Above is a photo of Mother with all four of her children at the pond at Menno Haven Retirement Village in Chambersburg, PA. My siblings from left to right: Julee, GGG, Jared, and Gae.
M. Romaynne Ruttler Garman poured her unconditional love into each one of us as long as she lived!
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Second, I will share a few highlights from this shortened week at YISS. We only had three days for students this week. Thursday was Children's Day in Korea and students had off in honor of that day. teachers came to YISS to enjoy some professional development sessions with Dr. Thomas Guskey and Dr. Lee Ann Jung from the University of Kentucky. They shared with parents, faculty, and administration on Understanding Standards, Assessments, Grading & Reporting. They presented some very profitable material for our school community to consider.
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On Friday, both students and staff had a day off. However, YISS provided an optional YISS Staff & Family Picnic for teachers and staff and their families. We didn't have any trouble with ants at this picnic. Our trouble was with the rain! :-) However, spirits weren't dampened. We enjoyed the annual Rummage Swap, games of all kinds, activities in the High School gym, and a very tasty feast catered by our friends from "On the Border."
One of the many games YISS staff and families played inside
since it was raining outside. So much fun!
YISS teachers and staff love the food at "On the Border" in Itaewon. Here are some of the delicious elections they catered for our picnic on Friday!
Two of our teachers, Mrs. Gronski and Mrs. Pallesen, enjoying some time with a couple of the staff babies while enjoying their OTB lunch!
Some more of the food OTB brought! The gentleman in the blue shirt is the General Manager of On the Border and he and I have developed a very good friendship over the past three years. His name is John Won, and he will be moving to Pyeongtaek in October (probably) to open an OTB in Pyeongtaek. I told him on Friday that I would be moving there in July to become the Director at the ICS-P. He got very excited!
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At the beginning of the week in the elementary school, the Elementary Media Center featured a celebration of Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books! Ms. Henspeter and her staff had set up various centers and stations in our Elementary Media Center for the younger students to come and enjoy! What a great time we all had! This series by Mo Willems is coming to a close and I am sad about that. :-( The students in the younger grades voted that his books were their favorite. Activities in the Media Center included Photo Booth, Voting Booth, Letter Writing Center, Coloring Station, Bird-on-your-Head Balancing Station, and Reading stations. These were made available for classes during the day + parents were invited to come to the Media Center after school with their children to take part. Kids enjoyed these two very special days very much! So did I!! :-)
Here I am at the Photo Booth in the Media Center having my photo taken with Elephant and Piggie!
This is my smiling Buddy, Emerson, from
Kindergarten. He is reading one of Mo Willems'
books in the Media Center.
Two Kinder students Buddy Reading with one of our Kinder Teaching Assistants, Ms. Lee!
Another Kinder cherub reading a Willems' book
with the Elementary Principal, Mrs. Willetts.
Ms. Hannah, our excellent Media Center assistant helped children with this activity from Willems' book, There is a Bird on Your Head!
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I was invited to a Turkish dinner on Tuesday evening by our Grade 5D teacher, Mr. David Benedict and his wife, Leah! We had been wanting to do this all year and it finally happened. There are about four Turkish restaurants in Itaewon, but the Benedicts think the Kervan Restaurant is the best! After my first visit to Kervan, I found I may not try the others because I liked the yummy food at Kervan so much! :-) We had a delightful time of getting to know each other better and also enjoy some fantastic Turkish food. After the meal, the Benedicts came to my apartment to check it out. They are very interested in moving into my apartment as I will be moving to International Christian School of Pyeongtaek. They loved my apartment and I believe things are going to work out for them to be able to rent it! Another answer to prayer! Please pray for David and Leah as they make arrangements to move and as I prepare for my move on June 4 (clothing, furniture, etc.) and then officially on June 9 (to ICS-P).
Here I am with David and Leah Benedict at Kervan preparing to eat our very delicious Turkish dinner!
One of the yummy selections we shared and enjoyed! Turkish Chicken with Turkish Rice and some tasty sauces!
I am posting this picture because it shows our server, Alican. Alican is from Ankara and met David and Leah when they were serving at school in Ankara! He continues to ask many questions about God and Jesus. I know the Benedicts would appreciate prayer for this wonderful young man!
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Wednesday morning was our weekly devotional time with the headmaster. This past Wednesday was a special time for all of the teachers and staff - especially for me. As we arrived at the auditorium, we were asked to pick up the card of one of the senior students who will begin taking finals this next week and then graduate on May 28. I was in line waiting to get a card and the Lord brought one of my senior students to mind. I wanted to be able to select the card for Raphael. There were many in front of me and I was thinking that I would not be able to get Raphael. When I got to the table, I saw the cards all spread out and I quickly glanced over all of them and could not find "Raphael." I was a little sad and then, for some reason, I decided to pick up a card. Underneath that card was the card for Raphael! I picked it up and went into devotions. There was also a little note card and envelope for each of us to write a note of encouragement, etc. to the person for whom we were praying. I spent the devotional time praying for my good friend, Raphael, and writing a lengthy note to him. I had a great time doing this. Later that day, I ran into Raphael (not literally) :-). I told him that I prayed for him today for his tests and his future. I told him that I try to pray for him every day and thank the Lord for him. He got this huge smile and then grabbed me and hugged me and thanked me for praying for him. He was having a rough day and needed to hear from me. Please keep praying for this dear young man as he seeks to follow the Lord.
This is my wonderful friend, Raphael. It was taken a couple years ago when Raphael was a sophomore at YISS. He will be graduating on May 28 and I hope you will pray for him as he leaves YISS to study and seek what God has in store for him.
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I would appreciate your prayers these last three weeks as I have a number of things on my "To Do List" to accomplish before heading to ICS-P for some one-on-one transition training with the current Director, Mr. Bob Newman and the ICS-P staff. I am confident everything on the list will be accomplished, but each time I sit down to complete the list for YISS, I am usually interrupted in order to take care of another situation. Thank you, as always, for your continued love, encouragement, emails, regular mail, prayers, and support. Enjoy a great week!
Love, Gregg
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