A Short but Busy Week!

This past week was a shortened week at ICS-P because of two days off for the celebration in South Korea of the Lunar New Year (Seollal).  Thursday and Friday were days off for our students as this is one of the Korean holidays that international schools usually celebrate.  The actual day is February 16, but most people travel to their parents' or grandparents' home the day before and then travel back the day after.  It is one of the most significant holidays in Korea and traffic the day before and the day after is usually bumper to bumper.  Add to that the fact that the Winter Olympics are being held in Korea this year and it is better not to use your car to travel, although tolls on the toll roads are waived.  If you don't have a reservation on the train or airplane, it will be rather messy for you.  The day of celebration is the best day to travel! :-)

We had some snow on Monday and Tuesday mornings causing some delays for students coming to school.  If you get an inch or 2 of the white stuff, it is like getting 6 inches or more in Pennsylvania. Roads can be hazardous, especially in the morning, because there are no snow plows out clearing the roads.  We did well since only one of the buses we use was not able to travel on the roads on Monday.  By afternoon, most of the snow had melted off the roads so there was no problem heading home.  (Oh, my health is good with the exception of my disobedience to my dear friend and chiropractor, Dr. Madeira.  He told me some time back that I was not to shovel snow! BUT I love shoveling snow and had to this past Monday and Tuesday morning since the facilities' men do not arrive early like I do and it needed to be done before buses and parents arrived with children.  So I am still having some pain in my lower back.  Please don't tell Dr. Madeira!) :-)

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We continued our interviews for our open positions at ICS-Pyeongtaek for 2018-2019.  We had a positive response from the man we interviewed for the IT Director/Computer Teacher position.  He and his wife said they have signed the contract and we should receive it by Fed Ex this coming week!  Once we have the signed contract, I will give you names so that you can be praying for this couple as they prepare to come to ICS-P.

Two interviews were also conducted for the Guidance Counselor position.  We have made an offer to the one lady who is very qualified.  Please pray that she will be able to give us a positive response sometime this coming week.  We also had made an offer to a young lady with a Master's a well as a Doctorate for the Music Teacher position.  She is excited but had a couple questions before making a final decision.

There is one person who is being considered for the position of Director at ICS-P to replace me.  We had a chat with him and his wife this past Wednesday and our leadership team believes he would be a very good fit for ICS-P.  Now they have to continue the process with the NICS Home Office as they will make the final decision on the position of Director.  Then the candidate will need to decide about the contract.

Thanks for all of your prayers on behalf of us as we seek to find those that God has for us for our open positions.  We just added the position for a Physical Education Teacher (K-12)/Athletic Director.  So far we have no candidates for that position.  If you know anyone who would be a good fit, please let me know.

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Last Sunday afternoon, I was asked by Yeongmin Baek to come to the COEX Intercontinental Hotel in Seoul to enjoy the Annual Strawberry Festival.  Many hotels have these special strawberry buffets in their hotels and people can reserve a two-hour time slot on Sunday afternoons to enjoy a massive and delicious Strawberry Feast!  Yeongmin and I had a great time of catching up and enjoying many trips to the Strawberry Buffet!  Korean strawberries are soooooo good!!  Please continue to pray for Yeongmin.  I really want him to come to know Jesus Christ.  Enjoy some of the pictures from the Strawberry Festival!

 GGG and Yeongmin with our first plate of strawberry treats at COEX last Sunday!

Some of the tasty treats at the Strawberry Festival!  

Below are more pictures of some of the MANY delicious items from which to choose at COEX's Strawberry Festival!!  Oh, they were sooooo good!!

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Many of you have been praying for Charlie and April Mooney and their family, especially Cora the Conqueror.  Thanks so much.  Cora celebrated her 1st birthday back in January.  On Monday, they had to take her quickly to the hospital in Suwon because of some concerns.  She needed to have an IV and stay in the hospital until Wednesday.  However, she is back to her normal self and smiling more each day.  She is such a joy!  Oh, and one other exciting happening in the Mooney home.  Gavin, their son has been struggling with lying.  A week ago he and his Dad spent some time about his most recent lie.  Through the conversations, Gavin came to the point when he asked the Lord to forgive him and he accepted Christ as his Saviour!  Awesome!  I want to share with you a collection of photos of this beautiful family.  I hope you will enjoy!  Thanks for all of your prayers!

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Friday evening, I traveled to Itaewon to meet an alum of YISS.  His name is Eugene Mok, and I have been so impressed with his maturity and growth in his walk with Jesus Christ!  What a great time we had at "On the Border" eating some delicious food and some fantastic conversation.  Eugene is a freshman at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and has already gotten involved in a great group of Christians and also meets with his smaller Life Group for accountability and Bible study and outreach!  Not only is Eugene an excellent student, he is demonstrating at a HUGE university the love of Jesus Christ daily.  Please join me in praying for Eugene as he seeks to serve the Lord.  He shared with me that he has met two young men who he continues to meet with and share his faith in Christ.  Would you please join me in praying for Eugene to have many opportunities to talk with these two young men about the Lord and that they would see the light of Jesus shining brightly from him.  Their names are Nidhal, a Muslim young man, and Tim, a young man from Kazakhstan.

   GGG and Eugene preparing to enjoy their very tasty food at "On the Border" on Friday evening!

    Eugene enjoyed these double-stacked Quesadillas!

I thought I was getting a smaller portion of the single

Chicken Quesadillas, but I got this large portion!    

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Before I went to meet Eugene for dinner in Itaewon, I stopped at a Starbucks in Itaewon to enjoy some coffee and work on some writing projects.  While writing and drinking my coffee, a group of men came to the tables near me to sit down and enjoy some coffee and conversation with each other.  One of them, who later told me his name is Waled Yosif Zina, was posing for some fun pictures for the other guys. He was doing one pose and I started to smile a big smile.  Waled looked at me at just the time I was smiling at his pose.  He laughed and then later came over and asked my name and we chatted a bit.  God seems to give me these unique meetings in order to continue making friends and building relationships.  We weren't finished talking and the other guys in his group were leaving so we exchanged names and I hope we can meet again.  Thanks for praying for Waled and additional opportunities for me to meet him and share more.

Here I am with Waled at Starbucks just before he had to leave.

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I close this week asking for your prayers as I travel to the USA for the NICS Annual Leadership Conference at the NICS Headquarters in Southaven, Mississippi.  I am scheduled to leave on Tuesday evening, February 20 and after a transfer in Atlanta, I am to arrive in Memphis, TN around 9:20 PM on February 20.  Then try to sleep and be ready to go at 8:00 AM on Wednesday morning!  We will have meetings until the morning of March 1, when I will leave bright and early to head back to Seoul; getting back on March 2 in the evening.  I will also be involved in the NICS Job Fair for Teachers in Southaven on Saturday, February 24th.  By then, I am praying we will have the majority of the positions filled for ICS-P.  Thanks for your prayers.

I also wanted to share with you a gorgeous photo of a sunrise at the BWI Airport back in January.  A dear friend and supporter, Paul Duvall, shared this photo, which he took when he arrived at his work for Fed Ex at the BWI Airport.  I love sunrises and sunsets!  I could sit and just wonder about God's amazing creation for a long time at these special times.  I was filled with so much wonder for my Creator as I viewed this beautiful sunrise captured by Paul!  I hope you will be filled with wonder and awe of the majesty of our God.

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I wanted to take a minute or two to let you know about my friend, Tommy.  I met Tommy at Dae Kwang Church a little over a year ago.  We seemed to connect right away.  Tommy is married and has a precious little daughter.  He started coming to the English-speaking service because he had spent a large portion of his life in America and then married a Korean lady in the Pyeongtaek area.  He wanted to come to the English service because of his English.  He started coming very sporadically.  Pastor Mike and I would continue to contact Tommy and he would promise to come.  He continued attending the Korean service but maybe once every two months or so he would come to the English service.  I continued to contact him and we would meet for dinner.  He was going through some depression and I continued encouraging him and praying with him.  Since Christmas, he has been coming to Dae Kwang almost every Sunday!  Three Sundays ago he began playing percussion with our music worship team!  I was so excited!  He is loving serving in this capacity.  Our relationship[ continues to grow.

Today after our Sunday morning service and fellowship time, Tommy left to go to the Korean service with his wife and daughter.  I helped clean up and then left to go down the stairs to the parking area.  Coming up the stairs was Tommy with this precious little girl in her Hanbok!  He told me his wife was already going into the Korean service, but he wanted to bring Eunsu, their daughter up to meet me.  What a wonderful surprise!  I was so happy to meet Eunsu.  Please continue to pray for Tommy as he serves on the music team and that we would continue to build a great discipleship relationship.  Here are a couple pictures from this morning on the stairway as I met Eunsu!

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As always, thank you very much for your faithful love, care, encouragement (shown in so many ways), emails, mail, prayers, and gifts.  You are such a blessing to me.  Please enjoy a great week!

Love, Gregg

Heat Wave and Special Events!!

Yes, this past week was a very busy one!  We did, however, enjoy some warmer weather.  It even got above freezing a couple days!  We were all happy about that.  You might have heard our teachers (especially those who have "Indoor Recess Duty") celebrating when we informed them that we would actually have an outdoor recess a couple times this week!! :-)

And it was a week of special events!  One of those special events was the Opening Ceremonies at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea on Friday, February 9.  I have heard that the opening ceremonies were excellent!  I did not have the huge amount of money needed for a ticket for that event, but my colleague and friend, Ray Johnson (Headmaster at YISS) was able to attend with his wife.  Some of our teachers will be taking personal days or weekends to attend some events.  Some have asked if I would be attending.  I doubt that I will get there.  I will watch on TV and keep warm when I am able.  I have lots to prepare before heading to Southaven, Mississippi for the NICS Annual Leadership Conference for their school directors around the world.  I leave on February 19 and return on March 2.

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It was a very busy and full week as Mr. Mooney, our Academic School Principal, and I were very involved in setting up and conducting interviews with candidates for some of our open positions for 2018-19.  We had a great interview with one gentleman and his wife for the IT Director/Computer Teacher position.  We have offered the position to the husband and they are very excited.  They had previously taught at ICS-P between 1999-2006.  In fact, they met at ICS-P and were married. They now have 3 children who would be in Kindergarten, Grade 2, and Grade 4.  Please pray as we finalize everything.

We also interviewed one of several candidates for the K-12 Music Teacher position.  She actually came to the school for her interview.  We were very pleased and offered her the position.  She was very excited about ICS-P!  We learned that she is also being sought by one our sister schools in South Korea.  We are trusting the Lord to make it clear which she should choose.

On Friday, we learned of possibly two additional candidates for the Guidance Counselor position!  We will be interviewing via Skype one young lady on Monday morning.  Thanks for praying.

We just learned that one of our current teachers has decided to stay at home next year as she and her husband (also a teacher at ICS-P) are expecting their first child.  Because of this, we have made some adjustments in teaching assignments and now we are going to have sufficient funds to hire a full-time Physical Education Teacher/Athletic Director for 2018-29.  This position has just been posted on the NICS website www.nics.org .  If you know of someone who would be qualified for this position, please have them contact NICS or me.  We are excited as we have been needing a full-time Phys. Ed. Teacher for a few years.  This will help with scheduling and will allow us not to have several full-time teachers pick up a period or two of Phys. Ed. during the week.

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On Tuesday evening, I had a very special event!  The first Korean I met and became very good friends with contacted me to let me know he was back in Korea from Australia for a few weeks.  Yeppers, Fred Jae Hong Park and I met around 12 Midnight back when I arrived in Korea to teach at SYME in August of 2008.  Jae Hong was told I would be arriving on a certain day so he decided to sleep in the little room designated for me on the night I arrived.  He had been told an incorrect date! :-)  So when I was delivered to my room at SYME, I was greeted by Jae Hong!  He was so surprised and quickly ran from the room bowing to me as I departed from my room! :-)  We laugh about this now!  I actually laughed then! :-)  Well, we met on Tuesday evening and had a delightful time of conversation and laughter.  Please pray for Jae Hong that he would be able to understand what it means to follow and serve the Lord.  I see growth and am excited about what lies ahead.

GGG and Jae Hong enjoying our visit at Outback in Pyeongtaek.

     Coconut Shrimp and Chicken Salad - sooo good!

Baby Back Ribs were very tasty as well.          

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Wednesday was a special day, especially for Kindergarten students!  Kindergartens I have been connected with always make a big thing out of that 100th day of school!  Wednesday was ICS-P's 100th Day!  Our awesome Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Cho, had many learning activities, especially in Math and Reading connected with the 100th Day of School.  They had a great day of celebrations!

This greeted everyone when anyone came to the Kindergarten Room on the 100th Day!

A few of the cherubs from Kinder excited about the 100th Day activities!

Here is Mrs. Cho, Kinder Teacher and Mrs. Amos, ELD Teacher who works with a few of the Kinder students who are needing assistance with learning English.  They all were enjoying their 100th Day!

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On Thursday, Mrs. Cho also had learning activities for the students that had to do with the Opening of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.  I love how she integrates lots of writing activities with her students and she used this event to have them do some writing activities and artwork.  They were enjoying learning about the Olympics and writing about it!

Celebrating the Olympics! Mrs. Cho's kindergartners wrote about their passions, which is one of the themes this year. Here's the Olympic tiger mascot "Soohorang."

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Our CFO at ICS-P, Mrs. Haselman, was very busy with financial reports in addition to all the work that goes into preparing for one of the special events that she is so good at organizing and preparing in order to raise some funds to help with special projects at ICS-P.  This week she was getting everything together for the special fundraiser banquet on Friday, February 9.  We had decided to raise some funds for our students for the "Week Without Walls" project during the week right before our Spring Break at the end of March.  We decided to have "A Night of Art, Music, and Scrumptious Food" in our cafetorium.   We wanted to showcase the outstanding artwork and music skills of our students!  Our superb Art Teacher, Ms. Kathy Lee, prepared an awesome display of some of the great artwork of our students from Kindergarten through Grade 12!  She and the students did an outstanding job of putting the works on display!  And our Music Teacher, Mrs. Jennifer Kim,  had prepared some of our very talented music students to share some musical selections during the banquet.  In addition, since it was close to Valentine's Day, Mrs. Haselman chose the theme of "Love" for the setting of the dinner.  There were several locations where those attending could have a photo taken demonstrating in fun ways the theme of love.  Those families and teachers who attended enjoyed a wonderful evening, and we were able to raise some needed funds for our students for their service projects during the "Week Without Walls."  I will place some of the photos that I took during the evening.

The cafetorium decorated and ready for the feast to begin!  The next few pictures will show you some of the very delicious food, including desserts, Mrs. Haselman, Mrs. Okamoto, and kitchen staff prepared!

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Prior to and after the dinner, families and teachers could visit the excellent Art Display our Art Teacher, Ms. Kathy Lee, had put together of our students' (K-12) had created.  Here are some pictures of the display:

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During the delicious dinner, our K-12 Music Teacher, Mrs. Kim, had asked some of our talented music students to share some dinner music.  Below are some photos of some of the performers.  They did an amazing job!

The above student, Catherine, is a senior who came to ICS-P last year from Turkey.  Catherine has albinism and can hardly see.  She played about four classical selections from memory to the delight of those in attendance!

These two seniors, Heewon and Jamie, performed several duets for piano and violin!  Also quite good!

Jamie posing for a photo after one of her selections! :-)

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And since it was the theme for the evening was "Love" and we are so close to Valentine's Day, there were a couple of places throughout the cafetorium and Art Display where guests could take some fun photos. :-)  Here are some of the pictures!  Wish I could display more.

 Our Grade 4 and Grade 3 Teachers at

the fun photo station! :-)  Ms. Johnson, 

  Grade 4 and Ms. Colgain, Grade 3.

Ms. Hunter, Grade 1 Teacher! :-)

No comment!!  :-)              

One of our Bible teachers, Mr. Wolfer with his wife at the fun photo station! 

        The Wolfers' son is so cute!!

Another photo of the Wolfers' son!     

The Mona Lisa frame was painted by one of our HS students.  No other comments! :-)

This is Danny from Middle School posing at the Mona Lisa station! :-)

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I believe I will stop for now.  I just want to thank you once again for your faithful love, care, encouragement, emails, mail, prayers, and gifts.  I hope you will enjoy a wonderful week!

Love,  Gregg