My dear friend Heidi has asked me to write another blog... seeing that she is flying to the other side of the world to visit me IN TWO WEEKS, the least I can do is write her an entry. :)
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| So.... it got a lot colder a lot sooner then I had expected. |
Last weekend was SO great. I went to Gimhae (a 40 minute bus ride away) on Friday to spend the night at my friend Jessi's apartment. I truly am SO thankful for her friendship, encouragement, and accountability... plus we just have so much fun together!!
Church was amazing last Sunday as well. I love getting to know the other members of the church. We enjoyed a FREE typical Korean meal at the church after the service... seaweed soup, rice, kimchi, and apples. After lunch I went to Starbucks with some girlfriends from church. It was such a sweet time of fellowship, discipleship, and girl talk. :) I am so blessed to have these women in my life!!
This last week was a busy one! I got to spend some time Tuesday afternoon at a center for children with disabilities where I was asked to tell them a Bible story and lead them in singing. They were all so beautiful and precious. Tuesday night Jessi spent the night and Wednesday was Bird's birthday. We went out for burritos for her birthday dinner. :) Thursday my boss took me to interview my new students at VOLVO. Basically I walked in, was given a list of students and a list of different levels at which they could be ranked. There were eight levels and each level had about 5 characteristics to define it. Before I could even read through all of the guidelines employees were coming in and I was given 2 minutes to interview them and determine their English level. Hopefully my ranking skills are halfway decent or I might have some very skill-diverse classes! Thursday night I got to go out for coffee with Haimi, one of my Korean friends. She is such a wonderful person and I am truly enjoying getting to know her!!
Friday I had to go to a several hour seminar for foreigners... basically a huge waste of time for most involved. I brought my KINDLE and spent my time reading Wuthering Heights. Time well spent if you ask me!! Friday night I went back to Jessi's in Gimhae. I was SO tired that I went right to bed. I'm sure Jessi must be so glad to have such a fun friend! :)
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| Traditional Korean dance at foreigner seminar. |
Saturday Jessi and I got to go with one of her Korean coworkers, Janey, to her parent's farm in the mountains. What a great day!! We got to hike the mountain. It was so beautiful!! There was one house that was particularly big and beautiful so we decided to take a closer look. The owner of the house came out and gave us a tour... this house was amazing! After our morning hike we headed back to the cottage. The weather here is starting to get a bit cold and so when we got inside we sat on the floor (the floors are the only thing that's heated) under a blanket and played some Korean cards. The game was quite difficult for Jess and I and it seemed like there were new rules added every turn. Kind of reminded me of when I was little and Emily (my sister) and I would make up card games to play with Alyssa and Laura (our younger sisters). We were constantly adding and changing rules to guarantee a victory. Great sister memories. :) Anyways, Janey's mother prepared a delicious traditional Korean lunch for us: Sam Gup Sal. Basically it is grilled pork wrapped in lettuce with a variety of sauces and toppings. Jessi and I were both brave enough to try the anchovies... I always get nervous when my food can actually look at me! For dessert we got to have some of the Persimmons (fruit) from Janey's parents farm. We had a great day in the mountains! When we arrived back in Gimhae Jessi and I were craving some real American food... pizza. We got a reference from one of Jess' foreigner friends saying there was a good place right near her apartment. We went in and ordered a plain cheese pizza... we figured better safe than sorry. :) While we waited for our pizza to be ready we noticed an advertisement on the wall for one of their specialty pizzas. This particular one had full hotdogs, peppers, corn, and who knows what else covering the pizza. Yikes. When our pizza ready we carried it home with great excitement. We got to Jess' apartment, opened the pizza box, and found a cheese and CORN pizza. bummer. Surprisingly it wasn't as disappointing as I thought it would be. :) We had a nice girls night in... movies, music, reading, and writing.
This morning we went to church. Another great message was preached by Pastor Jimmy and I enjoyed a time of fellowship and discussion after the service. For lunch? Burger King. I then went to another STX "football" game with my coworker Julia and her family. What an awesome family they are!! I truly love spending time with them and I'm so grateful to them for including me in their fun. Today Isabelle, their one-year-old and I bonded. :) She is such a sweet girl and she loved holding my hand and being silly with me. I think I'm going to adopt her as my niece while I'm here in Changwon. :)
I'm starting to find that I'm no longer even noticing the things that I initially found so strange here. For example, today on the bus to Changwon I decided that I really liked a guy's purse. It was only after looking at it for a minute or so that I remembered that guys shouldn't carry purses.
God is still teaching me so much and drawing me to His Word more and more. I'm loving that I'm learning so much and at the same time growing so much closer to my Lord and Savior. I'm currently using a Journible... a journal that is used to rewrite a book of the Bible. Each day I write out a chapter of Proverbs. I love how this makes me examine each word. When I read the Bible I will often read so quickly that I don't truly read all that the Lord has written. Writing slows me down and draws attention to each word... I love how this is opening my eyes to all the wisdom that can be found in Proverbs. I'm reading in 1 Kings right now so I'm really enjoying reading about Solomon at the same time that I am writing Proverbs. I've also been listening to some sermons online from the westcannon.org website. I'm currently listening to sermons by a pastor named Voddie Baucham on the life of Joseph. Although I have heard this story since I was a child, I have never heard it taught like this and I am learning so much. On top of that, whenever he tells a joke I can hear my dad laughing in the background... I love that!
Today in church a Korean professor from the local university presented us foreigners with a great opportunity. He mentioned that he could advertise an English speaking Bible study on campus. He believes that many would come for the opportunity to learn English from a native speaker and we could use that to teach them about God's Word. I'm hoping that I can be a part of this great opportunity and that God could use me to reach some of the area college students.
Again, I thank you all for your prayers as they are making all the difference over here. I am growing and learning and being challenged daily. God is so good and I am so thankful for this opportunity. Please pray for me as I start teaching 10 more classes a week starting tomorrow. Hopefully this new schedule doesn't wear me out too much! Pray that I will have wisdom and discernment to take every opportunity to share God's love and God's story. The Korean people and the foreign teachers here are searching and I know that God can do a great thing through His people here if we are willing. I can already see our missions team growing and becoming more passionate by the day! I'm so excited to be a part of it all!!
Those games you and Em made up ended with me eating an orange peel and Alyssa eating an onion, boullion cube, and walking in the muck out to the end of the dock. Alyssa definitely got the worst end of that deal :) And Mom made us do everything you said we had to because we "agreed" to play and had to be good sports. Thanks a lot Mom. MISS AND LOVE YOU!
ReplyDeleteEverything your doing lately sounds great! Next time invite me... :)
ReplyDeleteBird
I know you're busy... but an update would be nice =) Miss you!
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