Mike and I are getting head colds again. The pollution here is sometimes overwhelming. I've gotten 5 migraines this year alone and we can’t seem to shake our sinus problems.
I have a few cavities that need to be taken care of. It’s a little tough to trust Korean doctors since my last adventure…please keep that in your prayers. Mike is also having his second root canal. (They don’t really believe that he has pain when they drill.)
It's been rough with our growing class schedule. There’s not much time to prepare for classes and my break doesn’t really exist anymore.
I've also been more stressed since we got our new Pastor. He tries to help us out with things but usually makes it worse. I feel like it’s getting too crazy. Please pray for our strength and health!
Ok here’s some wonderful news for ya. We have our flight booked and we'll be home by New Years :). Our last day of school is the 24th of December. Our boss surprised us yesterday with an offer to pay for my ticket in addition to Mikes! That's around $1000 lifted off our shoulders! Talk about HUGE blessing!
Thank you for all of your prayers
Sarah Riley
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Jenn
Monday, August 17, 2009.
The day started like any other. A bell rang out, Korean children rush to the main room to start worship. They scramble to find their own special chair while gibber jabbering in that fun little language. The countdown begins. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. 0. A silence comes over the room as they stare at the tall teacher with a large beard. “Good afternoon students how are you?” utters Mr. Riley with his classic smirk. The students reply as if they were robots, “Good afternoon Mr. Riley, I’m fine, thank you. How are you?” Worship begins with reciting of verses and songs.
I sit and listen to our children singing and praising God when Mrs. Kim walks in with a beaming little girl. “This is Jennifer,” said the overjoyed teacher, “she’s our new student.” I greeted Jenn with a basic hello. She replied with a smile and nothing more. The realization of my new student’s English level intrigued me and sent ideas bursting through my brain like fireworks. She didn’t know any English whatsoever! It was too late for to talk myself out of it. She became my new project… my English baby.
Who know that adding 3 extra classes to my already overwhelming and often painful schedule would actually sooth my mind and give me tons of energy and joy? It has been 2 weeks and she now knows the alphabet and each letter’s wonderful sounds, a few songs and nursery rhymes, a bit of sentence structure and several phrases. She is the most passionate student I have ever had! Our remaining months here in Korea couldn’t be more blessed!
The day started like any other. A bell rang out, Korean children rush to the main room to start worship. They scramble to find their own special chair while gibber jabbering in that fun little language. The countdown begins. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. 0. A silence comes over the room as they stare at the tall teacher with a large beard. “Good afternoon students how are you?” utters Mr. Riley with his classic smirk. The students reply as if they were robots, “Good afternoon Mr. Riley, I’m fine, thank you. How are you?” Worship begins with reciting of verses and songs.
I sit and listen to our children singing and praising God when Mrs. Kim walks in with a beaming little girl. “This is Jennifer,” said the overjoyed teacher, “she’s our new student.” I greeted Jenn with a basic hello. She replied with a smile and nothing more. The realization of my new student’s English level intrigued me and sent ideas bursting through my brain like fireworks. She didn’t know any English whatsoever! It was too late for to talk myself out of it. She became my new project… my English baby.
Who know that adding 3 extra classes to my already overwhelming and often painful schedule would actually sooth my mind and give me tons of energy and joy? It has been 2 weeks and she now knows the alphabet and each letter’s wonderful sounds, a few songs and nursery rhymes, a bit of sentence structure and several phrases. She is the most passionate student I have ever had! Our remaining months here in Korea couldn’t be more blessed!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Changes
A change is going to come because that's just the way it is and things will never change.... (guess who said that?)
Yes changes are happening.
Here at our school our principal/pastor has left. Sarah and I are still a bit confused. Things don't seem to make sense and we are not told everything that is going on.
Now that our Pastor has left though we have been told things we were waiting to hear about for a while. We are sad that he has left but we are excited about the changes that are occurring. For once we know who our boss is which helps us with dealing with separate points of view. Also we have been given freedoms we were lacking before such as a choice for what forms of beverage we could drink in our free time and what church we could go to. As we have been told here and many have told us, they can't tell you to do that. well we agreed to it because God called us here so not following it would be not following God. But now our leadership has changed and we have been given permission to change ourselves.
This is all a little confusing and welcome to our fun life.
The Changes:
We have an open choice on where to attend church. We have chosen a church across the street from our house. They have a good English service and they have many ties with our school already. The pastor of the English service is a very good man and we like him and his wife very much.
They have a very good Bible study and many opportunities for us to get involved with their English service. We are free to join their worship team and I have been asked to speak at a service about missions.
We both are very happy about these changes and we feel many of the frustrations of working here are actually going away.
Praise God for His blessings...
-mike
Yes changes are happening.
Here at our school our principal/pastor has left. Sarah and I are still a bit confused. Things don't seem to make sense and we are not told everything that is going on.
Now that our Pastor has left though we have been told things we were waiting to hear about for a while. We are sad that he has left but we are excited about the changes that are occurring. For once we know who our boss is which helps us with dealing with separate points of view. Also we have been given freedoms we were lacking before such as a choice for what forms of beverage we could drink in our free time and what church we could go to. As we have been told here and many have told us, they can't tell you to do that. well we agreed to it because God called us here so not following it would be not following God. But now our leadership has changed and we have been given permission to change ourselves.
This is all a little confusing and welcome to our fun life.
The Changes:
We have an open choice on where to attend church. We have chosen a church across the street from our house. They have a good English service and they have many ties with our school already. The pastor of the English service is a very good man and we like him and his wife very much.
They have a very good Bible study and many opportunities for us to get involved with their English service. We are free to join their worship team and I have been asked to speak at a service about missions.
We both are very happy about these changes and we feel many of the frustrations of working here are actually going away.
Praise God for His blessings...
-mike
Sunday, March 15, 2009
For all those who wonder
Korea:
Crime: at night you can walk down a dark alley and be afraid of nothing. I feel much safer here than most places in the states.
Walking: if your walking on the street you need to watch out for the following:
people talking on their cell phones, texting, watching tv, or playing a game (they don't look, they will walk right into you. Bikes, you need to watch out for bicycles, they get right of way, motorbikes, they are bigger and they also get right of way or well they take right of way, scooters, they will zoom right past you so watch out!
Transportation: Walking. you walk everywhere. or you can buy a cheap car and drive. You can get a motorcycle scooter or bike to ride.
or use the public transportation.
public transportation, you can use buses for short distances, the subway for across town and taxis for places you don't know how to get to by the bus, oh and you have to walk between all of these!
The T card, this card can be loaded with money and you just touch it to a pad that is found at the gates to the subway, on the bus and on taxis, it pays all of them! and if you use the bus then the subway the cost is decreased sometimes its free, this system makes so much since you will learn to love it after you get it!
Restrooms: Koreans do have American toilets, but they also have squatty toilets and some places if your lucky have these super cool ones that spray you clean with a jet of water then blow dry you, with a heated seat! it then changes the cover when you walk away. They have some high tech toilets! (warning the control pad is in Korean, one should use caution if you do not wish to have your whole body washed! also the one button in the back is suspect for who knows what, i don't entirely trust it!_
also alot of toilets have a sink in the top, so when the back part fills up you can wash your hands with the water before it goes to the tank saving water!
sometimes you have to bring your own tp, sometimes there is one big despenser in the main room and other times its in every stall.
bathrooms are not very well separated between men and women, sometimes all you get is a separate stall. fun stuff!
Trash:
Koreans recycle everything! I mean everything
most apartments have trash day once a week where you come down with your trash but it has to be separated by you.
plastic, plain paper (tissues), printed paper and wrappers, metal, Styrofoam, boxes, and food all are separate items to be separated...
fun stuff! we have about 10 cans in our apartment
TV:
we have tv cable actually with 4 movie channels that always play american movies mainly action.
internet: we have an internet connection in our building but we do not have wireless until i buy a router:-)
Church: Korea is by some sources 70% christian. so there churches everywhere.
Some churches are very fundamental and require only hymns because of their claimed value, while other churches allow the use of CCM music (if you don't know what that means, come here you will, it means contemporary Christian music, and to be honest i don't know what it means other than they are songs the churches have chosen to use for praise but their not hymns so there...)
Most churches here that i have seen are much like those in the states, especially mega churches, there are alot of those here, a good sized church here is about 500-1000 people.
oh and a good christian wears a suit. they also like to have throne like chairs up on the stage where the pastors sit, some of the churches are big into missions and homeless ministry, while others have such a large congregation one wonders when they will have time for those outside the church..... (please note im not judging im just trying to understand, i could be wrong in which case ill inform you as the time goes on)....
Pizza.
Pizza school is the best pizza place ever! it is super cheap and really good.
but warning most pizza places are ok, but they love tons of toppings from shrimp, to sweet potatoes to corn to whatever. think of it and they have a special for that pizza!
thats about all i have for now, ask me and ill tell you more about the things here.
-mic
Crime: at night you can walk down a dark alley and be afraid of nothing. I feel much safer here than most places in the states.
Walking: if your walking on the street you need to watch out for the following:
people talking on their cell phones, texting, watching tv, or playing a game (they don't look, they will walk right into you. Bikes, you need to watch out for bicycles, they get right of way, motorbikes, they are bigger and they also get right of way or well they take right of way, scooters, they will zoom right past you so watch out!
Transportation: Walking. you walk everywhere. or you can buy a cheap car and drive. You can get a motorcycle scooter or bike to ride.
or use the public transportation.
public transportation, you can use buses for short distances, the subway for across town and taxis for places you don't know how to get to by the bus, oh and you have to walk between all of these!
The T card, this card can be loaded with money and you just touch it to a pad that is found at the gates to the subway, on the bus and on taxis, it pays all of them! and if you use the bus then the subway the cost is decreased sometimes its free, this system makes so much since you will learn to love it after you get it!
Restrooms: Koreans do have American toilets, but they also have squatty toilets and some places if your lucky have these super cool ones that spray you clean with a jet of water then blow dry you, with a heated seat! it then changes the cover when you walk away. They have some high tech toilets! (warning the control pad is in Korean, one should use caution if you do not wish to have your whole body washed! also the one button in the back is suspect for who knows what, i don't entirely trust it!_
also alot of toilets have a sink in the top, so when the back part fills up you can wash your hands with the water before it goes to the tank saving water!
sometimes you have to bring your own tp, sometimes there is one big despenser in the main room and other times its in every stall.
bathrooms are not very well separated between men and women, sometimes all you get is a separate stall. fun stuff!
Trash:
Koreans recycle everything! I mean everything
most apartments have trash day once a week where you come down with your trash but it has to be separated by you.
plastic, plain paper (tissues), printed paper and wrappers, metal, Styrofoam, boxes, and food all are separate items to be separated...
fun stuff! we have about 10 cans in our apartment
TV:
we have tv cable actually with 4 movie channels that always play american movies mainly action.
internet: we have an internet connection in our building but we do not have wireless until i buy a router:-)
Church: Korea is by some sources 70% christian. so there churches everywhere.
Some churches are very fundamental and require only hymns because of their claimed value, while other churches allow the use of CCM music (if you don't know what that means, come here you will, it means contemporary Christian music, and to be honest i don't know what it means other than they are songs the churches have chosen to use for praise but their not hymns so there...)
Most churches here that i have seen are much like those in the states, especially mega churches, there are alot of those here, a good sized church here is about 500-1000 people.
oh and a good christian wears a suit. they also like to have throne like chairs up on the stage where the pastors sit, some of the churches are big into missions and homeless ministry, while others have such a large congregation one wonders when they will have time for those outside the church..... (please note im not judging im just trying to understand, i could be wrong in which case ill inform you as the time goes on)....
Pizza.
Pizza school is the best pizza place ever! it is super cheap and really good.
but warning most pizza places are ok, but they love tons of toppings from shrimp, to sweet potatoes to corn to whatever. think of it and they have a special for that pizza!
thats about all i have for now, ask me and ill tell you more about the things here.
-mic
Monday, March 9, 2009
far from home
i titled this blog far from home its going to be all in lower case too with little punctuation because for me this would symbolize us sitting together talking over a dimly lit dinner (not romantic simply close and personal)
we have been here for a little over 2 months, there have been many ups and downs. one thing for sure is that we are realizing how much we depend on each other, marriage seems to come alive when mixed with adventure, and our lives seem to echo the statement nicely, our daily life has become routine but we still find ourselves unsure of anything, sometimes things just do not add up and we are not sure whats going on,
this past weekend we went to the icerink and a local mall just exploring and for a date, dating here is something that has become in my eyes enjoyable, you see we are married as you all know so we are not really dating in the most common use of the word, however we do go on dates, we enjoy each other, we explore, we do things we could not afford in the states, and we do it with ease, this is why i like dating, i love getting to know sarah more through these times and having the adventures
i always thought marriage was going to be this one way in my mind, i was always told what to expect and about how things don't stay in the honeymoon phase forever
i now feel that the more i forget what i have been taught the more i learn, the more i enjoy, the more we grow as a couple, marriage is the best choice i have ever made.....
on the same thought of forgetting what we have been told, i am reminded of my constant mental battle over what it means to follow our Father and what it means to be a Christian (dare i use that word...)
I remember growing up learning so much about God, going to church, in sunday school,
how we were to act, how we were to pray, what we were to sing, i learned all of this, over the years i have memorized what things i needed to say to give the correct answers to spiritual questions,
i have learned what it means to be christian, i have learned theology, i have learned doctrines, i have learned so very many things, i went to college and learned more, i got a degree showing everyone what i have learned, yeah!
the last thing i have learned is how fake all of this stuff makes you
im not sure what else i can say because its all the ramblings of a sinful man,
but i will leave you with this,
i have lost my christianity
but not my faith...
So if that makes sense then good and if not then good cause that means you understand what im saying....
ON a last note,
Sarah's grandmother has passed away, this is the reason for the far from home title
we are far from home, home as in the united states although i dont know if we consider it home anymore,
but we are far from family and that we do still hold high
so where does this leave us?
what do we do when a loved one passes away and we are so far from home?
far from home i think we have all kinda felt this since we were born
please join me this week in praying for sarah and i
and praying for sarahs family
we are in need of it....
we have been here for a little over 2 months, there have been many ups and downs. one thing for sure is that we are realizing how much we depend on each other, marriage seems to come alive when mixed with adventure, and our lives seem to echo the statement nicely, our daily life has become routine but we still find ourselves unsure of anything, sometimes things just do not add up and we are not sure whats going on,
this past weekend we went to the icerink and a local mall just exploring and for a date, dating here is something that has become in my eyes enjoyable, you see we are married as you all know so we are not really dating in the most common use of the word, however we do go on dates, we enjoy each other, we explore, we do things we could not afford in the states, and we do it with ease, this is why i like dating, i love getting to know sarah more through these times and having the adventures
i always thought marriage was going to be this one way in my mind, i was always told what to expect and about how things don't stay in the honeymoon phase forever
i now feel that the more i forget what i have been taught the more i learn, the more i enjoy, the more we grow as a couple, marriage is the best choice i have ever made.....
on the same thought of forgetting what we have been told, i am reminded of my constant mental battle over what it means to follow our Father and what it means to be a Christian (dare i use that word...)
I remember growing up learning so much about God, going to church, in sunday school,
how we were to act, how we were to pray, what we were to sing, i learned all of this, over the years i have memorized what things i needed to say to give the correct answers to spiritual questions,
i have learned what it means to be christian, i have learned theology, i have learned doctrines, i have learned so very many things, i went to college and learned more, i got a degree showing everyone what i have learned, yeah!
the last thing i have learned is how fake all of this stuff makes you
im not sure what else i can say because its all the ramblings of a sinful man,
but i will leave you with this,
i have lost my christianity
but not my faith...
So if that makes sense then good and if not then good cause that means you understand what im saying....
ON a last note,
Sarah's grandmother has passed away, this is the reason for the far from home title
we are far from home, home as in the united states although i dont know if we consider it home anymore,
but we are far from family and that we do still hold high
so where does this leave us?
what do we do when a loved one passes away and we are so far from home?
far from home i think we have all kinda felt this since we were born
please join me this week in praying for sarah and i
and praying for sarahs family
we are in need of it....
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Silly kids
This is our kindergarten class, and today we had a birthday :) Susan just turn 5 (korean age is 7). We had a small party for her complete with an enormous card and moon cakes!! Susan is the cutie with pig tails and the pokemon party hat, Subina (we call her Bean) is the tiny girl in the adorable pink coat, Matthew has the huge smile, Lois is missing her front teeth, Deborah is really little with short hair, and June is the girl in blue who cant seem to get out of every picture.
Beginnings...
Being here in South Korea is nothing at all what I expected, but from what God has taught me during my previous trip abroad is to lay down all expectations, go with the flow, and have patience with all the miscommunication that will occur. You can’t put a country in a box labeled this, that and whatever else. Much like South Africa (another misconstrued country in my head), South Korea is extremely well established. So much so that I would have no trouble saying it’s right there with the USA…in a cramped kind of cozy atmosphere.
Cramped, meaning most streets only have room for two cars total, yet they park cars on either side, and traffic from both directions take turns weaving through, somehow missing car mirrors, the oncoming vehicle, bicyclists and pedestrians who cross whenever and wherever they feel fit.
Cozy meaning the cars, the clothing, the cups, the tables, and especially the people are extremely tiny! My 2 year old nephew Ethan is around the size of a 4 year old boy who is in my kindergarten class.
Mike and I both teach English, and a barrel full of other subjects we somehow attached ourselves to, at Mokdong International Christian School (MICS). All the work sometimes seems a bit overwhelming for me, especially because I wasn’t really prepared for teaching and I constantly have doubts about my actual ability to teach. I love how God is teaching me to be a teacher while I’m in the middle of being a teacher’. He definitely likes using weak people haha.
God is always funny when it comes to what I think I will be doing and what He has me do. I’m not really sure how I periodically come to think that I have it all figured out…I guess I get an idea in my head and run like crazy with it, yet I’m always so surprised when He wants me to go the exact opposite direction. He has blessed us immensely since this whole Korea idea was started. Holding our hands and pointing out the way to go, multiplying our effort and our finances again and again.
Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray that we take time to listen to what God is speaking to us.
2. Please pray for our school MICS. It is just starting up and needs more children to enroll and more foreign teachers employed.
3. We have been asked to start an English service at Dong San church, with Mike preaching and both of us leading music worship.
4. Our health…we both have lingering sinus infections and colds.
5. Mike is training for his black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
6. Miscommunication
7. That we can find the orphanage I was originally going to be working at
Cramped, meaning most streets only have room for two cars total, yet they park cars on either side, and traffic from both directions take turns weaving through, somehow missing car mirrors, the oncoming vehicle, bicyclists and pedestrians who cross whenever and wherever they feel fit.
Cozy meaning the cars, the clothing, the cups, the tables, and especially the people are extremely tiny! My 2 year old nephew Ethan is around the size of a 4 year old boy who is in my kindergarten class.
Mike and I both teach English, and a barrel full of other subjects we somehow attached ourselves to, at Mokdong International Christian School (MICS). All the work sometimes seems a bit overwhelming for me, especially because I wasn’t really prepared for teaching and I constantly have doubts about my actual ability to teach. I love how God is teaching me to be a teacher while I’m in the middle of being a teacher’. He definitely likes using weak people haha.
God is always funny when it comes to what I think I will be doing and what He has me do. I’m not really sure how I periodically come to think that I have it all figured out…I guess I get an idea in my head and run like crazy with it, yet I’m always so surprised when He wants me to go the exact opposite direction. He has blessed us immensely since this whole Korea idea was started. Holding our hands and pointing out the way to go, multiplying our effort and our finances again and again.
Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray that we take time to listen to what God is speaking to us.
2. Please pray for our school MICS. It is just starting up and needs more children to enroll and more foreign teachers employed.
3. We have been asked to start an English service at Dong San church, with Mike preaching and both of us leading music worship.
4. Our health…we both have lingering sinus infections and colds.
5. Mike is training for his black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
6. Miscommunication
7. That we can find the orphanage I was originally going to be working at
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