A Week to Celebrate Korea!

Each year YISS sets aside a week within our school to celebrate Korea!  It usually happens around the time of Chuseok. Last week, September 23 - 27, was this year's "Celebrate Korea Days."  It was a very busy week, but everyone had a great time celebrating the history and culture of the beautiful country of Korea.  It was also time for Progress Reports to be prepared and emailed to parents. It was a very full week of learning and fun!

It is hard to believe that we are about to begin our third month of the 2013-14 school year! Someone has said, "The start of the school year is a sprint, then you gradually pick up the pace until the end!"  In the very hectic pace of "school stuff" I need to be careful to take time to be alone with the Lord and to really take time for WHO and WHAT is important in His eyes. As one of God's people, I must learn to live a life of purpose and intentionality, saying no to a life of busyness for the sake of being busy. I was challenged by an author, Eugene Peterson right in the middle of this last week.  Peterson has said, "I am busy because I am vain. I want to appear important. Significant.  What better way than to be busy?  The incredible hours, the crowded schedule, and the heavy demands on my time are proof to myself - and to all who will notice - that I am important."  OUCH!!  So true!  If I am not careful, it becomes all about me and my importance!  Peterson goes on to say, "Busyness is the enemy of spirituality.  It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing.  It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God's actions. It is taking charge." I needed to read this during this week!  Please pray that I will continue to make time to find out what God wants each day!

The rest of this post will be mainly pictures of the "Celebrate Korea Days" during this past week"

Monday: 505 Elementary students, teachers, parents, and principals traveled by buses to see the famous non-verbal performance of Nanta!  The entire theater was set aside just for us and the kids and adults enjoyed a very enjoyable performance by five talented actors!  It was quite an undertaking to get everyone on and off the buses and in their seats and then back to school, but we brought everyone back to YISS safely!

Here are some of the 505 students, teachers, and

parents lining up on the street after getting off the 

               buses to enter the theater.

The inside of the Nanta Theater with our students finding their seats.

I took this picture quickly since we weren't really

 supposed to take pictures during the performance.  Four

of our students are taking a bow with the Nanta actors

right after our kids had been selected to  participate in

part of the show!  They had so much fun!!      

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Tuesday:  The main event of this day was the wonderful Taekwondo performance by a group of high school students from Korean public schools.  They did an amazing job to the delight of our elementary students.  A number of our elementary students get involved in the Taekwondo After School Activity at YISS.  It was fun to watch those students as they watched the performers!

One of the many Taekwondo feats performed by this

                group of high school students!

YISS students looking on as the Taekwondo performers did their show!

Another of the many delightful feats the Taekwondo

students performed for our students!           

The performers preparing to take their bow at the

close of the performance.  You can see a couple video

clips on line if you want to see some of the action!

Taking their bow!

Here are the performers with two of their teachers

as well as Mr. Lazor, Mrs. Birmingham and GGG.

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Wednesday - Friday:  On Wednesday students and staff were encouraged to come to school in a Hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) or something that signified a Korean sports team.  Usually on this day we have almost 100 % of the students participating.  It is so much fun!  During this day and Thursday and Friday various classes had cooking demonstrations in their classrooms and/or parents coming in to teach the children traditional Korean games and/or making Korean crafts.  It is so exciting to go from class to class to see the various activities.

I wore my Doosan Bears baseball cap and jersey.  This

is one of the second grade boys with his white Doosan

                        jersey and cap!

Two beautiful ladies in the Elementary Office!  On the right is Mrs. Birmingham, Assistant Principal; on the left is Mrs. Yoo, our elementary secretary - both wearing their Hanboks.

I found out that Jay, one of the high school students who

is an office assistant for us, is a Doosan fan, too!  Jay is a 

great young man and we have been developing a wonderful 

relationship.  Pray as he decides what university he will attend.

Here I am with our gifted elementary secretary, Mrs. Yoo.

  Two elementary cherubs decked out in Hanboks!

Three of my buddies in 3rd and 5th grade modeling their Korean attire!

These Kindergarten angels were so cute!  They wanted

to have a "crazy" pose!  So here it is! :-)        

n

One of our second grade students making
a Korean flag while wearing her Hanbok!





On the right is a husband/wife team preparing
some yummy Korean food for Grade 2 students.

 Two Grade 2D students reading in their Korean outfits!

Grade 3 students making Korean masks.  They had

just eaten a lot of tasty Korean food!!

This is Victor and Pranav painting their masks!

I asked Victor to hold his up to his face!  Pranav's

look is very interesting as he looks at his friend, Victor!

More mask making!

        Another 3rd grade girl making her mask!

One of our recent additions to YISS, Alton, making his mask!

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Yes, it was a busy week - but a very enjoyable one!  This past week I stopped by the Boys' Basketball After School Activity for boys in Grades 2 and 3.  I love to watch the instructor, Mr. T. K. Park interact with the boys.  They were enjoying some basketball drills and then a fun game.  They stopped to have their picture taken.  They are such a fun and crazy group! I love them!

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Thanks so much for all of your prayers, love, encouragement, and support.  Happy October to you!  Where did September go?

Love, Gregg

Happy Chuseok! Gorgeous Weather, Refreshment, Renewed Relationships!!

We have just enjoyed some gorgeous weather for the celebration of Chuseok!  What a wonderful time of renewing relationships with family and friends and enjoying some very tasty Chuseok food!!  At YISS we had three days off for this big holiday in Korea.  They say it is the busiest travel time of the year in Korea - another reason I am glad I do not have a vehicle in Korea.  I love learning more about the culture of Korea and keep learning each year at Chuseok.

Monday and Tuesday were busy days at YISS! Since we were going to have three days off, much had to be done to prepare for this next week - "Celebrate Korea Days!" Each fall, YISS sets aside several school days to celebrate the culture in which we live and operate – Korea!  These days, collectively called “Celebrate Korea Days,” will be held next week, September 23-27. 

As a school, we will have three events in the Elementary School promoting different aspects of the Korean culture.  On Monday, our entire ES (505 with teachers and parent chaperones) will take a field trip to watch the popular Korean show “Nanta.”  On Tuesday, we will host a Taekwondo team and watch a demonstration of this Korean martial art.  On Wednesday, students are invited to wear traditional Korean clothing (Hanbok) or Korean sports outfits to school.

In addition to these events, we also welcome the participation of parents in sharing the Korean culture with our ES classrooms.  There are many ways this happens in the various classes, and some class events led by parents include:

·      Reading a folk tale to the class

·      Making/sharing Korean food with the class

·      Bringing in and playing Korean games

·      Sharing music from Korea/playing a Korean instrument

·      Teaching the class to write in Hangul

The kids, and staff, always love these special days!  Please pray that everything will fall into place and we will all learn more about the beautiful country and people of Korea!

I was also invited to a birthday party for one of our first grade teachers, Mr. Adams!  The parents had made a doughnut tower cake with symbols representing those things that Mr. Adams really enjoys!  It was so much fun seeing the parents and the 1C cherubs respond to this teacher they love so dearly!

Above on the left is Mr. Adams' Doughnut Tower Birthday Cake and Mr. Adams on the right enjoying a special moment with his cherubs as they sing "Happy Birthday" to him!

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On both Monday and Tuesday we still had After School Activities for the kids.  My Discipleship class for 4th and 5th grade boys meets on Tuesday in Quarter One.  There are Discipleship classes Monday through Thursday and 4th and 5th grade students can choose to go to one of them.  They are great times of building relationships and helping these young ones grow in their relationship with the Lord.  I have four delightful boys this quarter!  They are so full of life + one of them has some special learning needs which has created some unique opportunities for me to rest completely on the Lord!  The time goes by so quickly and the boys are full of questions, which I encourage so that we can learn more about God.

Here are my Discipleship Boys for Quarter One: (Left to right) - Henry, Owen, Timothy, and Heemin.  They are enjoying some ice cream that Timothy's mother brought for our time together.  Heemin ate his ice cream cone soooooooo fast!! :-)  I love these boys!!

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During the Chuseok break I was able to meet with a couple Korean friends and enjoy some very yummy food (I know, that is nothing new.)!  One new friend met with me on Wednesday for lunch and great conversation.  His name is John Chu - a new tenor in New Harvest Ministry Choir.  He has been studying at a university in Canada but came back to Korea to do his "Military Service" - a requirement for all Korean men before reaching the age of 30.  John makes his own dark chocolate and brings a new batch each Sunday to choir!  He brought some for me for our Chuseok celebration.  He wanted to try Suji's so that is where we went and enjoyed a great time of food and lively conversation!

John and I enjoying our tasty treats at Suji's!  John

had the Grilled Veggie sandwich.  It looked quite good!

One of my favorites at Suji's - the Eggs Benedict!  I 

substitute the sausage patties for the slices of Canadian

Bacon!  Oh, sooooo good - especially with the salad!!

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On Wednesday evening, Yeongmin Baek invited me to go see a movie (I think it is titled Monsters University) at iPark Mall and then we enjoyed a yummy pasta meal at Amigo's Pasta! We had a wonderful time together!

GGG and Yeongmin enjoying our pasta dishes at Amigos!

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Then Yeongmin invited me to his home on Thursday evening to enjoy, what is becoming a tradition, Chuseok together with his mother and father!  I love visiting them and getting to know them better each time.  Mrs. Baek is an amazing cook and always prepares a table that is FULL of Korean delicacies for Chuseok!  I love each of them and want to eat them all but can't.  Mrs. Baek always gives me several containers of tasty food to take home!  Please pray for this dear family that they may come to believe in Jesus.

Above is the delicious spread of Chuseok goodies

Mrs. Baek had prepared.  Mr. Baek always prepares

         the one yummy meat at the top left.

Here is the wonderful host and hostess as we prepare to eat!

Following dinner Mrs. Baek served fresh tea

(made from fresh tea leaves) and tasty grapes,

apples, and Asian pears!  So good!!

                A close up of the tea and fruit!

All four of us enjoying our Chuseok together!

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I would like to leave you with two items this week:

1 - Our NHM Choir is supposed to meet for rehearsal on Sunday mornings at 8:30.  Usually at 8:30 there are only 3 of us in attendance.  The remainder of the choir slowly comes in and eventually by 9:00 most are there.  It has been something that has been bothering me as I believe this rehearsal time is actually part of our worship.  So this past Sunday I asked Mr. David, the senior choir member, if I could take a few minutes to share something at our afternoon rehearsal following the worship service.  I shared that we are coming into the presence of the King of kings to worship and yet we continue to come late and treat Him as not important.  I shared an experience I had during my freshman year at Wheaton College and encouraged each of us to think of our rehearsals as worship and come into His presence on time, etc.  I wasn't sure how this would be received in the Korean culture.  Later that day on a text messaging free service on most Korean cell phones, Mr. David had written the following message to all choir members:

This Sunday morning instead of only 4 of us on time, there were 11 by 8:30 AM, and almost everyone else arrived by 8:40 - a record!! :-)

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2 - Many of you have been praying for the sale of my home in Bensalem.  Most of you know that the first Agreement of Sale fell through.  This past Wednesday evening when I was enjoying a pasta dinner with Yeongmin, I was sharing with him about my home situation in Bensalem.  He said that he was going to pray for that.  We went back to eating and suddenly on my cell phone an email from the realtor popped up indicating that a cash offer had been made on the home!  I have signed a new Agreement of Sale and now await the next steps.  Thank you for praying that this offer may be the one!  (Later, my sister, Julee indicated that she had been praying about the same time I received the email from my realtor!)  Thank you for continuing to pray!

Please enjoy a wonderful week!  Thank you so much for all of your encouragement, your love, your prayers, and your support!

Love, Gregg

Doughnuts, Pizza, After School Activities = Relationships!!

It was a busy week at YISS!  We had some very nice weather at the beginning of the week and then Thursday more rain came!  Busy times continue but the key in all of these "events" and "activities" is the building of relationships with students and parents!  To me, that is what this is all about!  Thank you for continuing to pray for the many happenings at YISS that help us continue to get to know our students and their families.  It seems like we add a few new students to the elementary school each week.  We have three more coming on September 24.  That is also our week of "Celebrate Korea Days."

This past week we continued our "New Student Lunches" beginning with our first graders.  They are so many new first grade students we have had to have several lunches for them.  It is exciting to see these after our pizza lunch with them.  When they see us now throughout the building, they get so excited and now have this new special relationship with the principals!  It is so cute to greet them and continue to get to know them.

In addition to the "New Student Lunch" this past week, we began our "Doughnuts with Dad" happenings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  We weren't sure how many Dad would come at 7:30 AM to spend time with their children, but we were pleasantly surprised!  There were 28 - 40 Dads who came and had a great time with their son/daughter for 20 minutes and then it was fun to see the children escort their Dads to their classrooms!  One little boy, Pranav, in second grade told his Dad, "Today you are not going to your office; you are coming to my office!"  So many Dads thanked us for having these special times with their children before they head off to work.  It was also a great time for the Dads to make new friends and build relationships with the other Dads who came.  We still have Grades 3, 4, and 5 to come for their "Doughnuts with Dad" the week after Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving).

One of the posters that Mrs. Birmingham

prepared to place all around the school

to advertise for the "Doughnuts with Dad."

Mr. Lazor, our Principal, welcoming Dads and their children in our new Multi Purpose Room!

Some of the Dads and their kids enjoying one another!

Special moments with special children and their Dads!

Some more special Dad-Son moments last week!

I love this one!

Another special picture of a special moment!      

Dads and kids getting their doughnuts and orange juice!

                   So special!  I love this!

Some more very special moments!

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One of the exciting things that the Dads were able to stop and see was our new Elementary Library.  It continues to take shape.  This past week we added new shelving units (they are not pictured in my pictures).  Ms. Creecy, our Elementary Librarian, is certainly enjoying the new Library...and so are the teachers, kids, and parents!  I have found that our Library has been a great place to build relationships with students and parents.  Many parents take advantage of our check out policy for parents and stop by after school or even during school hours.

The hallway leading into the new Elementary Library!

One of our Guardian Way framed creations will be going

on this wall, too.

An area inside the new Library!  Some new shelving

has been added to the left of this area.  Sorry, I didn't

get a picture yet.                       

Another area in the Library.  Behind the shelves on

the left you can see a little of the reading stage that

will be so exciting to use!

One more area inside the new Library!  The kids love

this little spot!  So fun to see them reading in this area!

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After School Activities are in full swing!  The kids are having some great times in their activities. I love going around to each activity (there are between 25 and 30 activities from which children can choose) and watching the instructors and coaches getting involved with building relationships with the students.  I am already beginning to prepare Quarter Two activities.  It is a never ending process, but one that I enjoy.  I thought I would share some pictures from three of the classes this week.  In future blogs I will share more.

Some pictures of our Ceramics After School Activity!

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And now some of our new class, Korean Painting!

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And one more class this week - Arts and Crafts!

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Three big events are coming up at YISS!  First the children, teachers, and staff will enjoy three days off on September 18, 19, and 20 in celebration of Chuseok.  Most Koreans say that this is the biggest holiday in Korea.  It is a harvest time festival and very family-oriented.  If you expect to travel in Korea during those days and don't already have your tickets, you will have a very difficult time getting any.  Traffic on the main highways is packed!!  I am hoping to spend some time with some of my former SYME Korean students during this break.  I will probably be working a little on the After School Activities program.  I know teachers are delighted to have this break.

Chuseok is immediately followed by our special week at YISS called "Celebrate Korea Days."  It is always a neat time where classes focus on the culture of Korea.  Many events happen that highlight the culture, the food, the clothing, the games, etc. of Korea.  The elementary school begins the week on September 23 with a special performance of "Nanta" - a very famous Korean non-verbal drama and dance production that is well known throughout Korea and even other countries now.  I have seen it and am looking forward to it once again.  We will have the entire performance auditorium to ourselves - almost 500 of us including teachers and chaperones!

Another big event that the children and staff in the elementary school are preparing for is our annual Walk-A-Sock-A-Thon.  This year we are sending our funds to the International Justice Mission to assist them in freeing children from child slavery in many countries throughout the world.  Children and staff are encouraged to collect 100 Won coins and put them in a sock.  The kids love doing this and for about 5 weeks prior to the actual event (October 4) our Elementary Chaplain shares the importance of these coins.  Last year we collected over $8,000 and that was only 100 Won coins!  I have two socks full of coins.  I have had the heaviest socks the last two years.  Last year Mrs. Franck finally told the children my secret.  I begin collecting 100 Won coins the day after the Walk-A-Sock-A-Thon for the next year.

That's it for now.  Thanks so much for your prayers, love, encouragement, and support.  This past week I had a coupe days fighting with my acute bronchitis.  Dr. Kim gave me some medications and I am almost back to normal (well, as normal as I can be). :-)  I would especially value your prayers for the sale of my home in Bensalem.  I had an Agreement of Sale, but this past Thursday night my realtor emailed me to inform me that it was withdrawn after the inspection reports. So it is back to the beginning.  The realtor said they had a few others interested so I am praying that one of these will want to buy it.  Thanks for listening and praying.  Please enjoy a great week!

Love,  Gregg