On Monday, we were finally able to arrange an Author Visit from my friend, Darren Farrell. I met Darren when I was at YISS. I was able to get him to come to YISS for an Author Visit with our elementary students. Our ICS-P Librarian has been wanting to have an author visit our cherubs at ICS-P before the year ended. I was finally able to reconnect with Darren and he came on Monday for the entire day. He began with all of the Kindergarten through Grade 5 students and teachers in the cafeteria for an opening session. He quickly connected with our kids. Then throughout the day, Darren went to each of the elementary classrooms to work individually with them on illustrations as well as writing. Darren is unique in that he does his own writing as well as the illustrations. His fourth published book will be coming out at the end of June. He has promised to send me a copy of it when it is off the presses. It is titled Letter Town. The kids enjoyed doing some illustrations and writing throughout the day. I was able to get to most of the classes. Everyone seemed to be enjoying this visit from Darren Farrell. I believe more Author Visits will continue at ICS-P!
Author Darren Farrell sharing about his upcoming new book, Letter Town with our ES cherubs!
Here is almost all of the ES students listening to Darren Farrell!
Darren Farrell seated in the center of our ES young people!
Here he is working with Kindergarten.
They were enjoying learning about
illustrations!
One of our Kinder boys is really excited about his illustration!
Grade 1 students also enjoying Mr. Farrell!
More ES students enjoying illustrating!
And some more!!
Grade 5 students were learning a little bit more about publishing a book as an author as well as an illustrator with Darren Farrell!
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Tuesday was the birthday of our Academic Principal, Mr. Charlie Mooney! Charlie has become a great friend and has been such a huge help to me at ICS-P. NICS has named him as the Interim Director of ICS-P for 2018-19. I know he will do a great job! I was the birthday treat person for Charlie's birthday. He enjoys Indian food so I had ordered his favorite Indian meal with a lot of Naan bread for him to enjoy. There were also a number of other Indian dishes that staff could sample during lunch. I was assisted by Charlie's wife, April, in securing the Indian food. She delivered it to the school and brought Cora, the Conqueror, with her to ICS-P. She came in to spend time with Charlie during the birthday celebration. I was able to capture the following pictures of Daddy and Cora following the birthday lunch.
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At the end of the school day on Tuesday, the girls in the picture below came to meet me as I was preparing to greet parents in the Pick-up Line at Dismissal. All three were soooo excited and began telling me what they had done that day. All three of these kindergarten cherubs had asked Jesus to come into their lives! We are so grateful for 21 elementary students who have accepted Christ as Savior this year at ICS-P! Please share in the joy of these three little ladies!
Angel, Hannah, and Abby sharing their good news with me!!
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Wednesday was Graduation Day for our Kindergarten cherubs! It is always so much fun to have parents and grandparents come to experience this special time. I always love observing parents taking photos and smiling and hearing their comments as to how much their children have learned and grown! Some of these precious little ones have changed DRAMATICALLY this year. I believe a big part of this transformation is because of the wonderful teacher, Mrs. Cho, these little ones had this year. Many kindergarten kids accepted Jesus during this year! Enjoy some pictures from this special day of celebration!
Here are the Kindergarten students performing one of their delightful fun songs at their celebration!
This is Beckham. Here he is with his
parents! Dad is a Major in the US Army.
Mom is a wonderful volunteer at ICSP.
Here I am with Beckham. He recently
came to me all excited to tell me he had
asked Jesus to come into his life!
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Thursday was our final Elementary School Chapel for this year. We didn't quite make it through all of the Old Testament, but we had a great time learning the hand signs and walking through the Old Testament. We ended with the end of the United Kingdom with the three kings of Israel during these 120 years: Saul, David, and Solomon. At the beginning of Chapel, the elementary teachers presented a new book to me, Sometimes You Fly by Katherine Applegate. I have wanted this one to add to my collection and this one is even more special since each Elementary teacher signed it with special notes from students in their classes!
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Following Chapel, I received one more exciting visit! Our Grade 2 teacher, Ms. Dather, came to my office with one of her students, Rhianna. She said that Rhianna had something exciting to share with me! With a beautiful smile, Rhianna shared with me that following Chapel she had gone to Ms. Dather to ask how she could accept Jesus into her heart and life! I began smiling with wet eyes and we joined the angels with their joyful party when a lost soul comes to accept Jesus Christ!!
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Grade 5 posing for a photo at the Photo Booth before their ceremony!
Each student did a great job sharing
a speech of gratitude for those who
impacted them during this year.
Grade 5 teacher, Mrs. Gross, sharing about each student. She did an outstanding job as the grade 5 teacher. You will notice in the photo that two have their heads in their hands. They were crying during most of her speech. They were greatly impacted this year by Mrs. Gross and it is very difficult for them to move on to Grade 6.
My buddy Earl. Almost every day
he greets me with a hug. On Friday
he kept holding on to me and told
me that he did not want me to leave!
This is Johnathon and his mother with me! Johnathan is an amazing young man and he was one who accepted Christ during our Week Without Walls!
This is Calvin with his mother and GGG.
He is one who really wants to have his
Dad in his life! He also accepted Christ
during Week Without Walls.
The Peyton Family! What a great family! Aaron and Dawn are students and they always enjoy coming to school. The lady between Aaron and Dawn is their mother. She recently had surgery. I know she would appreciate your prayers.
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Friday was our last day for students and it was difficult saying "Hasta la Vista" to them. It was a half day and it was a rather emotional time saying "Hasta la Vista" to many parents in the pick-up line at dismissal! In the morning Staff Devotion and Announcements' time, I took time to share my heart of thanks to all of our teachers. I presented each of them with a handcrafted pen made by a former student of mine at Guilford Hills School. He was also involved in the Little League and Pony League teams I coached. I am grateful to Bill Dempsey for his excellent craftsmanship. I presented the pens to the teacher in the morning meeting and then at 1:00 I met with the Korean Office Staff, Kitchen Staff, Cleaning Staff, and Facilities' Staff. I did not get any photos from the morning session, but it was a very touching time for me. At the close of my presentation of thanks to the teachers, they came and gathered around me and prayed for me as I begin the next chapter in my life. I did receive some pictures that Mr. Song took during my presentation of gratitude and pens to the Korean staff. Again, many wet eyes in the morning meeting and afternoon meeting. They are so special!
GGG sharing my warm thanks to the Korean staff! They are a special group of men and women!
Mrs. Okamoto, head cook with GGG and another Kitchen
Staff member, Mrs. Park!
My dear friend, Mr. Song, head of Facilities. He has been at ICS-P a LONG time! We have so much fun together!
Ms. Tia, one of the Office Staff!
Here I am with Mrs. Helen Lee, School Secretary and Mrs. Susan Lee, Bookkeeper!
This is one of the pens prepared for the male staff!
One of the pens handcrafted for the women staff!
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I left ICS-P an hour earlier than usual so that I could travel to Ichon in Seoul to meet one of my very first discipleship students at YISS. Paul started at YISS in Grade 3 and we have grown very close over the years. He will be a Junior at YISS this coming year. We had made a plan to meet on Friday in Ichon. Paul said that his parents would like to thank me personally for all that I have done for him over the years. So I met them at a delightful restaurant in Ichon (an area that was my neighborhood when I was at YISS) to enjoy a fantastic dinner and some excellent and joyful conversation! Following the dinner, they would not allow me to travel by subway and bus back to Pyeongtaek. They insisted that they would drive me to my apartment. When we arrived at my apartment, Paul handed me an envelope and gave me a hug! Later, in my apartment, I opened the envelope and read a most encouraging note that Paul had written to me! More wet eyes! He had also included a very generous gift certificate to Amazon! Please pray for this dear young man and his family. Paul wants to keep in contact and they may be coming to the Washington, DC area for a visit. I told
Mr. and Mrs. Oh and Paul with GGG in Ichon on Friday evening!
Yummy Appetizer!
Delicious soup!
Excellent salad!!
Mrs. Oh, Paul,
Mr. Oh enjoyed the Spicy Seafood Pasta!
Paul's special thank you note that he gave me Friday night!
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Saturday evening at ICS-P playground area we enjoyed a delightful picnic with the teachers and staff and their children. Member Care was in charge and during the wonderful array of delicious foods we enjoyed a time of singing and sharing about those teachers and staff who were departing ICS-P this year. Departing staff who were present included John and Pam Richards and GGG. Two of the departing staff were not able to attend because of sickness: Kathy Lee and Ben Coyner. Staff who were staying were encouraged to give encouragement and thanks to those departing. It was a very special time of sharing. Each departing staff was presented with a mini Kimchi Pot which was filled with special notes that staff had written to them! What a blessing it was! This has been such a great group of teachers and staff and I will miss them dearly! A special surprise today was a visit from a former student, Joshua "JC" Chang. JC left last year to go to a Christian School in Irvine, California. He is home for the summer. I had a great time of conversation with him. He has been communicating with me regularly as he has been struggling in his adjustment to the school without his ICS-P friends and any of his family members. I know JC would value your prayers! Enjoy a few pictures from the picnic!
One of the tables with ICS-P staff en-
joying the picnic meal!
Another group of ICS-P staff at the picnic!
Pam and John Richards at the picnic. They will be returning to the States!
One more group of teachers and staff!
And another group enjoying some humor and good food!
The young man with glasses is Joshua Chang. Beside him are the two children of Jackey and Tina Cho! Please pray for Joshua as he comes to your mind.
Some of the teachers' children enjoying some fun at the picnic!!
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Sunday after church! On Sunday following a great church service, Justin Lim and I met our longtime great friend, Yeongmin, at AK Plaza for a "Hasta la Vista." Yeongmin has been a very special young man since I met him at SYME. He now has a very good position at SK Telecom and we aren't able to see each other as often as we would like. But today he treated me to a very delicious meal at Mad for Garlic restaurant at AK Plaza. The food was excellent! It was a great time of fellowship and laughter with two special friends! After our meal, Yeongmin wanted to go shopping for some gifts for my siblings and their spouses. He met all of them when he traveled with me one summer to the USA, where we visited PA, MD, DC, NJ, and NY. While we waited for the store owner to beautifully wrap the gifts, we enjoyed some Baskin Robbins' yummy ice cream! It was a great time and Yeongmin is hoping to visit me in America.
GGG and Yeongmin ready to enjoy a tasty dinner at Mad for Garlic!
Justin took a Weefie of the three of us enjoying our meal!
Very delicious Cobb Salad!
Garlic Snowing Pizza! One of my favorites!!
A spicy Garlicpeno Pasta!
This picture would have been better before the steak was cut in pieces. Justin cut the Garlic Steak with a very delicious cheese sauce so you can't see the original presentation. It was still very good!
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Update on Ben Coyner: Ben was supposed to come to ICS-P on Friday to help with all of the grades and comments for Quarter Four and final Grade Reports. However, on Thursday evening, he wrote to me that because of complications and having a traditional IV drip with nutrition liquids going directly to his veins rather than his stomach, he would need to stay with his parents in Seoul. He would not be able to travel to ICS-P from Seoul with an IV in his arm and because his condition is very weak. Thank you for continuing to pray for Ben.
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Love, Gregg
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