can't a girl want to go to church to hear, I don't know, the sermon?!?!

I've visited a few churches in my short life for various reasons. Having grown up in a small Baptist church, I wanted to see what other churches did in their services. In college, this seemed the trend among friends at least the first part of freshman year. We'd arrive and get greeted by a sweet saint stationed at the door with bulletins or what not with some quick guidance for a seat. If a conversation popped up among a member of our parents' age, the topic would get to relationships, finding a husband/wife. As freshmen in college that didn't seem to bother my circle of friends, but was a matter we trusted God to work out the details to.
Through college and finding that church that fit, these conversations tapered off unless someone who wasn't familiar with us came to church that day.

I must interject here that I do want a marriage one day that God sets. I desire a godly husband to lead a family that God should give me.  I believe that this is a natural, God-honoring desire that all Christians have. I do not begrudge anyone for wanting to get to know me and asking these questions about my marital status.

That is NOT my reason for going to church.

I was raised as a preacher's kid and we went to church to be part of worshiping our great God, not expanding our social circle or possibility of a future mate. My parents never used those expressions in our church attendance. Granted, I have met some of my lifelong friends in church and have been blessed by other church members connections in the community. This should not be the sole reason we gather with other believers to worship our risen Savior.

As college ended and I started teaching, I'd get a few invites to a church or two because "there's this single guy you should meet". One friend told me of someone at their church who "wasn't much to look at, but was a solid Christian". I felt bad for this guy getting set up with this first impression put in this girl's mind. (I never did meet that guy, btw).

I so appreciate my married friends wanting to see me as happy as they are in their marriages. Yes, I desire that for myself if God has that for me.

But is that why I go to church? As a single girl, there was a time in my life that I thought the magic formula to meeting who God had for me was to find the PERFECT singles' small group at a local church. As I was going about trying to find who God had for me, I'd fall on my face in my futile attempts to bring about what I thought was a good idea. The story of Abraham and Hagar came to mind quite often.

God does have a plan for his children, sometimes it may include marriage, sometimes not.

God is still God.

Living in Korea this past year and a half, I have been wonderfully free from so many of these kinds of questions. Coming home to Arkansas I've been asked a lot of the basic questions about life in Korea including those about relationship status. When I get asked this within ten minutes of reuniting with someone, it's a quick reminder of where I am again.

Yeah, I hope that God has that in His plan for me someday soon. But there's more than that going on with this girl.

November happenings

To say that the second year in Korea has been full of many different things than the first is quite understated and overstated. 

As I have come into round two of a familiar lifestyle that was so foreign a year ago, I find I am still getting to know Korea and am discovering firsts even now. Has the honeymoon come to an end though? In some ways, yes. The fascination of riding the subway has diminished some for this small town Arkansas girl. The last few times I've been on it, I've found myself irked at the cultural norms that are present on the subway. The pushing and shoving that goes on unapologetically- it's starting to get on my nerves. 

A few weeks ago, I went to a festival that I enjoyed last year with some first time visitors after I'd raved about to them. So many times in my life, I've found that doing something for the second time does not compare well to the first occurrence. I've had to tell myself in the past that the two instances are going to be highly different and not to compare them. Well, I didn't do that when it came to this visit. The lantern festival I got to go to last year was a lot of fun and showed me a peek into some of the Korean culture I was getting to know. This year, apparently everyone in Seoul wanted to go to it the night I chose to take some first time visitors. There were so many people-it was wall-to-wall people. Imagine a deadlocked highway during rush hour, but this was with people. There was no moving. 

I nearly had a panic attack and all enjoyment of the evening dissipated like the wind. Our group got separated, but managed to find something besides the near panic attack feeling to focus on. 

The best thing happened this past month- my best friend came to visit me in Korea. Sometimes it seems like a dream that she came all that way to see me, but it DID happen! 

Mid-October she'd joked about coming and of course I did not think it was a crazy idea of coming, but she KEPT talking about coming and bought the tickets. The days went so slowly until she arrived, but they did come and SO DID SHE! 

Our first of many pics together over the fun days we had.

 We had a great view the day we went to Namsan tower in Seoul.

 Namsan is a great spot to see the city. The fall colors were really popping that day.

On the mountain was a museum called the Alive museum with pictures we could be part of. We had a little bit of fun with these. 

 Michael Jackson and Albert Einstein even helped us out.

 Diana learned how bad smoking is for your health

 trying a few different restaurants. Above is a Belgian chocolate restaurant with chocolate everything. Delicious but expensive. Below was from the Korean BBQ I took her to.

 Our palace excursion day was a little windy. :)

 Fall colors were so gorgeous still thankfully.

Looking at these pictures now, I still can't believe she came. She's the best. One of my coworkers said they couldn't think of a friend who had come to visit someone here in their time in Korea. Di is pretty awesome like that. So thankful she came. :)

THANKSGIVING

First Thanksgiving in Korea. Last year, I got to go to Taiwan for the weekend and visit some other Beans. This year, I stayed in Korea and had two different celebrations. One with the small group at church; another with some coworkers. Both were on an American base though, which was kinda funny. 

 I skyped home with my brothers and parents; Mary facetimed and we were all in "one" place.

 thanksgiving at Camp Red Cloud

 Thanksgiving at Yongsan Base with the small group from church

the church gave us selfie sticks to embrace our inner Asian haha. 

November has been so quick and it's coming to an end in a few hours. I'm ready to be home and see my parents, siblings, and friends. Please keep me in your prayers! God is still in the business of stretching and challenging his children. I feel those growing pains keenly. 

thanking God for each day,

Rebecca 

R2

Arkansan in Asia

This picture seems to sum me up lately. Arkansan at heart, living in Asia, becoming chopstick proficient.


I ask your prayers as I pursue God's will for my life in Korea. I have been in prayer over where God wants me after my initial 2 year contract expires. God brought me to Korea and has not indicated I should leave.

So...year 3 is soon to be its own hashtag! (for those that follow me on social media outlets) :)

I've had a load of adventures this semester that I will definitely share about soon.
Please continue to have me in prayer!

God bless~
Rebecca

And we're off! Here comes year 2!

Year 2 in Korea has started!

Woohoo! So far so good!
Here are a few pics of my classroom with some pinterest inspiration put to the walls. :)

 Here is the main pinterest inspired creation with the challenging "BE"s for the year.

 The window here says "What are you reading?" and has info on the different genres.

 My awesome coworkers at ICS for year 2! Elementary, my dear!

So many people have asked me in one way or another if I'm planning on returning to ICS for a third year. And I have an answer for them.






I don't know yet.


I'm trusting God to give me direction for where he wants me wherever that may be.

I haven't had a "sign" from God about what to do, but I'm praying for direction to know His will. Please pray for me as I seek His face and His will for the future.

last days

The last days of the school year at ICS are traditionally VBS days for the elementary. Since we have half days that week with the high school students taking exams, it works well for the elementary schedule. This year's theme was "Weird Animals: how Jesus' love is unique and one-of-a-kind" Students learned about how Jesus loves us even when we are left out, afraid, confused, and do wrong. It was a fun way to end the year together.

The last official day is reserved for class parties and awards. With it being a half day, it is a challenge to get everything in to the shorter schedule.
I had been working on a video gift for my students of pictures of them this year. A coworker showed me how to upload it to youtube even! So, i'm feeling pretty tech savvy now.

This group of kids has been fun, and I will miss them lots. Most are returning next year, so I'm thankful to keep that connection going through another year.

Here is the video of my awesome eight.

Personality Tests, Wrong Names, Yams, and such

I've come to the realization that I'm a terrible blogger. I wanted to be one of those once a week or so bloggers, but that's not me. I get caught up in the action of life and forget to sit and contemplate it sometimes. That makes me sad because there has been so much that has happened to me that has taught me some hard lessons.
I've been pondering what lessons I've been learning, because I know I'll be asked this question several times this summer when I'm home. I want to be ready to give an honest answer, but trying to pinpoint and describe what I've learned here seems like an invasion of privacy. You might say, "Well, you're going to tell us anyway since you're blogging (finally)" and you'd be partially correct. But there have been things that are definitely between me and God and I treasure the preciousness of those moments and lessons. My True Friend has been a support for me that I hadn't known until moving here. He is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother!

One of the big lessons I've learned and one that I will share was related to a myriad of personality tests I was required to take not once but twice in the last year. I have always despised personality tests that seem to pinpoint a person to the letter of exactly who they were according to a random assortment of questions and answers. I always felt those tests did people a disservice by limiting who they were to some category. At my pre-field training in June, we had to take a variety of tests which helped in determining our fit for what we were about to go through in transitioning to a new country. This year with our mentoring assignments, we had to take a few more (oh joy!) personality tests. I apparently expressed my distaste for said tests to my roommates rather loudly and did not want to discuss my results a second time in less than a year. But, in processing the results from June and this past winter and in having a candid discussion with a friend, I came to realize how these tests don't limit us to a said category or what-not, but most help to help us find a niche to serve best. The verse from Psalm 139 about being fearfully and wonderfully made echoed in my mind often as I dwelt on my results and the fact that the results, in my case, were a true indicator of the personality I have. The big takeaway I have from this dual testing session is that I am who I am as God made me. That may seem simple and I would say that it is, but I have grown in my confidence in who I am as a child of God. I heard a quote recently that said something to the effect that we, as believers, need to know who we are and whose we are. That has been a big lesson I've learned in my first year in Korea!

I have 8 students that have made my life in Korea full. They are a ridiculous, precious, intelligent, crazy bunch and I love them.  I have taught them the Scripture songs that I grew up singing with my parents at school and home and they LOVE getting to sing them. I introduced the song from Psalm 89:1 just this past week, even telling them the "once more" part we'd add at our school in Little Rock to sing it a second time....and they start doing it too! I had them listen to the video description of Jesus by S.M. Lockridge called "That's My King" in September. Anytime I ask for requests for a video I get that suggestion, so of course we watch it. That my 8 third graders want to listen to that video so frequently thrills me each time.
These kids have been great for me and I hope I've been great for them too. With them, I've explored a botanical garden, sledded on a frozen rice paddy, practiced archery near a pig farm, and shared laughs galore about a plethora of things (like yams). I will really miss these kids and their forgiving and teasing nature.
With 8 students, you'd think I'd get all their names perfectly and never call one by another's name. I have 3 students with a name beginning with an "A", two with an "S", and 2 with a "J".....this girl gets tripped up on names with so many similar starts! Even my 8th man by himself gets called one of the others' names! One of the boys drew a picture of me calling on a student asking if he was ready to begin a game; the student's response was a statement that they weren't who I said at the start of my sentence! I roll my eyes at myself so much!


A part of me is beyond thrilled that it's mid-May, that the number of remaining school days are in the teens, and that I am getting to go home for almost 2 months. But a part of me is really going to miss these kids and the fun we've had.

This girl came to Korea to teach and has spent probably more time learning.

Please keep me in your prayers as I wrap up year one.
God bless
Rebecca

The Driving Story (AKA the unexpected Seoul excursion)

There's a common saying that you don't realize how good things are until they're gone.
I can relate to that somewhat after this weekend.

Transportation in Korea is one thing I have come to enjoy using and depending on its reliability. The idea of driving myself somewhere is strange but still somewhat familiar. It's such an American idea of having your own mode of transportation, and only you and your family getting to use said mode. I have come to miss listening to the radio and the peace and quiet of solo drives. Korea has made me appreciate being driven around and has given me patience in the midst of mass transit, be it subway or bus-and even taxi.

This past weekend, my roommate Kim and I were going to a conference on teaching strategies that promised to be very practical. We were both excited to go, but did not like the idea of nearly two hours on the subway at an ungodly early time on a Saturday morning. The idea of borrowing a car came up and quickly became a legitimate possibility for our trip, saving us time in travel and giving us extra sleep time (win-win!)

The day came and we had GPS and directions from people who'd been to the school where the conference was held. Having access to a vehicle and not being dependent on a subway timetable or having to stand for the 2 hours to our destination was so appealing and foreign to this girl who's almost used to going without that nice amenity.

We had to be at the school (we thought) at 8:30 that morning, so we set out just after 7 to make sure we had plenty of time to make it there. Our directions were detailed and informative, however, one wrong turn in Korea can get you lost and there's almost no returning to where you were when you originally got lost. Very few of the easy-off-easy-on access from highways like in the States.

Kim was doing superbly with the driving, being much more experienced at it than I am. (I haven't driven at all in Korea-just to clarify) As the navigator, I was determined to aid her in getting us to our location as well as I could. I noticed our written directions indicated we were to get off when we saw an intersecting highway, and when that highway number popped up on an exit sign-we exited, but found it was in vain. Thankfully that exit did have easy access back to the major highway we'd been on and we continued.  To double check ourselves on our directions, I called the wonderful-giver-of-the-directions (our boss) who patiently explained them again to us (even though I'm pretty sure I woke him in calling him eh-heh). After his patient and detailed explanation, I asked him how long it should take us before our exit.
That's when we realized we'd gone the opposite direction of our destination and he told us we'd double our travel time by heading that way.
uh oh...
So we probably weren't going to make it on time, but we persevered and kept on trucking.

After going through the zillionth toll booth that morning, we got off the highway at the next exit in order to find a spot to turn around, which NEVER came.
We're driving and driving with no idea where we are (except of course, that we're in Korea).
Kim and I started thinking about options. Should we ditch the whole conference idea? It was a gorgeous day and we could go enjoy the lovely spring day. Should we go to the nearest subway station and go from there by train? These and several other options came up.

As we're meandering along, we are driving along a river that winds through the middle of Seoul,
with a plethora of interesting sights to notice. Our focus for some of that leg of the trip became our surroundings.

 The building in the bottom picture is the 63 building, the tallest in Korea.

And the highway we were on had some interesting parts things to see as well...

anyway....we got the GPS to work....or so we thought and we continued on thinking we'd make it but a little late.
Well, our GPS, which had an address we'd gotten from an official website, took us not to our destination, but somewhere we had no idea what it was.

Driving around that area a few minutes we realized we were semi-close, but weren't getting there on our own. Kim decided to ask a taxi driver to lead us there and we'd follow. That in the end was what got us there AT LAST at 9:30!
We found out later that it started at 9....so only a half hour late.

The trip was quite taxing and made me thankful that our 2nd day we could take a subway and not have to deal with directions like we did that day.

It was such a gorgeous day with the cherry blossoms coming in, I had to take a few pictures to remember it all :)

 at lunch outside enjoying the cherry blossoms

                                   Kim :)

 Different parts of the city I'd never seen before as we were on the subway