"And be Thankful!"

Next week America celebrates the holiday we call Thanksgiving!  Throughout God's Word, we are strongly encouraged to be thankful!  Not when we feel like it, but in all circumstances.  I don't know about you, but I have a hard time doing that. :-)  In Colossians 3, we are told to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness,  and patience.  I am to forgive as the Lord forgave me! And over all of these, I am to put on love.  I am also called to peace and commanded, "And be THANKFUL!"  I have been reflecting on this passage a lot the past few days as I prepare for the week of Thanksgiving activities at ICS-P.  I am so encouraged by the teachers, staff, parents, students, and friends to give thanks in all circumstances.  This past week I have seen compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love demonstrated in so many ways through so many at ICS-P.  I just want to say thank you to the Lord for bringing so many wonderful people into my life - family, friends (near and far), co-workers, students, and parents to teach me these virtues - especially gratitude.  And the list could go on and on.  May I encourage you to spend some time this week reflecting on all for which you can be thankful.  I am so grateful that the pain in my toes has diminished this past week so much that I didn't even think about that pain at all last week! The corn/callous is still there, but at present, there is very little pain.  Would you please pray for me that I will continue to clothe myself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and gratitude?

Last Sunday evening, three staff members from the NICS Home Office came to Pyeongtaek.  We welcomed Member Care Coordinator, Missy Parks along with Lori Newsom (Placement Specialist), and Howard Rich, VP of Operations to ICS-P.  It was a brief visit but we were happy to have them with us until Tuesday morning.  They had some excellent conversations with many of our staff.  The two ladies from ICS-P, who are the local Member Care coordinators for our school, attended a Regional Member Care retreat at Yongsan International School of Seoul on Friday and Saturday.  I am eager to get an update from our local Member Care coordinators, April Mooney and Pam Richards.  As the Director at ICS-P, I was invited to the Haselmans' home for a dinner on Monday evening with the three colleagues from the NICS Home Office.  We had a great time of fellowship, food, and laughter!

NICS staff with the Haselmans and GGG!  Here we are enjoying one of Mylene Haselman's homemade yummy meals!  Clockwise from GGG: Missy Parks, Howard Rich, Lori Newsom, Mylene and Steve Haselman.

                      This is my plate of very tasty food!

Caramelized Banana Splits for dessert!! :-)              

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So thankful for the fun time we had at ICS-P on Tuesday!  It was "Crazy hair and Socks" Day at ICS-P.  I enjoyed a lot of laughter as elementary children came to school with some very interesting hairstyles!  A number of the staff joined in the fun as well.  These days always seem to bring students and teachers together even more in our desire at ICS-P to build relationships and mentor our students. Enjoy some of the crazy hair kids and staff!

Here I am with our beloved facilities man, Mr. Song!

Now a picture with our IT/Computer teacher, Mr. Richards, and one of our Business Office staff, Mrs. Tia Guinn!

GGG with three elementary boys and their strange

hair.  The boy on the left is the "bad" boy who was

chosen to smear me with a pie at Fall Festival!  :-)

I loved this little lady's very creative crazy hair!!  Everyone enjoyed her Coca Cola Hair! :-)

          Another little lady with her crazy hair!

Ms. Hunter with some of her Family Group on Tuesday!

Another very interesting hair style!            

This little man loved his little tower of hair! :-)

    And a couple more cherubs at lunch with their

             family group and their crazy hair!

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I was very thankful for our Boys' and Girls' Volleyball teams as they finished their season.  Thankful to the two coaches who invested their lives into the lives of these young women and men.  Mr. Tony Kuhn and Ms. Laura Johnson coached our Volleyball teams and enjoyed a profitable season with these young people!  Wednesday was our first Basketball game of this season.  Mr. Greener and Mr. Hannings are coaching the Boys' Basketball team and Ms. Dather and Mr. Edwards are coaching the Girls!  The Girls' BBall team won their home opener by one point - a nail biter! The Boys' BBall team didn't fare as well, but according to Coach Greener, they did much better in this first game against the Dalton School than they did in the first game last year.  So thankful for so many who are investing in the lives of our students through basketball as well as many other extracurricular activities.

Ms. Dather and Mr. Edwards with the Girls' Basketball team during

                            a timeout at their first game!

Here are the boys with Coach Greener and Coach 

Hannings during a timeout in their first game!    

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Thursday was a day of two visits to ICS-P from outside organizations!  One of our parents came to talk with me about an organization in Pyeongtaek who heard that her children were students at ICS-P. The organization's purpose is to help foreigners adjust to Korea.  They provide "Good Neighbor Tours" to the community and they offered three trips for our school students and teachers.  We have almost all of the arrangements finalized, but we are so grateful for this new opportunity to give our students some quality Field Trips.  We are on a very tight and limited budget and usually, parents have to pay for the costs involved in the field trips we can take.  These three trips, however, will not cost us anything!  The organization is providing round-trip bus transportation from ICS-P at no cost to us!  They will also provide a lunch for those on the trip!  They will take care of paying the entrance fee for each student and teacher!  Please pray that all of the final arrangements will fall into place for these three trips.  We are taking three different groups of students to three excellent locations.  One trip will go to the COEX Aquarium (one of the largest in Korea); one will travel to the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul, and the other will go to a Korean Folk Village in Suwon!  We are very excited and grateful!

In addition, two gentlemen from Costco Wholesale Warehouse visited with me on Wednesday and returned on Thursday to talk with our Member Care person, April Mooney.  since most of our teachers are members of Costco Warehouse, they didn't need to take advantage of the special offer to become a member.  But I mentioned to the men that one of our problems is getting transportation to and from the Costco Warehouse in Cheonan.  ICS-P does not own a bus (we would love to purchase one, but they cost more than we can afford presently) and our vans are old and there is never enough room to take a lot of our teachers who desire to go.  Thursday the men came back and worked out details with Mrs. Mooney so that they would provide transportation once a month for our staff!  We are excited about this!  So thankful!  The first trip is scheduled for December 1 at 4:30 PM.  Please pray that all goes well.

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Friday was a busy day of working on details for the three field trips mentioned above as well as several meetings.  But one of our special times in the elementary school at ICS-P happens on Friday afternoon at 3:15 right before students go home.  Throughout the week teachers and staff can give a "Golden Ticket" to a student they catch doing something that is a great example of the virtues we are teaching in classes and in our Bible times with the students.  The teacher writes out a golden ticket with the behavior the child exhibited and then the student brings it to my office.  That's where I make a big deal about what they did and then they place the ticket in a big container.  Friday, I wear a strange wig and glasses and Ms. Tia, one of the office staff, puts on her Angry Bird hat and we meet the children in the cafeteria and draw out 3 - 5 tickets.  The students come up and I encourage them and all the students to continue their great behavior and then they get to select a small prize from the big container of toys, games, books, etc.  It's a fun time and children leave for the weekend on a very happy note.  Here are a few pictures from a "Golden Ticket" Friday (I'm not sure which Friday).

Here I am along with Ms. Tia with the elementary

 kids finishing their drum roll for the next Golden

                             Ticket winner!

Grade 1 teacher, Ms. Hunter, leading the three of us in a fun little "Golden Ticket" dance!  The kids were loving it! :-)

Here are some of the elementary cherubs during a Friday "Golden Ticket" assembly!

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I will close this week by sharing the most recent update from Ben Coyner.  You will see that he begins radiation therapy on Tuesday.  I know he would continue to value your prayers on his behalf.

Ben's Update:

Ben's Nov. 17 Medical Updates & Prayer Requests 

Updates:

1) Praise God that Severance Hospital has expedited my new treatment plan! I will begin my six-week program of daily radiation therapy and weekly chemotherapy from Tuesday (11/22).

2) If surgery is needed, it will be done sometime later in 2017.

Prayer Requests:

1) That this new treatment plan will eradicate the tumor by the end of 2016, so I will not need surgery.

2) That I will not be concerned with the side effects of radiation therapy that will happen from December.

3) That I can schedule my daily radiation therapy sessions earlier in the day to still meet with students in Pyeongtaek to help them with the college application process.

4) That I won’t be disappointed with unfavorable treatment results, but focus on the eternal blessings that I have through Christ and my relationship with God.

5) That I will be a more dynamic encourager and effective witness to my school’s students, parents, staff, and the wider community that I interact with in Korea and online.

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I close, once again, by sharing my gratitude to each of you who continue to love and encourage me! Thank you for your emails, regular mail, prayers, and support.  Thank you very much!  Please enjoy a great week of Thanksgiving!

Love, Gregg