One Month!

Well, we have officially been in Korea for one month now! We now have our alien registration cards, bank accounts, and soon we will be getting cell phones. We feel like we're getting into the swing of things here. We both have had so much fun with our classes! But now that September is starting, we will have new classes and kids, which is kind of sad. This past month, both of us really enjoyed our Intensive classes the most. They are the kids who came every morning for 3 hours. I have gotten to do some really fun things with my kids. They are all really good artists, so I tried to incorporate art projects in whenever I could. They are really amused by everything, so I could pretty much do anything, and they would love it. My favorite day was last week when we were reading a story about kids at a dance class. The story was talking about ballet and tap dance, so I decided to teach them some moves. :) They loved it!! They thought I was a really good tap dancer, which is humorous. They kept saying, "Teacher, again!" And watching them learn the combination I taught was priceless! Those kids just made me so happy. They are so funny. And they brought me snacks every day, and drew pictures of me, and taught me Korean, and made me laugh all the time. I hope that my new classes in September are this amazing. Tim had a fun time with his Intensive class too. One day, they were reading about how people used to use buffalo dung for fuel! HAHA! Obviously, the fifth and sixth graders loved this topic. They even wrote a hilarious skit about the first person to discover dung as fuel, and performed it for my class. It was amazing. It's really fun because Tim and I learn things every day too!

So Tim and I found a great church that we have been going to for the past 3 weeks. It's called Seoul Union, and it's on the campus of Yonsei University. The church is amazing. It was founded in 1886, and is the oldest Protestant church in Korea. It is an international, English-speaking church. We heard about it through our friend, Matt, who also goes there. The first Sunday that we were there was an incredible experience. I didn't really know what to expect at all. We walked in a few minutes late because we had to navigate the subway system to get there, and it took about 2 hours. When we walked in, they were in the process of introducing new people. So we were instantly handed a microphone. Haha! It made us feel welcome right away. Then, the worship part of the service started. The first song that we sang was, "Here I Am to Worship." It was an incredibly moving experience for me. I became really emotional because I was thinking, "I am here in Korea, surrounded by people from all different countries and backgrounds, and we're all worshipping together. We're all here to worship." It was really amazing. After the worship part of the service, the pastor spoke, and he is so great. His name is Prince Charles, and he is from Africa. The past three weeks, his messages have been about different aspects of prayer. What he has to say is always very rooted in scripture, and goes so deep. After the service, there is always a fellowship and refreshment time where we get to mingle and meet new people. There are lots of families and young kids that attend, as well as young adults our age. We actually joined the young adult Sunday School class, which has been great too. In September, we're going to be starting a really intense Bible Study called "Jesus in the Gospels." It's a 30 week bible study, but I think we are going to stretch it out to 60 weeks. So we won't even finish it in the remainder of our time here! But I think it will be great to have something like that to really dive deeply into, and have people that we can discuss with. We really feel that this church is where God wants us to be, and we feel so genuinely welcome there. We even met several people who are from Indiana! And everyone has just been so friendly and willing to help us with whatever we need. We feel so blessed to be a part of this church. Last week, the closing song was, "Great is Thy Faithfulness," and the last verse and chorus really stuck out to me:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Morning by morning, new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me!

I really feel like our first month here in Korea has been such a blessing. Every day we see new ways of how God is providing for us. There were so many unknowns before we came here. We really did not fully know what we were getting ourselves into. But from the very beginning, God has had his hand in every aspect of our transition. And we see little blessings every day in our students, in the new people that he brings into our lives, in our church... And we are continually amazed at His faithfulness.