Our decision to stay in Korea for another year has brought about emotional ups and downs for me. I am excited about settling in for another year, and growing to love this place even more. But a really difficult part of the decision to stay, for me (besides being away from family and friends), was that I felt like I was giving up on music and theatre. Of course, I get a chance to sing and do drama at church, and I am so thankful for that. But it's not the same, and I have really missed the creative, theatrical, musical side of my life that used to be almost my whole life. So the day things were finalized with our school, I decided I needed to find a creative, musical outlet for myself in Korea. The timing was nothing short of God's timing.
Last Christmas, Tim and I went to see "Messiah," performed by the Camarata Music Company. The company was a newly formed group for foreigners and English speakers, and I was impressed with their talent and professionalism. I had wanted to audition for the choir soon after I saw them perform, but I just never got around to making that happen. Well, once we knew we would be here for another year, I decided I NEEDED to make it happen. I emailed the director about auditioning, and he emailed me back, saying that they were having auditions for "Pirates of Penzance" that coming weekend. For those of you who don't know the show, it's a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that has an amazing soprano role in it. I couldn't believe it! I was just hoping to audition for the choir, and come to find out, they were doing an actual show! I scrambled to find an audition piece in the sparse music library I have here (almost all of my music is at home). Thankfully, I was able to contact one of my favorite professors from Bethel, and he scanned and emailed some music to me. :) I practiced all week, and worked to get my voice back in good shape. My audition was on a Sunday evening, and it went really well! It felt so good to audition again! After the fact, I felt really happy with how it went, and truly content with any possible outcome. In fact, that night, Tim and I went out to eat to celebrate a good audition, but we decided that I probably wouldn't get the lead soprano role. We figured that they already had someone in mind for the part, and we were fine with that. Well, later that night, I got a call from the director. First, he asked if Tim would be willing to be in the show as a pirate. Tim didn't audition, but they needed more guys, so he decided to do it. THEN, the director proceeded to tell me that he had given me the part of Mabel (the female lead) in the show! Tim started jumping around in excitement, but I had to stay composed until I got off the phone. :) We were beyond excited! In previous posts, I have talked about how God has not only provided for us here, but has poured out excessive blessings on us. This is one of those times. All of a sudden, I have a chance to not only do a show, but to play an amazing role. The irony of it all is that I was supposed to play this same role last September at Amish Acres, but I had to give it up in order to come to Korea. At the time, I felt sad to have to give it up. Little did I know, I would get to play the role in Korea!
Everything about this situation has God written all over it. The timing in contacting the director the week before auditions. The fact that the rehearsals are only on weekends and work well with our schedule. The fact that Tim is doing the show too. The fact that I get a second chance to do this role. And the fact that I get to sing and act again! God knew what I needed. And it sort of feels like confirmation from Him that staying in Korea was the right decision. He took my doubts and fears about being here for another year and assured me that I won't have to give up as much as I thought. So our first performance is June 5th. I have a lot of practicing to do... :)
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
A Hope and A Future
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11
Future. As many of you know, Tim and I have been talking, praying, thinking, and deliberating about the future for a few months now. We have been crazily writing out different paths that our life could take, and trying to catch a glimpse of what life would hold for us down each of those paths. It's been both a difficult time of trying to come to a decision, and an enjoyable time, as we dream about the unwritten future. The decision was basically between staying in Korea, or going back to Tim's teaching job in Indiana. Finally, we decided that we will be staying in Korea for one more year! This was a hard decision to come to because it means prolonging the length of time that we will be thousands of miles away from family and friends. It also means giving up Tim's job back home. But we really feel like Korea is not done with us yet, and that God still has more for us here. Plus, there are several exciting things lurking in the corners of next year. One more year in Korea will allow us to completely pay off our student loans, giving us more freedom in our choices for the future. I can't even describe what a huge blessing that will be for us! Also, one more year here will give us more opportunity to travel, something that we are longing to do more of. This year we traveled to Beijing and to many different places in Korea. We are excited to explore even more of Korea next year, as there is SO MUCH to do and see! Mountains, beaches, caves, palaces... Korea has it all! We are also excited about traveling outside of the country more. We have breaks from school in September and at Christmas, and we hope to travel abroad for both. And, after our contract ends in September 2011, we want to travel in Southeast Asia for 2-3 months! Several of our friends have done this after their contracts were finished, and they recommend it because it's really affordable and such an amazing experience. We're already starting to dream about where we want to go, even though it's still 16 months away! :) So for these reasons, we feel that staying in Korea is the best decision for us. Also, it allows us stay in this place where we've built a life that we really love with our church, school, and friends. We're just really happy here, and we're excited about what next year holds for us! We've had a more amazing experience here than we could have ever imagined, and God has been so faithful. We know that he will continue to guide us in our decisions, as next year will be dedicated to applying to international schools, language schools in America and abroad, public schools, cruise ships, etc. We're open to anything! It seems like a long way away, but I know that all too soon it will be decision time again! :)
So those are our plans in a nutshell! I'll be honest, I think the second year in Korea will be harder than the first. I am really excited about staying, but it's hard to be so far away from home. Everything this year was based on, "It's only one year!" and now... it's not. It feels a little bit like winding up the timer again (which Tim says is a dramatic thing to say). I just need to change my perspective now that we've committed to another year. Thankfully, before we start our second contract, we get to go home for the month of August! I know that it will be such a refreshing time of being with family and friends! We're counting down the days until we get to see everybody again! I am so thankful for all the love and support that our family and friends have shown us while we've been in Korea. We wouldn't be able to live in a foreign country without strong support back home. So here's to another year in Korea! Our hopes are high as we look to the future!
Future. As many of you know, Tim and I have been talking, praying, thinking, and deliberating about the future for a few months now. We have been crazily writing out different paths that our life could take, and trying to catch a glimpse of what life would hold for us down each of those paths. It's been both a difficult time of trying to come to a decision, and an enjoyable time, as we dream about the unwritten future. The decision was basically between staying in Korea, or going back to Tim's teaching job in Indiana. Finally, we decided that we will be staying in Korea for one more year! This was a hard decision to come to because it means prolonging the length of time that we will be thousands of miles away from family and friends. It also means giving up Tim's job back home. But we really feel like Korea is not done with us yet, and that God still has more for us here. Plus, there are several exciting things lurking in the corners of next year. One more year in Korea will allow us to completely pay off our student loans, giving us more freedom in our choices for the future. I can't even describe what a huge blessing that will be for us! Also, one more year here will give us more opportunity to travel, something that we are longing to do more of. This year we traveled to Beijing and to many different places in Korea. We are excited to explore even more of Korea next year, as there is SO MUCH to do and see! Mountains, beaches, caves, palaces... Korea has it all! We are also excited about traveling outside of the country more. We have breaks from school in September and at Christmas, and we hope to travel abroad for both. And, after our contract ends in September 2011, we want to travel in Southeast Asia for 2-3 months! Several of our friends have done this after their contracts were finished, and they recommend it because it's really affordable and such an amazing experience. We're already starting to dream about where we want to go, even though it's still 16 months away! :) So for these reasons, we feel that staying in Korea is the best decision for us. Also, it allows us stay in this place where we've built a life that we really love with our church, school, and friends. We're just really happy here, and we're excited about what next year holds for us! We've had a more amazing experience here than we could have ever imagined, and God has been so faithful. We know that he will continue to guide us in our decisions, as next year will be dedicated to applying to international schools, language schools in America and abroad, public schools, cruise ships, etc. We're open to anything! It seems like a long way away, but I know that all too soon it will be decision time again! :)
So those are our plans in a nutshell! I'll be honest, I think the second year in Korea will be harder than the first. I am really excited about staying, but it's hard to be so far away from home. Everything this year was based on, "It's only one year!" and now... it's not. It feels a little bit like winding up the timer again (which Tim says is a dramatic thing to say). I just need to change my perspective now that we've committed to another year. Thankfully, before we start our second contract, we get to go home for the month of August! I know that it will be such a refreshing time of being with family and friends! We're counting down the days until we get to see everybody again! I am so thankful for all the love and support that our family and friends have shown us while we've been in Korea. We wouldn't be able to live in a foreign country without strong support back home. So here's to another year in Korea! Our hopes are high as we look to the future!
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