Snippets from the Whirlwind

Things

Spring Break did prove to be a restful time and I came back to school with more motivation and feeling like I could be better at my job again =)
I've got all the travel plans figured out for the summer and I'm really excited to hang out with friends and family again! Now that the tickets have been purchased and we're on the home stretch of the 2nd semester, my excitement is mounting by the day!

A bunch of us from church are pretty excited to go to a Hillsong concert next month! There will be many Korean parts of the concert/worship service, but I'm sure I'll hear more English music all at once than I've heard in a long time!

Music

The school had a Spring Fair on Friday and one part of the event was an art show of all the students' work from this semester. To continue a tradition started 3 years ago, musically inclined teachers play background music at the art show to provide some atmosphere, so my guitar and I got roped in for a time slot. This is much different than my normal playing because, usually, the whole point is for other people to join in and sing along, and it's a basic list of worship songs that I play. Who knew all those years of listening to FM100 (the easy listening station in Idaho) would come in handy 20 years later?! The folk/oldies tunes are fairly easy to find music for, many don't require a great sense of rhythm or many chords, and the voice I have fits this genre quite easily. I had a great time singing and jamming with my fellow teachers-- it didn't even matter to us that the torrential rains made for tiny crowds and all the outdoor events were moved to the gym on other end of campus. BIG fun!

Church

I'm in a discipleship class with 3 other foreigners led by our English ministry leader, Pastor Kang. It's been good to go back to the foundations, memorize Scripture, and find out more about my friends and their backgrounds. There's enough homework to keep me busy, but Pastor Kang is a very understanding teacher, so it's doable =)

After sitting in the pew for a few months, I'm now enjoying the opportunity to sing on the worship team for English ministry, so that adds a practice late Saturday nights, but since I have to leave my house anyway, I now go a little earlier to attend the young adult service. (well, we're not so young, but we are all single =) The music and teaching is all in Korean, but my good friend Lydia translates for me. It's yet another flavor of worship service: a more lively and energetic group, the message is more intimate than the large services, and it's a wonderful time for Lydia and I to be together. The whole group welcomes me with open arms and they don't even seem to mind the constant murmur of a foreign language at the back of the room.

Sundays are full to the brim from pre-service music practice in the morning till the conclusion of English practice before evening service (which I don't attend because by 7:00 I'm pooped and there's always a little school prep. to be done before Monday morning =)

English

My English Bible study for high schoolers has slimmed down to a much more manageable size. It's now only 3-5 students any given week (instead of 20) and I'm still having a blast getting to know them and helping them gain confidence to speak while also diving into God's word!

The desire for English is overwhelming here! There's no way I could help everyone who drops a hint or asks directly and I feel helpless when I have to say that I have no more time to practice with people, but I'm full up right now =) Pastor Kim (see next post), one of the staff pastors who has given us midnight rides home after Friday night service for months, is needing to practice and improve his English for missions ministry; Sunday&Thursday evenings we have conversations with little mini-lessons thrown in here and there.
One of my Bible study students is facing a difficult university application process which includes interviews in English discussing political issues, so he and I are meeting for a little while before our study to converse and prepare him for that.

The school has arranged for a "critical writing" class for students whose parents want them to have extra tutoring from English teachers; we meet 2 afternoons a week for an hour for some concentrated writing instruction and practice. It's a GREAT extra boost in the income and it's fun to work with my students who begin to see their writing improve through one-on-one editing and instruction. It is "one more thing" on the schedule, but highly worth it for the improvement we're seeing in their daily classwork during the day too!

In a Nutshell...

We have a few members from our English ministry planning to return to their home countries (at least semi-permanently) over the next few months and one of these is the main leader of our worship team. Though we've got a good, steady, team, the second leader is up to his neck in seminary coursework, so they're eyeing me as an additional leader and I'm promising to pray about it. Please pray with me for ears to hear His voice, wisdom galore, and willingness to follow wherever God leads.

For those of you playing along at home and doing the math, it's pretty safe to say that, after only 8 months, I'm as busy here as I ever was back in the states and I'll seriously be considering what to drop if anything else comes up.

Life is good!

God is good!

Finally getting all this blogged is good!

Sleep is good from what I remember...

g'night

May you also find God's leading in all your snippets and peace within your whirlwind!

Funny thing happened on the way to English practice...

Thursday evenings I enjoy a free dinner in exchange for English practice with one of the pastors at my church who needs to improve his English for leading summer mission groups. This week, I met him in front of my school and he asked, "Do you have any plans tonight." Now, I should know by now that this phrase is Korean for "I have a plan that I didn't tell you about yet, but you can expect to be out until late tonight."
Since my plans included things like practicing music, doing a little schoolwork (which are completely flexible in their timing) and then going to bed at an earlier-than-decent hour, like an idiot, I told him I didn't have plans.
One of the praise teams from our church was giving a concert that evening, so we went. It was on the other side of town, so we met up with the group and shared a snack before heading outside to advertise for this concert that would start in an hour! They opened a big box full of promotional Kleenex packages with all our church information on them and we tucked a ticket for the concert in each packet. Then we loaded up with all the packets we could carry and spread out to the surrounding intersections and sidewalks to give them to anyone who happened to be passing by. It took almost no time to pass out 250 of these Kleenex invitations as the area is a popular/busy place and we were there at rush hour. So while the band went back to get ready, Pastor Kim and I grabbed some dinner before the show.
The "concert hall" was like a tiny place you might find in an artsy part of Portland tucked away as a place for small groups to gather for little concerts. It had a trendy/utilitarian feel with the concrete walls painted black and chipped concrete floor with pipes running all directions across the ceiling.
All the music was in Korean, but there were a few songs that I know in English, so I got the gist of the whole thing. Loud, talented, loud, lights&smoke, loud, and generally fun! It took about an hour to get home again at 10:00.
If I had known what I was in for, I probably would have answered that I did have plans for the evening; but I would have missed an adventure that helped me see more of the Korean side of my church and take part in a piece of (possibly evangelism?) encouragement to believers in a surprise mid-week praise time.
So, once again flexibility is the theme of the week (this was just one snapshot in a whole week of "surprises"). Still, I'm so glad this week is over and I can start again next week with a renewed delusion that I have some control over my schedule.

Feast away!

Just one more Friday Feast and then I promise to put up a blog of more substance soon!

Appetizer
When you were a child, which crayon color was your favorite?

Periwinkle or Cornflower (for some odd reason I HATED orange, so that was always the sharpest while the mamby-pamby purply-blue colors were down to nubs =)

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest), how likely would you be to change jobs if it required you to move?

Well, this has already been answered as a 10 since I'm writing this blog from Korea where moved for a job 8 months ago; but now, it was such a great move that I'm closer to a 1-- an order from God is the only thing that could tear me away from here =)

Salad
Take all the numbers in your birthday and your phone number and add them up, one by one. What’s the total?

85... you want croutons with that?

Main Course
Have you ever “re-gifted” anything? If so, what was it and who did you pass it on to?

Is this a trap?! I'm a firm believer in re-gifting (I think this might actually be a spiritual gift or a fruit of the Spirit that Paul forgot =) Part of what makes it work is that you don't tell-- kinda like birthday wishes! Now, there's a GREAT laugh-till-you-cry story of re-gifting in my family, but it's not mine to tell, so I'll have to quit stalling and actually serve up the answer now even if it means that people reading this find out that I didn't keep the gifts they gave me OR that the gifts I gave them didn't take hours to find in a store (just in my disorganized gift closet)...

Address books have been passed to people who would actually use them; lotions that make me sneeze have been wrapped up for people who don't have allergy problems; and almost anything with a combination of an apple and the word "teacher" on it finds its way to others who might appreciate it more than I

Dessert
Name something you need from the store.

a clicker*

*(noun) [k-lik-ur] miniature flame thrower used for lighting candles inside decorative holders, lighting BBQs when the "sparker" dies, and anything else needing lit on fire yet requiring an extension from the hand. ex. "Where did you put the clicker? does anyone know where the clicker is?! Why can't you put the clicker back where you found it?!?" (note: this can also pertain to the other form of "clicker" which is used for changing channels on the television)

Friday Feast

{Featured Flickr Feast by Pastor Rob}

Appetizer
When you travel, which mode of transportation do you prefer?

I'd love to take a train sometime (that might be my favorite =) But nothing beats an airplane for long distance and a car with untinted, clean windows for photo ops when on a local tour.

Soup
Have you ever met a blogging friend in person?

Not exactly Blogger, but from the online world, yeah! I met a great Korean woman through SKYPE and we chatted a few times. On my birthday in November, we were chatting and she asked what I was doing to celebrate; I was meeting co-workers at a local restaurant for dinner, so I asked if she could come. She did and we recognized each other from the little headshots we'd seen of each other. Such a great birthday gift (and she brought an amazing cheesecake too!)

Salad
When was the last time you were really, really tired?

The night before leaving for Thailand, I had left WAY to many preparations for the last minute, so I ended up staying up all night to finish and catch our flight early in the morning-- my brain ceased to function long before I found sleep again and I'm afraid I wasn't a real fun travelling companion those first few hours!

Main Course
If you could have dinner with any one fictional character from a book or movie, who would it be?

Beatrix Potter. Her books are imaginative and cute, but the movie Miss Potter really clinched it for me! It seems she was a spunky, creative businesswoman in a time when it was only acceptable to be reliant on marriage and family for happiness and support. Her stories show a little of that spunk and humor, so I'm ready to believe that the movie captured at least partial reality. So, is it dinner with the REAL Miss Potter, or the movie character? Maybe both-- I'd love to listen to the conversation they would have =)

Dessert
Fill in the blank: One day, I hope to see ___the first bound copy of a book with my name in the place reserved for the author-- or better yet, a copy of that book on someone else's bookshelf__!