wasn’t having a good time, especially with the clothing thing, after teaching, I think I felt a lot better. We met for devotions as a group before dinner and talked about having a better demeanor and attitude, persevering as the book of James teaches. It was a refreshing time, and I think we all left with better attitudes.
Dinner was also good – yogurt, rice, Swedish meatballs, noodles, and some kimchi flavored fruit thing that I didn’t touch. But seriously – one of the better meals we’ve had since we’ve showed up. After this, we had a few minutes before the night rally. Basically, the night rally is just a lot of fun and games (which excites me because it sounds like I will be having one of these a week at my new job, so I’m learning a lot of games to use there). I was the DJ – and played music during Chubby Bunny, and Wizards, Elves, and Giants (it’s like a lifesize version of rock, paper, scissors). I had a blast. We also did the Kidstuf version of “Happy and You Know It.”
After all the kids were dismissed, us teachers had a “Dance Party.” Now, before you go all old school A/G and think my soul could be in jeapordy, I will elaborate. I put on Cotton Eyed Joe, and we had a farmer dance/hoedown. We laughed so hard, and it was the PERFECT ending to this day. I love these people, and this team. Thank you Jesus for these awesome people.
Got back, got a shower, had some good talks with Dan and Eric about the post-modern church, our views/the church’s view on missions in the 21st century, and practical implications for our lives. We also realized the imminent importance and reality of unreached people groups in our world, and spent some time in prayer for them.
Jesus, you rock. And just when I think I can’t do things in my strength, you remind me I don’t have to and that You will accomplish great things through me when I operate in Your strength.
Thank you all for the prayers today. They were very much appreciated!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Day 16
Korea needs to invest in some trash cans. Seriously – everywhere you go, there are no places for you to throw away your trash. No waste paper cans – nothing. I think I have a little bit of the effects of culture shock today. Cross-cultural adjustment is not always easy. Learning that in about every missions class I’ve ever had helps me understand what I’m feeling, but doesn’t really give you the way to get out of it – it’s just adjustment.
This morning we woke up and went to church. Koreans also aren’t big on direct communication, and there was a miscommunication about when we were to get picked up, so we waiting at the curb for about 25 minutes before the driver showed up and picked us up and took us to church. We didn’t sing on the worship team because we got there late (5 minutes after the church service started). The service was good though – Bin and Lynn came to see us, as well as several parents of children we had in English camp this week. Sermon was good – it talked about seeing God’s fingerprints all over your life. Really spoke to me about how God ordains all things to work together for his purpose. In Isaiah 46, God is speaking to Israel:
v.3 “Listen to Me, house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.
I will be the same until your old age,
And I will bear you up when you turn gray.
God always sustains – he is ever present, and his fingerprints are all over my life.
We headed back as a team to JeonJu University, had lunch, finally got our laundry out of the driers (did I tell you they locked us out of the laundry room last night?), had lunch at a fried chicken place (they said it was curry – it really wasn’t), and came back to the room to chill. I did some devos in Isaiah (if you couldn’t tell), read some of my novel, and rested a little bit. We went out as a team later for dinner. Well, first, we walked for like 45 minutes looking for ANY type of restaurant. We also looked for a movie theater. We found neither. So we continued walking. And made a huge circle. And after finding absolutely nothing, we came back to the main stretch and found a little place that we weren’t even sure was open. This is all of us, minus Leah and Aubrey. We looked at the menu while standing in the doorway. All of the sudden, someone turned the page and we all exclaimed “PIZZAAAA!” , as the page was covered in pictures of pizzas. Thank you JESUS! We got a table, decided it was too small, so we moved to a bigger table. 20 minutes later, a large cheese pizza and a large BBQ vegetable (I think that’s what it was – we thought we ordered pepperoni, lol) pizza came out. It was awesome. And it cost us about 5 bucks apiece. Not too bad.
We came back, I went to the bakery and called my parents before church their time. Came back to the room, was exhausted, so I fell asleep without finishing this blog. Finished it today. And had a great sleep (with air conditioning! Santo!)
This morning we woke up and went to church. Koreans also aren’t big on direct communication, and there was a miscommunication about when we were to get picked up, so we waiting at the curb for about 25 minutes before the driver showed up and picked us up and took us to church. We didn’t sing on the worship team because we got there late (5 minutes after the church service started). The service was good though – Bin and Lynn came to see us, as well as several parents of children we had in English camp this week. Sermon was good – it talked about seeing God’s fingerprints all over your life. Really spoke to me about how God ordains all things to work together for his purpose. In Isaiah 46, God is speaking to Israel:
v.3 “Listen to Me, house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.
I will be the same until your old age,
And I will bear you up when you turn gray.
God always sustains – he is ever present, and his fingerprints are all over my life.
We headed back as a team to JeonJu University, had lunch, finally got our laundry out of the driers (did I tell you they locked us out of the laundry room last night?), had lunch at a fried chicken place (they said it was curry – it really wasn’t), and came back to the room to chill. I did some devos in Isaiah (if you couldn’t tell), read some of my novel, and rested a little bit. We went out as a team later for dinner. Well, first, we walked for like 45 minutes looking for ANY type of restaurant. We also looked for a movie theater. We found neither. So we continued walking. And made a huge circle. And after finding absolutely nothing, we came back to the main stretch and found a little place that we weren’t even sure was open. This is all of us, minus Leah and Aubrey. We looked at the menu while standing in the doorway. All of the sudden, someone turned the page and we all exclaimed “PIZZAAAA!” , as the page was covered in pictures of pizzas. Thank you JESUS! We got a table, decided it was too small, so we moved to a bigger table. 20 minutes later, a large cheese pizza and a large BBQ vegetable (I think that’s what it was – we thought we ordered pepperoni, lol) pizza came out. It was awesome. And it cost us about 5 bucks apiece. Not too bad.
We came back, I went to the bakery and called my parents before church their time. Came back to the room, was exhausted, so I fell asleep without finishing this blog. Finished it today. And had a great sleep (with air conditioning! Santo!)
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Day 15
Last night I got to share the bed with Bin instead of Eric. We also went to bed two hours earlier than usual. Let me tell you – best sleep of this trip. Bin is a little smaller than Eric, so I had space to breathe, though sometimes I was falling in the crack between the bed and the wall. It’s okay though – woke up feeling well rested, although none of us emerged from the bed til a half hour after the alarm first went off. Packed up all our stuff, ate some breakfast, and headed in an overpacked bus down the mountain. I don’t think I got any pictures of it though, sadly. Anyway, it’s always a fun bus ride, packed full of people. I had Bin, Eric, and the missionary’s daughter next to us today. Eric had a GREAT time entertaining her.
Today I taught homonyms, worked on writing prompts, and did activity pages to take up time because I didn’t really know what else to do. I’m getting really good at teaching homonyms. We also wrote about what we would do with 1 million won. Some kids are thrifty like me and only bought affordable stuff with their 1 million won. But I guess that really is only about 1,000 US dollars. We did word searches, a parts of the body quiz, and other things.
Curry for lunch. Loved it, but curry here is not exactly like curry in America, and it moves through my system like 4x as fast here. I had the music objective shuffle thing, and I taught them all “Not Forgotten” – Hillsong Kids. So much fun. For the little ones, I also did Father Abraham, Rainbow, and This is the Day. My voice hurts now.
After the two musical objectives, we had a ceremony/talent show to close the camp. All the classes had to present their Bible Stories and/or a song. My class did both. After narrating the seven days of creation, we sang a song about it (for the tune, see yesterday’s post.) Amanda and I also led Not Forgotten, and the teachers all sang “Wrap Me In Your Arms.” Thought it was a little stressful at first because there was practically no communication to us about how this ceremony was to be run, we all flowed with it (flexibility does the heart good on missions trips).
I got about 25 pictures taken with kids after the ceremony, and I only had about 12 students. It was ridiculous. And my camera was in the room. I’m such a great tourist, I know. I signed about 20 autographs and camp certificates too. It was like I was one of the characters at Disney world. I was also a sweaty mess – first from song time earlier, and then doing Not Forgotten in front of everyone. So maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t have copies of those photos.
Loved this week. Though it wasn’t very organized (worse than last week), I had fun with the kids. And I definitely realized that Children’s Ministry is where I’m supposed to be. Kind of cool. Even though I’m becoming a Children’s Pastor after this, it’s just nice to know I’m walking in the direction. God confirms his plans in several different ways – and it’s nice to see something so general again confirming what I’m supposed to be doing right now.
Had dinner in the café, headed to the university where we’ll be staying for the next three weeks. Also learned today that we’re not going to be teaching together for the next three weeks? That’s going to be interesting. Went out walking later in the night with the gang – got this really good steak toast sandwich thing. Waiting on my laundry forever and almost fell asleep writing this post and waiting for it to be dry.
Today I taught homonyms, worked on writing prompts, and did activity pages to take up time because I didn’t really know what else to do. I’m getting really good at teaching homonyms. We also wrote about what we would do with 1 million won. Some kids are thrifty like me and only bought affordable stuff with their 1 million won. But I guess that really is only about 1,000 US dollars. We did word searches, a parts of the body quiz, and other things.
Curry for lunch. Loved it, but curry here is not exactly like curry in America, and it moves through my system like 4x as fast here. I had the music objective shuffle thing, and I taught them all “Not Forgotten” – Hillsong Kids. So much fun. For the little ones, I also did Father Abraham, Rainbow, and This is the Day. My voice hurts now.
After the two musical objectives, we had a ceremony/talent show to close the camp. All the classes had to present their Bible Stories and/or a song. My class did both. After narrating the seven days of creation, we sang a song about it (for the tune, see yesterday’s post.) Amanda and I also led Not Forgotten, and the teachers all sang “Wrap Me In Your Arms.” Thought it was a little stressful at first because there was practically no communication to us about how this ceremony was to be run, we all flowed with it (flexibility does the heart good on missions trips).
I got about 25 pictures taken with kids after the ceremony, and I only had about 12 students. It was ridiculous. And my camera was in the room. I’m such a great tourist, I know. I signed about 20 autographs and camp certificates too. It was like I was one of the characters at Disney world. I was also a sweaty mess – first from song time earlier, and then doing Not Forgotten in front of everyone. So maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t have copies of those photos.
Loved this week. Though it wasn’t very organized (worse than last week), I had fun with the kids. And I definitely realized that Children’s Ministry is where I’m supposed to be. Kind of cool. Even though I’m becoming a Children’s Pastor after this, it’s just nice to know I’m walking in the direction. God confirms his plans in several different ways – and it’s nice to see something so general again confirming what I’m supposed to be doing right now.
Had dinner in the café, headed to the university where we’ll be staying for the next three weeks. Also learned today that we’re not going to be teaching together for the next three weeks? That’s going to be interesting. Went out walking later in the night with the gang – got this really good steak toast sandwich thing. Waiting on my laundry forever and almost fell asleep writing this post and waiting for it to be dry.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Day 14
Woke up this morning to someone knocking on the door and literally fell out of bed. Went to the door and they told us we had 15 minutes to eat and get out the door. That is very encouraging and happy news when you are not really awake yet. So I think I washed my face and went and ate some cereal and packed as fast as I could. Headed out the door like 30 minutes later, still not quite awake.
Got to the church, planned (a little groggy still) for my lessons of the day. Today I taught on synonyms, antonyms, and continued the Bible Story of Creation. We talked about the Fall today. Believe it or not, these three subjects had to take up three hours – that was really fun trying to fill up. Sometimes I feel like I have no creativity, and then the spirit must come and give me some, because I get some inspired ideas.
For lunch, we got (get ready for this) BIG MACS! And FRENCH FRIES! Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! I have never had a Big Mac before today, so it was kind of historic. Big Mac sauce is definitely very tasty. It was cool to have a little bit of America. After lunch, we prepared a presentation for tomorrow on the Genesis Creation account. They wrote three sentences each about what happened on each day of Creation. Then I taught them a song that I found on the internet to the tune “Are You Sleeping Brother John”. It goes something like this:
God created, God created,
Night and Day, Night and Day,
That was on the first day
That was on the first day
It was good, It was good.
Call it cheeseball. They love singing it. It was a good time with them. After that, we had a church wide scavanger hunt. Because the church is massive, of course they don’t air condition the entire thing. Not always the most comfortable sprinting through the whole campus looking for different landmarks with 12 crazy energetic children. We had fun though and finished first. My team rocks, even if they don’t really listen to me 99% of the time. But they had fun too.
After this we had a rally with all the students. Ok, this was extremely chaotic and unplanned, but I had the most fun I’ve had this entire trip. I got to lead worship for 3 songs, got to do a skit, share a testimony, and have a blast. Kind of lost my voice in the skit doing the typical “Doctor’s Office” skit. But the kids laughed – and that’s what mattered. You know, believe it or not, sometimes I really wonder why I got hired as a Children’s Pastor. Sometimes I feel so unqualified. But today, everyone was like, Josh – you are so in your element up there, ministering to kids. And I was. I know it. It was something I was doing from the very core of who I was, and I loved it. And I think that the Lord uses these things to further his kingdom. I hope so at least.
We had dinner at the Italian restaurant again tonight. So good. Headed back to the mountain. Had some bonding time with the boys, and Bin, and went to bed. IT is really cool to pour into his life. He is 16 and goes to a private school in Singapore. He has been a huge blessing to the team (especially when we can’t find most of the nationals at time and we’re all alone in our classrooms to try and accomplish everything without knowing a word of the language). His translation skills have come in handy mucho times.
Got to the church, planned (a little groggy still) for my lessons of the day. Today I taught on synonyms, antonyms, and continued the Bible Story of Creation. We talked about the Fall today. Believe it or not, these three subjects had to take up three hours – that was really fun trying to fill up. Sometimes I feel like I have no creativity, and then the spirit must come and give me some, because I get some inspired ideas.
For lunch, we got (get ready for this) BIG MACS! And FRENCH FRIES! Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! I have never had a Big Mac before today, so it was kind of historic. Big Mac sauce is definitely very tasty. It was cool to have a little bit of America. After lunch, we prepared a presentation for tomorrow on the Genesis Creation account. They wrote three sentences each about what happened on each day of Creation. Then I taught them a song that I found on the internet to the tune “Are You Sleeping Brother John”. It goes something like this:
God created, God created,
Night and Day, Night and Day,
That was on the first day
That was on the first day
It was good, It was good.
Call it cheeseball. They love singing it. It was a good time with them. After that, we had a church wide scavanger hunt. Because the church is massive, of course they don’t air condition the entire thing. Not always the most comfortable sprinting through the whole campus looking for different landmarks with 12 crazy energetic children. We had fun though and finished first. My team rocks, even if they don’t really listen to me 99% of the time. But they had fun too.
After this we had a rally with all the students. Ok, this was extremely chaotic and unplanned, but I had the most fun I’ve had this entire trip. I got to lead worship for 3 songs, got to do a skit, share a testimony, and have a blast. Kind of lost my voice in the skit doing the typical “Doctor’s Office” skit. But the kids laughed – and that’s what mattered. You know, believe it or not, sometimes I really wonder why I got hired as a Children’s Pastor. Sometimes I feel so unqualified. But today, everyone was like, Josh – you are so in your element up there, ministering to kids. And I was. I know it. It was something I was doing from the very core of who I was, and I loved it. And I think that the Lord uses these things to further his kingdom. I hope so at least.
We had dinner at the Italian restaurant again tonight. So good. Headed back to the mountain. Had some bonding time with the boys, and Bin, and went to bed. IT is really cool to pour into his life. He is 16 and goes to a private school in Singapore. He has been a huge blessing to the team (especially when we can’t find most of the nationals at time and we’re all alone in our classrooms to try and accomplish everything without knowing a word of the language). His translation skills have come in handy mucho times.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Day 13
I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas. Seriously. Because when I awoke this morning after sharing a single bed with Eric and not being able move at all, the absolute wish of my heart was to have a snow day. We both just did NOT want to get up at all. So the cry of our hearts this morning was put to the song of “White Christmas.” A cold shower later, and we were walking down the mountain, because the bus got stuck in the mud coming up the mountain to get us. So after walking for ten minutes, we found the bus, and we tried to push it out. It did not move. All of the sudden, a bulldozer showed up and that pulled us out. Definitely quite a memory for this trip.
Showed up at the church with ten minutes to prep for teaching three hours before lunch. Taught the creation story (had them draw all the days and what they stood for), adjectives (which I don’t really think I got through or explained well enough) and compound words (which I owned). Some parents complained yesterday that we had Korean helpers in the rooms, so they were banned from helping us today. Not easy to explain what adjectives are if you can’t explain it in their language and they don’t understand English.
Lunchtime came soon enough – we had “Korean BBQ” which is where you wrap the meat in the leaves and stuff. Then I had a strawberry smoothie, which is amazing God breathed and God poured goodness. Went back up and taught the kids conversation skills, and then ran the conversational room on Sunday School. After that, I ran a room on worship and taught them “One Way Jesus.” Aubrey helped me.
Then I got a little sick and spent some quality time in the bathroom (I know you really wanted to know that). After that, I cleaned my room before my kids came back to homeroom. Ate a freezepop sometime throughout the afternoon.
Best quote of the day, in asking kids about their favorite Bible Stories:
“Oh! Adam and Eve is your favorite story. Can you tell me what happened to Eve?”
“She died.”
LOL. Came back to the retreat center after a dinner of bagels and pastries (they heard some of the boys wanted bagels and such). Finished reading my book, Eric and I took a nap, and then I did some catch up work in Isaiah and planned for tomorrow, talked to Bin, ate some fried Korean Chicken, some more laughs and stuff, and went to bed.
PS. Find kids who are anointed, and pour into them. Not that you ignore the other ones - but be intentional about who you invest time in. And make sure you DO invest. You never know the results.
Showed up at the church with ten minutes to prep for teaching three hours before lunch. Taught the creation story (had them draw all the days and what they stood for), adjectives (which I don’t really think I got through or explained well enough) and compound words (which I owned). Some parents complained yesterday that we had Korean helpers in the rooms, so they were banned from helping us today. Not easy to explain what adjectives are if you can’t explain it in their language and they don’t understand English.
Lunchtime came soon enough – we had “Korean BBQ” which is where you wrap the meat in the leaves and stuff. Then I had a strawberry smoothie, which is amazing God breathed and God poured goodness. Went back up and taught the kids conversation skills, and then ran the conversational room on Sunday School. After that, I ran a room on worship and taught them “One Way Jesus.” Aubrey helped me.
Then I got a little sick and spent some quality time in the bathroom (I know you really wanted to know that). After that, I cleaned my room before my kids came back to homeroom. Ate a freezepop sometime throughout the afternoon.
Best quote of the day, in asking kids about their favorite Bible Stories:
“Oh! Adam and Eve is your favorite story. Can you tell me what happened to Eve?”
“She died.”
LOL. Came back to the retreat center after a dinner of bagels and pastries (they heard some of the boys wanted bagels and such). Finished reading my book, Eric and I took a nap, and then I did some catch up work in Isaiah and planned for tomorrow, talked to Bin, ate some fried Korean Chicken, some more laughs and stuff, and went to bed.
PS. Find kids who are anointed, and pour into them. Not that you ignore the other ones - but be intentional about who you invest time in. And make sure you DO invest. You never know the results.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Day 12
Morning comes. Sleeping on the floor = so much fun. With blankets that were one foot too short = not as much. Eric got the bed and told me several times it was the best sleep he’s had since he’s here. I’m such a good guy for letting him have it.
Didn’t want to really eat breakfast this morning, but they wouldn’t feed the kids here until we came down for breakfast. It was actually not bad – chicken (I think it was chicken, maybe pork) rice, soup, and kimchi (which I have successfully avoided for like 5 days now).
Drove to the church, had a staff meeting – worked on activities & planned what we were going to teach. I don’t think I got much done before lunch – all I remember was that Amanda, Bin & I got drinks in the coffee shop. I got a strawberry smoothie and they had coffee (which I still cannot stand the taste of). We talked about everything under the sun – international politics, currency, economics, Obama, health care, terrorism – it was crazy. Time ‘flows’, according to Bin. He’s a ninth grader (born in 94) and he wants to work in the UN when he grows up, but I kind of think he’s going to be a pastor. He has a good heart and I think he’s called into ministry. Anyway, before we knew it, we had lunch. I really cannot tell you what was for lunch – everything blurs together. OH they did make us potatoes and eggs. We only have 4 more weeks left of this food. And then I have to cook on my own and I’ll probably also eat the same four dishes all the time.
Ok, so I taught the fourth & fifth grade class of 14 students for the first 2 hours today – we are called Team Amazing and we drew pictures on our flag of things we thought were amazing. They drew Jesus on the cross – with six pack abs. That made me laugh. Jesus probably was a beast – all that carpentry and all. After that we played the game where I tape an animal to their backs and they have to go around asking questions about what animal they have in English Epic Fail. The camp shirts the church bought them are tape resistant – none of the papers stayed stuck to the back of their shirts. And in the midst of trying to get them to stick, the head of the camp came in and told me I had a staff meeting in two minutes. I guess every teacher has days where things just don’t work as planned. Haha
Next, I ran the Jenga station with Eric. For the first group, we had the middle schoolers, so we did trivia and spelling words. After that, we had the first graders who loved to SCREAM! We did colors, numbers, and shapes with them. Every time one of the students went to pull out a Jenga piece, they all screamed at the top of their lungs. It was ridiculous. Our last group was fourth graders I think. We did a lot of trivia about biggest countries, most populated countries, and national capitals. Back to homeroom for corn dogs, and the day was done. We had to book it to the bus to make it back to the retreat center.
We’ve been here since dinner, which was good, I think. Typical Korean food. I get tired of writing what it was – when I have something unique, I’ll be sure to let you know. Then we just kind of chilled us guys – talked about girls, I got thrown into the shower fully clothed, read some of the books I brought, and had an epic pillow fight with the kids. Going to bed earlier tonight. Catch ya later.
Didn’t want to really eat breakfast this morning, but they wouldn’t feed the kids here until we came down for breakfast. It was actually not bad – chicken (I think it was chicken, maybe pork) rice, soup, and kimchi (which I have successfully avoided for like 5 days now).
Drove to the church, had a staff meeting – worked on activities & planned what we were going to teach. I don’t think I got much done before lunch – all I remember was that Amanda, Bin & I got drinks in the coffee shop. I got a strawberry smoothie and they had coffee (which I still cannot stand the taste of). We talked about everything under the sun – international politics, currency, economics, Obama, health care, terrorism – it was crazy. Time ‘flows’, according to Bin. He’s a ninth grader (born in 94) and he wants to work in the UN when he grows up, but I kind of think he’s going to be a pastor. He has a good heart and I think he’s called into ministry. Anyway, before we knew it, we had lunch. I really cannot tell you what was for lunch – everything blurs together. OH they did make us potatoes and eggs. We only have 4 more weeks left of this food. And then I have to cook on my own and I’ll probably also eat the same four dishes all the time.
Ok, so I taught the fourth & fifth grade class of 14 students for the first 2 hours today – we are called Team Amazing and we drew pictures on our flag of things we thought were amazing. They drew Jesus on the cross – with six pack abs. That made me laugh. Jesus probably was a beast – all that carpentry and all. After that we played the game where I tape an animal to their backs and they have to go around asking questions about what animal they have in English Epic Fail. The camp shirts the church bought them are tape resistant – none of the papers stayed stuck to the back of their shirts. And in the midst of trying to get them to stick, the head of the camp came in and told me I had a staff meeting in two minutes. I guess every teacher has days where things just don’t work as planned. Haha
Next, I ran the Jenga station with Eric. For the first group, we had the middle schoolers, so we did trivia and spelling words. After that, we had the first graders who loved to SCREAM! We did colors, numbers, and shapes with them. Every time one of the students went to pull out a Jenga piece, they all screamed at the top of their lungs. It was ridiculous. Our last group was fourth graders I think. We did a lot of trivia about biggest countries, most populated countries, and national capitals. Back to homeroom for corn dogs, and the day was done. We had to book it to the bus to make it back to the retreat center.
We’ve been here since dinner, which was good, I think. Typical Korean food. I get tired of writing what it was – when I have something unique, I’ll be sure to let you know. Then we just kind of chilled us guys – talked about girls, I got thrown into the shower fully clothed, read some of the books I brought, and had an epic pillow fight with the kids. Going to bed earlier tonight. Catch ya later.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Day 11
As I sit writing tonight, I am jamming to some live worship music by Chosen 09. And I’m kind of in awe of the opportunities that God has given me over the past four years. It’s really unbelievable. I’ve got to tour the northeast U.S. twice with a worship band, and I’ve been to Italy, Israel, Thailand, and now Korea. I’ve sang in Carnegie Hall at a Korean concert – and sang live in a Korean mega-church. I’ve had the opportunity to speak in Chapel at VFCC, and pour into a great group of kids at Trinity A/G in West Chester, PA (who I missed very much today while looking at pictures from Kids Camp).
All of that to say, God is amazing. And I sit here in humble thanks to who He is and what He has done. I’m also thinking that I’ll be moving to New Jersey about a month from today to start a brand new chapter in my life that sometimes I don’t even feel remotely qualified to do. And I think back on the last four years of my life, and realize that I probably haven’t been remotely qualified or deserving to have done what I have done. But we serve a great, loving God, and tonight I sit, totally enthralled in who He is and how He loves me so much.
Ok, hopefully you aren’t too restless about reading about my incredible love for Jesus and my sentences that keep beginning with conjunctions. Here’s how today went:
Woke up a little earlier to pack. I was the first one in the shower. Have I told you that we have to get wet, turn the water off, lather up, turn the water back on to rinse? I have gotten it down to a science. Then I had to pack. We had breakfast – omelets with lots of onions and peppers, cake, baked potatoes, rice, fruit, and orange juice. Oh, and these sushi things that are called something else. They were just filled with rice. Yet tasty.
After that, we got totally packed up and gave our host family presents before we left. I gave them handmade bags my grandmother makes – the host mom really liked the orange one – she was wearing it later tonight when we saw them for dinner. I also gave them some dishrags Grandma made too. They hugged us, even the grandma of the family, before we left.
Got to the church, and did a lot of prep work today. I mostly worked on getting illustration slides for our Bible Plays we’re doing at the end of the week – it involved taking pictures out of a Bible Picture book, loading them on my computer, and editing them for “background images” during our play. Took a lot longer than I anticipated. We as a group also worked at constructing workbooks for the camp, since we pretty much started from scratch. It’s amazing – even though we’re not all education majors, we are really good at accomplishing tasks – God has gifted each one with something incredible to bring to the team.
Lunch was some combination of rice, soup, clear noodles, and jellyfish (which I had yesterday apparently – just found out it was jellyfish). Oh by the way (I know I add random things in), did I tell you we saw the HUGE ramen factory where they make all products Ramen? Made me want to jump into a dance of Jubilee…it was like the mother ship calling me home. We passed it a few days ago – probably on one of the days I didn’t blog in much detail.
After lunch – some quick work, and then the kids showed up. They did kids worship in a huge opening ceremony – no lie – to an Asian version of Hillsong Kids DVDs. And the worship leader (who I think is the Children’s Pastor at the church) apparently resembles me in how he leads worship. I took a few mental notes, not going to lie. It made me excited to be a children’s pastor. I don’t really have to wait too long for that to become a reality, though.
After the opening ceremony, we split into rooms for level testing. Most of my kids didn’t know the alphabet, so they are all in the low level category. Some did and knew colors and numbers and animals, but they don’t really know how to construct sentences or answer any kind of English question that would require a verbal response. I don’t know if I’ll be working with that age group/ability level tomorrow or not. I kind of would like to know, haha, but I’m just rolling with whatever comes my way as it does.
After the level testing, we went to the gym, where we played a huge game of the “Shoe Game” (where everyone puts their shoes in the middle and relays one at a time to go and find them). This was with about 100 kids, so pretty crazy. After that, I got to run the station to play “River Sea Ocean.” A game I classically was trained in at Trinity, it still is one of my FAVORITE games to play ever. I might have lost my voice a little being the one calling the shots, but it made me so happy.
After game time, we went back to homeroom where we got ice cream. Funny story – I open mine, and thought it was a popcicle, so I tried putting it in my mouth. Actually, I was sucking on the bottom of a plastic bottle. How this type of ice cream works – you have a frozen plastic bottle of sweet ice cream stuff – you break off the top, and as it melts, you can drink the frozen yogurt. Guess who felt REALLY stupid when all of his seven year olds could do it and I couldn’t? ☺
Group meeting to end the day, then dinner (which wasn’t very good – rice and seaweed mixture and spicy soup). Then we got bused off to this conference center literally in the middle of nowhere. We went up a mountain, and thought we were there, but then went down the other side (all on a one lane road that was kind of dangerous). We would speculate ‘this is where the place is,’ and then pass that place. After being wrong a few times, we stopped guessing. Even though we don’t have internet here, I am really glad for the relaxing time just to be alone, have some extended devotions, and [everyone just entered and disrupted my sacred peace haha]. Irony.
Jesus, thank you so much for what you have done in my life here so far, and how you have been ever faithful throughout my life. I love you so much.
All of that to say, God is amazing. And I sit here in humble thanks to who He is and what He has done. I’m also thinking that I’ll be moving to New Jersey about a month from today to start a brand new chapter in my life that sometimes I don’t even feel remotely qualified to do. And I think back on the last four years of my life, and realize that I probably haven’t been remotely qualified or deserving to have done what I have done. But we serve a great, loving God, and tonight I sit, totally enthralled in who He is and how He loves me so much.
Ok, hopefully you aren’t too restless about reading about my incredible love for Jesus and my sentences that keep beginning with conjunctions. Here’s how today went:
Woke up a little earlier to pack. I was the first one in the shower. Have I told you that we have to get wet, turn the water off, lather up, turn the water back on to rinse? I have gotten it down to a science. Then I had to pack. We had breakfast – omelets with lots of onions and peppers, cake, baked potatoes, rice, fruit, and orange juice. Oh, and these sushi things that are called something else. They were just filled with rice. Yet tasty.
After that, we got totally packed up and gave our host family presents before we left. I gave them handmade bags my grandmother makes – the host mom really liked the orange one – she was wearing it later tonight when we saw them for dinner. I also gave them some dishrags Grandma made too. They hugged us, even the grandma of the family, before we left.
Got to the church, and did a lot of prep work today. I mostly worked on getting illustration slides for our Bible Plays we’re doing at the end of the week – it involved taking pictures out of a Bible Picture book, loading them on my computer, and editing them for “background images” during our play. Took a lot longer than I anticipated. We as a group also worked at constructing workbooks for the camp, since we pretty much started from scratch. It’s amazing – even though we’re not all education majors, we are really good at accomplishing tasks – God has gifted each one with something incredible to bring to the team.
Lunch was some combination of rice, soup, clear noodles, and jellyfish (which I had yesterday apparently – just found out it was jellyfish). Oh by the way (I know I add random things in), did I tell you we saw the HUGE ramen factory where they make all products Ramen? Made me want to jump into a dance of Jubilee…it was like the mother ship calling me home. We passed it a few days ago – probably on one of the days I didn’t blog in much detail.
After lunch – some quick work, and then the kids showed up. They did kids worship in a huge opening ceremony – no lie – to an Asian version of Hillsong Kids DVDs. And the worship leader (who I think is the Children’s Pastor at the church) apparently resembles me in how he leads worship. I took a few mental notes, not going to lie. It made me excited to be a children’s pastor. I don’t really have to wait too long for that to become a reality, though.
After the opening ceremony, we split into rooms for level testing. Most of my kids didn’t know the alphabet, so they are all in the low level category. Some did and knew colors and numbers and animals, but they don’t really know how to construct sentences or answer any kind of English question that would require a verbal response. I don’t know if I’ll be working with that age group/ability level tomorrow or not. I kind of would like to know, haha, but I’m just rolling with whatever comes my way as it does.
After the level testing, we went to the gym, where we played a huge game of the “Shoe Game” (where everyone puts their shoes in the middle and relays one at a time to go and find them). This was with about 100 kids, so pretty crazy. After that, I got to run the station to play “River Sea Ocean.” A game I classically was trained in at Trinity, it still is one of my FAVORITE games to play ever. I might have lost my voice a little being the one calling the shots, but it made me so happy.
After game time, we went back to homeroom where we got ice cream. Funny story – I open mine, and thought it was a popcicle, so I tried putting it in my mouth. Actually, I was sucking on the bottom of a plastic bottle. How this type of ice cream works – you have a frozen plastic bottle of sweet ice cream stuff – you break off the top, and as it melts, you can drink the frozen yogurt. Guess who felt REALLY stupid when all of his seven year olds could do it and I couldn’t? ☺
Group meeting to end the day, then dinner (which wasn’t very good – rice and seaweed mixture and spicy soup). Then we got bused off to this conference center literally in the middle of nowhere. We went up a mountain, and thought we were there, but then went down the other side (all on a one lane road that was kind of dangerous). We would speculate ‘this is where the place is,’ and then pass that place. After being wrong a few times, we stopped guessing. Even though we don’t have internet here, I am really glad for the relaxing time just to be alone, have some extended devotions, and [everyone just entered and disrupted my sacred peace haha]. Irony.
Jesus, thank you so much for what you have done in my life here so far, and how you have been ever faithful throughout my life. I love you so much.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Day 10
Sometimes, you have one of those days. I don't know how you personally define "one of those days," but today was "one of those days." Not bad necessarily, but just...sigh. One of those days.
Had breakfast this morning - egg and ham sandwiches, rice, some kind of round cake thing, noodles, and something else that I forget. I eat a lot. All the time. This has to end.
We went to the church today and worked on the schedule for the week. We aren't the most organized this week, this being the first time the church is offering this camp. It sometimes gets a little frustrating working in the abstract realm (I tend to be more of a concrete thinker), but it's a streching experience, and that's what missions trips are all about. Lots of hours of planning. And THEN...
We took a tour of a chicken processing factory. Right before lunch. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. We got to see live chickens be put onto a system/conveyor belt thing, and learned the process of how they're killed, bleed out, their inedible parts are removed, they are feathered, cleaned, gutted, frozen, processed, and packaged. Right before we had chicken for lunch. lol. Lunch was good though - I still enjoyed it. Just a little unsettling to see Chicken Little right before kicking and screaming going into the plant.
More work and more planning followed lunch, and then we had a team meeting where we just touched base and worshipped for a little bit. I think all of us needed that today. We went to the amazing Italian Restaurant for dinner. I ate a little less at lunch so I could save room for dinner tonight - aMAZING! I feel like I never stop eating all these places. Then we walked around downtown Iksan for an hour and a half, checking out stores, and discussing the contemporary church, world missions, and hunger for the Lord. I didn't really talk a lot during all of this, just kind of soaked in other people's opinions/thoughts.
Bible Study, Hymn, Eric making fun of me, Blogging, Bed. And finished Proverbs. Which rocked my world.
Had breakfast this morning - egg and ham sandwiches, rice, some kind of round cake thing, noodles, and something else that I forget. I eat a lot. All the time. This has to end.
We went to the church today and worked on the schedule for the week. We aren't the most organized this week, this being the first time the church is offering this camp. It sometimes gets a little frustrating working in the abstract realm (I tend to be more of a concrete thinker), but it's a streching experience, and that's what missions trips are all about. Lots of hours of planning. And THEN...
We took a tour of a chicken processing factory. Right before lunch. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. We got to see live chickens be put onto a system/conveyor belt thing, and learned the process of how they're killed, bleed out, their inedible parts are removed, they are feathered, cleaned, gutted, frozen, processed, and packaged. Right before we had chicken for lunch. lol. Lunch was good though - I still enjoyed it. Just a little unsettling to see Chicken Little right before kicking and screaming going into the plant.
More work and more planning followed lunch, and then we had a team meeting where we just touched base and worshipped for a little bit. I think all of us needed that today. We went to the amazing Italian Restaurant for dinner. I ate a little less at lunch so I could save room for dinner tonight - aMAZING! I feel like I never stop eating all these places. Then we walked around downtown Iksan for an hour and a half, checking out stores, and discussing the contemporary church, world missions, and hunger for the Lord. I didn't really talk a lot during all of this, just kind of soaked in other people's opinions/thoughts.
Bible Study, Hymn, Eric making fun of me, Blogging, Bed. And finished Proverbs. Which rocked my world.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Day 9
Wake in the morning feeling like a cool kid who slept on a mattress with hard little heating coil things. In very hot sticky weather. With Eric hogging the fan. haha. When I realized this last night, I said, "Eric, you put that fan on rotate NOW!" He didn't. Lol. Anyway, got a shower this morning and had breakfast. Oh my word I'm eating so much over here my stomach hates me practically all the time because it can't handle how much food I have to eat. We had jelly noodles (I call them that because they are clear and squishy), diced/sliced/somehow chopped up nice potatoes, a huge bowl of sticky rice, and soup. I'm telling you I'm coming home 15 pounds heavier. As I write this I feel like I can't move at all. More about that later.
Got to church for the English service. Amanda and I sang "How Great is our God" - rocked it out. I forgot she can sing like none other, and I did harmony - so legit. SO LEGIT. Closed with an acapella version of "How Great Thou Art" - I'm telling you people, it was awesome. Service went well - Dan shared in the English Zone about his trip to Israel, and then we had crackers afterwards for fellowship.
Went to worship practice for next week with Amanda and David and the rest of the Koreans. Practiced for about an hour. The worship leader is really good and really efficient. I learned from watching her. After practice, we went to the cafeteria (in the huge church complex). We ate food. I don't remember what it was. Tonight I am not motivated at all to write this blog. So it might be more brief.
We stayed at the church all afternoon. We had meetings, smoothies, more meetings, and really got nothing accomplished, but that's culture. You go with it. I read a lot of the Bible - and yet by Monday I'm supposed to be starting Isaiah, and I'm still mid-Proverbs. It's like the little engine that could...i think i can i think i can...and I will catch up...eventually.
We sang again for the night service - but with the whole team. It was crazy. We probably sang in front of 600 people minimum. And now everyone I meet talks to me about "piano." Because that's who I am. The Piano Man.
We ate dinner at the church too. No new foods that you haven't heard of before. I am getting fat. After church, we went to Paris Baguette where I got more food, and we ate that along with Orange Juice and Mulberry Juice (the latter of which I never want to have again in my adult life). More food. More fatness. More me saying "Oh my stomach."
Ok, I have been writing this post for like a good three hours. And haven't really said anything. So - singing in first service awesome. Singing in second service = really awesome. Anything else? I don't know. I'm too tired.
Thank you for reading.
Got to church for the English service. Amanda and I sang "How Great is our God" - rocked it out. I forgot she can sing like none other, and I did harmony - so legit. SO LEGIT. Closed with an acapella version of "How Great Thou Art" - I'm telling you people, it was awesome. Service went well - Dan shared in the English Zone about his trip to Israel, and then we had crackers afterwards for fellowship.
Went to worship practice for next week with Amanda and David and the rest of the Koreans. Practiced for about an hour. The worship leader is really good and really efficient. I learned from watching her. After practice, we went to the cafeteria (in the huge church complex). We ate food. I don't remember what it was. Tonight I am not motivated at all to write this blog. So it might be more brief.
We stayed at the church all afternoon. We had meetings, smoothies, more meetings, and really got nothing accomplished, but that's culture. You go with it. I read a lot of the Bible - and yet by Monday I'm supposed to be starting Isaiah, and I'm still mid-Proverbs. It's like the little engine that could...i think i can i think i can...and I will catch up...eventually.
We sang again for the night service - but with the whole team. It was crazy. We probably sang in front of 600 people minimum. And now everyone I meet talks to me about "piano." Because that's who I am. The Piano Man.
We ate dinner at the church too. No new foods that you haven't heard of before. I am getting fat. After church, we went to Paris Baguette where I got more food, and we ate that along with Orange Juice and Mulberry Juice (the latter of which I never want to have again in my adult life). More food. More fatness. More me saying "Oh my stomach."
Ok, I have been writing this post for like a good three hours. And haven't really said anything. So - singing in first service awesome. Singing in second service = really awesome. Anything else? I don't know. I'm too tired.
Thank you for reading.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Day 8 – The day Jesus brought me a pizza
Today was a good day. We got up very late because we gone out later the night before with the professors. None of us woke up until 7am when the epic morning music came on to wake us up. I think it’s too early to say if I’ll miss it. We got ready – originally I was going to wear shorts, but everyone else was dressing up. So I gave in to peer pressure – something I’m usually not famous for. It’s good peer pressure kids, don’t worry.
Went to breakfast – ate with my favorite student, Afro and some of the other kids from the school. And guess what? Well, first, they tried to help me on my chopstick grip/use, which was funny that I was getting tutored by children who were younger than me, and yet 5 inches taller than me in some cases. “Teacher! Teacher! Like this!” Then, the wonderful cafeteria ladies (who wear pepto-bismol pink rubber-esque aprons) came over and put a fried egg on my plate. Hallelujah! It was awesome! Made my breakfast 10x better. Then five minutes later she brought me another one after I had eaten half my rice and meat, and I remember thinking, if she keeps bringing them I’m going to blow up like a blimp. You laugh, I think it’s possible with all the food I’m eating in Korea.
Teaching today consisted of homonyms. That was it. Then we had a review game with Eric’s class before the idioms test. You don’t even have to speculate whose team won, but in case you were confused, my team owned Eric’s team. Yes, only by three points. But he was trash talking a lot. I told him to “bite his tongue – be quiet!” (using my idioms in every day life – Oh teacher you’re so smart! Lol). Haha but I will say I could get used to hearing every day “Oh Teacher, so handsome!” hahaha. No, it is not the same hearing it from people in the states who are reading along and now will use this to embarrass me every chance they get.
After we reviewed, we had an idiom test where they weren’t allowed to talk. Then, after that, we had a time where they wrote me letters about the week, and then I taught them how to use Facebook so they can stay in contact with me. Oh, and apparently my top student (Afro) thinks I look like Macaulay Culkin. He is the man. I will try to post a picture of he and I.
We had a closing ceremony in which awards were given for several things during the camp. Some were given for good grades on the idioms test, some for participating/winning the talent show. There was another one too that I can’t remember. Then they gave awards for the top student. When Afro’s name was called, he was shocked. His face was priceless. I think he felt really good that I recognized his hard work.
Oh, and, uh, my team won best team overall for participation. Heck yes! Team Awesome! (That really was their name – I taught them ‘awesome’ and they screamed it like a camp cheer. AWESOME! They got a gift certificate to the snack bar I think.
After that we watched a typical 90s Friends are Friends Forever video picture montage of the events of the week to “Falling Slowly” (also sung MANY times last night). I feel like I have learned so many American songs this week that I didn’t know existed. The fact that I can sing the chorus to “you are not alone” by Michael Jackson and know where each and every key change in that song are is kind of scary. Thank you, Korea Game Science High School. You have taught me a lot. We had this handshaking line to say goodbye. Afterwards, at lunch, Afro ate with me and the guys, and I gave him a hug before I left. I could tell he was trying hard not to cry, and he said “I miss you.” I said, “I’ll miss you too.”
This is why we do what we do. Building relationships. Pouring into people. Sharing the love of Jesus. And continuing to stay in contact thru facebook, telling him I’m praying for him, etc. The Lord orchestrates everything together for good. Praise his holy name.
We got on the bus and headed to the new church, which was locked when we got there. It is a megachurch, let me tell you. It is a huge complex of buildings and I didn’t even get the whole tour. Amanda and I practiced for tomorrow’s church service (we are doing a music special) and missed when the group left for the tour. Had a great time doing thru some of Integrity Music’s best hits of the 1990s though. Sweated up a storm in the very hot sanctuary, which I think is one of like three in this epic church complex. But tomorrow we will KILL. It’s gonna be awesome.
Found the group after taking our own unofficial tour of the place. Loaded up and went to our host families. We are staying with Elder Lim and his family. Then we went to dinner at this AWESOME Italian restaurant.
---Ok brief news statement here -- You may or may not remember the popular song I wrote two days ago called “Jesus Take the Kimchi” Go back and read it if you have not already. Anyway, at the end of that song, I asked Jesus for some pizza. Well, friends, I am here today to tell you that God answers prayers. After having AMAZING rolls, mushroom soup, chicken over salad, red pasta, pasta carbonara, they brought out ITALIAN PIZZA!
Santo.
Santo.
Santo. (It’s a Hispanic Pentecostal exclamatory remark)
We hung out for a while in the restaurant (which is owned by one of the ladies in the church) while our hosts went to a quick Bible study at the church. We joked around a lot – again, I can emphasize it all I want, but this is a great group of people. So glad each of them came.
We are at the host family’s house now. We had a bible study and sang Amazing Grace together. It was very cool. Now I have been blogging for close to an hour (today’s entry is long, yes? – I just said that in foreigner accent English, at about half the speed I normally speak at). It’s getting to me, I tell ya.
Ok. Thanks for the prayers. I hope you are all doing well at home. I’m going to probably shower because today was ridiculously humid and sticky and then I will head to bed. Grace and Peace
Went to breakfast – ate with my favorite student, Afro and some of the other kids from the school. And guess what? Well, first, they tried to help me on my chopstick grip/use, which was funny that I was getting tutored by children who were younger than me, and yet 5 inches taller than me in some cases. “Teacher! Teacher! Like this!” Then, the wonderful cafeteria ladies (who wear pepto-bismol pink rubber-esque aprons) came over and put a fried egg on my plate. Hallelujah! It was awesome! Made my breakfast 10x better. Then five minutes later she brought me another one after I had eaten half my rice and meat, and I remember thinking, if she keeps bringing them I’m going to blow up like a blimp. You laugh, I think it’s possible with all the food I’m eating in Korea.
Teaching today consisted of homonyms. That was it. Then we had a review game with Eric’s class before the idioms test. You don’t even have to speculate whose team won, but in case you were confused, my team owned Eric’s team. Yes, only by three points. But he was trash talking a lot. I told him to “bite his tongue – be quiet!” (using my idioms in every day life – Oh teacher you’re so smart! Lol). Haha but I will say I could get used to hearing every day “Oh Teacher, so handsome!” hahaha. No, it is not the same hearing it from people in the states who are reading along and now will use this to embarrass me every chance they get.
After we reviewed, we had an idiom test where they weren’t allowed to talk. Then, after that, we had a time where they wrote me letters about the week, and then I taught them how to use Facebook so they can stay in contact with me. Oh, and apparently my top student (Afro) thinks I look like Macaulay Culkin. He is the man. I will try to post a picture of he and I.
We had a closing ceremony in which awards were given for several things during the camp. Some were given for good grades on the idioms test, some for participating/winning the talent show. There was another one too that I can’t remember. Then they gave awards for the top student. When Afro’s name was called, he was shocked. His face was priceless. I think he felt really good that I recognized his hard work.
Oh, and, uh, my team won best team overall for participation. Heck yes! Team Awesome! (That really was their name – I taught them ‘awesome’ and they screamed it like a camp cheer. AWESOME! They got a gift certificate to the snack bar I think.
After that we watched a typical 90s Friends are Friends Forever video picture montage of the events of the week to “Falling Slowly” (also sung MANY times last night). I feel like I have learned so many American songs this week that I didn’t know existed. The fact that I can sing the chorus to “you are not alone” by Michael Jackson and know where each and every key change in that song are is kind of scary. Thank you, Korea Game Science High School. You have taught me a lot. We had this handshaking line to say goodbye. Afterwards, at lunch, Afro ate with me and the guys, and I gave him a hug before I left. I could tell he was trying hard not to cry, and he said “I miss you.” I said, “I’ll miss you too.”
This is why we do what we do. Building relationships. Pouring into people. Sharing the love of Jesus. And continuing to stay in contact thru facebook, telling him I’m praying for him, etc. The Lord orchestrates everything together for good. Praise his holy name.
We got on the bus and headed to the new church, which was locked when we got there. It is a megachurch, let me tell you. It is a huge complex of buildings and I didn’t even get the whole tour. Amanda and I practiced for tomorrow’s church service (we are doing a music special) and missed when the group left for the tour. Had a great time doing thru some of Integrity Music’s best hits of the 1990s though. Sweated up a storm in the very hot sanctuary, which I think is one of like three in this epic church complex. But tomorrow we will KILL. It’s gonna be awesome.
Found the group after taking our own unofficial tour of the place. Loaded up and went to our host families. We are staying with Elder Lim and his family. Then we went to dinner at this AWESOME Italian restaurant.
---Ok brief news statement here -- You may or may not remember the popular song I wrote two days ago called “Jesus Take the Kimchi” Go back and read it if you have not already. Anyway, at the end of that song, I asked Jesus for some pizza. Well, friends, I am here today to tell you that God answers prayers. After having AMAZING rolls, mushroom soup, chicken over salad, red pasta, pasta carbonara, they brought out ITALIAN PIZZA!
Santo.
Santo.
Santo. (It’s a Hispanic Pentecostal exclamatory remark)
We hung out for a while in the restaurant (which is owned by one of the ladies in the church) while our hosts went to a quick Bible study at the church. We joked around a lot – again, I can emphasize it all I want, but this is a great group of people. So glad each of them came.
We are at the host family’s house now. We had a bible study and sang Amazing Grace together. It was very cool. Now I have been blogging for close to an hour (today’s entry is long, yes? – I just said that in foreigner accent English, at about half the speed I normally speak at). It’s getting to me, I tell ya.
Ok. Thanks for the prayers. I hope you are all doing well at home. I’m going to probably shower because today was ridiculously humid and sticky and then I will head to bed. Grace and Peace
Friday, July 16, 2010
Day 7
Woke up this morning with clumps of ice cluttering the floor. Okay, not really, but it was frigid when Dan’s alarm went off at six AM. None of us wanted to get up in the freezing cold, though, so we slept an hour later with the snooze follow ups every 10 minutes. Haha. This also had an influence in all of us wearing jeans today.
Today was muggy. Not hot (surprisingly, it has not been that hot yet to date), but very humid. We started the day teaching antonyms & homonyms. I’m glad 10 minutes before my lesson someone told me homonyms weren’t just words that rhyme, but words that sound the same but are spelled differently. I mean, I guess I would have seen that when I did the worksheets, but I guess I just somehow thought they were just words that rhyme. Maybe that’s homophone.
Antonyms, idioms of the day went well. That’s all the teaching I had for the morning. Then two periods of spelling bee meets Jenga. They were a little more mellow today, but we still had a good amount of fun.
Lunch today was glorious. Best lunch of the week. Chicken & potatoes with amazing sauce that I poured over the rice & red pepper soup (classic) and probably something else I’m forgetting. Or didn’t eat/didn’t take. It made me very happy. We had to take a picture afterwards with the principal and staff of the camp, and then had a meeting with the principal while snacking on ice cream. I had this cone that was Americanly patriotic, red white and blue, and had pop rocks in it. I think they were made for the 4th of July. Very firework-ish.
After lunch, we had to teach about homonyms. Eric made a killer powerpoint for us to use. After that, I asked what they wanted to learn about – and I taught them phrases to use during travel. Oh, I didn’t mention, but today I named all my kids English names so I could call on them. From the back of my class, I had Anymore, Earbud, Marshmellow, Matt Damon, Brittney Spears, Michael Jackson, Soap, Justin Beiber, Jerk (he picked it, I didn’t), Afro, Oprah Winfrey, Harry Potter, Emma Watson (somehow when they pronounce this it always sounds like ‘mouse’), Bart Simpson, Old man (he had gray hairs), & Avatar. Helped so much – and made everyone laugh. Afro is my favorite. He is a tall kid that sits in the back.
Two more periods of spelling/Jenga. In the first period, the kids legitimately didn’t want to do anything. They were sleepy, lethargic, and they wouldn’t try to even spell some words. At one point, I was at whit’s end, and Amanda walked in to ask me a question. She saw that I wasn’t having much luck, so she asked to have a go at it, while I watched over her art class. What happened next can hardly be described. Although, I have seen a few episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, and one of them provided a great parallel to what I was feeling. The surgeons from the show discover the dermatology section of the hospital, where everyone is calm, there is no emergencies, and they can relax. That is how I felt – no crazy motivation kids who were unwilling to learn, no shouting or raising my voice, I just got to sit quietly and watch them work. It was a haven of awesomeness.
I eventually had to go back, but it was ok. I was refreshed. After the spelling bee rotations were over, the kids all had to do a school-wide scavenger hunt, where they had to find all different landmarks using clues and get a picture of them on their cell phones. That seemed cool – we got the judge them at the end and get food.
Dan, Eric, and I filmed a documentary tonight about life in Korea. Afterwards, we went to dinner, which was awesome clear dumpling soup and these really good clear noodles. We ate A LOT at dinner tonight because the food was better than usual and didn’t consist of any red peppers (santo!).
After dinner, there was a school wide pop song contest. We were the judges as the foreign teachers. And at the end, we got to perform “Bye Bye Bye.” For those of you who know me, you know that secretly I always wanted to be in a boy band (at least, that’s what you’ve projected on me by your observations). Haha. I had SO much fun singing it though. Some of the girls danced while Amanda sang some back up harmonies. I don’t know how I knew all the words….lol…
We went out for “dinner” with the professors and principal afterwards. Aubrey heard we were having pizza and got really excited. No, no. We had Korean pizza – it is like egg and seaweed and octopus (oh, which is growing slightly on me. Still very rubbery though). I don’t mind their pizza, but it is not the same at all. Also, we had deep friend jinsing, which is a root they commonly use in American tea, so I’ve heard. That was a stronger taste. Watching people’s poker face when they ate it was pretty priceless. Just strong flavor, although Eric will tell you he barely tasted it at all.
We learned Aubrey’s pinky finger on her one hand can’t extend the whole way. Kind of weird. We had prayer time after we got back to the campus (oh, I don’t think I had mentioned that this dinner they took us to the mountain to a place that specializes in vegetarian dishes).
It was a great day. I am still on my plan to read thru the Bible in 90 days. Today I couldn’t find my Bible this morning (I had left it in our meeting room from the night before) and I am a little behind the plan. However, I am still keeping a good pace, and should be done with Proverbs tomorrow – once I finish Psalms and start Proverbs haha).
Today was muggy. Not hot (surprisingly, it has not been that hot yet to date), but very humid. We started the day teaching antonyms & homonyms. I’m glad 10 minutes before my lesson someone told me homonyms weren’t just words that rhyme, but words that sound the same but are spelled differently. I mean, I guess I would have seen that when I did the worksheets, but I guess I just somehow thought they were just words that rhyme. Maybe that’s homophone.
Antonyms, idioms of the day went well. That’s all the teaching I had for the morning. Then two periods of spelling bee meets Jenga. They were a little more mellow today, but we still had a good amount of fun.
Lunch today was glorious. Best lunch of the week. Chicken & potatoes with amazing sauce that I poured over the rice & red pepper soup (classic) and probably something else I’m forgetting. Or didn’t eat/didn’t take. It made me very happy. We had to take a picture afterwards with the principal and staff of the camp, and then had a meeting with the principal while snacking on ice cream. I had this cone that was Americanly patriotic, red white and blue, and had pop rocks in it. I think they were made for the 4th of July. Very firework-ish.
After lunch, we had to teach about homonyms. Eric made a killer powerpoint for us to use. After that, I asked what they wanted to learn about – and I taught them phrases to use during travel. Oh, I didn’t mention, but today I named all my kids English names so I could call on them. From the back of my class, I had Anymore, Earbud, Marshmellow, Matt Damon, Brittney Spears, Michael Jackson, Soap, Justin Beiber, Jerk (he picked it, I didn’t), Afro, Oprah Winfrey, Harry Potter, Emma Watson (somehow when they pronounce this it always sounds like ‘mouse’), Bart Simpson, Old man (he had gray hairs), & Avatar. Helped so much – and made everyone laugh. Afro is my favorite. He is a tall kid that sits in the back.
Two more periods of spelling/Jenga. In the first period, the kids legitimately didn’t want to do anything. They were sleepy, lethargic, and they wouldn’t try to even spell some words. At one point, I was at whit’s end, and Amanda walked in to ask me a question. She saw that I wasn’t having much luck, so she asked to have a go at it, while I watched over her art class. What happened next can hardly be described. Although, I have seen a few episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, and one of them provided a great parallel to what I was feeling. The surgeons from the show discover the dermatology section of the hospital, where everyone is calm, there is no emergencies, and they can relax. That is how I felt – no crazy motivation kids who were unwilling to learn, no shouting or raising my voice, I just got to sit quietly and watch them work. It was a haven of awesomeness.
I eventually had to go back, but it was ok. I was refreshed. After the spelling bee rotations were over, the kids all had to do a school-wide scavenger hunt, where they had to find all different landmarks using clues and get a picture of them on their cell phones. That seemed cool – we got the judge them at the end and get food.
Dan, Eric, and I filmed a documentary tonight about life in Korea. Afterwards, we went to dinner, which was awesome clear dumpling soup and these really good clear noodles. We ate A LOT at dinner tonight because the food was better than usual and didn’t consist of any red peppers (santo!).
After dinner, there was a school wide pop song contest. We were the judges as the foreign teachers. And at the end, we got to perform “Bye Bye Bye.” For those of you who know me, you know that secretly I always wanted to be in a boy band (at least, that’s what you’ve projected on me by your observations). Haha. I had SO much fun singing it though. Some of the girls danced while Amanda sang some back up harmonies. I don’t know how I knew all the words….lol…
We went out for “dinner” with the professors and principal afterwards. Aubrey heard we were having pizza and got really excited. No, no. We had Korean pizza – it is like egg and seaweed and octopus (oh, which is growing slightly on me. Still very rubbery though). I don’t mind their pizza, but it is not the same at all. Also, we had deep friend jinsing, which is a root they commonly use in American tea, so I’ve heard. That was a stronger taste. Watching people’s poker face when they ate it was pretty priceless. Just strong flavor, although Eric will tell you he barely tasted it at all.
We learned Aubrey’s pinky finger on her one hand can’t extend the whole way. Kind of weird. We had prayer time after we got back to the campus (oh, I don’t think I had mentioned that this dinner they took us to the mountain to a place that specializes in vegetarian dishes).
It was a great day. I am still on my plan to read thru the Bible in 90 days. Today I couldn’t find my Bible this morning (I had left it in our meeting room from the night before) and I am a little behind the plan. However, I am still keeping a good pace, and should be done with Proverbs tomorrow – once I finish Psalms and start Proverbs haha).
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Day 6
Things I have not mentioned before:
The other night Amanda had a dream that the North Koreans were attacking. She woke up against a cinder block wall (which was the wall next to her bed). Thinking that the North Koreans were cementing her into her bunk, she starting banging on it screaming for help. She woke up all of her roommates and then had a good laugh about it. Now, while we were all sitting around, Christy told one of the professors. We all sat in shocked silence, until he bust out laughing. Then we laughed just as hard with him.
This morning, I was not about to stress about the lesson plan. I did not really want to spend much time stressing over it. Was that a redundant sentence? lol I am tired today. I skipped breakfast though to work on getting music together for my 2 hour lesson on music genres. Trust me, I wouldn't have devoted that much time to it normally if I wasn't required to. The morning went off well - we taught idioms of the day again, synonyms, and then all about music. Some of my kids fell asleep during a part of the music lecture. I did not really wake them - those same ones struggled in the game afterwards because they didn't know what the genres sounded like.
Lunch - kimchi and rice. and Korean BBQ. Which really means they give you leaves or greens to wrap pork in with this great sauce - i've described it before as really good marinara sauce. I'm not sure if that's the best description, but I can't think of a better explanation. You wrap the pork, rice, and kimchi (except no kimchi for me) and sauce in the lettuce and/or tree leaf and shove it all in your mouth at once. It is very good.
I have decided "spice" in Korea is very limited to red pepper, and the amount of spice is determined by how much red pepper is put into anything. Hence, sometimes the soup is a little blander, but usually always the same flavor. lol.
We had a Ranking Show today that was a lot of fun - kids were polled to find out what the best thing about the school was, who the best teacher was, etc. Then, they had to vote in teams to try and guess the top 3 choices. Took up time and was SO much fun - Thank you Lord! We also did more music lectures (which i was not a huge fan of) and THEN we got to do Conversational English for two hours. Today, I got to be someone who hired people for Nintendo. This was a 2 hour long task asking kids about their qualifications, and then having to explain what qualification meant to them haha. Again, it is really funny because you can usually ad lib with kids who are more advanced. We were also told to be a little "harder" on them today, so I had to not hire like 10 people out of the 80 or so that came to see me. Oh, but after, let me just tell you, we got ice cream stuff in this package with a straw attached - Santo! The BEST THING I"VE HAD THIS ENTIRE TRIP! Thank you Lord for something sweet and not kimchi flavored or related in any way, shape, form, smell, or taste. Glory!
I realize I'm punctuating like a raving Pentecostal; I don't care. lol. I am tired, and happy. I had to run a Spelling Bee with Jenga tiles and when they missed a word they had to take two Jenga pieces out of their team tower. My voice gets tired though in running all of these activities. I think that might have been it. Yesterday, if i didn't mention, after conversation hour, we had vanilla yogurt with chocolate add-in things. Also, highlight of the food day. Since apparently the followers of my blog love reading my food descriptions haha. My mother actually recommended it to my cousin BECAUSE my cousin would learn about Korean food? So glad I can be the voice of Korean Cuisine to a dark and hurting world. haha
Guess what was for dinner?! KIMCHI! haha. And octopus with kimchi flavoring. And chicken nuggets & soup & rice. I know, you're thinking it was so original. This was the first time I have had octopus. It may be the last. It has a very unique texture. And after only a week of eating Korean food, I just want to lift my hands and sing
"Jesus take the kimchi
Take it from my plate
Cuz I don't want it anymore..
I'm throwing it out
It gives me great heartburn
And it tastes like I regurgitated in my mouth
Jesus Take the Kimchi (and bring me a pizza)
Thank you Jesus! And Carrie (Underwood) Fisher.
We had the most fun team devotional after dinner, including a time for about 5-10 minutes where we could not stop laughing. Kind of cut into Amanda's scripture reading, but it was really good. I'm so glad all these people are with me on this trip. Don't get the idea that I am not having the time of my life. Do I miss something food that isn't rice, soup, or taste like pepper? Yes. But am I totally stoked with how God keeps giving us opportunities to minister, like tonight how there were students who just hung with us as we just blogged and did devotions? Yes. So pumped.
The Lord is awesome people. Thank you for the prayers. Tomorrow (today for you, kind of) you can pray that the Lord helps us in our Talent Show, where I am one of the emcees. Should be fun. Pray that the Lord also opens up doors for us to share our faith. One of my students was talking to Amanda today, and said, (of me), "He has a...a...kindness about Him." She said she so badly wanted to say IT'S JESUS! Pray that our gentleness will be evident to all.
Thanks!
The other night Amanda had a dream that the North Koreans were attacking. She woke up against a cinder block wall (which was the wall next to her bed). Thinking that the North Koreans were cementing her into her bunk, she starting banging on it screaming for help. She woke up all of her roommates and then had a good laugh about it. Now, while we were all sitting around, Christy told one of the professors. We all sat in shocked silence, until he bust out laughing. Then we laughed just as hard with him.
This morning, I was not about to stress about the lesson plan. I did not really want to spend much time stressing over it. Was that a redundant sentence? lol I am tired today. I skipped breakfast though to work on getting music together for my 2 hour lesson on music genres. Trust me, I wouldn't have devoted that much time to it normally if I wasn't required to. The morning went off well - we taught idioms of the day again, synonyms, and then all about music. Some of my kids fell asleep during a part of the music lecture. I did not really wake them - those same ones struggled in the game afterwards because they didn't know what the genres sounded like.
Lunch - kimchi and rice. and Korean BBQ. Which really means they give you leaves or greens to wrap pork in with this great sauce - i've described it before as really good marinara sauce. I'm not sure if that's the best description, but I can't think of a better explanation. You wrap the pork, rice, and kimchi (except no kimchi for me) and sauce in the lettuce and/or tree leaf and shove it all in your mouth at once. It is very good.
I have decided "spice" in Korea is very limited to red pepper, and the amount of spice is determined by how much red pepper is put into anything. Hence, sometimes the soup is a little blander, but usually always the same flavor. lol.
We had a Ranking Show today that was a lot of fun - kids were polled to find out what the best thing about the school was, who the best teacher was, etc. Then, they had to vote in teams to try and guess the top 3 choices. Took up time and was SO much fun - Thank you Lord! We also did more music lectures (which i was not a huge fan of) and THEN we got to do Conversational English for two hours. Today, I got to be someone who hired people for Nintendo. This was a 2 hour long task asking kids about their qualifications, and then having to explain what qualification meant to them haha. Again, it is really funny because you can usually ad lib with kids who are more advanced. We were also told to be a little "harder" on them today, so I had to not hire like 10 people out of the 80 or so that came to see me. Oh, but after, let me just tell you, we got ice cream stuff in this package with a straw attached - Santo! The BEST THING I"VE HAD THIS ENTIRE TRIP! Thank you Lord for something sweet and not kimchi flavored or related in any way, shape, form, smell, or taste. Glory!
I realize I'm punctuating like a raving Pentecostal; I don't care. lol. I am tired, and happy. I had to run a Spelling Bee with Jenga tiles and when they missed a word they had to take two Jenga pieces out of their team tower. My voice gets tired though in running all of these activities. I think that might have been it. Yesterday, if i didn't mention, after conversation hour, we had vanilla yogurt with chocolate add-in things. Also, highlight of the food day. Since apparently the followers of my blog love reading my food descriptions haha. My mother actually recommended it to my cousin BECAUSE my cousin would learn about Korean food? So glad I can be the voice of Korean Cuisine to a dark and hurting world. haha
Guess what was for dinner?! KIMCHI! haha. And octopus with kimchi flavoring. And chicken nuggets & soup & rice. I know, you're thinking it was so original. This was the first time I have had octopus. It may be the last. It has a very unique texture. And after only a week of eating Korean food, I just want to lift my hands and sing
"Jesus take the kimchi
Take it from my plate
Cuz I don't want it anymore..
I'm throwing it out
It gives me great heartburn
And it tastes like I regurgitated in my mouth
Jesus Take the Kimchi (and bring me a pizza)
Thank you Jesus! And Carrie (Underwood) Fisher.
We had the most fun team devotional after dinner, including a time for about 5-10 minutes where we could not stop laughing. Kind of cut into Amanda's scripture reading, but it was really good. I'm so glad all these people are with me on this trip. Don't get the idea that I am not having the time of my life. Do I miss something food that isn't rice, soup, or taste like pepper? Yes. But am I totally stoked with how God keeps giving us opportunities to minister, like tonight how there were students who just hung with us as we just blogged and did devotions? Yes. So pumped.
The Lord is awesome people. Thank you for the prayers. Tomorrow (today for you, kind of) you can pray that the Lord helps us in our Talent Show, where I am one of the emcees. Should be fun. Pray that the Lord also opens up doors for us to share our faith. One of my students was talking to Amanda today, and said, (of me), "He has a...a...kindness about Him." She said she so badly wanted to say IT'S JESUS! Pray that our gentleness will be evident to all.
Thanks!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Day 5
Psalm 52:8-9:
"But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in God's faithful love forever and ever.
I will praise You forever for what You have done.
In the presence of Your faithful people,
I will put my hope in Your name, for it is good."
The Lord is incredibly gracious to me. I am so aware of that fact today. I am sitting here in awe of just who He is and how He uses people like me in His kingdom. The best way I can describe what I'm feeling today is that the Lord has given me favor with people, and with students. I was extremely nervous to teach English today - from stressing out because I didn't think I would have a computer projector screen or Internet, to trying to plan a 2 hour about me/ice breaker time slot. But the Lord gave me a great day. My kids seem to have really taken a liking to me. And I've met me, and I'm not that funny, or personable. I'm not the most patient person, and definitely not the most creative. But I got the kids pumped up, and everywhere they went today, people commented on how excited my kids were. The Lord has blessed me - I feel like I can't give enough glory to his name for that!
If you want the whole day in perspective, breakfast included chicken nuggets, honey mustard, rice, and CEREAL! The whole team rejoiced when they had cereal for us! Korean food starts to taste all the same after a while. While I don't really mind it, it is starting to become a bit old to some other people on the team. Having a break from rice, seaweed, and kimchi was a gracious change. Thank you Lord!
I then went to my classroom to try and get my powerpoint up and running. I couldn't get it working, even with help from 2 students. They said there was no internet, or a projector for me to use, which took out about half of my activities planned for my two hour time slot that morning. Scared me to death. I stressed a little bit (ok, a lot bit) about that. But - excuse me jumping ahead - I didn't need to. The Lord worked everything out. It went extremely well. Which of you by worrying adds a day to your life? Yes, Jesus, thank you for reminding me.
We had an opening ceremony in front of the whole school where we had to introduce ourselves and the principal gave a speech. After that we went back to our meeting room and waited before we went and taught. The first 2 hours went really well. Thank the Lord the game "2 Truths and a Lie" took 20 minutes - I was starting to freak out a little. Playing Pictionary was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. They had a blast too.
Lunchtime was Bibimbap again and pork/chicken patties. I do not particularly care for their soup, but the rest was good. I am finding I eat the most for lunch, and then don't really have a big appetite for dinner. After lunch we had to teach idioms - "caught my eye", "Dream on!", "I'm broke", two others that I forget...lol.
Then we had Conversation Stations. I had to run a station that was a mock cell phone station. They had to ask about buying a new cell phone. I had a lot of fun with this - I ad libbed from the script when I knew they were capable of actually conversing without just reading the script. I also used a lot of voices and accents. I laughed a lot today haha. I had to run a shoe game afterward where they had to put their shoes in the middle of the room and send someone else to get them with only english descriptions of what they looked like. That was fun.
Dinner was good too. I didn't eat as much. It was fish and rice and soup that wasn't as bad as usual haha. We had another good group devotional tonight - Aubrey shared from Jeremiah. We I think are all growing already as individuals, and growing together. It is really awesome to experience.
I love the Lord a lot, and I'm glad that He has blessed me with this amazing opportunity. Everyone is really working hard for our lesson on music tomorrow. So I'm going to go do that. Thanks for all the prayers, they are greatly appreciated!
"But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in God's faithful love forever and ever.
I will praise You forever for what You have done.
In the presence of Your faithful people,
I will put my hope in Your name, for it is good."
The Lord is incredibly gracious to me. I am so aware of that fact today. I am sitting here in awe of just who He is and how He uses people like me in His kingdom. The best way I can describe what I'm feeling today is that the Lord has given me favor with people, and with students. I was extremely nervous to teach English today - from stressing out because I didn't think I would have a computer projector screen or Internet, to trying to plan a 2 hour about me/ice breaker time slot. But the Lord gave me a great day. My kids seem to have really taken a liking to me. And I've met me, and I'm not that funny, or personable. I'm not the most patient person, and definitely not the most creative. But I got the kids pumped up, and everywhere they went today, people commented on how excited my kids were. The Lord has blessed me - I feel like I can't give enough glory to his name for that!
If you want the whole day in perspective, breakfast included chicken nuggets, honey mustard, rice, and CEREAL! The whole team rejoiced when they had cereal for us! Korean food starts to taste all the same after a while. While I don't really mind it, it is starting to become a bit old to some other people on the team. Having a break from rice, seaweed, and kimchi was a gracious change. Thank you Lord!
I then went to my classroom to try and get my powerpoint up and running. I couldn't get it working, even with help from 2 students. They said there was no internet, or a projector for me to use, which took out about half of my activities planned for my two hour time slot that morning. Scared me to death. I stressed a little bit (ok, a lot bit) about that. But - excuse me jumping ahead - I didn't need to. The Lord worked everything out. It went extremely well. Which of you by worrying adds a day to your life? Yes, Jesus, thank you for reminding me.
We had an opening ceremony in front of the whole school where we had to introduce ourselves and the principal gave a speech. After that we went back to our meeting room and waited before we went and taught. The first 2 hours went really well. Thank the Lord the game "2 Truths and a Lie" took 20 minutes - I was starting to freak out a little. Playing Pictionary was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. They had a blast too.
Lunchtime was Bibimbap again and pork/chicken patties. I do not particularly care for their soup, but the rest was good. I am finding I eat the most for lunch, and then don't really have a big appetite for dinner. After lunch we had to teach idioms - "caught my eye", "Dream on!", "I'm broke", two others that I forget...lol.
Then we had Conversation Stations. I had to run a station that was a mock cell phone station. They had to ask about buying a new cell phone. I had a lot of fun with this - I ad libbed from the script when I knew they were capable of actually conversing without just reading the script. I also used a lot of voices and accents. I laughed a lot today haha. I had to run a shoe game afterward where they had to put their shoes in the middle of the room and send someone else to get them with only english descriptions of what they looked like. That was fun.
Dinner was good too. I didn't eat as much. It was fish and rice and soup that wasn't as bad as usual haha. We had another good group devotional tonight - Aubrey shared from Jeremiah. We I think are all growing already as individuals, and growing together. It is really awesome to experience.
I love the Lord a lot, and I'm glad that He has blessed me with this amazing opportunity. Everyone is really working hard for our lesson on music tomorrow. So I'm going to go do that. Thanks for all the prayers, they are greatly appreciated!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Day 4
We seem to have a pattern of the air conditioner deciding to hate us sometime in the middle of the night. But it definitely wasn't as hot this morning when I woke up. I had set my alarm for 7 am, but around 6:50 I heard all the kids start walking out of the building. It sounded like an army marching out of the barracks. I could have also sworn there was a drum beat behind their marching. Haha it was, however, in no way coordinated or organized.
At 7, I heard this static coming over the loudspeaker (which, the night before, had blared every 10 minutes telling the students how long they had before lights out). As it progressed, it eventually turned into some girl singing. Sounded like a radio station (Korean, obviously). It was. And after the song was finished, the radio announcer yapped in Korean for like 5 minutes straight, and she'd pause and laugh at her own jokes. It was amusing. Also on the radio this morning (which played for a straight hour before classes started) were popular songs: "Isn't She Lovely" - Stevie Wonder, "Complicated" - Avril Lavigne (which also played like 3 times before dinner), and "You are not alone" - Michael Jackson. Lol - such a great way to wake up and shower in the morning. Soundtrack of my life forevermore (or the rest of this trip).
Eric and I went to breakfast. There was rice (surprise surprise!), a hybrid between chicken nuggets and egg rolls, french toast & regular toast (without butter or syrup), and soup. And probably kimchee. If i haven't mentioned kimchee before, it's like the staple and favorite food of everyone in Korea - it's like spicy cabbage. I don't know if any of us are really fans of it. We must have gotten there in the nick of time, because about ten minutes later we got "locked in" from the one entrance, and everyone quickly exited the other. Breakfast was over. I forgot to push in my chair today at breakfast - cultural no-no. I'm going to be much more conscious of that now.
But that wasn't all the culture trouble I had this morning. I went to the girls door to their room on the first floor (we are staying on floor two). I stuck my head in and was talking with Amanda & Aubrey, and all of the sudden I heard Eric saying move move move! I turned, and one of the teachers was walking towards me with a stick. He motioned to where i was, acted like he was pushing me back and then swung his stick like he was going to hit me for being in the girl's room. YIKES! I was a little scared this morning haha.
We talked with teachers for about a hour before we went to climb a mountain, Sound of Music style, except with Asian children who couldn't really sing in perfect harmony. It was a lot of fun. We took a cable car about halfway up (the VonTrapps did not have such technology), but hiked the rest of the way. We sang "Boom Chicka Boom" at the top. Later, at lunch, we had Bee-Bem-Bop (thats how I'm going to phonetically spell it). It was phenomenal. I think I ate more (I totally finished my bowl) than the rest of the group. The principal of the school asked me to lead "boom chicka boom" while we were eating - I told him I didn't know if it was good if people had food in their mouths. lol. We had to sit on the floor indian style while we were eating at a very low table, and in a typical asian fashion, take off our shoes at the door.
After lunch (which the North Central students joined us for), we had a meeting with Scott and went over everything we were doing this week. That was pretty long. After that, we met and made powerpoints for our lessons the next day. Took a short break and rested in the room - chilled with David - went back to the room, and did some more powerpoint work. Took a break for a team devotional/worship, and then again went back to powerpoint development/lesson planning. It is now 10:30 and I am ready for bed. I hope I am prepared. But I am really praying that Jesus will just move through me tomorrow, and as we have fun and learn English, the Holy Spirit will really minister as only He can.
THINGS I HAVE FORGOTTEN SO FAR:
1) Yesterday we got to play Asian Rock Band with ancient Korean instruments.
At 7, I heard this static coming over the loudspeaker (which, the night before, had blared every 10 minutes telling the students how long they had before lights out). As it progressed, it eventually turned into some girl singing. Sounded like a radio station (Korean, obviously). It was. And after the song was finished, the radio announcer yapped in Korean for like 5 minutes straight, and she'd pause and laugh at her own jokes. It was amusing. Also on the radio this morning (which played for a straight hour before classes started) were popular songs: "Isn't She Lovely" - Stevie Wonder, "Complicated" - Avril Lavigne (which also played like 3 times before dinner), and "You are not alone" - Michael Jackson. Lol - such a great way to wake up and shower in the morning. Soundtrack of my life forevermore (or the rest of this trip).
Eric and I went to breakfast. There was rice (surprise surprise!), a hybrid between chicken nuggets and egg rolls, french toast & regular toast (without butter or syrup), and soup. And probably kimchee. If i haven't mentioned kimchee before, it's like the staple and favorite food of everyone in Korea - it's like spicy cabbage. I don't know if any of us are really fans of it. We must have gotten there in the nick of time, because about ten minutes later we got "locked in" from the one entrance, and everyone quickly exited the other. Breakfast was over. I forgot to push in my chair today at breakfast - cultural no-no. I'm going to be much more conscious of that now.
But that wasn't all the culture trouble I had this morning. I went to the girls door to their room on the first floor (we are staying on floor two). I stuck my head in and was talking with Amanda & Aubrey, and all of the sudden I heard Eric saying move move move! I turned, and one of the teachers was walking towards me with a stick. He motioned to where i was, acted like he was pushing me back and then swung his stick like he was going to hit me for being in the girl's room. YIKES! I was a little scared this morning haha.
We talked with teachers for about a hour before we went to climb a mountain, Sound of Music style, except with Asian children who couldn't really sing in perfect harmony. It was a lot of fun. We took a cable car about halfway up (the VonTrapps did not have such technology), but hiked the rest of the way. We sang "Boom Chicka Boom" at the top. Later, at lunch, we had Bee-Bem-Bop (thats how I'm going to phonetically spell it). It was phenomenal. I think I ate more (I totally finished my bowl) than the rest of the group. The principal of the school asked me to lead "boom chicka boom" while we were eating - I told him I didn't know if it was good if people had food in their mouths. lol. We had to sit on the floor indian style while we were eating at a very low table, and in a typical asian fashion, take off our shoes at the door.
After lunch (which the North Central students joined us for), we had a meeting with Scott and went over everything we were doing this week. That was pretty long. After that, we met and made powerpoints for our lessons the next day. Took a short break and rested in the room - chilled with David - went back to the room, and did some more powerpoint work. Took a break for a team devotional/worship, and then again went back to powerpoint development/lesson planning. It is now 10:30 and I am ready for bed. I hope I am prepared. But I am really praying that Jesus will just move through me tomorrow, and as we have fun and learn English, the Holy Spirit will really minister as only He can.
THINGS I HAVE FORGOTTEN SO FAR:
1) Yesterday we got to play Asian Rock Band with ancient Korean instruments.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Day 3
My emotion right now? I feel like I'm thrust into a ball full of crazy. It's awesome, nerve wrecking, and more awesome.
In the middle of the night last night, the A/C decided to turn off. I woke up sweating bullets. It was ridic.
This morning, I realized I didn't have a towel packed. We're going to work on getting one. Cotton T-Shirts make adequate substitutes.
Anyway, breakfast this morning was at a pastry shop. I had chocolate chip muffins and a pizza flavored pastry, with a strawberry smoothie. It was great. After breakfast, we had a meeting with Mr. Park and Scott, and went over the schedule for the next five weeks. We then took a tour of the university campus. We got to see some of the recent technology that has come out of the school - it was pretty interesting. There was a giant 'ipod touch-like' tool that was really cool. We also learned about digital imaging and scanning and saw the development of 3D and 4D movies.
After the tour, we went to a restaurant for lunch. I got a chicken soup-esque dish. No lie, it came as a whole chicken sitting in a steaming pot of broth and vegetables. Well, not the head, but seriously, like all of the chicken. And we had things that resemble nutcrackers to kind of pull the chicken apart limb by limb and eat the meat. It was an experience. I am also not talented in using chopsticks. Really. Not. Good. But alas, I have to use them for the next 100 meals or so, so I might as well get used to it. Our desert was this clear cold water with sweet rice in it. Again, very interesting. Tasted a little like chai tea and cinnamon.
We went back to the university dormitories where we were allowed to rest before catching the bus to our Science Academy School. Eric and I slept til 4:25 (when we had to leave at 4:30) and that caused some stress. But we all made the hour bus ride to this Science Academy, where they train students to make video games. It's pretty cool. We'll be teaching here from Wednesday-Saturday. We first got to meet the principal, and then had dinner, which again, I epically failed at using chopsticks, but this time, sitting across from the faculty and principal of this school. The dinner tonight consisted of soup with spam-like bits of meat floating in it with some onions, some squishy pasta that was spicy, white rice, and some egg-roll things with dipping sauce.
After dinner, we went to get the luggage from the bus in the pouring rain. I was completely uncoordinated with my umbrella and two suitcases and ending up getting soaked and walking backwards to the dormitories bc i didn't think of switching hands to roll my luggage the correct way. Aubrey really was laughing at me. We got in the dormitories, and Dan and I asked if we could walk somewhere to buy towels. Eventually, they came out and gave us some with the camp name written on them. We're so grateful. We hung out with some of the professors and then hung in our room for a little bit. Little bit of Ping Pong later with the whole group (minus North Central, who still haven't showed) and then over to the school to use some internet and make this post. But now all the kids are leaving and going to bed so I think I should probably get going too.
Keep the prayers coming - in 2 days I start actually teaching! Yikes!
In the middle of the night last night, the A/C decided to turn off. I woke up sweating bullets. It was ridic.
This morning, I realized I didn't have a towel packed. We're going to work on getting one. Cotton T-Shirts make adequate substitutes.
Anyway, breakfast this morning was at a pastry shop. I had chocolate chip muffins and a pizza flavored pastry, with a strawberry smoothie. It was great. After breakfast, we had a meeting with Mr. Park and Scott, and went over the schedule for the next five weeks. We then took a tour of the university campus. We got to see some of the recent technology that has come out of the school - it was pretty interesting. There was a giant 'ipod touch-like' tool that was really cool. We also learned about digital imaging and scanning and saw the development of 3D and 4D movies.
After the tour, we went to a restaurant for lunch. I got a chicken soup-esque dish. No lie, it came as a whole chicken sitting in a steaming pot of broth and vegetables. Well, not the head, but seriously, like all of the chicken. And we had things that resemble nutcrackers to kind of pull the chicken apart limb by limb and eat the meat. It was an experience. I am also not talented in using chopsticks. Really. Not. Good. But alas, I have to use them for the next 100 meals or so, so I might as well get used to it. Our desert was this clear cold water with sweet rice in it. Again, very interesting. Tasted a little like chai tea and cinnamon.
We went back to the university dormitories where we were allowed to rest before catching the bus to our Science Academy School. Eric and I slept til 4:25 (when we had to leave at 4:30) and that caused some stress. But we all made the hour bus ride to this Science Academy, where they train students to make video games. It's pretty cool. We'll be teaching here from Wednesday-Saturday. We first got to meet the principal, and then had dinner, which again, I epically failed at using chopsticks, but this time, sitting across from the faculty and principal of this school. The dinner tonight consisted of soup with spam-like bits of meat floating in it with some onions, some squishy pasta that was spicy, white rice, and some egg-roll things with dipping sauce.
After dinner, we went to get the luggage from the bus in the pouring rain. I was completely uncoordinated with my umbrella and two suitcases and ending up getting soaked and walking backwards to the dormitories bc i didn't think of switching hands to roll my luggage the correct way. Aubrey really was laughing at me. We got in the dormitories, and Dan and I asked if we could walk somewhere to buy towels. Eventually, they came out and gave us some with the camp name written on them. We're so grateful. We hung out with some of the professors and then hung in our room for a little bit. Little bit of Ping Pong later with the whole group (minus North Central, who still haven't showed) and then over to the school to use some internet and make this post. But now all the kids are leaving and going to bed so I think I should probably get going too.
Keep the prayers coming - in 2 days I start actually teaching! Yikes!
Day 2
Sometimes you have the privilege of sleeping in a room that blocks out all light from the outside. And it’s awesome. Today we slept til half past nine in a pitch dark room. And then Alex and Leah woke us up and made sure we got downstairs for breakfast. I hurriedly put on a shirt and we went downstairs. In the elevator, I realized my shirt was inside out. Good thing there wasn’t a lot of people at breakfast.
In Korea, they don’t have any particular foods that are “breakfast” foods. They pretty much have the same type of food for every meal. So this morning, I had mixed rice and chicken nuggets for breakfast. Then we realized they had toast, so we got some of that. Their jelly packets, (because I know you’re dying to know), you don’t actually peel off the top, but there’s a little crack in the middle, and so you squeeze them, and that’s how the jelly comes out. It took us a few minutes to figure that out.
I know, I know, you are really impressed with my descriptions of the breakfast table. After this, I grabbed a shower, where the light turned off on me mid-shower. We went walking outside for a while before we had to leave. We went to a “walmart” here, and realize that things are priced pretty near to what they are in the States. Don’t think I’m going to be making out of here with a lot of sales.
We headed back to the hotel, hung out with Alex for a while, and then headed to the airport to pick up the rest of the team from VFCC. While at the airport, I thought I had left my cell phone at the hotel, which really scared me. I felt awful – I was “that guy.” I called the hotel and they said a driver would be up to bring it to me, if they could find it. While I was on the phone, Alex came over and told me he had also left his computer charger – so I didn’t feel completely idiotic. Well, I went outside to wait for the driver. 25 minutes later, he showed up with a computer charger – no phone. He told me to recheck my bags. This stressed me out a lot, and I wasn’t very hungry for the Korean KFC I ate a few minutes later (plus, Korea and KFC don’t come together in harmony so well, if you know what I mean).
Met Dan, Amanda, Christy, and Aubrey as they got off the plane. They grabbed some food, and then we got on a bus to Jeon Ju University, which was about four hours long in all. We had a stop halfway for a potty break/food break, but it was kind of scary because we really didn’t know how long the break was supposed to be. Some people got ice cream , I got some chips. OH! So you know those water fountain things they have in churches? With the cone shaped cups? Yeah, they have those here, expect the cone cups are much thinner and cheaper. So I went to get a drink, and as the cup filled with water, it slipped right out of my hand and I dropped it. Who felt like a moron? Um yes, that would be me. ☺
We had some good conversation on the trip down (up? I actually don’t really know what direction we were traveling). I’m excited to work with this group of people. Once we got to the bus stop, there was a group of people from the camps we will be working with to pick us up and take us to dinner. We all piled into this van (I think all the students were in here) with the seats being both backwards and forwards, so we were facing each other. It was really cool, driving thru downtown in some Korean town. It didn’t feel like it was really different from an American city, except that we couldn’t read any of the signs. We would get excited for stores we did recognize – Dunkin Donuts, or Baskin Robbins. We had a lot of laughs, and realized at the end of the bus ride how to open the windows (so glad we are a learning bunch haha).
Dinner. Korean Dinner. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. There were many dishes to try tonight. And we had to use chopsticks to eat. And I am not really a chopsticks extraordinaire. Lucky for me, it doesn’t really look like anyone else is either. We started out with a soup. One of the Korean girls told us it was a little salty, but that we would like it. It was salty – it tasted a lot like seaweed/ocean water. It was a little fishy too. Very unique. We also had another soup-goop thing that was grey, and tasted like peanut butter and black beans. I didn’t finish either of these dishes.
There were two meats on the table – one of them was smoked duck, and we’re not really sure which one it was, but both of them were tasty. We had a variety of dipping sauces. One tasted similar to honey mustard, and another tasted like really good marinara sauce with a bit of a kick. I really liked that one. You could also use the meat to make a wrap. There were some greens that literally looked like someone picked the leaves off the tree that had almost a minty taste. I tried wrapping that with the unknown meat and some kimchee (which turned out to be ridiculously spicy cabbage), and tried eating it with chopsticks. It didn’t really happen so well, haha. But it was good.
We also got a salad-like dish with pasta underneath. The pasta was good – but gave me a real wake up call when it was ice cold and spicy. Our host kept coming by, wondering why we weren’t eating more. And I felt like I was eating a lot – but in sampling almost “buffet style” like we were, I felt like I didn’t eat as much as I normally did. But they thought we didn’t eat enough, because we got most of our leftovers wrapped up to go home with us. It was a lot of fun having my first meal with the rest of the gang, trying to work on our chopstick skills, our basic Korean phrases, and our Korean etiquette (for instance, you aren’t allowed to pour your own drink – things of that nature). We were really tired by the end of the night.
We got to the university and got into our dorms. We all kind of stayed in the hall talking and just sharing the excitement of being in Korea, and then kind of moseyed off to bed. I don’t even remember what happened, but I remember laying down on one of the bunks, and then next thing I knew Eric was brushing his teeth. He apparently had also gotten a shower and I had been conked out during the entire thing. I quickly got ready for bed, and we turned off the lights and went to sleep.
In Korea, they don’t have any particular foods that are “breakfast” foods. They pretty much have the same type of food for every meal. So this morning, I had mixed rice and chicken nuggets for breakfast. Then we realized they had toast, so we got some of that. Their jelly packets, (because I know you’re dying to know), you don’t actually peel off the top, but there’s a little crack in the middle, and so you squeeze them, and that’s how the jelly comes out. It took us a few minutes to figure that out.
I know, I know, you are really impressed with my descriptions of the breakfast table. After this, I grabbed a shower, where the light turned off on me mid-shower. We went walking outside for a while before we had to leave. We went to a “walmart” here, and realize that things are priced pretty near to what they are in the States. Don’t think I’m going to be making out of here with a lot of sales.
We headed back to the hotel, hung out with Alex for a while, and then headed to the airport to pick up the rest of the team from VFCC. While at the airport, I thought I had left my cell phone at the hotel, which really scared me. I felt awful – I was “that guy.” I called the hotel and they said a driver would be up to bring it to me, if they could find it. While I was on the phone, Alex came over and told me he had also left his computer charger – so I didn’t feel completely idiotic. Well, I went outside to wait for the driver. 25 minutes later, he showed up with a computer charger – no phone. He told me to recheck my bags. This stressed me out a lot, and I wasn’t very hungry for the Korean KFC I ate a few minutes later (plus, Korea and KFC don’t come together in harmony so well, if you know what I mean).
Met Dan, Amanda, Christy, and Aubrey as they got off the plane. They grabbed some food, and then we got on a bus to Jeon Ju University, which was about four hours long in all. We had a stop halfway for a potty break/food break, but it was kind of scary because we really didn’t know how long the break was supposed to be. Some people got ice cream , I got some chips. OH! So you know those water fountain things they have in churches? With the cone shaped cups? Yeah, they have those here, expect the cone cups are much thinner and cheaper. So I went to get a drink, and as the cup filled with water, it slipped right out of my hand and I dropped it. Who felt like a moron? Um yes, that would be me. ☺
We had some good conversation on the trip down (up? I actually don’t really know what direction we were traveling). I’m excited to work with this group of people. Once we got to the bus stop, there was a group of people from the camps we will be working with to pick us up and take us to dinner. We all piled into this van (I think all the students were in here) with the seats being both backwards and forwards, so we were facing each other. It was really cool, driving thru downtown in some Korean town. It didn’t feel like it was really different from an American city, except that we couldn’t read any of the signs. We would get excited for stores we did recognize – Dunkin Donuts, or Baskin Robbins. We had a lot of laughs, and realized at the end of the bus ride how to open the windows (so glad we are a learning bunch haha).
Dinner. Korean Dinner. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. There were many dishes to try tonight. And we had to use chopsticks to eat. And I am not really a chopsticks extraordinaire. Lucky for me, it doesn’t really look like anyone else is either. We started out with a soup. One of the Korean girls told us it was a little salty, but that we would like it. It was salty – it tasted a lot like seaweed/ocean water. It was a little fishy too. Very unique. We also had another soup-goop thing that was grey, and tasted like peanut butter and black beans. I didn’t finish either of these dishes.
There were two meats on the table – one of them was smoked duck, and we’re not really sure which one it was, but both of them were tasty. We had a variety of dipping sauces. One tasted similar to honey mustard, and another tasted like really good marinara sauce with a bit of a kick. I really liked that one. You could also use the meat to make a wrap. There were some greens that literally looked like someone picked the leaves off the tree that had almost a minty taste. I tried wrapping that with the unknown meat and some kimchee (which turned out to be ridiculously spicy cabbage), and tried eating it with chopsticks. It didn’t really happen so well, haha. But it was good.
We also got a salad-like dish with pasta underneath. The pasta was good – but gave me a real wake up call when it was ice cold and spicy. Our host kept coming by, wondering why we weren’t eating more. And I felt like I was eating a lot – but in sampling almost “buffet style” like we were, I felt like I didn’t eat as much as I normally did. But they thought we didn’t eat enough, because we got most of our leftovers wrapped up to go home with us. It was a lot of fun having my first meal with the rest of the gang, trying to work on our chopstick skills, our basic Korean phrases, and our Korean etiquette (for instance, you aren’t allowed to pour your own drink – things of that nature). We were really tired by the end of the night.
We got to the university and got into our dorms. We all kind of stayed in the hall talking and just sharing the excitement of being in Korea, and then kind of moseyed off to bed. I don’t even remember what happened, but I remember laying down on one of the bunks, and then next thing I knew Eric was brushing his teeth. He apparently had also gotten a shower and I had been conked out during the entire thing. I quickly got ready for bed, and we turned off the lights and went to sleep.
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