Back to School

First day of the new semester today! I was actually excited about it because I already did my freaking out yesterday when I thought we had classes. I was totally unprepared and in "vacation" mode. Thank you Lord for that one day of preparation! It's amazing the difference it makes.

In my preparation though, I realized once again just how much effort teachers put into EVERYTHING. (Or I guess should put into everything.) I mean, to stimulate the students you need to have things on the walls for them to look at and learn from. Whether it's a "word wall" with vocabulary they're supposed to be remembering, or class rules, or art that they did in the chapter... organizing all that takes a whole lot longer than I ever thought!

There's also the enormous amount of mental/emotional energy that goes into teaching. You need to be OVERLY positive to balance out the negatives to encourage them. You need to try to smile as much as possible. You need to remember to be fair and enforce your rules all the time (...I tend to get a little lax when I'm tired). You need to make the kids feel safe and comfortable so they can interact with each other and you in a healthy way. You need to discipline positively... not out of anger or frustration (definitely made that mistake before)!

...And the list just goes on and on. (On top of all THAT--you also need to teach them things! haha)

But those are things I need to try to remember every moment of every class. They're things I WANT to do! I WANT to be the best teacher I can! Not just a "good" teacher... I want to continue to improve.

It's made me realize that I don't want to be this unprepared when it comes to teaching theology.

SO... I'm looking into getting a teaching certificate! Preferably Christian. Preferably for "Higher education"/college. So far, not too many options. They must have something, though, right? They can't just expect me to finish my masters and jump right into being a professor without any idea as to the best ways to get the concepts across clearly to the students, right?

...Oh, wait... They do that ALL THE TIME. (haha)

Anyway, please pray for my new year that I can be a good example of God's love to the students and also a good teacher.

Love and miss you all!

Church Update:

I went to church this past Sunday with my friend and coworker Brendan. On our way there, I saw another foreigner come out of the building next to mine. We commented on it cause we didn't know there were any other English speakers living close to us! When we got to the church... the guy was there! It was such a funny "coincidence" that we introduced ourselves. Later, the church was doing a scavenger hunt of sorts and we were on the same team! It was fun, and he reminds me so much of an old friend from home. So yeah, pretty awesome to have a cool Christian neighbor right next door!

But this time around at chuch was funny because even though it's only my second time there... people that I had met the week before were excited to see me, and were glad I was there. It was interesting that I could start feeling comfortable there so quickly. It's definitely because the people are opening up to me first!

The pastor's wife, "Jenna" --her english name, approached me again about the Women's Bible study. She talked to me about getting it together and leading it. She had already talked to the girls about their interest, and apparently everyone is highly interested and we already have 11 girls willing to do this! Wow. God is really putting this together. Now, if only I could catch up. I have about a month and a half to get to know the girls, and hang out with them... then they want to start having the actual bible studies the first week of June. I'm excited to get to know these girls... and I can only pray that God shows me how to challenge them and bring them closer to Him.

Easter Sunday

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to relate my first church experience since so many have asked about it.

My church experience was interesting. I prayed that God would make it perfectly clear which church I should go to, so I can get involved right away. I didn't want to be left hanging too long in a foreign country, especially only knowing people who aren't Christians and who go out drinking every weekend. And it's not like in Chicago where I could spend time looking around for a good church to be involved in. There are very few English services around these parts!

Through websites and Korean coworkers I found a few churches that had English serivces. Of those few, less were close to me. After calling around and getting no luck in checking out their English service information... I called the number for Dongshin Presbyterian Church's English service contact. The guy who answered the phone was a Kiwi named Karl, and told me a bit about the church and then asked about my church background, etc. When I brought up that I had gone to Moody, Karl excitedly stated that the pastor for the English church had too! I finished the conversation feeling like God was leading me to where I should be.

On Easter Sunday, I got lost on my way to the church. That was to be expected a bit... but I got more lost than I thought I would. The directions weren't that clear to begin with, and then my sense of direction was a bit thrown off. After a few failed attempts, I was finally frustrated enough to pray. Soon after, a Korean that spoke perfect English came up to me and asked "Are you lost?" I was astonished and relieved! I asked him if he knew where the church was, and come to find out he had gone there as a child! Him and his friend kindly directed me to the church, and we talked along the way.

I finally arrived just as the sermon was starting, said "hi" to Karl and took a seat. The service took place on the 5th floor of the Activity center for a very large Korean Presbyterian church. There was a good mix of foriegners and Koreans, but everyone spoke English. Come to find out later, there was also many other new people going to church for Easter Sunday! Another thing that was a pretty awesome surprise was that halfway into the sermon, the guy that helped me and his friend came into the service and sat down in front of me!

After church, I met a whole bunch of people... more than I remember now. I talked to the guys that helped me and the pastor for awhile. The talk with the pastor was at first overwhelming, because I told him I would like to know more about the church and being involved; and since he knew I was from Moody... he really laid it on me!

Even though it was overwhelming, and much different than I expected... I still feel like that's where I should be. I mostly feel this way because of conviction and the fact that their needs match my abilities/what I want to do! They have need of a Theology bible study, starting a Women's group, and help with Children's church. haha. However, I need to actually get to know the church members... and that means opening up. Which I'm not the best at in the beginning.

I need to step outside of my fears and insecurities to open myself up to this church to love and grow with them! Eek! And even though I'm excited to get involved, I still feel so inadequate to help at all. What keeps playing over in my head is when Paul says that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness... I pray this comes true!

Preparations!

I just received my flight plans. It goes something like this:

Pheonix to San Fran = 2 hours
San Fran to Seoul = 12.5 hours
Seoul to Busan = 1 hour
+ van ride from Busan to Daegu = 1 hour

Grand total = 16.5 hours

Dang yo. I'm definitely going to need prayer to make it through that ride AND still be chipper enough to meet my Director at the school.

One other thing... I don't have my apartment address yet. Nor do I know if they even have an apartment for me yet. Good news is my Visa will reach me by tomorrow, and I will be leaving for Phoenix this Wednesday!