Welcome to the VERY Busy Month of May!!

It seems like we just celebrated Christmas, and yet we begin the very busy month of May on Monday!  May is filled with many events at the school as we bring the 2016-17 school year to a close.  This last week of April was also very busy for all of our students and staff.  Our seniors are preparing for their presentations for the Senior Exit Interview in front of a faculty committee and me. Graduation is June 3 and I know they are very excited about that.  I know they would appreciate your prayers.

The week was a warmer week with a nice breeze in the afternoon making it quite enjoyable for being outside.  When I arrived at school early on Monday morning, and almost every day this past week, you could see the village farmers preparing the soil in the fields surrounding ICS-P for the planting of rice. It is so much fun to observe the various stages of the rice planting process all the way through the harvesting process.  I took some pictures of the workers right across from the entrance to ICS-P. Hope you enjoy!

The view from the front of the main building at ICS-P as rice planting begins!  The soccer field we are permitted to use is up on the hill where you can see the fencing and lights behind the buildings.

                     Another view of the rice planting activities.

And another view of the rice planting!                      

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It was also the culminating week of our two soccer teams at ICS-P.  They play their home matches on the community field in the area right behind the rice fields pictured above.  It is a great benefit for us as the village allows us to play our games there without charging any fee.  ICS-P hosted the final tournament for our Division's girls' teams on Friday.  It was  beautiful day and we encouraged teachers to take their classes over to cheer our girls on.  Our Athletics Director, Mr. Greener, and his student assistants did a great job of organizing a wonderful tournament.  Our girls have been improving all season and their coach, Mrs. Hannings, was excited for the tournament with the opportunity to win the championship.  The girls were excited as well, but were a bit concerned when they learned that the 11th player on their team had withdrawn from the school the day before.  We all were sad about that, but I was very proud of our 10 young ladies who played so hard in their games. They were so exhausted, especially after their final game that would have then play another game.  In their final match of the day, they played so hard.  The match against Korea Kent Foreign School ended after the regulation time in a tie.  There was an Overtime period and then it had to be decided on penalty kicks which finally ended in KKFS's favor after the eighth penalty kick.  We were very proud of our girls.

   Some of our students and teachers as well as the opposing team.

Another view prior to the start of one of the matches.  ICS-P was selling snacks and drinks in the raised section.  There were also some of our students up there cheering.

The officials checking the girls' shoes, etc. prior to the match.   

After the officials' checks, the girls greeted each other and shook hands before the match.

      Coach Hannings giving a little pep talk prior to the match.

Coach Hannings praying with the ICS-P girls prior to their match!

A few of our girls during the match!                     

Coach Hannings watching from the sideline as our girls brought the ball in play and then went on to score a goal.

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The KAIAC Boys' Soccer Tournament was held at Cheongna Dalton School in Incheon on Saturday. ICS-P's coach, Mr. Thornton, also saw great improvement in the Boys' team this year.  It was a growing season for the young men.  I was not able to travel to the tournament, but I have heard the final report that our young men played very well and on penalty kicks defeated Korea Kent Foreign School, a school that had beaten ICS-P during the regular season.  That moved them into the match for Third Place against ICS-Uijeongbu.  ICS-P defeated ICS-U to take home 3rd Place in the Conference!  Congratulations to our Boys' Soccer team!  Coach Thornton posted this photo of our ICS-P Soccer young men after their 3rd place finish with a game winning block by Hansol, the young man they are holding!

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On Wednesday this past week, the Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Cho,  asked me to come into Kindergarten to read to her cherubs after Lunch recess time.  Mrs. Cho has done a great job of getting the Kinder cherubs reading and writing this year.  I love reading to any age group, but it is always so much fun reading to Kindergarten students!  My problem is that I always have difficulty selecting just one or two books to read! :-)  I took four books, but ended up reading two of my favorites to read to young children: A Big Guy Took My Ball! by Mo Willems and A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein.  Both authors are a couple of my favorites for children.  I was so excited about reading that I didn't get any photos. :-(  Later Mrs. Cho brought me to handmade "Thank You" notes from her cherubs; one from the girls and one from the boys!  She said they didn't have a lot of time but they wanted to send me some thank you notes.  They didn't have time to make them in color so these are in black and white.  I hope you can read them. :-)

The front of the Girls' Thank You note for me!  I believe it is supposed to be their likeness of me. :-)

The inside of their note to me! :-)  They crack me up!

The outside of the Boys' Thank You note.

The inside of their little note! :-)

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OK, that's about it for this week.  I do have some items of praise and prayer for you though:

1 - It appears that PowerSchool, our school management system, is almost ready to be functional for teachers, parents, and students!  A number of staff have been instrumental in getting this accomplished.  A big thank you to Mr. Richards, Mr. Coyner, Mr. Mooney + all of the teachers who have been so patient and helpful!

2 - This past week I received an email from the NICS Home Office indicating that one of the people who attended our promotional dinner at Camp Humphreys on April 12 had completed an application on the NICS website for our Grade 3 Teacher position!  We were so excited about this!  This lady has 14+ years of teaching experience as well as the following degrees in education: B.A., M. Ed, and Ed. D!  She said she was very impressed with our presentation and she is interested in being interviewed for our Grade 3 position!  One of her strengths is in Reading and Reading Literacy as well as Teacher Leadership.  Would you please pray with us for this lady as we set up an interview with her this coming week?

As always, thank you very much for your faithful love, care, encouragement, emails, mail, prayers, and support.  Please enjoy a great month of May!

Love, Gregg

And It Just Keeps Getting Busier as We Approach May!

Yes, it seems to get busier each week as we approach a very busy month of May!  Thank you for continuing to pray for ICS-P throughout the coming weeks.  The weather is getting warmer and the planting begins in the rice fields near the school.  The Soccer teams finished their regular season on Friday and are preparing for the tournaments this next weekend.  MAP testing has been completed! We are getting closer to getting our PowerSchool student management system back up and functional!  I know this will delight teachers, parents, and students! (Thank you for praying that it will be operational this coming week! Another Promotional Dinner this past week on Tuesday at Camp Humphreys!  We had a few families attend and all were very impressed with the presentation. Several have begun the enrollment process.  One lady was key in getting us connected with another key person on the Base so that we can be invited to future Job Fairs and Orientations on the Humphreys' Base.  Please continue to pray for additional students to enroll for 2017-18! Please also pray that we can connect with the Yongsan Army Base up in Seoul so that we can present the ICS-Pyeongtaek to those families who will be coming down to Camp Humphreys and Osan as that large Base will be closing.

Last Sunday was Resurrection Sunday and our church, Dae Kwang Church, had a delightful Easter Breakfast to begin our Sunday.  At 8:00 AM many of the church fellowship came together for a time of delicious breakfast foods and fellowship prior to our Easter service.  It was an excellent time together and then we enjoyed a wonderful time of celebrating our risen Savior in the worship service.

    Our pastor's wife, Alicia Nicholes, 

      preparing some tasty pancakes!

Pastor Mike Nicholes sharing briefly a passage of Scripture and then welcoming everyone and blessing the food and fellowship.

Some of our members enjoying breakfast!

Some of the yummy items on the buffet!

         Some more delicious taste treats on the breakfast buffet!

Some of the folks enjoying the food and fellowship!

My plate of yummy food!          

Another picture of some of the group eating and sharing with one another!

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We awoke on Monday to rain!  It was a little disappointing to our seniors at ICS-P as this was the day scheduled for their Senior pictures.  They usually take some pictures outside, but with the rain, they needed to adjust things.  They came back from their Senior Photo Shoot pleased with the day.  Please pray for these wonderful young men and ladies as they prepare for their Final Exams in May.  They will also be doing their Senior Exit Presentation and Interview.  One of the graduation requirements at ICS-P is to prepare a presentation based on what they have learned and how our ESLRs (Expected Student Learning Results) have been accomplished in their studies at ICS-P and through their mentoring relationships.  Each senior asks a faculty member to be her/his advisor to prepare them for this Exit Interview.  They then present their presentation to a committee of faculty members including the High School Principal and the Director, me!:-)  I am looking forward to this special time.

On Monday afternoon the rain stopped so that the Soccer teams could practice.  The Boys' Soccer Coach, Mr. Thornton, captured this photo shortly after the rain at ceased.  The cherry blossoms were all still in the trees before the rain, but after the rain, this was the photo he captured beside the soccer field, which has this walkway lined with cherry blossom trees!  I thought it was a great photo.  Enjoy!

Cherry Blossoms after the Monday rain!

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Another time of celebration this week was when our new Grade 5 teacher, Mrs. Gross, received her official and original Teacher Certification!  We had been given permission to hire Mrs. Gross because all she needed to do to complete her certification process was to take several exams.  She had taken them back in January and February and was informed she passed, but we didn't receive the official document until this week!  We are all excited!  Congratulations, Hollie!!

Mrs. Gross and her daughter had just arrived at school in the morning and are showing the official document affirming her Teacher Certification!!  Congratulations!!

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On Thursday after school, our ICS-P Member Care Team had prepared a special time to allow our faculty and staff to present words of encouragement and blessing to our Grade 3 Teacher, Mrs. Anna Jacobo, as Friday would be her final day at ICS-P.  Mr. and Mrs. Jacobo and their four children will be heading to the USA for Mr. Jacobo's next assignment.  Thursday was a great time as almost every staff member shared how they have been touched by the life and teaching of Mrs. Jacobo.  She has been a tremendous teacher of our Grade 3 cherubs.  On Friday, parents from Grade 3 had prepared a party to celebrate all that she has done for their children.  We are going to dearly miss this beautiful lady who bursts forth with love and care and concern for her students!  The Jacobos' three sons are students at ICS-P and they have also impacted the school.  I have especially enjoyed getting to know their oldest child, Isaac.  He is having a bit of a tough time leaving ICS-P.  I know he would value your prayers.

Here is a collection of photos during Thursday and Friday celebrations for Mrs. Jacobo.  Some of her students with parents + a few of the elementary staff who were greatly impacted by Mrs. Jacobo!

Here I am with this dear lady on Friday!

   Very difficult to say Hasta la Vista!

Mrs. Jacobo's oldest, Isaac.  He and I  

usually had conversations every morning

as he waited in the lobby for the end of

teachers' meetings every morning.    

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Please pray for Mr. Kuhn as he will become the Third Grade teacher for the remainder of the year along with many of his other responsibilities.  Please pray for several of us who will be picking up some of those responsibilities.  We want to do them well so that Tony can devote the majority of his time to the Third Grade cherubs.

******* That brings me to an urgent prayer request! We thought that the candidate we offered the Grade 3 teacher position to for the 2017-18 school year was going to accept our offer, but she declined to go elsewhere.  God has provided teachers at ICS-P all year (beginning in August) when an emergency need arises.  I would like to ask you to join us in praying for the person God wants to be the Grade 3 Teacher.  Perhaps you know someone who is a teacher and would love an experience teaching at a small school like ICS-P in beautiful Pyeongtaek, South Korea?  Would you please help us get the word out about our need for a Grade 3 Teacher.  That is the only position we need to complete our staff for 2017-18.  If you, or someone you know, have an interest and would like to know more about the Grade 3 position, please contact me at gregg.garman@icsptk.org .  You could also direct anyone interested to the Network of International Christian Schools (NICS) website to begin the application process.  The website address for NICS is:  www.nics.org .  Thank you for anything you can do to assist us in getting the word out.

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Saturday evening was the Annual Spring Fling for students at ICS-P.  The Student Council put together a great evening of fun and food and laughter for students at ICS-P!  This year's theme is "Beauty and the Beast."  Our Student Council advisor, Ms. Becca Gaul, does a great job with the officers of the Student Council in helping to raise funds for various projects throughout the school. We enjoyed a fantastic evening of fun, food, and fellowship!  It was so great to see the students all dressed up and having a great time together. Here are some pictures from this year's excellent Spring Fling!  

This was at each table setting in the Say Wedding

     Hall for our Spring Fling on Saturday night!

One of the "Beauty and the Beast" flower arrangements at the tables!

My first plate of delicious food from a tremendous assortment of 

foods that the chefs at Say Wedding Hall had prepared for us!    

 Student Council President, Mokin Lee, greeting

the 65 students and staff in attendance.  Ms. Gaul

   said this was one of the most attended Spring

                      Flings at ICS-P!

This was the photo booth area for pictures.  All sorts of props were available for the students and staff.  Here I am with senior Ianne H. and our wonderful Korean teacher and First Grade Teaching Assistant, Ms. Kathy Lee!  They made me wear the crown! :-)

Some of our teachers who were enjoying the evening!         

A table of High School men all decked out in their suits and ties!

              Some of our HS ladies with some more HS men!

Some MS and HS students enjoying a fun time!

They even had a Karaoke machine (these are quite the thing in Korea).    

Here are two of our HS students singing a duet, which everyone enjoyed.  

                                        There was a long line of people waiting to perform Karaoke!  They had such

a great time singing some of their favorite songs!                  

             

Ms. Gaul and Mr. Hannings are presenting the "Best Dressed Man," "Best Dressed Lady," and the "Best Dressed Couple."

And the culminating event of the evening!  The Prince and Princess are announced and then the King and Queen are presented!  King and Queen are on the left, Prince and Princess on the right.

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These final weeks in April and May are going to be very busy and at times, stressful.  I want to thank you for being so faithful all year with your love, care, encouragement, mail, prayers, and support. Your prayers during these final weeks will be GREATLY appreciated!  Many tasks must be completed before I can head back to the States for a bit of a respite.  Thank you!  I will try to keep you posted on when I will be in the States.  I may not be able to do a lot of travel within the States as it will be a much-needed vacation as well as some work that must be done for the school as well. Please enjoy this last week of April.

Love, Gregg

Happy Easter! He has Risen!!

"Don’t be alarmed," the angel said."You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him." Mark 16:6

Happy Easter!  I trust that you will experience a wonderful day of remembering what Jesus accomplished for you to demonstrate His unconditional love for us by suffering, dying, AND coming forth from the grave on that third day!  

We have enjoyed some excellent Spring weather at ICS-P this past week and some very wonderful experiences!  I will try to go as quickly as possible for you this week.  First, here are several Cherry Blossoms' photos near the school.

    This tree is right outside my office

                       windows!

In this picture, you can see some of the Cherry Blossoms going down the side of our main building and leading to the Gymnasium behind it on the left.

This is a picture from the front door of ICS-P looking across to the

Soccer Field we are able to use. To the left is the Elder Care Center.

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1 - Grade 3 Teacher for 2017-18: As of this writing, we have not heard back from the young lady we offered the Grade 3 Teacher position to after interviewing her this past Tuesday.  We would love for her to accept, but we shall see.  Her name is April and she is finishing her studies in Ohio right now.  She said she would have a little more time this weekend to read over the offer and then give us a decision.  She seemed very interested and excited.  Thanks for praying for April!

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2 - Troy Lundy, Comptroller from NICS: We were privileged to have a visit all week from Troy Lundy, the Comptroller at our NICS Home Office.  He spent most of the week working very closely with our Business Manager, Mylene Haselman, helping her with budget items and working on some possible ways that we could reduce our payments for the loan for our gymnasium.  I had some excellent talks with him as well and am praying that we will be able to secure some more students for next year as well as increase the gift income.  Our desire is to repay the 10% cut that all staff took starting at the end of December.  Your prayers are appreciated.

Here we are at the Haselmans' home for dinner on Monday evening.  Mr. Lundy is on my left!

We always have an amazing meal when Mylene cooks! Monday was no exception.  Here is my plate of tasty food!

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3 - A Special Visit from my Former Colleague at YISS, Ms. Shauna Weir: I had heard that one of my dear friends from YISS, Shauna Weir, would be returning for a visit to Seoul in April this year. Shauna left YISS last year to become the Elementary Principal at Rahab's House in Cambodia.  This is a school through the mission organization, Agape International Missions (AIM).  They are working in a town in Cambodia where children are bought and/or kidnapped to go into child slavery and human sex trafficking.  AIM has been used to protect these many of the children in this town.  They teach them and keep them safe and actually are preventing many children from being taken into this horrendous and evil child slavery and sex trafficking.  I had invited Shauna to come to share in our Middle School and High School Chapel on Tuesday so that our students would be aware of this ministry opportunity.  I was so moved at the attention the students gave Ms. Weir as she presented what they could possibly be involved with some day.  One HS girl was very moved by the presentation and has become very interested in learning more about how she could be used in such an organization in the future.  

Not only did Ms. Weir do a great job with our students, but it was a great time of reunion with a couple other teachers and me.  Two of our teachers have worked with Ms. Weir when she was in Seoul at YISS and Jubilee Church.  They were so excited to be reunited with her - even if only for a little bit.  Your prayers for Shauna Weir would be greatly appreciated.

Mini-reunion!!  We were all so excited to see Shauna again and catch up!  Left to right: GGG, Ms. Weir, Ms. Hunter (Grade 1 teacher), and Ms. Lee (Korean Culture Class).

Shauna and Kathy outside Ms. Lee's

           classroom catching up!

Ms. Weir sharing with MS and HS students on Tuesday in Chapel!

           Another picture of Shauna sharing with our students!

And another with Shauna sharing about the area surrounding Rahab's

House, the school where Shauna is Elementary Principal!       

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4 - Promotional Dinners at Osan Air Force Base and Camp Humphreys' Army Base:  Wednesday evening was the first of two promotional dinners at the two US Military bases near Pyeongtaek.  This past week we had a very nice time with some families who came out for the free dinner at the Officers' Club on the Osan AFB.  Many of our teachers came and sat with the families and shared with them about ICS-Pyeongtaek.  After the meal, I shared with them about our school and then we continued chatting with them as long as they had questions.  We had three indicate they would be enrolling their children.  One man said he had some other buddies on base who are interested in coming because of the combination of excellent academics and Christian values being taught at ICS-P.

Please pray for us on Tuesday, April 18, as we will have another promotional dinner at Camp Humphrey's.  We are getting more students coming to ICS-P from both Osan and Camp Humphreys and pray that we can continue to have more of them come to ICS-P.  Below is one of the posters we have been distributing near both of the bases to promote these special dinners.  Thanks for your prayers.

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5 - We are still working on getting our PowerSchool student management system back up and fully functional.  We are close to being able to inform parents that PowerSchool is back up and operating.  John Richards, Ben Coyner, and all of our teachers have been working extra hours in order to get everything we lost back online.  We are grateful that we were able to find some money in order to put PowerSchool in "the clouds" this time so that we will not lose all of the data again! Thanks for continuing to pray.

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6 - If you are available to pray on Monday for us, I would appreciate it.  Mr. Mooney, Mr. Kuhn, and I  will be working on a couple big projects that need to be accomplished before Mr. Kuhn goes into Grade 3 on April 24 to teach the third-grade cherubs for the remainder of the year for Mrs. Jacobo who will depart on April 21.  

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7 - Ben Coyner's most recent update:  I am going to place the letter that Ben wrote this past week to staff concerning his health!  He has made great strides and he is getting back to his normal self. Thanks for continuing to pray for him.  Here is Ben's update:

"Hey, ICS!

More great news today, so I would like to share with you:

Ben's April Praise & Prayer Report!

It has been amazing to see God's work in my life over the past seven months. Thank you for partnering with me and interceding. I hope you have been blessed by the encouraging answered prayers I've experienced. I believe we're close to 100% positive answered prayers. If I were more greedy, I'd suggest we buy some lotto tickets and pray 😆

Answered Prayers!

1) PRAISE GOD that a recent MRI and a needle biopsy have confirmed that there is no cancer cells in my tongue, and no viable cancer cells in my neck. That's 100% no evidence of cancer in Ben 😁

2) Praise God that every week my dry mouth symptoms while reclining have noticeably lessened every week. Over the past several weeks, I have been getting more and better sleep. And last night, I got a new record of 8 hours! My dry mouth this morning was not too bad, so I hope to be very close to normal by next month!

3) Praise God that my taste buds and tongue stinging have improved. There is still much that I can't eat without stinging pain or can't taste much, but the areas of my mouth have healed enough that I can eat a wider range of food textures. My restrictions have many ways improved my diet, so I'm maintaining a healthier weight nowadays!

4) Praise God that I've figured out pretty much all of the logistics of having a fun birthday @ cancer treatment prayers thanksgiving celebration party on April 22. Photo directions and details on my Facebook event. A good blend of people have RSVP-ed and the weather forecast is perfect for a rooftop and then mountain trail (behind the house) party.

5) Praise God that I believe I have been making noticeable progress with a high school student who has exhibited the most challenging psychological issues I've ever encountered. I am blessed to recognize better ways to manage various sensitive issues relating to helping this student.

Our Prayer Requests

To Make God My Praise

During my NHM (New Harvest Ministry, my church) Christmas Service Testimony, I shared that I prayed to strive to make God my praise.

Please pray that:

1). As I talk with people about my cancer recovery, I will confidently point all praise and recognition to God for my surprising results.

That I would also include God's Grace and Provisions during my cancer treatment.

And that I would clearly express how blessed I am to know that God is a real part of my life.

2). And that my comments would be used by the Holy Spirit to equip me to be a more dynamic, effective Witness.

3). Please pray that you will use my story to encourage yourself and others about God's awesome provisions and the real power of intercessory prayers."

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8 - Quick update on Cora Mooney: The Mooneys continue to have doctors' appointments for little Cora, but the past several weeks have been good.  They are both just very tired.  It appears that often children with Down Syndrome have snoring issues.  In order to get enough rest, April and Charlie take turns sleeping in the room with Cora.  One goes to another room and sleeps and the other stays with Cora and does not sleep very well with the loud snoring noises she makes. :-)  The Mooneys appreciate all of you who are praying for them and Cora!  Thanks so much.

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That's it for this week.  I would love to say more but I need to stop for now.  Thank you so much for continuing to love me, care for me, encourage me, pray for me, and support me.  You are so wonderful and I appreciate each one of you.  Happy Easter, once again!  Have a great week!

Love, Gregg