Happy Thanksgiving! Christmas Joys Begin!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!  As many of you know Thanksgiving and Christmas have always been very special times for me!  So much joy and fun with my family growing up and that continued with extended family and friends throughout my life even here in Seoul!  One of the first things that had me reflecting on all that I am thankful for - especially the coming of Jesus Christ - was a picture posted by a friend on facebook.  It was a picture of Memorial Square in my hometown of Chambersburg, PA.  This year they revived the wonderful tradition of having a beautiful Christmas tree in the fountain in the center of Memorial Square!  I love it! Here is the picture that got me into a Thanksgiving and Christmas spirit.  It really doesn't take much for me to have that spirit since I believe the spirit of Christmas, especially, should be every day of the year!

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This past Sunday I was able to make three new friends.  One of them, Andrew, sat next to me at church.  He was my prayer partner during our community prayer time before Pastor Doug's message each week.  We had a great time getting to know each other.  Andrew is a strong believer attending Duke University.  He has been home in Korea for two years doing his required military service. Please pray for him as he finishes his service and returns to study at Duke.  He asked prayer for his sister who is still not a believer.  I hope to get a picture of him in the coming weeks.

After church I was to meet another new friend, Jay Yostanto, an exchange student who has studied at Yonsei University for this past semester.  He was also a member of the Yonsei University Male Choir Glee Club.  We had a delightful brunch at The Flying Pan Blue and some great conversation.  I am hoping to stay in touch with this young man as he returns to California to study.  Please pray for him.

       Here I am with Jay preparing to eat our delicious brunches!

Jay enjoyed the Pancakes with Strawberries and Ricotta

Cheese with a side of sausage!                  

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While waiting for Jay, I saw a high school boy in his school's uniform near me.  He kept glancing at me and finally came over and asked if he could interview me.  I get many of these, but this interview was completely different.  He introduced himself as Soonyong Park, a high school student studying history.  His English was perfect and through his questions, I learned so much about the ancient history of Korea.  I know a little about recent history, but not so much about the past ancient history. We exchanged contact information and he thanked me and left - only to return to say he forgot to give me what he really wanted to give me.  He and nine other Korean high school students had written a book on the new Korean wave that is impacting culture in Korea as well as worldwide.  He is the main editor and author and I am enjoying reading about the contemporary "Korean Wave" culture.  Please pray that we will continue to keep in contact.  Soonyong really wants to continue our conversations.  In fact, he sent me an email of thanks and another question that he hopes I will answer.  Thanks for praying for this new friend, Soonyong (or Edward).

My new friend, Soonyong! The sun was quite bright on Sunday! :-)

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Monday through Thursday at YISS were busy and exciting days!  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the Kindergarten classes were rehearsing on stage for the first time for their concert on Thursday morning!  This was a new experiment.  We decided to have Kinder Christmas Concert in the morning on an early release day.  It went very well!  Many parents and friends came out for the concert at 10:30 AM.  Ms. Weir does an outstanding job of teaching music to the Kinder through second grade cherubs and she chose a mini-musical, One Starry Night, as this year's Kinder Christmas concert. They were fantastic.  Those who had speaking parts did such a great job of telling the story of the birth of Jesus.  You can see more pictures and a video clip on facebook.  They ended the concert with a great song, The Best Present Ever!  I wish you could have been there!

Kindergarten cherubs singing at their Christmas concert on Thursday morning!

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Tuesday was a day full of meeting a new author, Kenn Nesbitt, an old student-friend from PCB days, Tae Cho and his family, and later in the evening, another friend and conductor of the Yonsei University Male Choir Glee Club, Eric Lee!  It was a great day!

Here are some pictures from the Author Visit to YISS.  Our Librarians invited Mr. Kenn Nesbitt to YISS to share his poetry with our elementary children in several different sessions.  He did a great job communicating with each group and the kids loved his crazy and funny voices and actions.  He spent time with teachers in a professional development session after school to share about ways to get kids involved in writing poetry. 

 Ms. Henspeter, Elementary Librarian, had asked students at each

of the sessions to introduce Mr. Nesbitt.  These two from 4th grade

did a wonderful job of introducing Mr. Nesbitt to students in Grades

      4 and 5 at the very first session in the morning on Tuesday!

Mr. Nesbitt getting involved with the students and sharing his passion for writing poetry books for kids.

Part of the first audience enjoying Mr. Nesbitt's presentation!!    

Mr. Nesbitt getting the kids involved in writing a poem!  They loved it!

Some of the books Mr. Nesbitt has written.  Any student who had

purchased a book, or books, had his/her book/s autographed by Mr.

                                             Nesbitt!

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Around lunch time, Tae Cho and his family arrived. What a great reunion we had!  I had not met either of his children, Enoch and Chloe.  That was so much fun!  Then I was informed #3 is on the way!  We had a little tour of the YISS campus, lunch in the cafeteria, and some excellent conversation!  This was the first Tae was back in Korea in over 20 years and he really noticed many changes!  So good to see him and Wisdom and meet the children!  Pray for them as they serve the Lord in New York with the youth had a church there.

Here I am outside the Elementary School offices with my great friend, Tae Cho. His beautiful wife, Wisdom, is on the right holding Chloe.  Daddy is holding Enoch!  So great to see this wonderful family!

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Tuesday evening I met up with Eric Lee, the conductor of the Yonsei University Male Choir Glee Club.  I learned about this men's glee club about 3 years ago and have enjoyed their concerts and Eric's conducting ever since.  It was the first time we were actually able to sit down and talk with each other.  I really love his passion for good music and he is a fantastic conductor.  He recently graduated from Yonsei with a degree in Church Music Conducting.  He is now applying for graduate schools in the USA to earn his Master's in Conducting.  I hope you will pray for my new friend, Eric!

GGG with the conductor of the Yonsei University Male Choir Glee Club, Eric Lee.  He wanted to try Mexican so I was happy to take him to meet my server and friend, August, at Los Amigos!

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Wednesday was a Fun Dress Down Day for Elementary students.  They were encouraged to dress up in the outfit of the career they want to pursue!  Always very interesting to see what they are dreaming about becoming. :-)  Here are just a few pictures of some of the students and teachers on Career Day!

Two girls in Grade 5 in their "dream job" outfits!

Kinder cherubs and their possible careers! :-)

This is my buddy in kindergarten, Isaiah.  He wants to be a chef! 

First thing on Wednesday morning he came to my office to give  

me one of the cookies he "made."                    

Ms. Weir with an up and coming baseball player for my favorite Korean baseball team, the Doosan Bears!!

Ms. Lee, one of our teaching assistants in Kindergarten,

dressed as a policewoman!  GGG is his career suit as 

                                 an educator!

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Thursday was Thanksgiving and we had an Early Release Day as well as the Kindergarten Christmas Concert.  Teachers and administrators remained all day for work for our Accreditation Visit in March.  YISS provided a tasty turkey dinner which everyone enjoyed.  Then they provided three different pies for dessert.  We could choose apple pie, pumpkin pie, or cheesecake with ice cream on top!  Very yummy!

Some pumpkin pie and a cheesecake at the YISS Thanksgiving meal!

There was also yummy apple pie!

My choice was the pumpkin pie with ice cream!             

And then this "bad" Middle School teacher, Ms. Shelly Lewis, photo bombed this picture threatening to eat my pie! :-)

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Then at 3:00 my good friend, Joy Carl, arrived at YISS.  Joy was a teacher with me at SYME and we both had made many wonderful friends with our Korean university students at SYME.  Joy planned her recruiting trip for international students for the Christian school where she works in Michigan so that she could visit China and then South Korea - just in time for the wedding of one our former SYME students and very dear friend, Gunmo Kim!  Gunmo married his beautiful bride, Sujin, on Saturday.  Thursday evening a few of our students from SYME days got together in Itaewon to have a little celebration before the wedding on Saturday.  What a great time we had sharing memories, talking about all sorts of topics, encouraging Gunmo and Sujin, laughing and enjoying yummy food!

Here we are enjoying a wonderful time with Gunmo.  Sujin was suddenly asked by her boss to stay late to work so she came later and she wanted us to go ahead and eat.  What a great time I had with these beautiful people.  Joy Carl and I had developed long-lasting relationships with each of these wonderful men who have a heart for God!  (Clockwise starting on the left: GGG, Joy, Jungmin, Jay, JiSang, and Gunmo!) 

I loved this rolled omelet that came with our Korean

                           grilled chicken!

Chicken and mushrooms on the grill!!                   

When Sujin arrived, I gave them the gift and card that my sister, Julee, had sent for their wedding!  They loved the card and gifts very much!

Here we are at the Netcafe.  What a fantastic time we had here - probably too loud! :-)

Joy and I told the lovebirds about the eating of the cake at American weddings so here is Sujin feeding a piece she cut to Gunmo!

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Saturday was the big day!  Gunmo and Sujin became one!  I am so excited for this beautiful couple as they begin serving the Lord together as one!  I know they would value your prayers as they begin this wonderful journey together.  I was delighted and privileged to have a little part in the ceremony held at the National Library of Korea in Seoul! You can get more pictures on my facebook page which describe more of the ceremony.  So many former SYME students and teachers were in attendance.  So great to see so many of them.  Gunmo was beaming as he processed on to the stage and watched his beautiful bride, Sujin process!  It was a very God-honoring service and there were many cheers and much applause as they became husband and wife

The only glitch was that there were so many more  came than expected.  (Koreans don't really RSVP to weddings so it is always a guess.  I think that is why most have buffets.)  I know Gunmo was a bit sad that he had to tell some of us who were last going in that they ran out of food.  We went to a delightful Korean Buffet near the Library and enjoyed a yummy feast and talked about the wedding and our special memories.  Gunmo would not allow us to pay.  He said we must give him the receipt. I found out that was a Korean custom as well.  If they run out of food, the groom and his family pick up the tab for any who have to go elsewhere.

Here is the happy couple prior to the ceremony in the photography room!

Gunmo, Sujin, and GGG in the photography room prior to the wedding.

I love this picture of Gunmo, Gunmo's Dad, and me!  His Dad

 was beaming the entire ceremony.  I thought it was special that 

  the family had Gunmo's older sister sit in the chair at the front 

  which is reserved for the mother of the groom beside the chair

  for the father of the groom!  God used the accidental death of 

  Gunmo's mother to bring him to know the Lord as his Savior!

In the photography room before the ceremony with some of the SYME folks who attended.  Front row: Joy Carl, Sujin, and GGG.  Back row: JiSang, Jungmin, Chang Yong, Micky, and Jay Chae.  Such a great reunion!

Someone at my seat picked up my camera and took this picture as I shared my congratulatory words to Gunmo and Sujin during the ceremony.  It was such an honor and privilege for me.  My dear friend, Jungmin, is translating into Korean for me. (It's a little blurry; so sorry.)

My copy of the "Wedding Worship" program.  My name really sticks out with all of those Korean words. :-)

Gunmo and Sujin with all of their friends at the close of the ceremony.  I am there.  Can you find me?

This is our group that needed to go to the Korean Buffet for our reception meal.  What a great time we had with some very tasty food.  During our meal, Gunmo called to again apologize and see how we were doing.  Clockwise: GGG, Jungmin, JiSang, Jay Chae, Joy Carl, and Yeongmin! So glad that Yeongmin made it to the wedding.  Afterwards, he said that my message was well written and he understood everything without the Korean translation.

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Sunday after church, I went to one of my favorite brunch restaurants, Tartine's!  I knew it was my favorite server's last day.  Yu Young had to quit to go back to her university to complete her studies. I had picked up a box of chocolate for her, but before I could give her my gift, she had a box of Macnut Crunch for me with a handmade Christmas and thank you card with a special note on the back.  She said that she always looked forward to me coming to tartine's on Saturday or Sunday because I was always smiling and always greeted her and talked with her.  Most customers do not she said.  They just order, eat and leave.  It was a special time today and she said she wants to keep in touch.  Please pray for Yu Young.

This is my usual brunch at Tartine's: Yummy French Toast, Sausage,

 Eggs, and Coffee.  Soooo good!  (The French Toast is the closest to 

                    my mother's and my older sister's, Gae.)

Here I am with Yu Young in front of the famous Tartine's pies!

Yu Young and the Chef with GGG.                   

This is the front of the Christmas/Thank You card Yu Young made for me!

Macnut Crunch with the special note from Yu Young!

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As always, I want to thank you for your continued love, encouragement, emails, notes, packages, and support.  I can't believe that this week brings December already!  So many busy times in the next three weeks.  Your prayers are appreciated.  I trust you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  

Love, 

Gregg

"Gaggie's Good Heart!"/Thanksgiving!

Many of you may ask, "Who is Gaggie?"  Gaggie, Ruth Ruttler, was my grandmother!  She lived to be 94 years old when God called her Home in November of 1991.  Last weekend when I came home from school, I turned on my computer and there was no Internet connection.  I was not happy!  It indicated that my Internet connection through my provider was operating, but it wasn't.  I began searching in my files for the phone number for the English speaking customer service person of the Internet provider I use.  In my search, I discovered a little piece of writing my sister, Julee, had written back in 1990 about our grandmother, Gaggie.  It is entitled Gaggie's Good Heart!  After reading it, I began to realize how addicted I had become to the computer and the Internet.  I began to reflect on the condition of my heart.  I shared some of my thoughts with our elementary school staff on Thursday during our morning devotions.  Spiritual atrophy can attack my heart and it can become cold and callous to the Lord.  If not nourished and nurtured, my heart can become cold and callous to the Lord - leaving me hollow, habitual, and even hypocritical.  It is a heart for God that produces joy, spontaneity, intimacy, and strength.  That is where God meets you and me and relates to us.  As I read and studied the story of King Asa in II Chronicles 15 and 16, how important it is to intimately relate with the One who redeemed me.  God measures my heart by what I treasure (Matthew 6:21), by my thoughts (Matthew 9:4), by my the words that come out of my mouth (Matthew 12:34, and several others, but I will stop for now.  Check out II Chronicles 16:9!!

As I reflected on Gaggie and her good heart and how she allowed her intimate relationship with the Lord to flow naturally out of her heart to all those with whom she came in contact, I began to express my thanksgiving to Him for Gaggie, and so many others in my life, for whom I am so grateful for directing me to what is really important.  Jesus was asked by one of the teachers in the law in the account in Matthew 22: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"  Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.'  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " Please pray that I will love the Lord with ALL my heart so that I can then allow that to flow out of my life with those "neighbors" who are in my life each day!  May I encourage you to spend some time this Thanksgiving, and every day, to be thankful for all that God has shared with you through wonderful people and your intimate time spent with Him.  Especially in today's world, I trust that each of us will let Jesus shine out of us in our responses to those we meet.

At the end of my post this week I am going to place the little piece that my sister, Julee, wrote on January 19, 1990.  It's there if you care to read what it was that triggered my reflection on my heart and all it is so easy to allow spiritual atrophy to set in if not guarded!

One of my favorite pictures of Gaggie!  I am sitting on her lap.  I loved sitting on her lap!! My oldest sister, Gae, is on Gaggie's right; my cousin, Jimmy, is on her left and next to Jimmy is my sister, Julee, the author of Gaggie's Good Heart!

This was at Gaggie and Pappa's 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration.  My younger brother, Jared, is on my right followed by Julee and then Gae.  On my left are four of my cousins and some of the great grandchildren.  We all LOVED Gaggie and Pappa!

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It has been a busy week!  One of my special times each week is during our Chapel and OASIS assemblies on Tuesday morning.  The past two weeks I had the privilege of celebrating those students who were highlighted by their teachers as examples of our Guardian Way - those character qualities that God desires each of us to exemplify in our lives.  I recognized a number of children, but one, in particular, stands out.  Felicia is in Grade 1A was highlighted by her teacher for sharing her wisdom with others in her class to make them feel better.  "Felicia told the class, 'Mistakes make us better because they help us to learn,' and 'If you're making mistakes, that means you're really smart.'" I thought this was very insightful from a first grader!  Thanks, Felicia!

Felicia is the wise cherub in the white shirt at the Fall Book Fair!

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Yes, it was time for our Fall Book Fair!  I love these times!  Many parents will visit the school and assist their children in purchasing good books at great prices.  This year's Book Fair was very well attended and many books were purchased.  The two bookstores who bring books to sell give great prices and then give a % of the sales to our PTO for use in providing additional resources to our Library/Media Center.  One of the things I love about our students at YISS is that they LOVE to read!  It is so fun to watch them browse books and choose some to purchase and read.  So thankful for a school and for parents who continue to promote the reading of good literature.

This only shows part of the main reception/lobby area where the Book Fair is set up.  This picture was taken at a less busy time so you don't see how crowded it was - especially on the first day.

Some girls browsing and chatting about the books they would like.

This little lady is intent on reading while browsing!

Some more children reading alone and some with a parent asking

questions about the books!                           

One of my favorite pictures at the Fair; showing a group of fifth grade boys very excited about finding some books that were on their list!

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In the middle of this busy week, teachers prepared Progress Reports of students in Quarter 2.  It was hard to believe that we were already half way through Quarter 2.  The technology has worked through most of the bugs of the reporting system so this time we were very thankful that everything went much smoother as we read through teachers' comments and Progress Reports and distributed them to parents!

I had two special surprises in my office this week!  The first one was a surprise visit from my colleague and friend, Sylvain Vachon.  Mr. Vachon teaches French at YISS.  His wife is also a teacher at YISS.  Three weeks ago Mrs. Vachon gave birth to a wonderful son! When he was born, he began to have numerous seizures.  Doctors were having trouble finding the source of the problem. The Vachons asked all of us at YISS to pray and Sylvain told me that once the flood of prayers began, their son, J.D., began to improve!  My surprise was that J. D.  and his Daddy came to my office on Thursday!  What a wonderful surprise!  I am so thankful for the great medical report that Daddy gave me.  Please continue to pray for the J. D. and his Mommy and Daddy.

Proud Daddy and J. D. in my office!!

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Thursday after school I went for my appointment with Dr. Park, the doctor who has been working on my corns and callouses on my toes.  I still have a lot of pain in the left two toes, but Dr. Park is not giving up.  Thursday he continued slicing away at the big callous/corn.  He had done some laser treatment the week before and the toe was still in great pain.  He took a surgical knife this time and in the midst of my very strange and loud noises, he sliced and sliced.  When he finished, he said, "I need to see you next Friday.  I think I will give you an injection to ease the pain as I slice."  I think my peculiar noises scared the good doctor! :-)  Thanks for continuing to pray.

After my visit to Dr. Park, I thought I should have a treat for dinner.  I stopped at Pizzarium, a little pizza place near my apartment.  I enjoyed my favorite pizza, Rucola Ranch.  So delicious!!

My very yummy Rucola Ranch Pizza at Pizzarium!

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The second surprise came on Friday morning in the elementary office.  Grade 5D's teacher, Mr. Benedict, brought his class of cherubs to the elementary office to share their Memory Work Assessment.  Mr. Benedict had arranged their memory verses from their Bible study during the last several weeks into a song.  He was using this song as their assessment for this particular study.  The kids did a fantastic job!  I was so impressed and all of the elementary office staff were greatly encouraged by their assessment!  I continue to believe that music is a great key to memory and remembering important things for a long time!  Here is the link to the video clip that I took of the Grade 5D cherubs singing their Bible assessment:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByMZY_Yz73C8S0tDLWkySlVGaU0   If it does not show, you can find it on Facebook.  Here is a picture of the group.  Sorry, it is a bit blurry.

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I want to wish you a very special Thanksgiving this next week.  I am very grateful for each one of you and value your love, encouragement, prayers, and support.  This week I will be preparing for the wonderful wedding of my dear friend, Gunmo Kim and his beautiful lady, Su Jin!  I am very excited for this delightful couple as they become one and serve the Lord together as one.  Thursday evening a number of us will be gathering with Gunmo and Su Jin along with my friend and former colleague at SYME, Joy Carl, to celebrate with Gunmo and Su Jin prior to the special wedding on Saturday, November 28.  I know they would appreciate your prayers for this special day.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving!  Remember - "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it!" ... Proverbs 4:23

Love, Gregg

Below is my sister's piece entitled Gaggie's Good Heart.  I hope you will be encouraged and challenged!

Gaggie's Good Heart!

Gaggie is 92.  She lives in a nursing home and she's special to me for two reasons.  One, I'm a registered nurse at the home, and two, she's my grandmother.

Last night at work I noticed  that her doctor had written two words under his assessment of her for yearly goal planning. "Good heart," he wrote.

He doesn't know how accurate his assessment is.

Gaggie never heard of "cholesterol" or "partially hydrogenated fats" or "lecithin." She didn't know it, but she loved the taste of "cholesterol."  And she taught us, her grandchildren, to love it, too.  We didn't know that fudge sickles, peanut butter and marshmallow crackers and chunks of chocolate from People's Drugstore were possible medical disasters.  WE thought they were Gaggie's love.

Gaggie planned her time, her house and her freezer for the pleasure of others.  The time and thought she put into making me an egg sandwich or slicing a fresh peach from the orchard she lived in made me feel as though I were eating a banquet at a queen's table.

For her, living was serving others.

Gaggie had time for us.  She spent hours at Newberry's Five and Dime Store every Christmas to get "just the right thing" for all nine of her grandchildren.  Then she took more time to arrange all the little gifts in brown shopping bags with handles so they would be removed in "just the right order." To us, those brown bags were gold.

Because all of us were either too fat, too thin or just plain odd-shaped, Gaggie knitted and sewed to make us look as good as she could.  I remember telling her exactly what kind of material I wanted for a dress to wear the first day of school.  She hunted until she found it.

All holidays, including "Children's Day" (I never WAS sure if that holiday really existed) and "May Day." were prepared for with more care than the Macy's Parade.  Gaggie would talk about each celebration for weeks ahead and help us make appropriate decorations out of construction paper, glue, ribbon and whatever she found on sale.  Money was not abundant, but we didn't know it.  We did know that holidays, according to Gaggie, were a perfect time to make people happy.  We took yellow paper baskets full of wonderful kleenex flowers to handicapped people and shut-ins.  We decorated eggs at Easter with Gaggie and then gave ost of them away.

In Gaggie's philosophy, the generation gap was made to be bridged.  For years one of the grandest traditions Gaggie engineered was our "Old Hen Parties."  Eight or so of her friends - really OLD people we thought at the time - would come together with Gaggie's grandchildren on the occasion of the birthday of each person in the group.  We dined on foods usually reserved for Sunday dinner with desserts being the highlight.  And the rest of the evening - the best part of all - we played Bingo. There was an enormous revolving tray in the middle of the table that Gaggie filled with candy and gum of all kinds.  Every time you won a game, you could take a piece off the tray.  At the end of the evening, there would be a wild and crazy game when we filled our cards to use up all the candy.  We left with a big bag of cholesterol-laden candy, but we had learned that OLD people weren't much different from us.

Gaggie saw beauty or good in everything, especially the little things.  It took her forever to open gifts because the "paper was too pretty to be torn."  Her house was always cluttered with cards, papers, drawings, poems or photographs of her grandchildren taped to walls and the refrigerator because, to her, they represented the beautiful in life.  She hoarded everything because she couldn't bear to throw away beauty.

A few years ago, we thought Gaggie was dying.  She was bleeding excessively from an ulcer and finally, with great ambivalence, the family agreed to emergency surgery.  We had little hope that she'd pull through the operation but once again the doctor said she had a good heart.  She fought her way to recovery - feisty, I think is the word the nurses used.

Gaggie's blood cholesterol level is a low 175.  But she doesn't know or care.

Gaggie would say her good heart has little to do with cholesterol.  Her "good heart" is a gift from God, she told me when I was a little girl - without Him her heart was "deceitful and desperately wicked." *

Yes, Doctor, Gaggie does have a good heart!

             Written January 19, 1990 by Julee Huss

*  Holy Bible, Jeremiah 17:9

             Gaggie (Ruth Ruttler) passed away in November, 1991, 22 months after this was written, at the age of 94 - and her cholesterol was 162.

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