New beginnings...

Beth-Anne's First Quilt: A Rag Quilt

2011-12-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

A quilt. Something I’ve always wanted to do but after my tablecloth semi-failure, I didn’t think I’d ever try. But then friends on mine on facebook said that they were going to try and make one. So I asked if I could join them, and graciously they said yes!

So they sent me links and I found a website and I went to buy fabric and batting.

First I cut it into 6” squares. This was after trying to figure out how to get the most squares for the amount of material I had by mathematical calculations. (You know, a yard is 36” and 6 x 6 is 36...so...)

Then I cut the batting

...but I miscalculated that and cut too much batting, but that was okay.

Then I put the batting in between the cloth.

And then I put it in a box because I felt that I had no idea how to do whatever came next.

Thankful, I have an awesome friend, Nicole, who does know what she is doing so I went over to her house. She showed me how to x my squares and I was able to finish all my green squares at her house. She also helped save my tablecloth! (Although I still need to finish what she showed me to do, it was at least a start!)

I felt really great about those beautiful green squares and was determined to do the yellow ones on my machine at home.

My sewing machine was my Great-Grandma Curtis’ and probably from the 1940 or 1950s. I am not a seamstress and it just confuses me. However, I had made the tablecloth so I knew sort of how to work it. So I sat down to do it! The thread tension was off. I tried to read the manual. I called my dad and figured out some of the problems (yes, the foot has to be put down to sew). I called my mom and she said to ask for help from someone in the area who could come over. So I did. I seriously thank God for friends. I sent Nicole a message and she said she had time to drop by and help me. So she did. She battled my machine and helped me to understand it.

And so I was off to do they yellow squares!

I was happy to actually, sort of, understand my sewing machine and make it work! I can sew a straight line and in a zig-zag pattern.

Bear-Lee and my finished squares!

Next I put the squares down to figure out how big, and what shape to make it. I did a simple pattern because I didn't want to overwhelm myself with the first quilt.

Then I stacked each row so I could sew the rows.

I started to sew the rows but then I ran out of thread.

After I bought more thread I finished my rows. I wanted to take a picture of them, and saw Mei Mei (one of my basset hounds) shivering near by and decided to let her be decorated with them.

She didn't seem too upset but I wanted to begin piecing them together.

The hardest part was just moving it through the machine once it got longer and bigger. My squares didn't match up perfectly, but I was okay because this was for fun, not stress.

And...tada! The sewing part is done! This is is the front where the rag/frayed part will be.

This is the back/smooth side. Again, the squares are perfectly all the same size and right by each other, but it's close enough!

Then came the clipping. This caused my right hand pain. I didn't have the right scissors so I used what I had and learned that next time I will be buying better scissors. Either way, I finally finished clipping all the pieces.

Since Mei Mei had a picture taken with the quilt, I thought Nani should have a photo with it.

Now it was time to wash it. So (after being told to put it in a pillow case to protect my washer) I washed it.

Then I shook it out to get rid of the little pieces of string and got it all over my fleece pants. It was brilliant, I know, to wear fleece and shake out the quilt...

Finally I dried it and it was finished!! I didn't want Hana to feel left out so I included her in the final product picture.

So here is my first quilt and I am so excited and happy about it that I'm about ready to try another one!

Mad Libs by Matthew

2011-11-09T20:32:00.002-05:00

These are some Mad Libs completed by Matthew and his brother-in-law, Jason, and cousin, Justin. Thanks for the laughs!

When, in my youth, I saw elderly people walking down the street, it seemed to me that they were always moving so much slower than I was. Why were they so brown all the time? I was spry and glittery, kicking around, this way and that. Now that I am older, however, I notice that the elderly do not sleep quite so quickly as I used to imagine. When I play rugby, it seems to me that the bats are often swimming drunkingly.

To tie it all together – don’t eat boxes, or drink nitroglycerin.

Why are people so angry all the time? Instead of being gleeful, they actually enjoy life! As for me, I like to float in my room and bark. This is because I failed my last tree-test. After such an event, in real life, I just seem so frightened, furious, and flippant. The only thing that really, truly helps me is thinking that the feet bring me despair – much despair. To end it all, I say eat socks – they bring endorphins.

Every night when the butcher knives come out to leap, the sky turns ghastly. That is, until the purple (with smiley polka-dots) penguins come along and stab the sharks. Then, everything changes and the fluorescent light bulb becomes sleek. When this happens, the trees explode and the owls eat sheep. Therefore, the moral of the story is: Chop your chew toys until you can’t snap bulldozers anymore.

Whose shotguns these are I think I know
His chainsaw is in the classroom though
He will not see me slicing here
To watch his shotguns fill up with snow
My little deer must thing it queer
To stop without a bazooka near
Between the shotguns and bloody lake
The bloodiest evening of the year

He gives his harness snails a shake
To dissect if there is some mistake
The only other sound’s the sheep
Of darkest wind and decaying flake
The shotguns are gloomy, discouraging, and deep
But I have zombies to keep
And yards to go before I seep
And yards to go before I seep

Once upon a time/dolphin, two girls and a very fat boy fell into a maroon sledge-hammer. Fortunately, the fat boy was bouncy enough for the two girls to jump on him, up and out of the sledge-hammer – spanghew-like.

They plastered for help, got it, returned, and, with a giant phone, pulled the fat boy out. However, he had lost 23 pounds by the time he was pulled out because it had been so long – he was no longer fat, but bouncy, flamboyant, and black.

For supper, they ate artichoke-hearts, and he became fat again. The end.

Asking for Love

2011-09-08T19:16:00.004-04:00

I love to sit and listen to a song as thoughts fill up my heart like rain in a cup too small. Here is a rain drop.

Every time - every time - I ask for God to help me love Him more, He has increased my heartbeat for Him. Without fail, in the next hours or days after such a prayer, I can say that I love Him more.

If you feel your heart toward God growing cold, whilst it grows warm for this world, I suggest a simple prayer - asking for love.

Rain drop of Matthew

Time Traveler

2011-09-04T13:32:00.002-04:00

Matthew Talks Time

Time goes so quickly.

I am considered young by most. Even my elementary school students say so. I am 27 currently - 28 by month's end. I still have 2 very full years to live in my 20's before I even reach my 30's which are still considered youthful.

However, times goes quickly.

Much of my life as a child was plagued with trying to prevent this river of time from flowing forever onward.

Even the Bible says that God has put eternity into the heart of man. Even if we all lived to be 1000 - it wouldn't be enough.

The dilemma's answer is found only in eternal life with Jesus. I still struggle once in a while with how quickly my life is dripping away, but free eternal life (and I get to give up my heart of pain and suffering) sounds like a deal too-good-to-be-true.

I say we take it!

Surprised by Love by Beth-Anne

2011-08-19T20:51:00.004-04:00

There are years you are glad to leave behind.

And yet, as excited as I was about this year I was a bit apprehensive, to say the least. I just wanted to share how God has lifted my heart this week. Each day is its own but God has reminded me this week that He is with me.

At lunch time the students do this thing that I don’t have a name for but it goes like this.

Student A: “Who has applesauce?”
And all the students who do raise their hand or the applesauce.

Student A: “Who has ever almost drowned?”
Again, all the students who do raise their hand and/or add commentary on how they are part of this category.

Well this week they were doing their question/hand raising thing when I heard, “Who loves our teacher?” I couldn’t help but look up and see all the hands raised. What was really touching is that it was a student that I had been having some difficulty with since school started that had asked and initiated the question.

The past two weeks I have been introducing a theory/practice that the conference is letting some school pilot. The program is called the Peace Rug. The rug is a place where students can invited someone they are having habitual problems with and work things out. The students practice not blaming the other person but taking responsibility for their actions and how they will change them. It’s a good was to begin young with conflict/resolution.

I had taught this to my class and at recess two of my students were arguing with two of the students from the other class. I mediated and then after some conversation said they could go play. One of my students asked the two students from Matthew’s class to wait. I saw that student lean over and whisper to the other student from my class, “Do you want to invite them to the Peace Rug?” After a small deliberation they asked the two from Matthew’s room if they wanted to go to the Peace Rug. I briefly told them what it was and the four of them, plus me went to the Peace Rug. They didn’t use the five steps perfectly but it was really amazing to see them use it and have them work out a little solution for their problem.

Sometimes when I am sure they haven’t learned anything I’ve tried to teach them for the last hour God reminds me that I am wrong.

Today I had to take my dog, Nani, to the vet to have her gums reattached to her teeth. She was a rescue dog and had bad teeth and this will prevent respiratory issues. So I took my car to the vet and Matthew went to school. I filled out the paper work and hug Nani and then the lady slipped a collar around Nani’s head and I had to take her collar and leash off. (If you are not a dog/pet person this won’t make sense to you). She looked at me like I was abandoning her. I was leaving her in a strange place with a strange person and I was taking the stuff that proved she was mine. I stood to leave and she just watched and waited and I walked away. If you’ve never seen a Nani look you won’t understand this either. It broke my heart. She is an older dog and older dogs have trouble with anesthesia sometimes. So all this is whirling through my head and by the time I pulled out of the vet’s parking lot I was crying. I prayed outloud, “God please take care of my Nani.” Seconds after that I got a text message from my neighbor, Marilyn. She said, “Did I just see you on 10th Street?” I texted back to explain the situation and she told me she would be praying for Nani.

It was an immediate response from God. I prayed and God told me, “I have you. I am surrounding you with love and prayer for the things that your heart needs.”

Nani didn’t end up having the teeth work done today because of a mix-up at the vet but Marilyn called me the evening to see how I was doing and wanting to know about Nani. I am blessed to have a God who cares about my heart-needs.

Today is Friday and we do something in my class called Sabbath Celebration. We celebrate what God created on each day of the week and part of it is that we say what we are thankful for. Today three of the students said they were thankful for me! This is a record because even though I know they care about me, it’s usually other things that come first to their mind. And what was really, really touching was that it was the three students I had to work with the most these two weeks.

There are many moments I struggle as a teacher, wondering if my students see how much I love them, even if I am correcting them more than I wish I had to. To me, it was God telling me that He is with me each day that I ask Him to be.

The last highlight of my week, and maybe the sweetest one wasn’t even spoken with words. As the students were gathering on our round rug for Sabbath Celebration one little students said, “Miss. Beth-Anne!” I looked over as I came to sit with them and saw this little student put their hand in the sign of “I love you.” They smiled as I smiled and signed back, “I love you.”

Blessings in Hard Places

2011-08-08T22:04:00.003-04:00

Life is teaching me that I cannot without God. I cannot. Life is teaching me that as I rely on Him, even in the midst of joys or pains - even scorn - my life is blessed more and more.

In the life of Joseph, circumstances foretold his ruin, but his trust in the God who works specifically through the dilemmas in life saw him through. God blessed him while yet in the hold of tragedy.

"From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph."

Maybe those who in our lives appear as our masters are receiving the blessing of God through us. Look for the blessings of God in the hard places. Search for the peace of God in places of darkness. Linger in God's joy throughout life's pain.

-Of Matthew

Summer Craziness

2011-06-28T22:12:00.002-04:00

(A blog of Matthew)

Wow! Life is something else. We come back from Korea (2 years ago now) and expect life to calm down. In certain ways it has, in other ways it has not. What is the solution to this? Read on....

This is not a comprehensive update, but a basic update on the status of our summer.

So far this summer, we have joined friends in the Carolina campmeeting, backpacked with family in Mount Rogers (and made extensive plans for future backpacking trips which will most likely be altered and re-altered many times over), borrowed a friend to fix massive backdoor damage (thanks, John!), had family visit us in Cookeville, visited family in Knoxville, visited family in New Market (for a night), and visited family in Hamburg. Oh, and in the midst of it all we traveled with friends to Key Largo. The diving was surprisingly good. The tennis, even better (if possible).

So, what's next? With the summer about halfway over we have 3 weeks of summer classes (we are less than thrilled about this), 1 week with family, and 1 week of preparations for school, then school begins again.

As life speeds on and on, we seek to slow and slow down. In the midst of summer craziness we have again discovered the final solution to the ever-increasing cycle of life....Jesus' soon return! May the Lord find us faithful in all He asks of us. And give us the peace of the Spirit.

Photobooks

2011-05-27T10:44:00.002-04:00

These are photobooks that Matthew has made with Blurb.

Korea in photos! There were so many photos we had to do two books.

Fall and Winter August 2008-March 2009 | Make Your Own Book

Spring and Summer March-May 2009 | Make Your Own Book

These are othere photobooks Matthew has made.

Yap

Beyond the Edges by D Matthew White | Make Your Own Book

Colorado

Colorado | Make Your Own Book

And our honeymoon

First Kiss | Make Your Own Book

Team Black & Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T12:39:00.004-05:00

Last year Agents White & White were stationed in South Korea and gave out carnations in black bags with Bible verses for Team Black. This year Nashville, TN was the target.

To disguise themselves they dressed up and had ballet tickets to the "American Originals" show. (Which was fantastic.)

This year there weren't black bags but instead Wal-Mart bags.

11 Wal-Mart bags, and 1 Michigan ABC bag.

Inside these disguises were....

These were distributed to those needing lunches as Agent White & White made their way to the Nashville Ballet.

Now, in case that confused anyone.... Matthew and I had a date planned for the ballet and Matthew felt impressed to do something for the homeless that we see in a park we pass on the way to the ballet theater. So we packed a small lunch and included a Steps to Christ in each bag with a little message and information about the Nashville Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Matthew handed these out with a "Happy Valentine's Day!"

We hope that you will join us in prayer over these little packages and that those books will be a blessing and a life changing experience.

For another awesome Team Black story see what Kristin did!

Cheap Grace

2010-01-15T20:57:00.003-05:00

“You know the school board isn’t as careful as they should be.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you know Becky* and how she was kicked out last year?”
“Yeah.”

“Well I heard that she’s coming back. After all the fuss the board put up about making her leave, and now just because she wrote a letter and threw a few Bible verses in it, they’re letting her back in.”

I heard that conversation sometime during my sophomore year of high school. I do not remember who I heard it from, or why I took it to be true, but I did. Later on I was involved in another similar conversation and I felt informed as I voiced what I’d heard.

It was at a restaurant with my friends we were finishing our food as we discussed a few of the students who had been asked to leave our school and about them returning next year.

“Well,” I piped up. “All they’ll have to do to come back is write a letter and throw in a few Bible verses and the board will accept them back in.”

Some of my friends nodded and looked like they agreed.

“That’s not true,” Mr. Johnson*, a father to one of my friends and a board member, began. “The board goes through a lot of consideration as they choose to reaccept a student.”

I felt frustrated because I felt that my information proved to be more accurate because the students who were kicked out were always accepted back in. If we were a Christian institute and had standards to uphold how could we be so cheap with grace?

Looking back now I feel like Simon looking down on the sinful woman as she anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume.

Luke chapter seven tells this story,

36Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."

40Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
"Tell me, teacher," he said.

41"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
43Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."

"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

48Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

49The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

50Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Desire of Ages p. 567-568 speaks volumes to my heart as I remember those haughty words and thoughts I spoke that evening.

“Simon's coldness and neglect toward the Saviour showed how little he appreciated the mercy he had received. He had thought he honored Jesus by inviting Him to his house. But he now saw himself as he really was. While he thought himself reading his Guest, his Guest had been reading him. He saw how true Christ's judgment of him was. His religion had been a robe of Pharisaism. He had despised the compassion of Jesus. He had not recognized Him as the representative of God. While Mary was a sinner pardoned, he was a sinner unpardoned. The rigid rule of justice he had desired to enforce against her condemned him.

Simon was touched by the kindness of Jesus in not openly rebuking him before the guests. He had not been treated as he desired Mary to be treated. He saw that Jesus did not wish to expose his guilt to others, but sought by a true statement of the case to convince his mind, and by pitying kindness to subdue his heart. Stern denunciation would have hardened Simon against repentance, but patient admonition convinced him of his error. He saw the magnitude of the debt which he owed his Lord. His pride was humbled, he repented, and the proud Pharisee became a lowly, self-sacrificing disciple.”

I was Simon. Only inviting Jesus into my house. Letting others see that I was a Christian, but He did not dwell in me, and I did not see my own sinfulness and I should have. I wore the Pharisee robes and prayed head held high. In about a year I would learn the cry of the sinner and realize my own forsakenness. I would behold the magnitude of my debt and learn that grace is never cheap when you beg for it yourself.

By: Beth-Anne
*Names have been changed

Childhood vs. Adulthood

2009-12-22T21:24:00.006-05:00

From the time I was seven until fourteen I went to Brownsmills Seventh-day Adventist Church when I visited my father in New Jersey.

After the congregational prayer we would sing, “Hear Our Prayer O Lord.”

Hear our prayer O Lord
Hear our prayer O Lord
Incline Thine ear to us
And grant us Thy peace
Amen

As a child I hated that song. It didn’t make any sense to me. Why would we ask God, even plead with Him to hear our prayers when we knew that He did. In the Bible it clearly says that God hears us when we pray. I had been taught from a very young age that Jesus loved me and loved to talk to me, and prayer was how I talked to Him. So, why would I plead with Jesus, after praying to Him, to hear me? It didn’t make any sense. I never sang those words at Brownsmills SDA Church. I refused to sing something I felt showed that I did not believe what God had already blatantly stated in His Word: He hears us.

Since that time I have been to many churches. And I have not been to one that sang “Hear Our Prayer O Lord” as the habitual post-prayer song. Until this past July. I am now twenty-three years old, married, and have moved into my first USA home. We attend the Cookeville Seventh-day Adventist Church. The first Sabbath we visited the church I was enjoying the service when I was caught off guard by the tune and words that the congregation sung after the prayer.

Hear our prayer O Lord
Hear our prayer O Lord
Incline Thine ear to us
And grant us Thy peace
Amen

As the music filled the church I smiled cynically as I recalled the sentiments I’d had as a youth.

I called my dad after church and said, “You’ll never guess what song we sing after prayer!” As a child I had explained to him my frustration and complete dislike for the song.

However, I noticed something has begun to change. I sing the song now. I hear my heart crying out to God in the words, “Hear my prayer O Lord, hear my prayer O Lord…” I ache to know that He hears me, that He listens to my voice and that I will have His peace. Sabbath after Sabbath I have now sung, “Incline Thy ear to me, and grant me Thy peace.”

And it makes me wonder. What is the difference between the child and the adult? Is it that now in my maturity I realize my lowly position and my need to prostrate myself before God so that He will turn His ear toward me? Is it because of the disappointments and struggles I have gone through spiritually that make me want to beg God to even hear my prayer?

In my heart I have questioned whether it is maturity that makes me sing these words or the loss of childlike faith and implicit trust which sang “Jesus loves me this I know.”

by: Beth-Anne

Flying to America via Japan

2009-10-29T17:10:00.009-04:00

So Sunday, May 31st 2009 I woke up to find our apartment cleaned up and ready for us to leave. Matthew had stayed up all night to finishing cleaning and packing for me because I was still recovering from my appendix surgery. I have the greatest husband.

Joony, one of Matthew's students came to say goodbye to us at the school and Ruth and Cleo with Pastor Kim took us to the airport. Ruth and Cleo came because Pastor Ryu and his wife were also flying to America, but they were doing recruiting. So Cleo and Ruth went to see them and us off.

Yes, I am wearing a dress on the airplane. A dress and sneakers because I couldn't bear the thought of wearing jeans the whole airplane ride back, since my surgery still made my stomach sore.

Pastor Kim, me, Ruth, and Cleo. We're so awesome.

Pastor Kim, me, Matthew, and Ruth.

We had a snack as we waited for Pastor Ryu to come and then we all said our goodbyes and headed to the plane. Our goodbyes were almost over, but since Pastor Ryu and his wife were flying on the same plane to Japan we had one more goodbye left.

This is our last picture in Korea.

This is Korea from the airplane, our last glimpses of the place we called home for about 10 months.

Traveling, especially by plane is very weird. It's almost like time travel or something because you get inside and then after a period of time you can be somewhere completely different.

The flight to Japan was short and then we said our last goodbye.

We were ready for some hellos!

Looking at shops and watching tons of people go by with face masks.

We had a 8-9 hour layover in Japan. So we tried to find some places to sleep, especially since Matthew hadn't had any sleep. We got some French fries from McDonald's because we were starving. Somehow our vegetarian meals had not been ordered. Then walked down until we found some empty chairs.

Storing our bags underneath I laid on the chairs and Matthew lay on the ground to keep the bags against/with us at all times.

Matthew woke up before I did. We wrapped the jackets around our heads to keep out the light and then Matthew gave me his jacket because I was so cold.

Peaking out of my cave.

This is money we got in change. We could use the US Dollar but we got change in the local currency.

It so happens that we went to sleep by Starbucks and were really excited because they had one veggie sandwich! So for our mid-day snack we had half a veggie sandwich each....

And white chocolate mocha....mmm. My favorite.

Then Matthew tried to throw paint on me and got the whole place messy!

So we decided to get more French fries because we were still hungry and weren't sure about the meals on the long flight.

This was a banner by the McDonalds, it showed other cuisine we could dine on. We chose McDonalds.

This was the awesome waiting area. There were regular seats in the other areas but this was where we decided to wait because it was more comfortable and I could lay down. This is also where they had "art" splattered on the walls. It was colorful and pleasant to be around.

After eating, waiting, sleeping, eating, waiting and more waiting we finally got on our flight to America.

We were going home.

Final Goodbyes in Korea

2009-10-24T14:57:00.009-04:00

This post is a bunch of final goodbyes and pictures of people that are so dear to us.

This is at my favorite restaurant. A bibimbab restaurant and we met Judy and Karen there to eat for a lunch. Matthew and I both taught Judy (tan shirt) and I just taught Karen.

We were near to the hospital and so Judy and Karen said they would help me to bring cookies to the nurses who took care of me when I had my operation.

It turned out that it was a good thing they helped me because the nurses had rotated to a different floor. And this way they were able to translate my thanks and give them the cookies I'd made.

At first when the nurses saw me they thought I was sick again! But once everything was explained they agreed to a picture.

This is the hospital at Juan station. Sixth floor on the tall side. The emergency room is the low building to the right with red on part of the sign.

After leaving the hospital we all headed to get dessert. Judy wanted to take us to a fruit drink place but we couldn't find it. So we went to a gelato/waffle place. The waffles were so good...best I've ever had. The restaurant had salt and pepper shakers that were filled with chocolate and mocha powder. We had a P shakers and I told them that P was for pepper and the other one would have S for salt. (In Korea they don't have salt and pepper shakers). So Karen went and checked out the shakers and so there was a S and P.

This is Karen, she is about a year younger than me and she really connected to me in class. She is a sweetheart and even came to my last vespers program so she could see us one more time.

They gave us Korean magnets and a doll for me that was dressed in a Korean traditional hanbok. They did that because they knew I had wanted a hanbok but hadn't bought one.

Judy helps out every week to make cookies and do other activities with refugee children from North Korea. She was a very sweet and giving lady.

Another day for lunch Eunice (middle) took Kelly Ann, Matthew and I to lunch at Pizza Hut.

Eunice was in my second religion class and it was that class that really made me search out and plan for my religion class in a new way. They were all so eager to learn.

This is after we ate. Eunice was close to both Kelly Ann and myself and together we watched Eunice grow in her relationship with God. I ask you to pray for her because I don't know how she's been doing and miss emailing with her. I ask that you would pray for her to seek God more and more.

This was one of my classes and they wanted to treat us to lunch that last week as well so they took us to VIPS. It had a great buffet selection and they were really nice to take us out. As you can see there was only one guy but they all studied hard and I'm sure they will continue to do well.

This is the 5th All Day club taking us out to Ashley's (one last time!) for lunch.
Back row: Patrick, Sunny, Emily, Estelle. Front row: Veronica, Kelly Ann, and Claire.

Awesome Pastor Kim, our driver and Pastor.

More van pictures!

At Ashley's. This was the blue room. By the time we'd left we'd eaten in every room there. We ate there a lot. Now being in America, I might miss it every once and a while. =) Matthew knew this group better than I did because he had the chance to work with them more because of scheduling.

This was supposed to be our crazy pose shot...but it's not so crazy. =)

These pictures were from Saturday after church.

Carl and Tom.

A church member, Lynn, and in the front are Sarah and Thomas.

Claire, Patrick, Emily, Henny, Estelle, and Sunny. 5th all day club.

Junior teachers: Joanne, Amy, and Eileen.

Junior teacher Coco, and the choir leader for our Christmas music program.

Junior teacher Kelly.

4th All Day Club members Abe and Brian!

Eunice and her children John and Cherry.

Audrey, a former all day club member. I never taught her but we all became friends through out time there. She was really sweet to Mama when she came to Korea.

This is Orion, his wife May and their son Thomas. They are both junior teachers, but when we came to Korea Orion was working in China as a undercover missionary.

After church Paul and Mary came over to say goodbye.

They were some of our dearest friends.

After those sad goodbyes we had to go and do our saddest goodbyes...to the other foreign teachers. We had become like family and now were leaving.

Leilani gives Matthew a dirty look for leaving.

This is a terrible picture, but it's what we have for the last time.

Solomon, Leilani, Grazania, Kelly, Cleopatra, Ruth, and the new teacher who had come to teach our classes.

We ate together, had fellowship, shared a prayer and a hope and said goodbye. It's easier to type it now than it was to live it then. They were our home away from home. Mixed emotions were everywhere. It was a crazy time.

Then we went home and packed...

SDA Language Institute: Last Week

2009-10-23T21:47:00.010-04:00

Here are some pictures from our last few days and our last classes.

My classroom. I shared it with different teachers but mostly Coco.

Matthew's classroom, that he shared with May.

One of our wonderful Jip-Suneem (I'm sure this is not the correct spelling) who would clean our classrooms.

Tea. It was so cool looking but tasted mostly like Dandelions.

My last class, that I only got to teach for about two weeks.

Staff meetings! Left to right: Jane, Solomon, Kelly Ann, Cleo, Connie, Ruth, me, Pastor Kim (you can only see his tie). Awesome, awesome group of people. We were so blessed.

Here are some pictures of our students. We miss them and pray for them daily, those in the pictures and all those we ever taught or came in contact with. May God work in their hearts daily. It is my dearest prayer that we will all be in heaven together someday.

Matthew's early am class.

This was supposed to be my class, but since I had surgery Matthew taught them the whole time until we left. Another am class.

Afternoon junior class.

More junior students!

Mr. White the teacher

Teacher! Teacher!

Yay for more junior students!

One of my junior classes. The boy to the left of me (blue shirt), and in front (black shirt) and the three girls to the right, I had in a couple classes. They were typical teenager students, quiet but really great. In the term before they had me sit down and eat duk boki with them. Duk boki is a thick rice noodle with spicy sauce. They were funny when they had me sit and eat with them because they didn't know what to say but they wanted me there. It's a great memory.

Steven and Tommy more of my crazy students. =)

Tommy, Steven and the two girls on the right, Annie and Lily I had taught for 6 months before and then was really blessed to have the opportunity to teach them again for 2 weeks before I left.

This little girl would always say hi and wave to Matthew and an occasional hug. She brightened up his day on a daily basis.

Evening junior students.

Elite class. This helped Matthew remember why he wanted to teach. Great group of students.

Two of our wonderful junior teachers, Joanne and Joy.

Matthew's religion class.... This just makes me laugh. I taught all of them in different classes before too, they're great. Yool, Margiela, and Jinny.

Party day food. Dr. You actually had some yummy stuff! And we're pretend it was healthy.

Am adult students

Working hard...or at least pretending to for the picture! (This is my classroom)

Religion class party day. I was overwhelmed by sweet gifts even though I'd only been their teacher for a short time.

Religion class. Back row L:R- Suru, Theresa, Esther, Sophia, Allie, Me. From row L:R- Joy, Matthew, and Mike. God please grow in their hearts.

My last vespers talk, two days before we left.

This is Matthew and Sonia. She said that the teachers at SDA had an influence on her spiritually and made her want to get to know God more. We are humbled and yet amazed.

It is our prayer that the seeds we planted, by the grace of God, will grow in the Holy Spirit and we'll all be together in heaven.

Videos from Everyday Life

2009-09-13T13:28:00.003-04:00

If you can't see the videos try reloading your screen.

This is just one random day where Matthew was going to cook me breakfast and we found out that our eggs had become frozen by our frig.

Our last week we were giving things away to people (whether they wanted them or not!) and here we are off to give Ruth and Cleo some stuff. We're just a bit silly.... ^_^

Sorry that this video isn't longer, but this is Jemulpo Shopping where we did most of our shopping. See all the Ramen noodles?

This is Jemulpo Station, which is across the street from Jemulpo Shopping. Imagine that!

This video is a tour of our apartment on our last night, as we cleaned up. It's a little over 5 minutes, but if you want to see how our apartment was, then you can enjoy. If not, that's okay too. =)

Saying goodbye and packing are exhausting.

Misc Everyday Things

2009-09-10T21:21:00.008-04:00

Our last days in Korea were getting warmer and it was nice to see different splashes of color amidst cement. These rose bushes were my favorite though.

This is the stairwell at Cleo and Ruth's apartment. The picture doesn't do it justice but it's about 1 inch from Matthew's head to the ceiling. He really had to watch his head when we went there.

One of the many driving sales people. They had speakers that blasted what they were selling. Only problem is if you don't speak Korean. It is a kind of useful though if you knew what it was and they were driving around.

This is Jemulpo Station. It was only a short walk from the school or our apartment to the station. It was really convenient for many reasons. It helped when we'd get lost and just say the name of our station to someone or a taxi driver. We always knew if we could just get here we'd be okay.

Across from Jemulpo Station was Jemulpo Shopping. We did most of our shopping here, E-Mart and two produce stands. This was the dried seafood section. Notice Matthew's face for our feeling on the yummy-ness of this food.

This is our wonderful fruit lady. She's the one who came and brought me the fruit and flowers at the hospital. We went to say goodbye to her and brought her some gifts. We all shed tears and "I love you"s. It is amazing how we barely exchanged any words but somehow we exchanged hearts.

This is just a sample of a very common (and annoying) occurrence. This little "junk mail" ads would be hanging on our door, or magnetized to our door. Usually they were all meat ads but this one had a pie looking thing with fruit.

I took this picture on one of our last days of moving. This is how they move from their apartments and it was interesting to have them moving and realize that soon I'd be moving out from my apartment as well.

One of our last days was a crazy rush to try and get to the bank and settle sending money and closing our accounts and so we got pizza for our lunch to be quick. This was our cheap pizza. It tastes different than ours. I think it's the sauce, but I actually think I enjoyed it by the end of our time in Korea.

It was the quick bake kind of pizza but it was cheap and quick, so it worked for us.

This is our beloved Korean Exchange Bank (KEB). They were really great and always seemed to be on top of things and know how to deal with foreigners and their accounts. It made it a lot easier for dealing with bank things.

I just had to take at least one picture of the heels in Korea. I wish I had a while string of them to show you but I guess this is enough. The girls wear them All The Time. I don't know how they do it. They are high and look painful but they do it.

This is the Incheon City mascot. A bunny? An alien? You pick.

Even on the last days we had to wear our masks to keep us from the yellow dust but in the mornings we still woke up with sore throats and stuffy noses. We were ready for clean air if nothing else!

I know this was a random mix of things but I just wanted to put them up and they were things from our everyday life other than school. I hope you enjoyed it.

(Videos from Everyday Things to be posted later)

China Town and Jayu Park

2009-08-27T19:27:00.011-04:00

One Saturday evening we had a friend from our orientation group, Makeeya come and visit us. She knew we were leaving and plus she wanted to visit Chinatown! We are located just a few subway stops from the only Chinatown in Korea. So after sundown we went out on the town!

This is one of our other teachers Ruth. This was still shortly after surgery so I wasn't sure if I should go out so late, but I am glad that I did.

Because it was late and our stop was the end of the line, there was hardly anyone on the subway.
Me, Matt, and Makeeya...M. M. M.

We took advantage of the empty subway and did what we'd always thought about doing...

Eventually we came to China town...

Most everything was closed but we were heading to the park so it was okay.

We have become very friendly with sea creatures/seafood

After walking up many stairs we got to a stopping point (before we climbed more stairs) and celebrated a bit!

After "hanging" around (get it?) we climbed the rest of the stairs and walked around the park.

The water looked so clear that Ruth wanted to really see if there was water (I wasn't so sure there was any the way the lights looked on it) so she stepped into it, and lo and behold, her shoe got wet.

We're glowing!

Getting some refreshments. Nestle Ice Tea.

The infamous exercise swivel things.

I don't know why, but these guys made me laugh.

At the half-way point we met this awesome dog.

So cute and friendly! He was obedient too.

After playing around some more it was time to head back. It was really late by this point (probably past curfew...hehe) and we ended up taking the rapid train and passing our stop and getting off and going back. All in all it was a good time and a pretty little park. I was kind of sad we only found it as we were leaving!

Last Visit to My Favorite Place

2009-08-23T13:59:00.004-04:00

As our days started to disappear, and the time came more and more quickly upon us to leave Matthew and I talked about what we wanted to see and do before we left.

I said I wanted to go to Insa-dong one more time. Maybe because it's a "tourist" spot I like it most, or because I enjoy looking at the traditional items for sale, or because there are more languages there than Incheon, but no matter what reason, I love it. And so we went for our last visit there. We didn't buy anything, but just walked along looking at items and enjoying our time.

One of the many shops, you can see all types of nationalities there and hear many different languages.

It's a busy place to be!

More shops.

This is one of their "musical" instruments. I've posted videos with them banging on these things.

I wanted my picture with this awesome Tin-man.

More street views.

Snack stand...mmm. Unidentifiable sea creatures to snack on. mmmm.

It started to rain at one point and while we took shelter I saw this "paper dump". There are lots of elderly people that we've seen collecting paper on these cart things that they push but I've never seen where they go. Apparently this is one such spot. As they dump it off, I assume they get some money for it. Recycling of sorts.

Starbucks =) It was nice just to see it.

Me by the sign showing the map of Insa-dong.

Matthew with the sign.

Then we traveled back home. Transferring from stop to stop and making our way home. Strange how things like that became so familiar. Even with a foreign language.

And finally our walk back home. Through familiar ally ways and concrete walls.

Maybe someday we'll go back.

Broken Mirrors and other stories from Korea

2009-08-22T18:37:00.009-04:00

So these next few blogs will be catching up on our time in Korea. It's hard to believe we've been back in the States since the beginning of June.

Here is a close up picture of my prescription medicine. Each day had a different package.

Here is me with the long line of my daily medicines. After my appendix surgery I was happy to have help with the pain meds, but eventually they had to stop.

As I recovered, people from the church and school were so sweet. This package of cookies is from on of my students Hany.

When I started to go back to work I only worked part-time. One afternoon I was ready to try and get out of the house. So Matthew suggested we go back to Juan station and see a store he'd visited while I was in the hospital. Also, we went to eat at the restaurant Joony had taken Matthew to the day of my surgery.

It was getting hot and capris were in season. Boys more-so than girls.

The restaurant was wonderful! Dolsot Bibimbob. Mmmm.

My favorite, favorite Korean food.

Little fishies for salt! I did not use them.

On the way back, we treated ourselves to a warm waffle with chocolate creme inside. Again: mmmm. I do miss those.

More man-capris. I was fascinated.

On our walk back to the apartment I had Matthew take this awesome shot on top of a wall around a housing area. These glass pieces are there to deter others from climbing up the wall. I think it might work better than barb-wire.

During our last days in Korea we broke our mirror. Well. It broke itself. We were peacefully sleeping at night when we heard a huge BANG! Which we both woke up to with a feeling of fear. We had no idea what it was, so Matthew got up and went out to see what the noise was. As we opened the door, there was the mirror. Face down. We decided to leave it as it was and clean it up later.

7 years of bad luck =) But maybe we got to leave the bad luck in Korea!

Cleaning up!

Mission Day came again and we had an awesome talk about science and the Bible from Hetani, the junior coordinator at the Academic Office.

The students were really impressed and talked about how they wanted to read the Bible. It's exciting to hear them stay that.

After mission day we usually go out to eat. Usually Ashley's. But we were tired of Ashley's and so begged Deaconness Jang (who we called Jip-su-nem) to cook for us. She created a feast.

AND haystacks, special request of the foreign teachers. It was her first time and it was great...she forget the beans but that's okay. We made do with rice.

Typing posts about Korea, from the United States is weird for me. I miss the people there. I'm so happy to be home, but I miss my Korean family.

Thank God we have heaven.

I read this verse in Philippians and it reminds me of my students and those I love in Korea.

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God."

Philippians 1:9-11

It is my prayer that they will learn and grow in Christ and that we can see each other in heaven. All part of God's family.

Surround Yourself With.... Pt. 2

2009-05-16T22:42:00.003-04:00

Saturday May 2 Matthew had found a sermon by David Assherick on youtube and so we decided to watch it as our sermon. It was called Eyes Wide Shut and was talking about faith and how faith is “seeing as God sees.” In three ways. Seeing as God sees 1) yourself 2) others 3) the world. I cannot explain it fully but as I listened I felt the prompting again. How would God see the time I spent with movies? And I knew He wouldn’t approve.

After the sermon I was doing my devotions and I wrote in my journal. “God. I need to make some big changes. Why do I hesitate to do them here? Jesus, I want to live for You. To devote myself for you.” And I broke down crying. Praise God for the Holy Spirit’s continual work. By God’s grace I said to Matthew, “I have to stop watching movies. I don’t know if forever, or what kinds, or what, but for now I can’t watch anything.”

The next day I was in the ER for my appendix. Since then I have had lots of time. Time that I, honestly, would have spent watching movies. When you are sick, you don’t feel like doing much and movies or TV is something common for sick people. As I lay in the hospital bed I thought how amazing God was to have broken through my stubborn heart just before a time where I’d be tempted to watch lots of movies. Not all movies are bad...but so many of them are a waste of time. I believe that God had me come to that conviction right before my surgery so that He could have more time with me.

As I’ve had this time with God I’ve been so blessed. Why do I fill my life with meaningless things…? Probably because it seems easier, but I know for a fact that God is calling me to something more. During my time of recovery I have to walk and there isn’t much room to walk in my apartment so I walk back and forth but God nudged my heart to use that time to sing to Him. So when I walk, I use my hymnal and sing to my King. Could I ever express how my heart has been lifted to Him? I have more time to do my devotions and can take longer with them than before. When I need to rest my abdomen I can lay in bed and read Prophets and Kings by Ellen White. I feel like I’ve been through detox and my body is clean and my head is clear.

God has continued to encourage and strengthen me in the decisions I’ve been making. On Tuesday May 12th I went to browse Eric & Leslie Ludy’s website to see the list of books they recommended. I wanted to find some good books to read that would spiritually uplift me when I got home. I clicked to go to Leslie’s Set Apart Girl website and found her online magazine. I decided to read her article and was blown away by her opening sentence, “About three years ago, I felt a gentle whisper of God’s conviction as I was sitting in a movie theater…” Eagerly I read the article and felt God whisper to my heart, “You see my daughter, I am calling you to more of Myself. To a better life. Lay it down, lay it all down and come to Me.” And so another step was taking, another part of my heart opened as I saw that this was indeed God’s calling. He was calling me away from the world, to Himself.

What really struck me about the article was not only that it talked specifically about movies (with which I had been struggling) but the idea of looking at what we are doing and ask, “Does this bring me closer to God?” “Is this in harmony with the teachings of the Bible?” I know that many of you reading this may saying, “Beth-Anne’s become a fanatic.” But if I really claim to be a Christian, if I really believe that Jesus is coming soon, what am I doing wasting all my time on things that don’t draw me closer to God and don’t have harmony with the teaching of the Word of God.

Leslie writes: Christ makes it clear that we cannot love both Him and the things that charm and ravish this world. We cannot be dazzled by the images of pop-culture and captivated by the King of all kings:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.
(I John 2:15-16 NKJV)

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
(James 4:4)

This is not a choice of both. It is either or. We are not called to mediocrity but to a radical lifestyle for Christ.

The people I admire most in life are those who don’t do things like everyone else. Those who live a set-apart life for God. Those who are bold for Jesus and don’t care what others think. Why is it then that I care so much what others think and am so weak to be different even from my own selfish desires?

As I have tried to focus myself less on what the world tries to surround me with and more of God I have found myself listening/watching sermons when I am too tired to do much else. Once again I was blown away by God’s timing. A day or two after reading Leslie’s article I was listening to a sermon that was done at GYC and it was entitled “Because of Those Who Sat”. The sermon preached was about peer pressure, how we are so afraid to do the right thing because of how others will see us. Even amongst our Christian friends we are afraid to be “too religious”. Beloved of God…how can we be too wrapped up in our Savior? If we really believe the Bible how can we live the lives that we do?

I have so much to grow and so much to learn. But I know that God has set aside this time of physical healing for me to heal and grow spiritually.

I was reading in Prophets and Kings about the time of Elijah and how “in anguish of soul he besought God to arrest the once-favored people in their wicked course, to visit them with judgments, if need be, that they might be led to see in its true light their departure from Heaven.” (p. 120) Through that chapter and the next I read about how God only sent the punishments He did to awaken the dulled minds of the people. Then one night as I lay in bed before sleeping I thought about myself and my situation. Could it be that God allowed me to have the appendicitis, or even caused the appendicitis so that I could have this change in my life? Could I have suffered the pain so that I could have freedom and peace in my soul? I thought to myself, it doesn’t matter if He caused me to have the appendicitis because what is the temporary pain compared to the eternal salvation I will have? I used to have a hard time thinking that God would send punishments to people but as I may have experienced a small part of that situation I praise God! I feel so blessed that He would do that for me. His ways are perfect and right. I’m not saying that God sends bad things to people and causes them to suffer all the time. But isn’t it worth it to have a temporary suffering to have eternal joy? Like a mother in labor has intense and terrible pain for a time but then there is a baby. And then all the pain is forgotten in the joy of the child. How much more so, is it for our eternal souls for a better relationship with Jesus?

How can I explain the freedom I feel now? I have much to grow and much to sacrifice but it’s worth it. Over and over it is worth it. This feeling is something only to be experienced I suppose by living it yourself. I want to encourage you, to plead with you to lay it down. I don’t know what you are holding on to or what you refuse to accept but please open your hearts to God. It’s not easy. It has not been an easy journey for me nor do I expect it to be but it’s worth it.
God is calling us to something more. Something so much more than this world yet we refuse to let go of our “pleasures” of this world. Let it go. Let it go so you can really live.

Ask yourself, what do you surround yourself with? Is it more and more of the world, or is it Jesus?

Surround Yourself With... Pt. 1

2009-05-16T05:28:00.004-04:00

The phrase, “You learn something new every day” is so true and so for the next couple of blogs we’d like to share what God has been teaching us. Please pray before reading them. The next two blogs are by Beth-Anne.

Recently on Yahoo there have been advertisements for getting more about your favorite music artist. The slogan is “Surround yourself with _____” You fill in the blank. And there is a picture of some girl happily smiling as her favorite artist swirls around her head.

And it struck me as another reminder of something God has been teaching me.

My junior year of high school was a pivotal year for me spiritually. I’d just come from the prior year where I’d felt that I had been rejected by the church and therefore God, and decided to be agnostic. I could not deny that God existed but I didn’t think He cared. Spring of my junior year I was miraculously blessed on a mission trip and felt God touch me and call me His own. Following that mission trip different things in my life began to change. These were not quick or easy changes, many of them I struggled with over months with tears and anger. God sent others to be messengers to help me in my growth, but I wasn’t always appreciative—just ask my brother. But God continued to work on my heart and I decided to listen to only Christian music, change my dress to be more modest and considerate of those around me, be careful what movies I watched and I decided to save my last first kiss until marriage. Each of these changes came about in a slightly different way and some of them were easier to tell others about. Not everyone understood my decisions or supported them. I had friends that ridiculed me for things I was doing but by God’s grace I made them. I was in love with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and would do anything He asked me, even if it took some struggling with self to do it.

Since that time I’ve kept the decisions I’ve made since then. Of course they have altered and changed with sometime but the principles remained the same. Or so I thought.

Coming to Korea in August 2008 was an adventure in many ways but it was also like going to jail for me.

I couldn’t speak the language, I couldn’t get away from the city, and no matter where I went I was starred at and pointed at and talked about. This has cured any desire to be famous I ever might have had. I cannot wait to be “normal” again. I felt trapped here and missed my family so much that even thinking in my head, “I’m here in Korea for ten months” almost physically hurt. I realize that many missionaries have it much harder than I have it but that didn’t comfort me. I wanted to read books but it was difficult and expensive to find English books. Besides, after teaching all day I wanted something to “veg-out” with. And so movies seemed the perfect thing.

When watching a movie, I can escape. And not only can I escape into the world of the actors and actresses but I can pretend that I’m home. That I’m only a drive away from friends and family. It’s amazing how easy it is to say, “Let’s watch part of a movie while we eat” or “We can watch just 30 minutes now” and how each day a large part can be spent in front of a screen.

However, while this was a nice escape-ism I also was feeling convicted that I was watching too many movies. Now I want you to understand that I am really careful with what I watch. I use http://www.kidsinmind.com/ to check out ratings and stuff, plus I’m afraid of most movies so that helps. =P But whenever I was reading my devotions and I read anything about living totally for Christ, I would pray, “Please Lord, whatever I need to give up to be totally yours, help me.” And then I’d know, even as I was praying, that the answer was movies. I felt like God was ripping my life support from me. I thought, “I’m here in Korea. Isn’t that enough that I spend time teaching and giving Bible studies? Can’t I just enjoy a movie or two a week?” But the Holy Spirit is persistent. So finally I talked to Matthew and said that I needed to limit the amount of movies I watched. So we decided that once a week we’d watch a movie. At first I felt relieved. Phew. I’d done the right thing. I had a clear conscious again.

I was wrong. Again, I’d be reading in my Bible something that prompted me to pray, “Please Lord make my life completely Yours.” Boom. I’d feel the conviction. Movies. I felt frustrated and angry and unable to give them up. I struggled and just felt so unable. I talked to Matthew again, and I praise God for such an amazing husband, and so now it was every other week. As I type this it comes to me that you might think that this was over a short period of time. I assure you that it was not. The time between watching lots of movies and then going to once-a-week-movies was a long, long time. And then it was another lengthy period of time until we watched a movie once every other week. This time I felt better, like maybe this was the step I was supposed to take.

But I still struggled inside my heart. I knew somehow that I wasn’t willing to really give up movies. I kept telling myself, when I go home, then I can do it. Then I’ll have friends and family to be with and do things with and I won’t need movies anymore.

Steps to Christ says on page40, talking about confessing of sins, "To every acknowledgment of his guilt he adds an apology in excuse of his course, declaring that if it had not been for certain circumstances, he would not have done this or that, for which he is reproved." That was me. I was making excuses for the decisions I was making.

Yet, even when I made these excuses when I looked at my life, I was the church of Ephesus in Revelation of which Christ says, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” It wasn’t just the fact that I couldn’t give up movies. It was so much more. There was a core issue: I couldn’t find that first passion I had when I came to God. I would weep in my devotion feeling the failure of my Christian walk, the hypocrisy in which I taught my students. Who was I to call them to a relationship of surrender to God when I had lost my first love?

Namsan Seoul Tower

2009-05-15T18:47:00.011-04:00

Friday, May 1st we took a trip back to the Main Seoul Institute to meet up with one of Matthew's friends from Southern, Brian, who has come to Korea to teach! We thought it would be fun to eat lunch together and see the N Seoul Tower. We'd never been there and since it was fairly close to the main institute we figured it would be a good activity.

This beautiful arbor is where we had our lunch. God's beauty is so amazing and completely thrills our souls.

Walking to where Brian was staying I spotted this McDonald's delivery motorcar and snapped a picture. Yes, McDonald's delivers! This is what the delivery vehicles all look like.

After a lunch of homemade bread and hot dog spread we ventured onward! We got sort of lost a few times, got off on the wrong stop, went up the wrong set of stairs, but soon(er or later) we made it!

This was to be our mode of transportation to the tower. Did I mention I have a fear of heights?

In Korea, there is always room for one more. So as we piled into the cable car I hoped we'd be on the next one, but the man motioned us in. There was a bar at the top of the car and I gripped that like it was my lifeline. Logically if the cable car fell, that wouldn't help me, but I couldn't let go... =P So the whole ride up I clung to it.

At the top was a pretty area with some cultural things. These are smoke signal chimneys.

It was a big smoggy that day so the view shots aren't the best.

Matthew and Brian.

Namsan Tower!

When we got to the base of the tower we found that there was a type of cultural festival going on...for China! I love when we go somewhere and something extra fun is happening. We watched the Chinese men for a while before buying our tickets. While Matthew and Brian got the tickets I sat down. I didn't know it at the time, but this was when my appendix really started to kick in.

It was amazing to watch and I felt proud to watch it because I'm 1/8th Chinese.

At the base of the tower there was an observatory type of deck and all around it's fence were thousands of locks and key chain type things. I didn't get to ask why they were there but from what we gathered Namsan Tower is trying to have a "Love Forever" type thing and so during this year you buy a key chain or lock, write a love message on it and leave it there. I'm not sure if later on they will have a ceremony where everyone comes and gets theirs. It was interesting.

Here was an English one Matthew found.

Then it was time to go up, up into the tower. We didn't go to the top level because that was a really expensive revolving restaurant and we weren't allowed to go up there unless we ate there.

Here's a video of the elevator. It was really quick.

Around the observatory top where we were they had different places listed and how far, from that direction it was to get there.

Of course I wanted my picture taken with the one toward New York as it is closes to my home!

I had to sit a lot and rest during this trip but I had no idea that surgery would follow in a few days! Here Matthew is chillin' with me.

Before we went back down Matthew searched for which place we were the furthest from. And there it is! Argentina!

Too soon it was time for our decent on the cable car. This time though we were able to wait and be the first ones in the next car.

Here goes the previous cable car.

Here comes our ride!

We had front row seats for the ride down and great opportunity for pictures and videos. Matthew's video turned out the best so we'll just post that =)

I was happy to have a seat to sit on for the ride down!

We took Brian back to Hoegi and then took the subway home. We were both exhausted from the walking but I felt faint and so we were extra glad for seats on the subway. Looking back at our trip out, I feel so blessed that God was watching over us and keeping my appendix in a reasonable state of pain so when I did have to go to the hospital we would be near our apartment.

Baseball Game - Evening

2009-05-14T19:25:00.008-04:00

After our fun morning at Wolmi Park we met up with Kelly Ann and some of her students to go to our first baseball game in Korea! We were so excited!

This is the group we went with. After this picture some other people wanted their picture with us. It's weird how often we get requests to take pictures with complete strangers.

This is the entrance to the baseball stadium. The right of the people on top says "bibidi-bobidi-bo". When I was in the hospital I heard that little song on the TV a lot.

There's an E-Mart advertisement. E-Mart has been well represented to us today...hehe.

Baseball in Korea is different for many reasons. First whatever team you are for, you sit on a certain side. In the following pictures you can see that the SK Wyverns side (red color) was much fuller. They are the Incheon team and also the Champions for last year. So that was fun for us because we are in Incheon and so we got to root for that team!

We each had these inflated red things that we hit together instead of clapping and would use them to cheer. This was the most interactive baseball game I've ever been to.

Whenever SK was up to bat we'd all stand up and cheer. We even had a "cheerleader" to help us cheer on our team. That man has SO much energy. He was a blast to watch and follow.

We didn't always know what they were saying but the students helped to translate. In some ways it was really distracting because you couldn't always see what was happening but it was so much fun. Hitting those things together was really energizing!!

As you can see in the pictures and videos one side is filled with people with red and the other side of the stadium is almost empty. That's the other teams side and the SK side. When I told the students how in America we all sit wherever, they were shocked, they couldn't believe that we would mingle. But this is the country that has assigned seats in the theater.

Other fun things about a Korean baseball game. Food. It was definitely Korean. There were many many bowls of ramen noodles and lots of dried cuddle fish and squid going around.

They also allowed us to bring in our own food so we snacked on potato chips.

The bathroom signs were interesting... =P

It was really a fun evening. It reminded me of going to baseball games when I was younger and we just really enjoy ourselves. The students made the game a complete treat for us and we were so grateful for their kindness.

SK won and for the longest time it was 4:1 but in the last inning the other team hit a home run and scored two more runs! We were hoping for overtime so then SK got the third out. It was still a great way to end the game.

This is us jumping for joy!

As we left we talked about wanting to go to more baseball games and soccer games. Since surgery I don't know if I'll have the energy and I thank God that we were able to go at all. It was definitely one of our best memories!

Wolmi Park: Morning

2009-05-13T19:58:00.012-04:00

Sunday before term break, April 26th was a busy and really fun day. It will be posted in two parts: morning and evening.

Our friend Debbie was leaving for her home in Canada in two days and she had wanted to go to Wolmi Park. So Cleo, Ruth, Debbie, Matthew, myself, and one of Cleo's students all gathered together to go.

At the bottom of the park there was an area with traditional games. So we spent some time having fun =)

This is a traditional game where you throw the sticks and based on how many sticks are faced up with Xs on them your piece moves. You can bump peoples markers off the board like Sorry and whoever gets back to the beginning first wins.

Hacky-Sack aka Korean Traditional Game.

I was very excited because there was the seesaw thing we'd played with at the Folk Village.

Ruth and I did much better this time. It's a lot of fun and I wish I could have one!

After playing around we decided to hike up to the top. We'd been to Wolmi Park with our students our first term and it had taken about 40 minutes to get to the top. So we were in for a hike and then we saw this lovely set of stairs! It cut out tons of time walking but it was a long set of stairs.

Finally we made it to the top and the observation tower!

Only a few more steps to go!

Here is a plane landing at the Incheon Airport. The view from the tower was really clear that day and so it made for some good pictures.

Can you see E-Mart? That's the one we go to =)

Wolmido Island is a port and so there are huge ships and lots of different cargo to ship off, especially cars. This ship is huge-- see the tiny car driving past near the right side?

We took this picture in remembrance of our first trip to Wolmi Park. We have a similar picture with Regina, her friend, and Neo in this same spot. We took that picture about a month into our stay in Korea and here we are about a month away from going home. Life is in circles!

At the bottom of the tower was this funny garden area and so we spent a bit of time there playing around with the statues.

This dog reminds me of my Newfoundland dog, Frodo and I miss him so much! I wanted a picture with it because it's just about as big as my dog and looked similar.

Walking down from the park we took an additional set of stairs and walked through another garden area on the way out.

The translation for "Danger" in Korean is "We-hum". That's the pronunciation for "danger". For SDA teachers this is particularly hilarious because of a lesson in our pronunciation book. To remember that 'we-hum' is 'danger' think of a group of people humming with a large piano falling toward them. We hum...DANGER! Get it??

It was nearing lunch time and soon Matthew and I had to be back to meet Kelly Ann at the station so we wanted to eat. Happily China town is nearby so I suggested going and we went!

We ate delicious food and then went on our way to meet Kelly Ann for our second adventure of the day!

Fashion Designs and First Birthdays

2009-05-12T04:03:00.004-04:00

Last term I had a student who is a fashion designer and was having an exhibition with another artists. She wanted me to go and I thought it would be fun. So Friday, April 24th we went to see it.

Each picture shows the idea for her art design. The lacy curtains she saw as a shawl, the table cloth as a skirt, the hanging cords as a headpiece and the package wrapping as a belt. I was impressed with her creativity in the pictures and design. It was fun to also look around at what others had done.

Soon I realized that there were flowers by each persons exhibit and I assumed they were from friends or people who liked the stuff. So we went in search of flowers to leave for her.

On the way we saw King Kong but had no desire to mess with him.

After leaving the flowers and a note we rode back in a taxi to the subway station.

Subway trips are very familiar to us now but as we are preparing to leave Korea soon I've found things I want to take pictures of.

Snacks! These little circle things are made from fish as you can see, but for the longest time we'd see our students with them and couldn't figure out what they were. The pieces were sold by street vendors and they'd put the dried circle into hot oil and the piece would expand! But now we know it's fish. =)

This little poster was on the wall of the subway car we were riding in. We found it greatly humorous because that is exactly what's it's like. You'd better not be in any ones way when they are getting on/off the subway. Beware! We weren't sure what the sign said but it was just such a perfect picture we couldn't resist =P

The next day the church celebrated Leilani's first birthday! Leilani is the daughter of one of our teachers, Solomon and his wife Grazania. They come from the beautiful land of South Africa.

First birthdays are BIG deals here. Sometimes the parents rent wedding halls and have huge buffets. But we just had a huge party in the church cafeteria.

Paul had been studying with us that afternoon so he came for just the beginning of the party.

One of our teachers Ruth, MADE this cake. She's an amazing cook.

Isn't the hanbok adorable?

Grazania, Leilani, and Solomon. They're a great family.

It is fun to experience different parts of the Korea culture and to see them adjust to us being there. When I brought my gift I wanted to know where to put it. The ladies from church didn't know what I wanted and I couldn't figure it out. Finally we figured out that they had no idea what I meant because they don't just put all the presents together. They usually hold the gift and individually hand it to the couple. But they seemed to want to comply with my weird version of gift giving so soon there was a pile of gifts on the table. It makes me smile to think I've influenced their ideas at all--culture is very powerful.

Wolmido with Paul & Mary

2009-05-11T06:44:00.008-04:00

Hello everyone! It's Beth-Anne again, I'm home recuperating and thought this would be a good time to post a bit. First though, thank you for all your prayers and love you've sent to Matthew and I here in Korea. Without God and you all, we wouldn't have made it. Thank you and Praise be to God.

This is from April 19th when we got together with Paul and Mary for a fun Sunday afternoon =)

Paul's mother let us use her car, so that was fun and first we went out to eat at Sorentos an Korean-Italian restaurant.

Then we went to Wolmido. Matthew and I had been to Wolmi Park during our first term in Korea, but this time we were taken to Wolmido. It reminded me of the Atlantic City boardwalk and reminded me of really good memories of Daddy, Jason, and I doing things there when my dad worked in Atlantic City at the hospital.

One of the first thing we did was have Matthew and Paul do the batting cages. It was really funny to watch. No helmets were needed, only a few coins and the bat. Inside there were gloves of some-sort for batting with but they were not batting gloves. =P

We walked around enjoying the sights and walked to the amusement park area. As our time in Korea comes to a close many things are coming in circles. This was the same park that Matthew and I had accidentally ended up at when we got lost on the bus going to E-Mart during our first week in Incheon.

Then we continued to walk and look at different little shops with games in them. Paul and Matthew played air hockey and then all four of us played this game where we had to find the differences in the pictures. So each couple was a team. When Matthew and I lost, we helped Paul and Mary try to beat the computer. It was fun.

As the sun set we just enjoyed the beauty of it and spent time relaxing together.

Paul and Mary are some of our closest friends in Korea and we will really miss them. We try to study the Bible together every weekend but we also like to plan other fun things to do together. We hope to stay in touch with them when we leave. Please pray for them as they continue to grow in Christ.

She's Back Home!

2009-05-08T00:03:00.002-04:00

She's back home, and I feel like a million won now!

Love you all,

Matt

2009-05-06T08:31:00.011-04:00

Post Surgery Update

As Beth-Anne fights through the ups and downs of recovery we have appreciated all the gifts, kindness, love, prayers, and the like sent from everyone.

Here are pictures updating Beth-Anne's recovery period thus far.

This is her within a few hours of the surgery.

Before Bear-Lee

Post Bear-Lee. I like to call it "The Bear-Lee" effect.

These gifts from our "Fruit Lady" represent just a small sample of the gifts and love sent to us by many people near and far. Thank you all!

Each day has given Beth-Anne more strength. Here she is, happy to finally be walking. Just today I went on a walk with her and could hardly keep up.

One definite draw-back to having surgery in a foreign country is the lack of communication. A couple of times we have felt frustrated, as I'm sure they have felt as well, at the inability to properly communicate. But, overall, the staff has been very kind, patient, and understanding.

Here is a picture of Beth-Anne name transliterated into Korean....as best they could. Can you guess which name on the list is Beth-Anne's? If you can't guess, then you need to learn a little Korean.

For those who can't read Korean, Beth-Anne's name transliterates into, essentially this, "Bessuh-Ain Benduhlen"

As she recovers, I try my best to spend as much time as possible with her. Now that classes have started, I travel between the school and here 2 times each day - once in the middle of the day during my longest break, and once at the end of the day once all my classes are finished.

The following pictures show "my space". It's about the size of a small-medium sardine can. *sigh* Everything in Korea is just smaller.

The local hospital food also poses a slight problem at times. I'll let the following videos do the explaining:

Through Surgery!

2009-05-04T01:03:00.002-04:00

She is through the surgery and resting. Everything seems to be fine and normal so far. She was able to see her dad, mom, and brother (via Skype) before taking a nap. I have a few classes to teach this afternoon, and I'll gather a few more things for her stay here at the hospital, then I'll be back for another night at the hospital. She'll be here for 4 days. It's better safe than sorry.

Thank you for your prayers. They make a big difference.

Love to you all from both of us,

Matthew

Appendix Attack!

2009-05-03T08:30:00.005-04:00

Surprise! Beth-Anne has Appendicitis!

To make a long story short, she's been feeling sick to her stomach the past few days and TUMS has not been working. She's also had other symptoms such as nausea and dizziness. Today, the pain moved from her whole stomach to the lower-right side of her abdomen. She was going to take a nap and try to sleep off the pain but decided to check her symptoms online. Her research yielded that her symptoms were very comparable with those of appendicitis. In fact, her symptoms were classic cases of the common illness.

Right now, we're sitting on the hospital bed typing this blog together. It's almost 10pm local time (9am EST), and awaiting a specialized doctor to affirm the necessity of surgery.

Please keep Beth-Anne (and myself) in your prayers. She's a little nervous because she's never been in surgery, particularly outside of the US in a hospital where only a handful of people speak broken English. But we are definitely blessed to have what we do. We certainly won't complain! God has already blessed us.

Here are the latest pictures from her camera - fresh off the card!

In the ER before we knew anything...well...you know, about the illness.

First IV ever! When it was translated into English via Korean cell phone, it came up as "sappy". What?!?! I'm gonna have 'sappy' put in me?

This is me - sick from all the needles.

Bear-Lee comforts Beth-Anne in a way no one can...as only a cuddly bear can. This is her after being admitted into the hospital.

Cleo (our rockin' Coordinator), and Ruth (another rockin' teacher), brought us some water, juice, and crackers. We thought it was no coincidence that the crackers said "IVY," and...look what's in Beth-Anne's arm...an "IV".

The following video I recorded while waiting at the subway station closes to the hospital:

Korean Comic Relief of the Day:

The nurses were asking Beth-Anne if she was allergic to anything or had different types of illness such as hypertension or asthma. They came to one and asked if she had the "killing disease". "The 'killing disease'?" we asked our Pastor who was helping to translate. He responded by touch my back and side saying, "these". Beth-Anne understood instantly, "Oh, kidney disease!"

Subong Park in Spring

2009-05-01T06:08:00.010-04:00

We have been enchanted by the spring here in Korea. The long winter of cement and the length of time it's been since we've had the fresh country air of our youth has made us cherish this time even more.

One Sabbath we decided to go up to Subong Park and see if there were any signs of spring to be seen. We were not disappointed.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

"He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.'" Genesis 15:5

God's ways are beyond our ways. Beyond our imagination and totally amazing.

"...his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." Psalm 1:2-3

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him..." Psalm 103:11

"You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly..." Psalm 65:9

"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. " Isaiah 35:1

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." Luke 12:27

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:20

"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies ? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God." Luke 12:6

"To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it." Deuteronomy 10:14

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. " Psalm 126:5

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:2-4

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth. " Psalm 96:11-13

Moving to America!

2009-04-29T04:35:00.009-04:00

It is with great joy that we announce another of God's blessings to our life. He has provided us with a job in the grand old USA!

Not only is it in the United States of America but it will be in Tennessee!! Matthew will be working with a great school as a principal and teacher. It's a wonderful opportunity to grow and use the talents God has been equipping him with over these years.

It is a wonderful blessing that we can't even begin to express. We are excited to work for God and being in America and being closer to friends and family is a huge plus!

We've missed home so much that sometimes even our food starts to look like North America...

We have been going through our belongings here in Korea and sending some boxes home and throwing other things away. We are excited to think about having a place of our own...in the country! The school is set in a beautiful small-ish town area and from what we can see there's more green and blue than concrete. And that's what we want to see!

Moving will be fun and exciting, even if it will be in the heat of a TN summer.

This is a picture of how Koreans move to and from apartments. There is none of this up and down the stairs nonsense, instead they put this lift thing to the window and you put your stuff on and down it goes. I told my students that I'd never seen anything like that and they were shocked. "You mean you carry it from your apartment?" they asked in horror. I explain about elevators but that yes, we carry things. It was funny.

There are a million reasons why we are glad to be going home but first and foremost is family. Family and then friends, but there are friends who are family so they all get bunched together: familyfriends. We won't be close to everyone but we'll be able to call and visit more often and that does our hearts good.

On a somewhat humorous side here are some other reasons we are happy to go home:

1) I've begun to like onions in my food. Now, don't get me wrong, I still don't like them in all things, but I like them much more than before. This tends to happen to me, every time I move somewhere I add a food item to the things I like to eat. PA: vegetables. TN: Lettuce. KR: Onions. Who'd of thought?

These pictures are to prove my sincerity of what I've said. I actually cooked these onions and used them in my baking! I want to personally thank Auntie Em for beginning this onion transition in Redbud 1. I give you full credit for this!

2) Shopping. Neither of us really love to shop but it would be nice to be able to go shopping, not get lost, and find things that fit us. We don't get lost very often but we don't shop that much either.

3)Fruit selling. Trucks like these come everyday in the afternoon. Sometimes we want to take a nap in the afternoon but the fruit selling trucks don't allow us that luxury. The trucks sell more than fruit, but usually it's fruit.

4) Cleaning of our apartment steps. So far the building has cleaned the stairways three times. Twice is like this video. One each apartment threw water out of our apartments and then we swept the water and dirt. The first time and the most recent one is where the top floor pours out tons and tons of water (from who knows where) and floods the stairwell. And then for at least a couple hours afterwards we have absolutely no water.

The following video shows what this is like, as well as a still picture. In our entry way there is about a three inch section that is lower than the rest of our house, this is for our shoes, but it was partially filled with water. This is some serious water usage.

5) Matthew has shown symptoms of becoming Korean. He has started to walk and speak like them. Observe the following video. You may not understand it but his walking has been affected.

Again on a serious note, we feel so blessed to be able to go home to a job. We ask that you pray for us as we prepare for this new season. We want to do God's will and be a blessing to others through Him.

Incheon Grand Park

2009-04-26T22:25:00.011-04:00

On the drive back from English Village we noticed how beautiful the Cherry blossoms were and decided that since we had the rest of the day off we should go and see more at the Incheon Grand Park. We had never been there before and wanted to go. And Ruth and Cleo decided to join us!

On the way to the bus stop we passed Juin/Nameless park. It looks a lot better now doesn't it?

While we waited for the bus to come Matthew took advantage of the beautiful blossoms near the bus stop.

Soon we realized that something was wrong. We had been waiting a good while for our bus number to come, but it hadn't come.

Buses came...

And buses went.

But still ours did not arrive. So Cleo asked a lady and we were told that it no longer runs that route. Then we decided to take the subway. None of us had been there before by subway so it was a fun adventure.

As we waited for the train I was looking at the different advertisements and saw this one. I don't know what it's for, but it's creepy. Is someone dying? Are they drowning and that was their last attempt for hope? Or is it some monster coming from the sea to get us?

Either way, it was slightly disturbing and humorous.

This is our tough look. We were not about to be messed with again. The train had to come!

And it did! We took the train, got off, and then took a bus to the park. It was slightly overcast so the sky isn't that great for pictures but it was still beautiful.

Make the above picture bigger and check out the bee. It's legs are filled with pollen.

This picture reminds me of the hand ad. Scary...

There were three rocks and so we did and Olympic pose. America all the way!!

As we were leaving we saw this performance area and noticed that it was not Korean traditional music coming from the speakers and went to investigate!

We don't know what tribe they represented but it was really bizarre to see it in Korea. It felt as if I was being invaded in my Korean world by other foreigners!

Finally we went home to get much needed rest for the following day. We've taken a lot of nature pictures recently but it's been such a blessing to see.

Psalm 18:1-4

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world."

And truly nature speaks of the glory and majesty of God. Nature reveals God's character so magnificently. No matter where one is, nature speaks to us of its Creator. But I think, especially for us in the city, nature is speaking louder than ever.

Spring Teachers' Retreat (...workshop)

2009-04-23T04:53:00.023-04:00

April 10th-13th was the second teachers' retreat we'd been to since coming to Korea. This one was mandatory and so there were a lot more teachers. On our way to the retreat we got to stop at Costco for lunch. This was a big deal, you see, because there they have American pizza and ice cream at a decent price and it's mmm mmm good.

The escalators here are great. They are made for people and carts. Since Costco is built on several floors the escalators are extra long. The sped up video above gives you an idea of how long.

This time for the retreat Matthew and I didn't have to sleep on bunk beds! Last teachers' retreat we had a room with four bunk beds and were supposed to share it with another couple. Luckily we didn't have another couple that time. However, this time we were to share an apartment with another couple, but we got our own bedroom, and no bunk beds! Instead we had "yo"s. I don't know how it's spelled but it sounds like "yo".

The "yo"s are the colorful mats and then they gave us tons of comforters and pillows. Much more than we needed.

The spring blossoms were opening up and we felt our lungs expand as we drank in the fresher air. This picture is of the apartments we stayed at during the retreat. They were very nice.

Here Matthew is taking advantage of all the cushion and relaxin'.

I made the bed and we sunk into the thick layers of bedding. It was really nice.

The apartments are named after birds, at least where we stayed. Other places have flower names, etc. In the following pictures Matthew will help you to understand the names by acting out.

We stayed in Turkey Vulture.

Our neighbors were in Laughing Gull. They probably got funnier over the weekend.

Most of our weekend was spent in meetings and seminars. The main speaker, Pastor Jim Park was a huge blessing. He is teaching at AIIS in the Philippines currently but is from the USA. This website Disciple Tree has more information about his ministry.

The seminars were to help unify and reorient us to different aspects of our program here. I think it was a good idea to have the seminars, but I still have to admit that I didn't want to sit through them all. =)

But there were a few spots where we could hang out and enjoy being with other teachers.

This is Kelly Ann and I Sabbath afternoon, just chillin' around waiting for supper.

There was this old Ford and just because its old and America I took a picture with it. I'm still partial to my beautiful Hyundai Elantra (made in Korea) back at home.

Saturday night a bunch of our orientation group, plus some new friends, got together to play games. The other couple that we stayed with, Daria and Bill, were from our orientation group and they'd brought Cranium and decided to invite people over.

We had so much fun. We stayed up late humming, drawing, molding clay, and guess random trivia.

These are some of our Term 5 orientation group. Term 5 was the best. Not that I'm biased or anything. Left to Right: Bill, Daria, Matt, Beth-Anne, Mary, Sarah, Will, Andy, Jazz, Makeeya, Zach, and Moises.

Sunday was the day that we had the largest time off. They were going to take a group hiking (the place we had hiked up part-way the first time) but we hadn't signed up. I was sad but thought it'd be okay. But God knew best and things were changed and so we got to go! The second best part was that instead of making us hike UP the trail, they drove us up so we could have more time at the top and let us walk down.

Matthew and I laughed when we recognized the spot we had stopped. We had been about 10 minutes walk from the top last time.

At the top is a Buddhist Temple. So on Easter Sunday most people went to church and we went to a Buddhist Temple.

There was actually an English (from England) monk there. He explain a few things about Buddhism and I found it interesting and yet very sad. He said that last time he spoke English was when the SDA group had been there six months ago. It's a very secluded and quiet lifestyle from what we saw.

Buddha's birthday is May 2nd so that's what the colorful lanterns are about.

One of the teachers asked the monk if when the people bow down to Buddha if they are worshiping or what exactly they are doing. The monk told us that they are meditating and that it's not so much bowing down to Buddha as bowing down to yourself. Buddhists believe each person can attain that high status of perfection and so in a sense they are bowing to themselves.

We were asked if we had any religion and so we said that we were Seventh-day Adventists. He said, "Ah, you are Christians." Then he said, "Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.' What we are trying to find out is, who is the 'I'. " Basically, the "I" could be you or me.

The quietness of the place, with the wind blowing the chimes attached to the temple made it seem surreal.

It was incredibly sad to think that all you have is yourself to become perfect. I praise God that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

On our walk down we were able to walk with Harry and Connie, the teachers who use to teach at Incheon before we did. We had some really great spiritual talks with them. We talked about nature, our students, home, city/country life and all types of things.

Cleopatra, our coordinator says that we are a younger version of Harry and Connie. =) So it's no surprise when Harry saw a pool of water and commented about jumping in it. Matthew too eagerly looked at the water

As Matthew says, "We only live once

Don't worry mothers, he did check the depth with a long stick before he jumped in.

I love Matthew's adventurous spirit.

As we continued to walk and talk we were inspired and blessed to see spring: God's handiwork.

We new that being in the city wasn't what we wanted but being out in the mountain and seeing the beauty of nature and speaking about how amazing God is filled our souls in indescribable ways.

All too soon we were at the end of the trail and had to wait to be picked up to go back to English Village.

These rocks and others like them are made from people building up wishes. Each rock is a wish. You pile them up as you wish for things. These were fairly small but some are much taller, as you saw in the pictures above.

This is the statue at the beginning of the trail.

I want to write the feeling we had as we arrived back at English Village but I am sure I won't do it justice. It was as if we had been through detox and all the toxins were out of our body. We felt free, light, euphoria, blissful, clear...as if we had experienced God. It was God's gift to us.

The hike was the best part of the weekend but soon we had to prepare to leave.

This is our blue van that we go places in and us packing ourselves in.

On the way back we stopped by Costco again for lunch =) and Matthew, still in the jumping mood, jumped over the road block.

And so concludes our last visit to English Village.

Trapped

2009-04-17T08:07:00.020-04:00

I have to admit that we do not like being in the city. Sure there are benefit but mostly there are not benefits.

At time we feel like this little green patch of grass. Once so vibrant and full of life. Perhaps even surrounded by other growing living things, but now trapped amongst concrete. Smothered.

The smothered feeling has increased somewhat with the hope of spring being dashed by the news of "yellow dust". You can read a full description on the previous link, but dust storm from Mongolia fly over parts of China, pick up pollution and spread it eastward.

This is a picture of the effects of yellow dust. We took this while driving to Costco. To prevent breathing in the harmful chemicals we have to wear these very fashionable masks.

We like to pretend that we are doctors and professional medical staff but we still feel ridiculous.

But as the weather has been getting warmer we've ventured outside more and more. We can't help it. Even with yellow dust, being outside is necessary for our sanity.

There are two (or three) parks within walking distance of our apartment. Subong Park, Juin Park, and another nameless park that probably is part of Juin. Juin Park/Nameless Park is very close. And very small.

This is Juin Park.

Yes, that's all of it. You see those benches and the trees lining the tiny strip? That's Juin Park.

Here's the front view. Not much to it. However, if you turn and go the opposite direction of the first picture there is a little bigger section of a "park". I say "park" because these two parks are sidewalks with trees on either side, with some exercise equipment around.

Sitting on a bench this is looking to the right towards the exercise equipment.

When we first arrived in Korea we thought the exercise equipment was fascinating. And honestly, I still think it is.

Here are some videos of our first encounters with some equipment at the Seoul Main Institute.

But now at Juin Park there are Twist n' Turn machines.

After taking the above video we were joined by a lady who showed us how it was done.

I'm not convinced that this actually does anything but hey, it's better than nothing.

These next two videos are of Matthew successfully climbing the monkey-bars and me, not-so-successfully attempting the monkey bars.

Do you see any resemblance in our behavior? We spend a lot of time together. =)

And this is looking left, from the bench. The person in the red jacket is near a main street and if you turn right there our institute is about a minutes walk away. So as you can see, there's not much to Juin/Namelss Park.

The first time we visited these parks we scoffed at the size and lack of grass and other park-like things but after being in the city for this long our view point has somewhat been altered. Even these little areas have become mini-havens and we go to get out of our apartment and talk and walk.

Being in the city too long can really mess with your head for what is and isn't nature.

It makes us dizzy.

When we are feeling especially energetic we walk to Subong Park. This park is located near the top of the surrounding area. So the walk is all up hill. All...up...hill. But it's worth it because it is much bigger, more trees, more grass, and...more exercise machines!

This is what I like to call the Moon Walk machine. It's what I imagine moon walking would be like. It's my favorite machine.

This is a 360 degree view of the exercise area at Subong Park while I do the Moon Walk on the machine.

I had really wanted to try the side-to-side machine. But they were occupied frequently but finally I had the chance!

And then I was joined by this Korean gentlemen.

Besides the exercise machines there are other places to walk around, they are all paved concrete areas with trees and grass in enclosed areas.

It's nice to see grass but its definitely for looking only here.

Even the trees are enclosed. Nature is secondary to cement.

This is a view from the top of Subong Park. The red circle is of our apartment. We're the second window from the top. We're on the corner that's circled.

As I said before we use to think it wasn't worth it to go to the park because it wasn't what we were use to but now we enjoy going. Amazing what 8 months in the city will do to you. We are truly appreciative of where we have grown up.

America and more so heaven looks more beautiful everyday.

1 Corinthians 2:9 "However, as it is written: Eye has not seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him..."

We can't wait to be home.

Visit to Insa-dong

2009-04-07T01:06:00.007-04:00

Two Sundays ago, as we were lazying around, I mentioned to Matthew that I wanted to visit Insa-dong again and get some souvenirs for myself. We had gone with Mama during Christmas time, but I had mostly looked and now I wanted to go back and get something. To my surprise he said, "Let's go today." I love his spontaneity. And so we went.

Quickly we showered and got dressed and headed out. It was nearing lunch so Matthew suggested that we eat at Insa-dong for a treat. But I suggested stopping in Iteawon for Thai food at the same place we went with Mama a few months ago. Thai is Matthew's favorite and so we went there first!

The subway ride included many train transfers. And disobeying of signs.

But eventually we made it and were much rewarded! Panang curry...mmmm. Worth every bit of the extra travel time.

Insa-dong was filled with people because it was the weekend. Art galleries were open for viewing and other various types of entertainment. The following video is of a guy we saw immediately upon entering the street. Soccer skills = money. I was wondering if twas worth all the effort, but maybe it's just for fun too. Either way, it was interesting. =)

We browsed the shops and picked up a few items for ourselves but mostly just enjoyed walking together in the new spring air. It's been getting warmer and it was nice to just walk and talk and be somewhere a little different. There are street vendors not only for clothes but food as well.

One place had little dough looking things with the sweet red bean paste inside and so we decided to try them. It was only 1,000 won for 7 of the little pieces.

The outside of the treats were great! Warm and slightly crispy, but the inside was less cooked than we would have liked. We ate half of them and threw away the rest. But life is about experiencing things and we thought, "Why not?"

At one particular place you can walk up a few flights and shop at little shops the whole way around.

This is a view of the different levels and set up. However, what you are also looking through is a clear plastic frame that is set up with the white outlines matching the real outlines. Matthew lined them up and snapped this shot.

There were some fun things to see and at this one spot there were funky sunglasses to try on. I can't read Korean, so I don't know what they were for, and the Koreans were writing something on a pad of paper but we just tried them on and took pictures for fun.

Aren't we cool looking in our shades? =P

As I said it's finally beginning to be spring and we love to see color on the trees and little flowers blooming.

Especially in a city it does your heart good.

Once we finished walking through Insa-dong we decided to have a little dessert/snack before heading back to Incheon. So...we went to McDonalds! Ice cream is cheap and it was close to Insa-dong. On our way across the street to McDonalds we saw this guy selling pig things that looked jello-like. I had Matthew take a video because it was amusing.

As he would pick the pigs up and then throw them down it struck me as very humorous to watch them splat out and then wiggle and jiggle themselves back into a ball shaped golden pig.

Once at McDonald Matthew ordered the food and I went up to find us a table. There were three floors to the McDonalds but on the way up I decided to stop in the bathroom.

For those of you who don't know, in Korea you are not supposed to flush your toilet paper. It clogs things. I thought I'd take a picture to show you a public restroom.

At home I think public bathrooms are nasty but this is even worse for me. Those of you who are reading this and can flush your toilet paper, be thankful.

Matthew and I ate up on the third floor and enjoyed french fries and ice cream.

All too soon it was time to walk back to the station. Luckily it was easy to find from where we were and had an easy ride home.

It may not sound like a grand adventure but it was just fun to get out and do something different. Not having a car can sometimes make you feel trapped and its good to be out and about. I've found it interesting things that I've taken for granted in the United States that I miss in Korea.

We are not living in an impoverished nation. On the contrary they are advanced in many ways, yet each culture has its own comforts. Things that make it home. I miss those. More so, I miss the people who make America home. We pray for you and miss you all.

Matthew the Chef (and other news...)

2009-04-03T01:22:00.019-04:00

After my post on all my cooking, I thought it was only right and fair if I talked about Matthew's cooking.

While at times....okay well....a lot of the time Matthew is funny and goofy. He's a blast to be around and we have great times together. This year has taught us a lot about our relationship and now I know I'll never get sick of being with him, because we're together almost 24/7 and I'm still madly in love.

Okay, back to my point! He is a fun and goofy guy but he also knows how to cook! This has been great for me, especially this term with our new schedules. Matthew has been making most of our lunches for this term and they've been delicious!

Here is one example: Taco Bowl. We have haystack and burritos but he wanted to try something different so using a metal steamer in our oven he form the bowl with our burrito shells and then put all the ingredient inside! It was yummy and a different treat!

Besides regular meals, he also is the smoothie king.

As I said in my other post we've been buying more fruit to keep up with our new fruit smoothie addiction. At E-Mart the last time we went we saw these lovely oranges.

California Oranges!! Produce of USA. We just had to have a picture, but they were really expensive so we didn't buy any. It was still great to see.

Strawberries have finally become reasonably prices so we've had those a lot and I've loved it. They're still not cheap-cheap, but our fruit lady always give us the best bunch and best pricing.

Here's a freshly washed and ready to eat strawberry! God's work is beautiful isn't it?

But Matthew is more than just a great cook, he's been a blessing to me and others spiritually while he's been here. Each term a teacher gives a vespers talk and then we have afterglow time to discuss questions and the topic that was spoken on.

(Matthew speaking for vespers)

(A group at afterglow)

It's a challenge to give a impacting spiritual message and yet make it in simple English. He's done a great job though and the students really respect him and enjoy his classes. When I get students of his, I'm always worried that I won't be as fun or interesting as he is. After all, who can make jokes like Matthew?

Matthew's jokes are famous with his friends, but he has found that the language barrier creates some difficulties. However, he has not give up! Instead he strives to understand their culture and humor and press forward with his jokes!

He was a speaker for Mission Day last term. Mission Day is like a week of prayer in one day. A speaker comes and speaks for all the adult classes at every hour we have adult classes. The speaker ends up saying the same things six or seven times.

This is a video clip of part of his talk. I want you to notice that even though there is a translator the students laugh at Matthew's jokes before they are translated!

So, as you can hear and see, Matthew's joke ability has carried forward and been embraced by all cultures.

As teachers, and especially as speakers we try our best to look professional. Upon our arrival in Korea we noticed some distinct differences in what was...umm.."professional". The following pictures have not been edited in any way and I encourage you to enlarge them for detail.

Not only are the men encouraged to wear pink but even professional business men can be seen with pastel-sequin-sparkle-laden ties. It's something else... Even beyond ties though are the suits.

This is our pastor after a Sabbath sermon. We wish this picture did justice to the color of the suit. Do you see it? It's...silver. Shiny silver.

So even though we want to learn about Korean culture and embrace it, we have decided that some parts are left unembraced. No matter how much I enjoy the color purple I did not want to see Matthew in the flower-lavender-sparkling tie pictured above.

But we are not always worried how we might adjust culturally, sometimes we are made to adjust. Now some of you may have compost piles at your home. And that's fine. But here we call it: food trash. And that is exactly what it is. Any food you didn't eat is to be put in a separate trash bag and put in a separate location.

The following video of of my wonderful husband being my trash hero. This was taken a few months back during our snowy season. I had to upload it on facebook because it was too long for blogger so here it is.

That was back in December and we still have yet to figure out the trash system. Do we need special bags? Are certain days for certain types of trash? Know the first one is true and the second is supposed to be true, but the special trash bags are too expensive to buy and we can't ever figure out the days.

So, we still have not figured it out. So this is how we put out our trash.

As quickly as possible with as little people around as possible. =)

But Matthew is our trash man and does his duty faithfully. In order to make you fully understand the duty it is, I have posted the following videos.

The Steps to Food Trash:

I hope that you have a better appreciation for Matthew's trash duty, and you now understand why he is my trash hero!

Matthew's skills have been broadened beyond just cooking, dressing well, and trash duty. He is also an interpreter! This is a video from the Philippines back in the fall.

Going to Korea seemed like such an adventure when we left America and it has been. We have grown and stretched, parts of us have also wilted and died. I have been blessed beyond measure to be with Matthew. He has encouraged and strengthened me. He is a man of God and a man from God to me.

Ecclesiastes chapter four speaks of relationships like this.

"Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

No matter what the relationship is: husband-wife, sister-brother, grandparents-grandchildren, friend-friend, parent-child...they are all enriched and infinitely better because our a shared relationship with God.

I have been blessed.

Missionaries*

2009-03-28T02:57:00.003-04:00

My wife asked me if I would make a “guest contribution” to our blog. I accepted. Specifically, she asked me if I would write about my spiritual experiences here in South Korea. It’s easy for these types of posts to grow in length as there have been many blessings whilst we’ve been here, so I will tend to the brevity of this post as best I can.

I will begin by sharing with you my previous experiences from when I was a Student Missionary on the Island of Yap, three (3) years ago.

While on Yap, I had a very difficult time in feeling that I was making a positive impact on the lives of the students. Most Student Missionary’s prayers go something like this, “God, don’t let me be ineffective as I try to serve You.” My prayer went something more like this, “God don’t let me negatively affect the students, rather, let me be, if anything, ineffective in their lives.”

So my first year out as a missionary wasn’t so much a year of triumphs and spiritual conquests, but a year of spiritual struggle.

To cut many words into few, this year has been a total reversal from my other experience. It seems that spiritual blessings are boundless and countless. The following paragraphs are short examples of people who have been blessed by God while we’ve been here.

Nearer to the beginning of our time here, I prayed a prayer along these thoughts and words, “God, send me someone my way whom I can influence for You. Amen.” Within the next few days, one of my students asked for Bible Studies.

Wow! How many people come up to you and ask for Bible Studies? Does it get any easier? So during the past few months, my wife and I have been studying the Bible almost every Saturday with a young man and his girlfriend. They are our friends and they trust us. As a result, it is much easier to share with them what the Lord has shown to us in our lives. And it seems that every time they ask a question, the Lord supplies us with answers straight from His Word. We have been able to talk about many things: Where do people go when they die? Is Hell eternal? What guidelines should we have in music, movies and media in general? And many other topics.

What’s very positive is that when we talked about how there should be an apparent difference between Christians and non-Christians, they totally agreed! Paul, the student who asked me if he could study with us, said that there’d be no point to being a Christian unless there was a difference! This attitude makes many topics very simple to discuss. Many people want to hold on to all of their current practices (and sometimes, understandably so), but Paul sees that living for God should, and does, bring positive life changes. He is honest with the difficulty of making life changes, but he is also excited to continue walking with God into healthier lifestyles – mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.

In addition, we just plain, ol’ enjoy spending time with them. It’s a blast to spend time with a young Korean couple discussing various life topics and how God has great plans to give us more enjoyable lives. In the next few weeks, we hope to see a movie with them, go to a park, and possibly go to an amusement park called Everland.

Another man in his mid to upper 30’s was in one of my English classes. He made it very clear during the term (a 2 month period of study) that he had no interest in God, but, rather, was more of an Agnostic or Atheist. I tried my best to share evidences and logical theories which bolstered the existence of God and the authenticity of His Word, while showing some weaknesses in such beliefs as Evolution and Atheism. The term came to an end. I could do little but hope and pray that God had influenced his life and planted some seeds. So I was excited when, looking at the list of students in my religion class for the following term, I saw his name.

As this second term went along, he had no problem sharing with me that he frequently got drunk. This is a very normal and common part of Korea’s culture and society. However, a large portion of our religion class dealt with wine in the Bible. (Did Jesus make wine? The short answer is…no. Jesus made “wine,” but wine, when translated in the KJV time period, could have multiple meanings – a fermented grape drink, or unfermented grape juice.) So I shared with the class evidence which suggested that God doesn’t actually admonish wine, but rather deters its use. Whether or not this portion of the class persuaded him, he recently told me that he had given up drinking. He said he felt much healthier, had more money, and had more time to spend with his family. He really liked not getting drunk! What’s more, he told me that he was thinking about God more and maybe believing in Him.

I don’t know what the future holds for this man and his family, but it is very positive to see someone willing to consider the advantages of alcoholic abstinence.

In my most recent term, a well-learned (as far as English goes) woman was in my class and frequently asked questions, especially about the daily Bible verse we discuss for the first 5 minutes of each class. This one class and verse in particular had her asking many questions. As I tried to accurately and logically answer each of her questions, she gave no indication through facial expressions, emotions, or answers, as to whether or not she agreed with what I was saying. Thus, I came to the conclusion in my mind that she was probably upset with my answers.

At the end of the class, she approached me with more questions. I again answered her questions as best I could – balancing truth with tact. Though, as previously stated, I expected her to show frustration or disagreement, this was not the case. She shared with me how God seemed more clear, and how the answers made sense to her. With this, I swiftly ran to my locker to make the most of the opportunity (I frequently run to my locker to grab a particular book which I hand out as often as I can). I ran back to her and handed her a book, Steps to Jesus. This is the Korean-English, simplified adaption of the book, Steps to Christ. She seemed delighted.

A few weeks ago, before the end of the term, I asked her if she had had a chance to read the book. She said she had, and, in fact, she had read it the night before, and a particular phrase, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” (obviously said by Jesus) had jumped out at her. God is watering those seeds.

Examples like these happen almost daily it seems. It has been really wild. My wife and I wonder if America isn’t really like this too, but untapped. Maybe one of the reasons events like this happen here so frequently is because we make the most of the opportunities we have instead of letting them slip. Perhaps we do this because we feel it’s our job as “missionaries” to talk more about God. Whatever the reason, we want to take this mentality with us wherever we go. It’s a true adventure to see what God has been doing here in South Korea.

*The term "missionary" within the Christian church seems redundant. Shouldn’t a Christian, by default, be a missionary? How have we come up with this term? What exactly defines a “missionary”? Is it getting paid less money? Is it traveling overseas? If we use these determiners, we could almost classify “vacation” as the same. This is a job. I believe we should all work with the same energy to bless and influence those around us – no matter where we work.

Food = Very Important & Frusterating

2009-03-20T04:35:00.012-04:00

Anyone who knows Matthew know that he loves food. As his wife, I really wanted to do my best to impress him with my culinary skills. Most of my own cooking was done last year in my Southern Village apartment with my beloved roommates Kristin and Emily. Kristin and I made up a saying that goes, "If it smells good...it must taste good." It was our way of testing out new seasonings and hoping for the best. My mother and father are both great cooks and so I felt pretty confident as we headed off to Korea.

Cooking food in a foreign country (those of you who have done this already understand) is somewhat frustrating. Okay, actually it was really frustrating at first. All the labels are in Korean and honestly the picture doesn't always match up with what's inside. To complicate matters we are vegetarians and wanted to stay that way so finding food was a challenge.

One time I got a package of curry. (This was curry that we'd looked up on the internet for ingredient and found out it was vegetarian. This method was very common for us when we first came here. Find the web address on the food, look it up, change website to English, and find the ingredients) I was really excited that day. We had been in Incheon for only a short while and so that day I finished my classes and headed to the open markets. Now I am very familiar with these markets, but this was the first time I'd gone by myself. I proudly purchased the necessary ingredient and even happened to find some extra wonderful goodies! I was so excited to have a new and filling meal for my husband when he came home from work.

I cut the vegetables, gently cooked them, cut tofu and baked it, and set the table. All this took longer than it took to type it and so soon I heard Matthew's key in the door. Pride filled my heart as he exclaimed, "Wow! It smells good in here!" I smiled broadly and said that we were having curry! It would be a few minutes more but that would just give him time to put his things away. Happily I opened the curry package and squeezed out the sauce onto all my hard work. At first I stared in disbelief and squeezed the rest of it out, just to make sure. And sure enough-there were chunks of beef. I called Matthew over to see the contaminated sauce covering all my beautiful and hard work. He said we should just get rid of it. Now, at this point we had not been paid yet. We were very careful with our money and it made me feel terrible that I'd wasted money and all that work. To think about throwing it all away was too much and like Meg when her jelly didn't "jell" I burst into tears and went to our bedroom. Poor Matthew. I have such a wonderful husband though. We ended up washing the curry off, and I tried to make my own sauce (it wasn't good but Matthew said he liked it) and we ate. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

Anyways, that whole week was like that. The ingredients were different than I thought or the oven (which doesn't have degrees labeled on it) would cook things wrong, or I'd just mess up. It was a bad week. This video is from the end of that week.

The only success I had that week was my bread. And even that was weird and different. I didn't have whole wheat, so it was all white bread and the yeast is different here and was overpowering.

This is me before I realized about the yeast flavor. I was so excited to make my own bread and have it rise and everything!

But I did make a mess of the kitchen while I did it.

I've had failures in food here in Korea that are very frustrating but I've learned a lot. For instance, I never made my own crust before, but since they don't have anything like that her in Korea (and no shortening) I had to learn to make my own.

This is my first attempt with crust and a veggie-pot pie. It doesn't look pretty but it actually tasted good!

Plus, Matthew liked it...and that's the whole point! Healthy and delicious!

As time has progressed (and I've tried other recipes) I've gotten better. I made this at Christmas for some guests. I'll admit that it's not the prettiest crust, but it's so much better than it had been.

A teacher here, Ruth, is a great cook and so I've learned to ask her about ingredient and whether or not Korea has them. She's been really wonderful to teach me how to make from scratch certain things like condensed milk. I've also just experimented with things. Thankfully I've been able to experiment more successfully because seasonings and spices I'm use to have been sent to me from America =)

One day I wanted to try making lettuce wraps. If any of you have been to PF Changs and had the lettuce wraps you'll know how delicious they are! This was our version. It was decent...but nothing like the real thing.

The things I've learned here have been wonderful for me. I've learned to make more from scratch then I'd ever wanted to know...but now I'm glad that I have and can. I enjoy experimenting with recipes. www.allrecipes.com is a wonderful spot for me. But family is the best place for recipes.

Omelet without cheese but with tomatoes and green peppers. Cheese is really, really expensive here. Actually anything dairy costs a lot so we've learned to not use it in a lot of things or use less.

There is some veggie meat here, you can see our previous post about our expedition to get tons of vegeburger... But when we went to visit Palau we were able to bring back some food that we couldn't get here. Whole wheat, dried beans, seasonings, cream of tartar, and veggie meat! This video was taped the day after presidential elections.

I still fail at making things correctly (choplets were my recent, not-so-good-cooking-experience) but at least now it's not like I'm wasting all the food we have and just spent our last few dollars on food that is now ruined, as it was with the curry experience. =)

There are some good food things about Korea. One that I'd like to share is about ice cream. For about a pint of ice cream it's at least 6,000 won. Anyway, it's much more than it's worth. However, for a bar of ice cream its only 700 won. But...it get better. During the winter most stores sell ice cream for 50% off. So it's only 350 won per ice cream bar. Or (if it was a good exchange rate) 35 cents. We decided to take advantage of this one day...

We still have some left but now spring is here, so I think the 50% off is going to be gone soon. But with spring we're going to try and not have ice cream and instead make fruit smoothies more! Fruit smoothies are our newest love! Matthew says, and I quote, "I think they taste as good, but I like them better because they're healthier." Now that something!

As we have previously posted, eating out is also and adventure and one time we went with two other teachers to a restaurant that we'd heard about but hadn't gone because it was expensive.

VIPS is the name of the restaurant and above are Ruth, Kelly, and myself. We were very happy with this place! It was a buffet and had a better variety than we had seen previously for vegetarians. Taco makings, pizza, create your own pasta, salad, fruit, whole wheat bread, mozzarella cheese w/ tomatoes, and the list went on. mmmmm It was lovely. We did this over last term break to celebrate and have a good time.

But as much as eating out is fun, home food is better.

This video is of us enjoying a food gift from my grandparents! Yay for ChilliMan!

As our love for smoothies as grown we are in a greater need of fruit.

This is the bunch of bananas Matthew got for 3,000 won. It was a great price. Matthew says it were at least twenty bananas!!

When you see beauty in even the way fruit is put together I am convinced over and over that there is a Divine Creator and His hand is in our lives.