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