Week One!
Yes, Katie and I made it to Korea! And today we are celebrating the end of our first week here as well as our third month of marriage. What a big day, huh? :-) God has been so good to us.
I apologize for the lack of communication on our end (actually, some of you reading may not have even heard that Katie and I were going to Korea???), but it has been a crazy week. And, to be totally honest, it has not been an easy week. It has been good in so many ways, but I think we would both say that it has been harder than we thought it would be...at least initially.
But we are still here, and in spite of all the difficulties so far, we are more sure than ever that this is where God has brought us.
And that is a GOOD thing to be sure of. :-)
First of all, I should say that Katie and I are safe, encouraged, and overall, finally, doing well (although it's taken a good week to get here). On the positive side, the people here have been amazing. The principal and his wife have bent over backward to make us feel at home and loved and cared for. They have been a huge blessing. The owner of the school (a Korean, not much older than I) has also been surprisingly personable and caring. Katie got sick within a day or two of arriving here (apparently a bad case of "stomatitis" - several sores on her lip, which infected her throat and caused lots of swelling and pain), and he personally took us around town twice to find a suitable doctor for us. And the rest of the staff have also been so welcoming and concerned and generous. We really could not be in better hands.
On the difficult side, this week we have gone through physical sickness (and when you don't know the language or the city or where there are doctors or pharmacies, and when you don't have internet or even a phone to call someone when your wife wakes up in the middle of the night in severe pain and needs medicine, it can get pretty stressful...), jet lag, culture shock, 1 day of adjustment before starting work, an extremely hot and humid climate without much A/C (like Memphis on a hot day in July), homesickness, disappointment at our living situation, and work stress (school starts on Friday!).
It's a lot for one week, huh?
But then things like today happen. Today Katie and I went to church with our friends, and there, at this random church in Seoul, Korea, they played "10,000 Reasons" in the worship service. That is the song that we had sung at our wedding. It is such a personal song for both of us, and it was totally a message from God - a still, small voice saying, "This is for you. I'm here with you."
How can you not weep at the great, awesome love of God at times like that?
And to top it all off, today, on our 3 month celebration of marriage, and our 1 week celebration of being in Korea, I took Katie downtown to a Turkish restaurant that one of the guys at school had told me about. That has been a highlight so far. We even got to speak Turkish with the guys there. A little taste of home goes a long ways sometimes. :-)
So thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love, and thank you for your support. We miss you all. Keep praying for us and for CCS. Pray for our students who will be here on Friday. Almost half of them are unsaved. There are a lot of kinks to work out yet before school can start this Friday, but we have a good team and great leaders, and a great, GREAT God.
Enjoy the pictures. :-)
This is looking up our street. We kind of live in a ghetto.
Another view down our street.
And this is our house! We live on the 2nd floor.
It even comes with a home theater. ;-) Ha. Actually, we don't have a living room, and there is only A/C in the kitchen, so we stuck our mattress in there to watch a movie one afternoon.
And this is CCS - Centennial Christian School. A 10 minute walk from our house - up one of the steepest hills I've ever seen. Ugh. How many of my former soccer players out there feel bad for my team this year?? ;-)
Again in front of our house. You might be able to tell that we are both drenched in sweat.
And this was from today - lunch at "Pasha" - our new favorite restaurant in Seoul. I bet you can't tell that Katie is happy. ;-) God is good.
I apologize for the lack of communication on our end (actually, some of you reading may not have even heard that Katie and I were going to Korea???), but it has been a crazy week. And, to be totally honest, it has not been an easy week. It has been good in so many ways, but I think we would both say that it has been harder than we thought it would be...at least initially.
But we are still here, and in spite of all the difficulties so far, we are more sure than ever that this is where God has brought us.
And that is a GOOD thing to be sure of. :-)
First of all, I should say that Katie and I are safe, encouraged, and overall, finally, doing well (although it's taken a good week to get here). On the positive side, the people here have been amazing. The principal and his wife have bent over backward to make us feel at home and loved and cared for. They have been a huge blessing. The owner of the school (a Korean, not much older than I) has also been surprisingly personable and caring. Katie got sick within a day or two of arriving here (apparently a bad case of "stomatitis" - several sores on her lip, which infected her throat and caused lots of swelling and pain), and he personally took us around town twice to find a suitable doctor for us. And the rest of the staff have also been so welcoming and concerned and generous. We really could not be in better hands.
On the difficult side, this week we have gone through physical sickness (and when you don't know the language or the city or where there are doctors or pharmacies, and when you don't have internet or even a phone to call someone when your wife wakes up in the middle of the night in severe pain and needs medicine, it can get pretty stressful...), jet lag, culture shock, 1 day of adjustment before starting work, an extremely hot and humid climate without much A/C (like Memphis on a hot day in July), homesickness, disappointment at our living situation, and work stress (school starts on Friday!).
It's a lot for one week, huh?
But then things like today happen. Today Katie and I went to church with our friends, and there, at this random church in Seoul, Korea, they played "10,000 Reasons" in the worship service. That is the song that we had sung at our wedding. It is such a personal song for both of us, and it was totally a message from God - a still, small voice saying, "This is for you. I'm here with you."
How can you not weep at the great, awesome love of God at times like that?
And to top it all off, today, on our 3 month celebration of marriage, and our 1 week celebration of being in Korea, I took Katie downtown to a Turkish restaurant that one of the guys at school had told me about. That has been a highlight so far. We even got to speak Turkish with the guys there. A little taste of home goes a long ways sometimes. :-)
So thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love, and thank you for your support. We miss you all. Keep praying for us and for CCS. Pray for our students who will be here on Friday. Almost half of them are unsaved. There are a lot of kinks to work out yet before school can start this Friday, but we have a good team and great leaders, and a great, GREAT God.
Enjoy the pictures. :-)
It sounds like a very trying week for you guys. So glad to see that you found a Turkish restaurant to enjoy! (I bet you will become very frequent customers there)!!! :)
ReplyDeleteHey guys! So glad to know God has brought you through the first week! Soon the weeks will be flying by! Praying for you! Stina
ReplyDeleteWow... What a week! My prayer is that The Lord will show you what obedience looks like and that He will give you the ability to live it out. Also, for healing! Blessings guys.
ReplyDeleteI hope next week is better. I think that it will be exciting to meet your students and begin your true adventure--working with an international group of children. I pray that God blesses your year as you teach these children.
ReplyDeleteA Greta and U Ray
Your Mother is showing me how to answer your blog. We are glad you are safe and sound in Korea. We look forward to hearing all about your stay there. We love the pictures.
ReplyDelete