Frantic Finish to my First Year at ICS-Pyeongtaek!

Well, my first year at ICS-Pyeongtaek has come to a close!  Last week were many culminating events.  MS and HS students took their Final Exams on Wednesday through Friday; all three of those days were half days. it is always tough to say "hasta la vista" to students with whom you have built relationships, but I think even more difficult at an international school where there are always students who will leave at the close of the year to go with their families because of being reassigned to a new position and location.  Teachers were bringing closure to the year and beginning to pack up their classrooms so that cleaning can be accomplished during the summer.  Teachers will have their final day on Monday.  Many are heading back to the USA for a break this summer.  They have worked so hard this year and deserve a nice refreshing break. For those who have been praying, we were able to reimburse all faculty and staff the 10% reduction in pay they had taken since the end of December!  It has been exciting to hear how God has met our teachers' needs throughout the year even with the reduction in pay to the staff.  The budget is still tight and we are praying for even more students for the coming year.  Thanks for standing with us.

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Update on the Grade 3 Teacher Position:  So many of you have been praying for this position to be filled.  At the moment of writing this post, we still do not have a definite Grade 3 Teacher.  There is a possibility of one, two, or none after this weekend.  It is a long and complicated story.  This will more than likely be my final post for until I return from my 3-week break this summer, BUT I plan to write an email to update you on what transpires over the weekend and on Monday.  Please continue to pray.

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As I mentioned in the first paragraph, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were half days for students with MS and HS students taking their final exams.  One of the highlights for me this past week during the final exams was when one of our MS teachers came to me and shared the essay of one of the 6th Grade students during the Bible Final Exam. Part of the exam was to write a response to the question: How did you become a Christian or if you are not what are some reasons you are not a Christian? Hannah is a 6th grader and I was so delighted to read her essay.  I am going to share it here.  I must tell you that I took the liberty to edit it in places since Hannah is still growing in her use of the English language especially prepositions.  I have not changed her thoughts and answer, but only corrected some spelling errors and small grammar errors.  What an encouragement her essay was to all of us!

     "How I became a Christian… I used to go to Camp Humphreys School. H.S is not a Christian school, so I didn’t even know what or who Jesus was; I just knew what the word was. I went there for 5years, including kindergarten year. The 5th year of my life in school was ICS-P. I didn’t expect to go there but, it’s a school, it couldn’t be that bad.

     Once I got to the school, I saw something really weird for the first time, but comfortable at the end. It was Bible, I didn’t know what Bible subject was or what Bible actually was. Teachers were talking about: Salvation, God, Jesus, risen, crucified, and etc. It was confusing at the time but became interesting. I asked about why Christ died for us and our sins, and all about it when I wasn’t sure about the Word.

     Don’t get me wrong but, Bible was silly and funny to me, because I didn’t know it was real. Most of the time my parents wouldn’t allow me to believe in those because it was silly or not helpful for my age education. But I didn’t act that I believed in Christ but inside I did. Sometimes I felt down so I talked to my teachers, and they told what Christ told them to me. It was very calming and warm-heart feelings in me. Christ’s word is like a parent’s love.

     In 6th grade, I met a teacher that was my 1st ever favorite teacher.  Mr. Kuhn made Bible much more interesting. When I was feeling threatened or bullied, he was right there to help me and tell students about other student’s feelings. Matthew was very interesting and once I got to Mark, I was confused because, it was similar to Matthew. I noticed it was the same story but in a different vision.

     In conclusion, believing in Christ is amazing, interesting and comfortable like a family. I was very new for the very first time, and now I’m still new to it. It will take a long time to get used to it or get the feeling out of my mind that the Father’s word is new. When people are very sad, I want to tell them to remember Christ and Father that they are always with them. So I’m proud and helpful being a Christian, and Thank you Lord, for being my Savior."

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Monday Funday!  On Monday the elementary school, under the direction of TiNa Lee (Librarian) and Tina Cho (Kindergarten teacher), had a Monday Funday!  These ladies had organized a variety of fun activities for the elementary children to enjoy throughout the day. Each teacher was responsible for an activity and they had various rotations throughout the day.  The kids loved it! The kitchen staff even made snow cones for the kids to enjoy during some of the break times.  Parents came in to assist.  One father loved using his talents in art along with our own teacher, Kathy Lee, at the Face Painting Station.  It was a great day!  Enjoy some of the pictures of some of the events and activities.

Some of the Monday Funday Stations.

GGG having fun playing musical chairs!

              Making a Korean fan!

They even had the opportunity to make homemade ice cream!

Ms. Hunter with the Limbo Station!                  

The kids loved the Face Painting!

Enjoying some ICS-P Snow Cones!                     

Hula Hoops!!

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Tuesday was Kindergarten Graduation!  Our excellent kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Cho, organized a fantastic Kindergarten graduation that took place on Tuesday at 2:00 in our Cafetorium.  The parents loved it.  I posted a couple of the videos on facebook.  Here are some pictures of the special celebration. 

 Here come the kindergarten cherubs!

Still processing!                 

Here they are reciting one of their several poems.  The id such a great job with their recitations and their music and dance.

Right side of the audience.                           

                         And the left side of the audience!

Parents, relatives, friends, and kinder grads going through the refershment buffet after the ceremony!

Another picture of the food line.

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Elementary School's Last Chapel of 2016-17!  Thursday morning was the final Chapel of the year for elementary students.  At the beginning of the Chapel, Grade 1 teacher, Ms. Hunter, usually had various groups of children leading some worship dance songs, which our kids LOVE!  However, she introduced our Korean Culture teacher, Ms. Kathy Lee, to come up to present Mr. Kuhn with a special gift the children had been working on for about 3 weeks!  Tony Kuhn and his wife, Yvonne, will be departing ICS-P this next week to return to the USA for the next chapter in their lives.  Tony has made a huge impact on students throughout the school, but especially with our elementary cherubs.  Ms. Lee and the students had prepared a painting of a pine tree (very significant in Korea) and students and teachers had signed in the various branches of the tree.  They chose Psalm 1:3 as the verse they wanted to place on the painting for Mr. Kuhn.  Here are some pictures from that special presentation.

 Ms. Hunter asking Mr. Kuhn to come

  up to receive a gift from the students!

Ms. Lee just presented the students' gift

to Mr. Kuhn in ES Chapel.        

Mr. Kuhn sharing his gratitude and appreciation to the students for such a thoughtful gift!

Some of the Elementary cherubs surrounding Mr. Kuhn after he received their gift.

Here is the painting with Psalm 1:3 that mS. Lee had worked with the children to prepare for Mr. Kuhn.

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Friday - Pajama Day for Grade 1!  Grade 1 Teacher, Ms. Hunter, planned a Pajama Day for her cherubs on Friday.  Each of the students came in her/his pajamas and most brought one of their favorite stuffed creatures with them.  It was a fun day with which to end the year. 

Grade 1 in their PJs on Friday!

Grade 1 with a silly pose with their stuffed creatures! :-)

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As students left the building on Friday, it was tough saying "Hasta la Vista" to them.  Two young men, Matthew and Billy, came looking for me.  Billy and Matthew are in HS and we have connected this year and are building a great relationship. Billy immediately came and gave me a big bear hug. Matthew is not a hugging type person, but he wanted one, too.  Then his sister, Sarah, wanted to be in the group hug!  Matthew and Sarah don't have the best family situation with Mom and Dad and Sarah will be going to the USA with her mother and Matthew will be staying with his Dad in Korea.  I am so glad that Matthew and Billy will be returning to ICS-P next year.  Thank you for praying for them.

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Saturday Evening ICS-P End-of-Year Staff Picnic! The ICS-P End-of-Year Staff Picnic was held in a little park near the school on Saturday evening.  It is a time that teachers gather to enjoy food, fellowship, worshipping through music, affirming those staff who are departing ICS-P, and just enjoying one another.  The weather was beautiful!  The food was yummy!  The fellowship was excellent!  Lots of kids!  A beautiful setting! A time of prayer!  Enjoy some of the pictures from the special time together on Saturday!

A sample of the delicious food!

Enjoy the remaining pictures of many of the staff children who were present:

I really appreciate each of you who have continued throughout this challenging year to encourage me, love me, care for me, send emails to me, pray for me, and give to me in so many ways!  I am not able to thank you adequately, but please know that you mean so much to me and trust that you will enjoy a great summer and that God will bless you and encourage you.

Love,

Gregg

The School Year is Coming to a Big Finish! One More Week!

This week was a very busy week with many wonderful events culminating in the Graduation ceremony of our nine (9) Seniors on Saturday evening!  I am most likely not going to be able to write a lot this week.  I think that I will just start listing the many events that kept all of us at ICS-Pyeongtaek quite busy this past week!

1 - The BIG news is that on Saturday morning, June 3, right before I left to go to our church's Men's Prayer Breakfast, I received an email from our recent candidate for our Grade 3 Teacher position for 2017-18!  I actually was going to wait to open the email until after the Prayer Breakfast, but gave in and opened it.  Thank you all for standing with us in prayer for our teacher openings this year.  I am happy to announce that our newest teacher at ICS-P for 2017-18 is Ms. Janet Colgain! Yes, Ms. Colgain accepted our offer and is excited about joining our community of teachers, staff, students, and parents at ICS-Pyeongtaek!!! We are on a time crunch now to complete the process for obtaining her visa in order for her to travel to South Korea and teach at ICS-P.  Thank you for praying that all will go smoothly in the visa process for Ms. Colgain!

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2 - Monday, I was asked by the Elementary School Principal at YISS to do a Skype session with the OASIS elementary children during their VBS week!  I was delighted to do this and it was so much fun seeing the cherubs I had worked with - some of them for 6 years!  

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3 - On Tuesday, I had the privilege of sharing during the Middle School Chapel.  The theme for our Chapels this year has been "Put on the WHOLE armor of God."  Since the Middle School has not been doing a lot of music in their Chapels this year, I asked our first-grade teacher, Ms. Hunter, and our fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Gross, to prepare a couple worship/dance songs that centered on the armor of God.  The MS kids loved these cherubs and the ES singers and dancers were so excited to share their songs!  After they finished, I centered in on the piece of armor called the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God!  I was encouraged with the attentiveness of the MS students and they even enjoyed my magic trick using a paper tear that centered on the Word of God and why it is not able to be destroyed.  

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4 - Wednesday I traveled to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul to meet with the Regional Security Officer and the Deputy Regional Security Officer.  Both men were very helpful in giving me some valuable information on how to prepare ICS-Pyeongtaek for emergencies that would require an evacuation of our staff or keeping our students at the school for up to 72 hours if needed.  This will be very valuable to our Leadership team as we review our Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP) for various types of emergencies at the school. They said that at this point that there is no reason to be alarmed, but everyone, especially those in South Korea who are foreigners, to be prepared.  Thanks for praying for us as we evaluate our EPP for the next school year.

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5 - Field Day on Friday!  Yeppers, on Friday, all students were involved in the annual Field Day at ICS-P!  Lots of fun activities organized this year by the Student Council under the direction of Ms. Gaul and Mr. Hannings. Even some of the seniors came to school to help out.  HS and MS students and teachers assisted in the many excellent activities throughout the day.  Some took place in our Gymnasium and some on the community Soccer Field that we are able to use.  During the afternoon, I needed to leave with the Seniors for a final graduation ceremony rehearsal.  So it was a busy day. Below are some of the photos from that day.  I will most likely not place a caption under each of them.  I hope it still gives you an idea of the activities the students enjoyed.  I escaped in time for graduation rehearsal to avoid all of the water activities! :-)

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6 - 2017 ICS-Pyeongtaek Commencement! Saturday was the big day for our nine seniors!  The ceremony began at 5:00 PM at the Shinga Wedding Hall in Songtan, about 25 minutes from the school.  We had the graduation at this location this year instead of our Gym since two of our seniors have mothers who work at the school.  These two ladies usually do most of the decorating and cooking for the ceremony and dinner that follows the ceremony.  We wanted them to just enjoy the special evening rather than doing a lot of preparation and cooking for a big meal. All went well and everyone had a great time as we celebrated the graduation of these fine young people!  I am going to post some pictures so that you can pray for these special young ladies and men as they begin this next chapter in their lives!  It was a great evening and I believe God was honored in this special evening!

Graduation ticket for 2017!

ICS-P Orchestra rehearsing in the ceremony hall!  ICS-P has never had an orchestra until this year!  They continue to do an amazing job!  They performed two pieces for Graduation!

            Sue-eun "Sara" Bae

JuYoung Choi

JiHeon "Jeanie" Chung, Valedictorian!

Ianne Joy Haselman (Business Manager's daughter)

        HyeongJun "Justin" Kim

Kyungin Lee

Mokin Lee accepted his diploma with

a Korean bow to GGG.          

Another picture of Mokin Lee, Salutatorian!

              Sydney Ann Machen

Fumika "Sandra" Okamoto (Cafeteria Cook's Daughter)

Here I am with an amazing young man following the ceremony.  I believe God has great things in store for our Salutatorian and Student Body President, Mokin Lee!

Here I am with Tony Kuhn with Mr. and Mrs. Okamoto and Sandra!  Mark, Sandra's brother took the picture.  He didn't want to be in the picture he said! 

Graduation cake for the Class of 2017!

The beautiful hall where the meal was enjoyed after the ceremony!  Beautifully decorated by the Office staff of ICS-P!

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7 - I have a couple recent pictures of Cora the Conqueror for you.  So many of you have been praying for Cora and her family.  I love these two pictures from this last week.  Everyone loved that Cora was also able to attend her first graduation ceremony!

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8 - Sunday at church, my new friend, Tommy, came to church.  Tommy started coming a year ago but has not been very regular.  When I first met him, we hit it off really well and have enjoyed some wonderful talks.  Tommy is married to a wonderful lady and they have a precious 3-year old daughter.  Tommy speaks very good English, but so far his wife and daughter have not come to the English-speaking service.  They attend the Korean service.  I finally got a couple pictures of him and would ask you to pray for him and his family.  Tommy teaches at an English Academy (Hagwon) and sometimes the hours don't permit him to come to church.  Please pray that he will be able to come and continue to grow in his faith.  He stayed for our Bible study after the regular church service today and it was great to have him take part in the discussion.

          GGG and Tommy at Dae Kwang Church on Sunday!

Tommy wanted to be taller than GGG so we took this one after I bent down to be a little lower!

This is the little daughter of Tommy and his wife!  

Tommy with his beautiful daughter!

   They were at the beach and here is Tommy's daughter

             posing like a model with her cousin! :-)

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OK, I wrote more than I thought I would. :-)  I would appreciate your prayers for this final week for students.  Kindergarten graduation will be on Tuesday at 2:00 PM.  Oh, that reminds me!  Something very exciting happened this past Thursday before lunch!  There was an Elementary School Chapel in the morning and right before lunch, two kinder cherubs came to my office.  Mrs. Lee came to my door and said that she thought I would want to see these little ladies.  They came in with big smiles. The one little one, Iori, had the paper that she is holding in the picture below.  Her friend was very excited to bring her to my office to share the news!  In case you can't read the message she wrote in the photo below, here is what was on it: "I prayed and asked Jesus to be my Saviour.  I am a Christian." :-)  The angels in heaven had a party that day and so did we! 

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I will stop!  Aren't you happy about that? :-)  Thank you so much for your faithful love, care, encouragement, mail, emails, prayers, and gifts!  I trust that you will enjoy a great week!  Yeppers, it is June!  Enjoy!

Love, Gregg