Another Cold Week as We Come to the End of January!

Thank you very much for your emails and prayers concerning the new drop off and pick up procedures at ICS-P due to the road construction!  Last Monday morning, we began the new procedures in bitterly cold weather.  Our first day went extremely well and the process continued to operate even more smoothly and efficiently throughout the week in spite of the frigid weather.   Most parents had read the material we sent out to them and that made the changes go even more smoothly.  We only had a few problems with students being dropped off or picked up by taxis.  But even most of the taxi drivers were understanding the new process by the end of the week.  We had several parents comment that they really like the new procedures and hope we will continue them even after the road construction is completed.  Again, thank you for your encouraging emails and prayers.

I also want to thank you for your emails and prayers for the former student from ICS-P who is now at a high school in California.  I have had several phone calls from JC this past week and he is doing much better.  I spoke with him Sunday morning and he shared with me a Google Document that he put together to help him with his struggles so that he develops good habits.  He is including on the Google Doc about getting started in a daily reading of the Bible.  Thank you for your prayers.  Several of you wrote with suggestions of persons in the California area who may be able to be a help to JC.  Thanks so much.  Please continue to pray for this dear young man.

This will be a shorter post as I am not feeling so well as I write this.  I started Friday evening to have some spinning sensations.  I particularly noticed them when I got up from a chair or got out of bed.  On Saturday morning, I got up and went to our church's Men's Prayer Breakfast and was feeling pretty good.  Following the prayer breakfast, I met with a former SYME student and dear friend, David Baek.  After our meeting (I will share a bit more about David and our meeting later in the post), I drove back to my apartment and was feeling nauseous and burping a lot.  I also began to have the spinning sensation again and getting headaches.  When I would lie down, things got better, but returned shortly after getting out of bed.  I was able to sleep OK, but I didn't go to church on Sunday because I woke up to the spinning sensations and nausea and burping.  It is somewhat better, but I have been advised to see my doctor in Itaewon on Monday as soon as possible since it could be a bigger problem.  I would value your prayers.

As I mentioned, Dae Kwang Church had its monthly Men's Prayer Breakfast on Saturday.  We had this one at the new Attractive Coffee shop.  The shop moved from its former location to a much larger facility and is now opens Monday through Friday at 5:00 AM, AND it is now serving breakfast and lunch items along with the delicious coffee!  In Korea, it is very hard to find coffee shops that open before 9:00 AM.  Some open at 7:00 or 8:00, but not very many.

We had an enjoyable breakfast and Pastor Mike shared a brief study of what Proverbs says about finances and handling money.  I always enjoy the fellowship and studies and then our prayer time at the close of our time together. 

Dae Kwang Church's Men's Prayer Breakfast on Saturday!  (Sorry for the blurry picture.)  Clockwise, left to right: Jesse, Pastor Mike, Barry, David Baek, Jacob Morse, and GGG.

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After the breakfast, I had made arrangements with my dear friend and former SYME student, David Baek, to meet to discuss his upcoming visit to the USA.  David and his wife, Victoria, are full-time missionaries with Word of Life (WOL).  They are currently ministering on Jeju Island, the island just off the southern border of South Korea.  Each missionary for WOL needs to raise financial support and since David and Victoria are Korean, it is very difficult for Koreans to raise any financial support from their home church in Korea.  The Korean churches will only support those who are sent out from the church to be missionaries.  So almost all of the WOL Korean missionaries have to return to the USA from time to time to raise their support.  David and Victoria have been used mightily of the Lord on Jeju Island at a church where there are many young people and young couples who are either young in their faith or struggling with accepting the Lord or struggling with various problems.  David and Victoria have built some fantastic relationships with these young people and the Lord has been blessing.  Both David and Victoria are having a hard time leaving for six months to raise support.  The young people are also sad that they have to leave right now.  So I have a few prayer requests from David and Victoria:

*  They leave to go to America on February 7.  Someone has graciously paid for their flights to and from Korea!  They have also paid for their flight from Chicago to Florida!  But when they arrive in Florida, they will not have transportation.  They will need a vehicle to travel for at least four months as they travel around Florida as well as most of the following states: Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.  If you know of someone who may have a vehicle that they could use for about four months or any part of four months, please contact David directly at the following email address:  david.baek25@gmail.com .  Please pray that a vehicle will be provided.

*  Since they have not traveled to many churches in the USA, they are in need of church contacts that would be open to them sharing their testimonies and let them know of the ministry they are involved with through WOL.  If you are a church leader or know of a good church that would want a wonderful couple to share concerning their missionary work in Jeju Island, please also contact David Baek.  Or you can contact me and I can relay the information to them.  They will be in the Chicago area for a couple weeks upon arrival and then Florida.  If you have possible dates and times when they could share at a church's missionary conference or a Sunday morning worship time from March through the middle of July, please reach out to them.  They could also share as the missionary speaker at a Christian camp or retreat.

*  If you would like to be one of David and Victoria's prayer supporters or the Lord puts it on your heart to support them financially, I know that would mean a lot to them.  You can contact them at the email address above to get more information about supporting them. 

David Baek shortly after we finished the Prayer Breakfast getting ready to talk with me about questions he had about raising financial and prayer supporters.

David with GGG before he left to have several other meetings on Saturday.  Please pray for this dear brother and his wife, Victoria, as they prepare to raise support in the USA.

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I also had the privilege of spending some time with another dear friend and former SYME student this past weekend.  JiSang called to ask if he could stay over at my apartment on Friday night.  He was coming down to help Pastor Mike and his wife Alicia with their computers.  You may recall that JiSang helped me by restoring all of my data that was lost on my computer.  He also got me this wonderful device that I can store data and pictures on so that I don't have to slow down my personal computer.  He came down to do the same thing with Mike and Alicia's computers.  He arrived Friday evening with my favorite chicken - Saku Saku! :-)  We enjoyed a wonderful time together before I went to sleep so that I could get up for the Prayer Breakfast.  I think he worked a few more hours on the computer stuff and then woke up as I was leaving for the Prayer Breakfast to finish working on them.  It is always great to see JiSang and fellowship with him.  He left on Saturday around Noon to meet Mike and explain all that he had done to speed up their computers.  We plan to have another visit soon - a visit that won't involve computers! :-)  Please continue to pray for this dear young man as he seeks to serve the Lord.

Here I am with JiSang in my apartment.  He had just opened the package that had this new "toy" in it for him.  He had ordered in the USA and my sister, Julee, sent it to me for him.  I should have gotten a picture of him right after opening it and playing with it.  He was like a little boy opening presents at Christmas time! :-)  So excited and happy!

Here is JiSang, the computer expert at work while enjoying Saku Saku chicken at the table in my kitchen!

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OK, this got longer than I thought it would. :-(  Thank you, as always, for all you do for me.  Thanks so much for your love, care, encouragement, emails, regular mail, prayers, and gifts!  You are very special to me.  Please let me know how I can pray for you, too.  Enjoy this week!  February is almost upon us!

Love, Gregg

Fear Not!!

ICS-P was informed this past week that construction on the road surrounding part of our academic building and our gymnasium will begin!  This is the last section of the main road that goes throughout the little village in which our school is situated.  It is a very narrow road and some vehicles over the years have fallen into the rice fields when the driver forgot how narrow it was.  Completing this section will make the school more accessible to our teachers and school families, BUT it will take at least six months to complete.  During that time the road around our school and the gym will not be able to be used.  This is causing us to have new procedures for morning drop-offs and afternoon pick-ups by parents as well as the school buses we use.

My personality is one that wants everything to be just right and no problems.  This last week our Field Leadership Team prepared new procedures for our school families and our teachers and staff.  Emails were sent home, hard copies of the procedures and map were sent home with students, meetings to explain the changes were had, etc., etc.  BUT Gregg was still having anxiety and fear that when we begin the new procedures on January 22, there will be problems!  Fear and anxiety gripped me!  I was afraid of complications and making parents and teachers upset.  I was afraid that I missed some detail!  I was afraid that things would be a mess! I, I, I!!!! :-(

On my facebook page early Friday morning, there was a post from my sister, Julee.  It was a quote from one of my favorite authors, Elisabeth Elliot.  It read, "Fear arises when we imagine that everything depends on us!"  Our pastor has encouraged us to read a chapter from Proverbs each day of the month in January.  Friday was the 19th so I was to read Proverbs 19.  I was going to forget about it and then after reading my sister's post, I decided to read Proverbs 19.  Verses 21 and 23 seemed to be shouting at me: "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.(v.21)  The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble! (v.23)"  I was reminded of many verses about the right fear of the LORD and also the phrase "Do not be afraid" or "Fear not!"  Someone has said there are 366 "Fear nots" in the Bible - one for each day including Leap Year! I began to read many of these and soon realized, once again, (such a slow learner) that it is NOT up to me!  It is all up to Him!  I changed the quote from Elisabeth Elliot to the following: "Fear arises when I imagine that everything depends on ME!"  I was hit by the fact, once again, that these new procedures are NOT up to ME; they are in HIS control.  Yes, we do our part in preparation, but I am to rest in His control!  He will work things out.  There may be some bumps in the road, but it all depends on Him, NOT Gregg Garman.  Thank you for praying for us at ICS-P as we begin these change in procedures on Monday, January 22.  (Thanks for listening and praying for me that I would continue to rightly fear the Lord so I will not fear!)

In addition to planning for the new procedures because of the road construction, our Leadership Team was very busy in working through a number of plans and ideas and programs for the 2018-19 school year.  We had our first planning meeting on Thursday for about 2 hours after school and will have two more sessions the next two Thursdays.  This past Thursday was a very profitable time together with our Leadership team!  Thanks for continuing to pray as we seek His direction for the school in the days ahead.

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On Monday, I was finally able to connect with one of ICS-P's former students, Joshua or JC.  During last summer, JC was sent by his parents to a private Christian school in California to continue his high school years.  JC came back to Korea over the Christmas break and had contacted me to ask if I would be willing to meet with him.  He had some struggles he wanted to talk over with me.  We were planning to meet on December 30, but because of my delayed flight back to Korea, I was not able to return in time before JC had to return to California. :-(  So we decided to Skype with each other this past Monday.  Joshua just turned 16 years old.  He and I had developed a very good relationship last year at ICS-P.  I was thrilled to spend over an hour on Skype with this young man who is so eager to follow the Lord.  He opened up to me about some big struggles in his life.  He wanted some counsel and some accountability.  Since he is living with a host family (not his own parents) in California, he has not really developed any close relationships to help him and hold him accountable.  I would like to ask you to uphold Joshua/JC in prayer over the next few months especially!  He has confided in me and has been calling from California since our talk on Monday.  My heart is burdened for this young man and I so want him to have some older adult Christians near him in California to be accountability partner/friend with him.   Pray that he will get connected with a good church and that one of his teachers would be able to reach out to him as well.

JC is the fifth young man from the right in the picture above.  This was last year's Boys' Soccer team!

This was a photo from last year's Spring Fling!  JC is at a table of some of his friends.  Starting with the young man with glasses at the left center of the picture and going clockwise, JC is the 4th young man at the table.

At last year's ICS-P School Picnic, JC is standing at the back in the gray T-shirt between two students in blue T-shirts.  He was helping lead one of the games!

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ICS-P also had a visit this past week from a graduate from last year.  I was so happy to see Sydney Machen this past week at ICS-P.  She was happy to be back in Korea for the Christmas Break, but said she was ready to return to George Mason University in Virginia where she is a freshman.  I hope you will pray for Sydney as she returns to Virginia and seeks to follow the Lord.

Here I am with Sydney at ICS-P during her recent visit to ICS-P.

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Our Basketball teams have had an up and down season so far.  Both the Boys' and the Girls' teams won their "away" games on Wednesday.  On Friday, we had home games in our own gym and the Boys had a very good game but ended up 4 points short of a victory.  The Girls played a great game and came out victorious!  Please continue to pray for these young people as they play hard and live out their faith on the basketball court.  The final tournaments for the season will be February 2 (ICS-P will host the Boys' Tournament) and then on February 3 for the Girls, who will be playing their tournament away.

The ICS-P Boys (in the white) playing in the first of the two games on Friday evening at ICS-P.

               The beginning of the Girls' game at center court!

Girls doing some warm-up drills prior to their game on Friday!    

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Saturday morning was my first visit to the NEW facility for Attractive Coffee!  They recently moved to a brand new location and facility.  I am excited since it is much bigger AND now they are serving breakfasts and lunches!  I love that they are now serving breakfasts!  They are open Monday through Saturday beginning at 5:00 AM each morning!  I love it.  Most coffee shops do not open until 8:00 or 9:00 AM and do not serve a full breakfast!  I enjoyed a very delicious Omelette with some very fluffy and tasty pancakes with fresh fruit!  I believe this will be my new Saturday morning location for doing my writing and reading!

   In addition to my cup of Americano Coffee, I enjoyed this very

               tasty breakfast on Saturday at Attractive Coffee.

Each of the tables at Attractive Coffee feature this motto and logo!

The new arrangement for ordering and cooking at Attractive Coffee!

So much bigger than their former shop!  I love it!              

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We were planning to have the ICS-P Christmas Concert back in December, but because of a few situations, we needed to postpone until Saturday, January 20.  Our music teacher and orchestra director, Mrs. Jennifer Kim, brought everything together for a Winter Concert beginning at 2:00 PM on Saturday!  It was a delightful concert with students from Grades 3 through 12 participating!  There was quite a variety of types of music from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star performed by our ICS-P Beginners' Orchestra.  These third-grade cherubs have only been taking lessons since the middle of August and I was delighted to hear this piece as well Beethoven's Ode to Joy!  A highlight for the 4th and 5th grade Little Conquerors' Orchestra was the performance of Dragon Slayer.  The ICS-P Middle School Choir sang a couple pieces.  My favorite was their rendition of Sing Gloria! by Mark Hayes.  A group of Middle School students performed an arrangement of The Nutcracker Suite with their "Boomwhackers."  You should check out what these instruments are.  (Just Google it and it will come up!)

Closing the concert was our High School Orchestra performing five delightful pieces, which included three favorites of mine: Viva La Vida, You Raise Me Up, and their final selection - 'Finale' from Symphony No. 5 composed by Beethoven!  They did a superb job, especially since they are a 16-piece orchestra!  Great job by Mrs. Kim and our students!

I am going to post quite a few pictures for you to enjoy from our Winter Concert.  Wish you could have been present.  The pictures will show each of the groups as they performed.  I think I have included at least two pictures for each group.  No captions though.  Just enjoy!

The four pictures above are our Grade 3 students in the Beginners' Orchestra!

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The two pictures above our the 4th and 5th-grade Orchestra; the first is of the orchestra preparing to perform and the second is during the performance.

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The four photos directly above are of the Middle School Choir and the Middle School "Boomwhackers."  So much fun!

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The final four photos are of the High School Orchestra with our wonderful Music teacher and conductor, Mrs. Jennifer Kim!

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As always, I want to thank you for your love, care, encouragement, emails, regular mail, prayers, and gifts!  It is always great to hear from you!  I trust that you are enjoying a great 2018.  Hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the first month of the New Year already!  Enjoy your week!

Love, Gregg

And I'm Back...Lots of Very Cold Weather, Snow Days, Influenza A, BUT Finally back at ICS-P!!

Yes, I am finally back at ICS-P following the 3-week Christmas Break!  As I mentioned in my email last week, I had some interesting flights to and from the USA. :-)  I also mentioned that after struggling a few days, beginning on January 1, with fever, chills, headaches, and coughing, I visited my former doctor in Itaewon, Dr. Kim.  I was diagnosed with Influenza A and ordered to remain in my apartment until January 10.  As I left Dr. Kim's office, I was given a mask that is a common sight in Korea especially in cold weather or times when the flu is prevalent.  So I became a little more Korean that day. :-)  Here I am with my nice mask right after my visit to Dr. Kim.

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A number of friends from Dae Kwang Church, ICS-Pyeongtaek, and my Korean "sons" from SYME days brought lots of great soup, vitamins, teas, rolls, and other delightful items to help me through these days when I was in my apartment.  I am so grateful to so many for taking care of me.  I was especially moved by a visit from my excellent friend, Gunmo Kim.  Gunmo called me when he found out I was stranded in my apartment with Influenza A.  He asked me if I still liked Korean Juk (pronounced like Jook).  Juk is a Korean porridge that is often called Korean Emergency Food - for those times when one is sick especially with the Flu, colds, etc.  I actually love it!  He said that he would see me in a couple hours.  He drove all the way from his home about an hour + away from my apartment.  He had stopped and picked up three individual containers of Korean Mushroom Juk and the yummy side dishes + a huge bag of oranges.  I had missed Juk so much and it was great to be refreshed with these three individual servings!  He came to my apartment.  I had ordered him to wear a mask!  I think he would have worn one even if I had not requested it.  I failed to get a photo when he arrived but after he left, I did get a picture or two of the Juk! :-)

   My personally delivered package of

 Korean Mushroom Juk - delivered by

      Gunmo Kim!!  Thanks so much!

Above is one of the three servings of my   

yummy Mushroom Juk and the side dishes!

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Teachers returned to ICS-P on Monday, January 8 for some professional development sessions.  They were to have some times of prayer and devotions on that day, but because of my sickness, Mr. Mooney adjusted to have that on Tuesday, January 9.  That was the first day of several days of snow and bitterly cold temperatures in Pyeongtaek.  Teachers were informed to come at 11:00 AM instead of 9 AM on Tuesday.  Wednesday, January 10, was scheduled as the first day of Quarter Three for students, AND it was the day I could return to school.  BUT we had more snow so we had a Snow Day.  School actually got started again for students, staff, and the recovered Director on Thursday, January 11.  I had a huge list of items that needed to be completed.  The doctor said if my fever and chills and headaches were gone, I could return.  He and my sister, Julee, told me that the coughing would continue maybe for 2-4 weeks, but I would not be contagious.  (The coughing is getting less and less each day.)

I had a special surprise that first day back to school.  Two of our graduates from last year, Mokin Lee and Ju Young Choi, stopped by ICS-P and came to my office to surprise me with a visit!  What a great time we had talking about their experiences and struggles and joys during their first semester at their universities.  Mokin is attending the University of Rochester (NY) and Ju Young is at the University of Virginia.  We had some excellent conversation and laughs!  Then I took them to the cafeteria to spend some time with Mr. Mooney, our Academic Principal.  It was great to see these young men and see how they are growing and maturing!

Here I am with Mr. Mooney, Ju Young, and Mokin following our delightful time together!  So glad to see these two young men.  Pray for them as you think of them.

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Guess what?  Yeppers, we had more snow on Saturday morning!  The temperatures are not as low as they were on Wednesday through Friday, but we are still getting some cold weather and snow.  I believe the temperature hit a low of -18 Degrees Celsius (about 0 Degrees Fahrenheit).  Most of the week we were ) 0 Degrees Celsius or below.  On Saturday morning when I awoke, I took several pictures from my kitchen window of our snow on Saturday morning.

Three photos from my kitchen window during the early Saturday morning snow at the Blen Heim Apartments!

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I will close with a few items of praise and prayer!  When you have a chance, I would appreciate your prayers!

*  So thankful for the nine (9) new students who have enrolled beginning in January!  That brings our enrollment up to 135!

*  Please continue to pray for the different projects that I need to complete during this next week.  One of them is to prepare a letter informing parents of changes in drop off and pick up because of the major road construction surrounding our school.  This will continue for about 6 months.

*  We are actively seeking the following positions for 2018-19: IT Director (We actually have a couple interested in interviewing for this position.); Academic Guidance Counselor; and K-12 Music Teacher (I just receive a lead on Saturday morning concerning a young lady who is interested in making application for this position!)  The Director's position (mine) is still open although I have received an email with a number of questions about the position.  There seems to be a good interest by this person.  There is a possibility that we will need a CFO as well, but won't know definitely for a few weeks.

*  I would value your prayer as I travel to the States on February 20 to participate in the NICS Annual Leadership Conference and Job Fair in Southaven, Mississippi.  I will return on March 1.

OK,  I will stop for now.  Thank you so much for your continued and faithful love, care, encouragement, mail, emails, prayers, and gifts.  I would value your prayers as I continue to seek the Lord's direction for me when I return to the States in mid to late June after completing my ministry here at ICS-P.  Enjoy a great New Year!

Love, Gregg