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