Friday, January 30, 2009

Transformation


At my church, I am a part of a Bible study that is going through the book, The Mind of Christ. In the beginning, it was good, but there was nothing truly moving. As of late, it has been challenging to my heart, my soul, and my mind. To have a mind like Christ requires thoroughly examining your own so that you can see what belongs and what must be removed/changed. It is hard to come face to face with your own dark. I often forget how depraved I really am, and then studies like this shed light on my heart. The light allows me to see all that is there. I see the parts that I have passed over and become calloused towards over the years. I see the parts that I have just assumed to be part of who I am, and I see the parts that have haunted me for as long as I can remember. Having the mind of Christ is an overwhelming thought. There have been multiple times in the study that I have felt that it would be impossible to change all these things about myself, and then I am reminded by the author of the study, that God is completing His good works in me. It is a process, a life long process, and knowing myself, I want it to be a one week or possibly a one year process at most. Transformation takes time. Philippians 1:6 says, " being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." That means until I die or until God comes back. I got a ways to go. I am so thankful to know that the transformation is not dependent on me, I am not doing this alone. He must be the One that changes my heart and shows me how it is possible.

Monday, January 26, 2009


Italy was lovely. It was so nice to get a break from Korea. The plane ride back was another story. I made a vow today to never eat Korean plane food again. They were serving Betenbop which is a mixture of vegetables and rice, nothing too dangerous right? WRONG! About 20 minutes after lunch, I started feeling gross, I got up to go to the bathroom and nearly passed out. When I got to the bathrooms, I actually did pass out for a split second, then got up, went into the tiny stall and proceeded to rid my body of it's lunch. I spent the next 8 hours of my flight praying that I would not throw up again and fighting my gag reflex caused by some strong nasty odor hanging in the air all over the plane. Once I got off the plane, I felt fine except for the exhaustion that my body was feeling. Being way tired and coming back to an empty apartment is not a good combination. I felt lonely for a good hour or so, and then made myself go by some food. Today, Homeplus was closed because it is Lunar New Year here, and so I went to the corner store I live above for food. My land lord and his wife run the store. Turns out she has cooked a whole plate of food for me. It was so sweet, I almost cried (once again...I am reallllllllllyyyyy tired today), and then took the plate upstairs. I cannot force myself to eat it because of the lunch I threw up today, but I am thankful for the effort and the thought.

I have began to wonder if the throwing up on the plane today was an attack from the enemy, or if God is really trying to convince me not to spend another year here...I have no idea. If God is trying to detur me from staying here, He is doing a heck of a job. The whole plane ride after the toilet episode, I was asking myself why I was going back to Korea besides the obvious finishing out my contract and having no other job. I have no reason to stay here. This is a back and forth thing in my mind, so we will see what tomorrow brings.

Lastly, I am praying for no more illness. REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, because I am tired of living as a zombie.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Leaving on a Jet Plane!


Tomorrow morning I leave for Seoul, and then in the afternoon, I fly to Italy. I can hardly believe it. It does not feel like it is really going to happen, but it is. Today, I told some of my classes that I was leaving for a week, they seemed shocked, and asked why. I said I was visiting my parents. I think I scared the wits out of one of my classes. They were not good for me today, and then at the end of the class I told them I was leaving for a week. They thought it was their fault, hahaha, I told them quickly that I was not leaving because of them. It is kind of sweet, I know at least some of my kids like me. = ) Please pray that it will be a refreshing week off for me, and that I will be ready to teach again when I come back. Thanks for all your prayers and reading.

Sunday, January 11, 2009


One more week....

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Just an eraser...


I am trying to instill in my upper level classes that they can use imagination when writing. Descriptive writing is what I am focusing on right now with my XL2 class, and they cannot fathom that their school could have a scent or sounds. So I am writing this in honor of the non-creative classes that I have in hopes that they will gain an imagination.

Eraser

I come in all shapes and sizes.
I am short, I am tall, I am fat, and I am thin.
I am round, I am square, I am a heart, I am a cat, and I am a face.

My vast array of colors can only be rivaled by the rainbow.
Red, white, blue, pink, yellow, green, purple, orange, black, gray, and brown as far as the eye can see.
I can match your clothes, I can match your bag, and I can even make you look cooler than that other friend you have.

I am potent and strong, do not smell me for too long...

With a gentle brushing I do my work, and with a swish of your hand, my remnants are gone.
Simple sounds to accompany your scribblings.
Brush, brush, brush, swish, swish, swish....

I will right your wrongs, and make you reliable.
I will tidy up your mess, so that all may see what a glorious artist or writer you can be.
I can also put a hole right through your work if press me for too long.
When using me, most of the time, you cannot go wrong.

THE END



On another note, it has been a tough week so far, and it is only Wednesday tomorrow. Pray that I will gather strength from the Lord, and make Him my satisfaction when these hard times arise.
Love you all!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Notes to Self...


1) Must be careful when baking things for boys, they may think you are emotionally invested in them, when in fact, you are just trying to show them the love of Jesus on Christmas. (I am currently shaking my head)

2) If you are sad and missing people, looking at old pictures of them will not make you feel any better, just more nostalgia...

3) When you leave town for more than 3 days in the winter, it is smart to have someone go to your place and turn on the heater for a few hours or it will be freezing when you return. It may also take 6 hours for it to return to a decently warm temperature.

4) my shoe size in Korea is 245, never knew my feet were so huge...

5) wearing a hat for too long will give you a headache

6) when feeling irritable and not wanting a lot of attention avoid going outside because there is always going to be at least one person staring at you here

7) get used to the fact that you will always be stared at, followed closely around in stores, and pushed as you are walking

8) there are lonely days that no one can make better

9) the nicest salesman in Korea is downtown and will let you try things on

10) the lonely days always pass, just have to push through them

Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Year

Happy New Year friends and family! I ended 2008 in Seoul with some friends. We went to their New Year's church service, it was amazing. First, we played this traditional Korean game called Yut. The basic idea of the game is that you throw four sticks above chest level and depending on how they land, you will either move forward or backwards. The sticks are flat on one side, and curved on the other. If you get all the curved sides up you move forwards four, but if you get all the flat sides facing up, you can move forward five spaces. You want your four game pieces to get to the end of the game board before the other team, and then you win. Our team was 3rd out of 16, not too bad, and I think I am starting to learn how put a good spin on the sticks when you throw them. I also met more new people, as I always do at this church. It is really fantastic, I clicked with one specific girl I met, she said that she wished we lived in the same area. I told her to move to Daegu. = )

After Yut, the awesomeness really began. The worship was moving, it prepared my heart for what came next which was 40 minutes of intense praying over our family, friends, churches, countries, the economy, the government, and the lost people in our lives. The way the pray in Korea rocks my world. It is a bit strange the first time, but after a few times you get used to it and are very blessed by the whole experience. When the person up front says, "Let us pray." everyone starts to pray out loud at once. I don't think I've ever been in such an intimate prayer time in my life. Usually, you get distracted after 10 minutes, but this was 40 minutes of focused praying, no distractions even though everyone is praying out loud. There were tears, rejoicing, repentance, and realization. The man who led us in the 40 minute prayer session said one specific thing that struck a chord in me. He read a scripture that talked about prayer being a joyful thing, not some boring chore, as we tend to make it.

Next, we counted down to the new year and started 2009 with the doxology. Praising God was the right way to start the year, and it was just exhilarating. Pastor Dave gave the first sermon of the new year after that. It was so good, he talked about how the new year will hold many trials and hard times, but we must embrace them so we can go from milk to solid food spiritually. We must become mature in our faith. The trials may be painful, but it is out of Christ's kindness and grace that He allows us to go through them. He loves us so much that He is willing to hurt us to bring us out of the less than fulfilling places we are in to Himself, which is love. We closed in prayer and then left. Being here has been a blessing as always. God has given me the pleasure of getting to know some of the coolest people here in Seoul. I now have close friends apart from my old high school friends here. Today, I hung out with people I met last time I came here, and then Sunny joined us all for dinner at night. I love the women here, we can relate well, and they speak truth into my life even though they have only known me for two weeks barely.

Praise God for His provision, and that He even cares about our vacations. Praise Him for the New Year, and what He will accomplish in it through us. My prayer now, is that you all will be living a prayerful life and following where He leads you next year, even if it is into a hard place.
Love you all, let me know how you guys are doing when you have the time. Welcome 2009!