Merry CHRISTMAS to you all.

Home(sick) for the holidays

Well, this is my second Christmas away from home for the holidays. Last year wasn't so hard because we still had Thanksgiving at home and we were so exhausted for Christmas with the move. I wasn't sure how this year would affect me and my family emotionally. Just before Thanksgiving, Pamela and I both went through a time of depression missing family, friends, and church. Our kids also had some homesickness also. As we have passed our first anniversary here in Korea, we feel joyful for the time here and for all God has brought us through in that first year. Yet, as we approach the rest of the holiday season, we really are all missing everyone there. We miss some of the Christmas spirit that is evident in the states that is not present here. Christmas day all of the businesses will be open and have an as usual day. One thing we don't miss here though is the commercialization. The Korean people don't do much of anything special for Christmas. It seems to just be a day off for them. We really didn't know how much we would miss those close to us during this time. We truly miss all of you. We want to see you all again. If you know anyone that is overseas, or just away from home, for the holidays, please remember to pray for them and maybe even to send them a card letting them know you are thinking of them. Sometimes it can feel pretty lonely on the other side of the planet from your loved ones.

Our original plan was to stay one year in Korea, and then to come home for a visit after the holidays. Our finances were not set for this to happen. We are planning on coming back in the summer, but it will cost us a pretty penny for the whole family to come back. My school will pay for my way back, but I am responsible for everyone else to go back. It will cost us around $4-5000 for tickets. Please pray that God will supply this amount for us so we can buy them in advance and get the best rates possible.

1 year in Korea

How do you summarize a full year's worth of events and emotions in one email? It is almost impossible to do, but we will attempt to cover the high points and use lots of visuals.


December 17th 2007 Fly out from Will Rogers International Airport (After no sleep for almost 36 hours)
December 18th 2007 Arrive in Seoul, South Korea and take a two hour ride in a van to our new home. After going shopping at a huge shopping center that made the supercenter Walmart look small.



January through July- teach at Disciple International Christian School with little to no pay from the school. God provided abundantly for everything we could need during the whole time. We made some good friends during this time. God taught us many things through the trial of trusting him for everything. We are very grateful for the many lessons we learned through this time.






Last week of July- Vacation time with my parents. We had them here for one full week. It was wonderful being able to show them Korea, but we had just moved and didn't know where anything was.














August through present- Teaching at Jeulgeoun Montessori kindergarten and English institute. I teach Korean children from ages 4 through 7 American age.

What are you thankful for?

I had my pastor here in Korea call me this week and ask me to speak for a couple of minutes and tell what I am thankful for this year. As I reflect over my life to think about what things I am thankful for, I realize how much I have to be thankful for. I realize I am not as thankful as I should be for the things God has given me. I have parents who raised me in a loving manner and taught me many things about God. I have a wife who takes care of my children and keeps my house. I have 5 children who want to be like me, please me, and be loved by me. I have a good job that pays me for work I enjoy. This is something to be truly thankful for when you worked for 6 months without being paid. I am thankful that God supplied all of our needs for those 6 months with no paycheck. I am thankful that God put in my heart over 15 years ago to be a missionary and that he has fulfilled it this year. I have a church in America that loves and supports our work here in Korea. I have a church in Korea that has a heart to reach their unreached kinsmen in the North. I have opportunities to show God’s love to refugees from the North by teaching English each week. I have people all over the world who care for, love, and pray for us here in Korea. I have my health. My family has their health. More important than all of these is that I have a Savior that loves me and has redeemed me out of the pit. I was the wretch the song talks about. I was a liar, thief, murderer and adulterer at heart. I was the fulfillment of the verse that says that our heart is desperately wicked above all things. I had nothing worth redeeming in myself, but God chose to save me from myself and from his wrath at my sin. Even when I hated Him, He sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. In the middle of my sin, He drew me to himself and I repented of my sins. He made me a new creation, with new thoughts and desires. He gave me the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of the things he has promised in his word to give to those who follow him. What more could I thank him for? He saved me when I deserved to die and spend eternity in Hell.

11 months in Korea

As we reach this holiday season, we are getting a little homesick. Pamela and I both have had some depression lately thinking about not being home for the holidays to see our friends, family, and church. Some things that you take for granted about the holidays in the states, we don't get to have here in Korea. We can't just go and buy a turkey for Thanksgiving to cook and eat. They don't eat turkey here. Even if we could find turkey, we couldn't cook it because we don't have an oven to speak of. We can't bake any pies for the same reason. So, we will have to make some new traditions here. Korea celebrated their thanksgiving in September. It is called Chuseok. I am already singing Christmas songs and have been for almost 2 weeks. Korea hasn't bought into the commercial ideas of Christmas yet, but they also don't celebrate it as a big holiday. I only get one day off for Christmas break. Most people just buy a cake at the bakery and eat them on Christmas. Other than that it is treated almost like any other day. Luckily, our church here is ordering in Turkeys from a hotel to have next Sunday for a Thanksgiving potluck. So, we will at least get some turkey to eat. We miss everyone there and wish that we could see you all again. We know that this is where God wants us to be at the present time, but we still get homesick at times.

I had to teach 4 open classes this last week for our 5 year old program. I only had a small part in the class actually. This is a class where we invite the parents to come in and see their children in the classroom interacting with the teachers. The school videotaped these classes and I have asked for a copy of them so I can post them up on the net for you to see what I have been doing. I used to love teaching teenagers, but now my favorite class is the 5 year olds, at least in my school. My absolute favorite is teaching the North Korean women refugee's class. Another teacher from America and I came up with 4 lesson plans to teach at this facility. The women are there for 8 weeks before being integrated into South Korean society. We teach there every 2 weeks, so that makes only 4 lessons per group. They have new groups coming in each week and old groups leaving. Teaching at the North Korean refugee centers is a ministry of our church. Our pastor asked me to be the lead teacher at the women's facility and we have a great team. One of our team is a music teacher and she has been a great benefit. We also have a Korean that is driving us there that is fluent in English. She is our interpretor for our lessons.

I have another blog up that I have titled, "Memoirs of a missionary" that just tells about things that happen here and has some of my musings about life in general. If you would like to read it, you can click here, or follow the link at the bottom of the page.

I pray the Lord is blessing you during this holiday season. If you have anything we can pray for you about, please reply to this email and let me know.

http://memoirsofamissionary.blogspot.com/

On Death and Dying

Life is short. I was reminded of this fact again this week. One of my online friends, Jim Jones, died in a bicycling accident. I know, Jim Jones died in Guyana back in the 70's. This is not that Jim Jones. I had only talked with Jim on one of several message boards. The most recent was one he created called Fishin' Fools. Jim was a street evangelist in Grant's Pass, Oregon. He was faithful to go out almost every week sharing the Good News of our glorious Savior, Jesus. I can't help but think about my life and how short it could be. I will be 40 in less than 4 years, that's the same age Jim was when he was promoted to headquarters. If I only had 3 years left, how would I live my life differently. I know I would want to spend more time with my family. I also know I would want to be more patient and kind to them. What about you? What if your time on earth was almost over? Would you live life any different? One thing I can tell you for sure is that we are all part of the ultimate statistic: 10 out of 10 people will die. What's waiting on the other side for us? Heaven? Hell? Reincarnation? Nothing? According to the Bible, it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. If you were to stand before God right now and he asked you, "Why should I let you into my Heaven?" What would your answer be? Just like almost all tests, there is only one right answer. Do you know what it is? None of us deserve to go to Heaven because we are all wickedly sinful. Many people may not agree with that statement, but it is what the Bible teaches. Since we are wicked, how can a just and holy God allow us into his perfect Heaven? Do you know the answers to these questions? If you would like to discuss what the Bible says about it, just comment on this post and I will correspond with you. Just remember that you never know when your time will come! It could be sudden, like Jim, or you could live for many years. What will you do with the time you have left? Where will you spend eternity?

Jeulgeoun Kindergarten and Hagwon

This is the Kindergarten and language institute where I teach. Enjoy the pics.