The End of the Beginning - final post (for now!)

March 16, 2007 - August 22, 2007



This is short and my last post as I’m too emotional to really believe I’m leaving and cannot bring myself to close out this blog.

Thanks to all of you who have been so encouraging to me while I’ve been in S. Korea. I have so cherished your prayers, posted comments, our emails, skype and iChat ‘chats’, and letters. I admit I’ve been lonely and homesick on occasion but knowing your friendship and my eventual homecoming kept our hearts knitted as one through Jesus Christ (this is what my dad and mom always tells us when we get down!).

To Dahae -- you are our sister in Christ and adopted into our family. You have been so encouraging to me and Iryna. We pray for your 'homestay' in America soon!! We will miss you but know we also will think of you often. Thanks for all that you did for our family.

Words cannot express our families love and the fellowship we've experienced with the Willing family. We'll always be connected as ONE in Christ. I could take up pages of how you have blessed our family! WE LOVE YOU!!!

The scripture verses Dad suggested I close with are the following;

“And they said to Him, ‘We have here only five loaves and two fish… and He took the five loaves and he two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave to the disciples; so they all ate … now those who had eaten were about 5,000 men …’ ” Matthew 14:17-21

We came here with nothing but our experience as a homeschool family and we gave all that we had, believing it to be very meager at times, and left the results to Him; This sustained us when we constantly struggled with ‘are we doing enough?’

“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24

And we were reminded over and over – including while Mr. Wakefield was here – that we serve an Audience of One ;


An nyong he Kaysayoh South Korea – You will always be in our heart and God willing, we will all be back soon.

This may be the end of the beginning ... but I pray it is also TO BE CONTINUED ...

In Christ,

Sarah

Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield visit from Texas

Wow – time has flown by since our return from vacation August 5th. We leave on august 22nd and this is really difficult as we reflect on our time here yet we are excited to see how God will use this experience when we return to Texas.

Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield arrived on August 9th for a series of conferences. My dad asked to add the following comments;

“It’s been over 1 year since I have been able to hear Norm teach. I will never let that much time pass in the future. I have been blessed to attend 11 sessions and over ~15 hrs. of teaching. Some new, some I’ve heard before – all were tremendously impacting. As I told John Willing and others, hearing Norm speak is like listening to wonderful classical music – you want to listen over and over and the melody just stays in your head and heart.

It is rare I don’t get emotional reflecting on my self centered and sinful life when I listen to Norm. I am not alone. There is not a single session where people, men and women alike, don’t come to Norm with tears in their eyes as God’s spirit has touched their lives to reveal His Son, the Cross, and His blood.

There are too many stories to mention, but I have to share one; A new family was considering homeschooling. The mother was a Christian but the father was not and had all the typical reasons not to homeschool. Many parents had witnessed to this father to no avail. There was an all day session with Norm on Korean Independence day, so this family came, as did the father since this was a holiday. Actually many fathers were in the SRO crowd of over 300 people. At the end the mother came to one of the homeschool pastors with tears in her eyes saying that her husband has agreed to allow her to homeschool. His comment (as translated to me) “I am not sure what is going on, but something different is happening in homeschooling”. Praise the Lord!

In addition to this all day session, Norm spoke to over 1,500 at a church Seoul, then to a church service (the church where Brad is getting married September 15th), to John Willing’s men’s group going through Walking Worthy, and to our high school co op families.

As I type this he is in southern Korea where he has a very demanding schedule over 4 days.

God willing, we will have one last visit on the Wednesday morning as we are scheduled to return (22nd) and they leave the next day.

Norm Wakefield (his 5th trip I believe) will be written into the history of Korean homeschooling as the Spirit of Elijah brought to the people and for generations they will be praising his name. I am so blessed to have just been a witness to God’s power in full display through Norm. ” /ap

Well, it’s hard to add much only that I agree!

I have also been blessed to hear Mr. Wakefield’s messages as I sat in on almost all of them. One of the most impactful to me personally was Mr. Wakefield’s application of “do unto others …” with respect to my relationship with boys: I should see them as the future husband of another sister and act accordingly, and pray my fellow sisters will do the same in the presence of my future husband.

Now I have to pray about my final post. I still cannot believe it!

Farewell to Krissy

We had our final (among many! :-) ) farewell dinner with Krissy last night. We all wrote special personal notes to Krissy about how we valued our time with her. Here are some excerpts ...

Krissy,

“We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand” Isaiah 64:8b.

You have been so moldable in His hands and such a willing vessel, how great a servant you have been. To God be the glory!

... Thank you for all that you did by just being ‘Krissy’ ... we value every minute that you would choose to share with us in the future...

“God controlled life is beautiful and useful, but self controlled life is ugly and useless” Pastor Bob Kim, Global English Ministry July 1, 2007 ...

Mission accomplished Krissy!

God’s Blessings,

Alan


Dear Krissy,

It seems like just yesterday we were leaving at 4 am for Korea ... Leading you to go with us was no accident ... You have been such a godly example to our children ... a Proverbs 31 woman and you certainly reflect Proverbs 31:30. "Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." ... I praise the Lord for sending you to Korea with us. We will always have a special place in our hearts for you ...

We love you very much! To God be the glory, June

Krissy, 크리시 언니,

I love you sooooooo much! ... People would tell Mom and Dad “you don’t get to know a person till you live with them so just be careful.” It is true, and this time it has been WONDERFUL! ... I never had a big sister before and you’ve shown me what a real one is ...
... We will always love you.



Love, Sarah
사랑해요.


Dear Krissy,

I am so sad that you are going ... The way you talk and act show that you love the Lord and want to do His will. That has really stood out for me and I pray that I would be that way when I grow up ... I love you and I'll miss you ...
Love, Iryna

Psalm 23:3
"He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake.


Dear Krissy,

I really enjoyed you staying with us in Korea. I liked playing games with you. You were a good example of patience for me.

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger.

Love, Joe


Dahae did a whole photo album for Krissy but I don't have room for all of them. Here are four:






WE ALL LOVE YOU KRISSY AND PRAY FOR YOUR SAFE JOURNEY HOME. MAY WE ALL BE REUNITED SOON!!

YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST FOR ETERNITY!!

ALAN,JUNE, SARAH, IRYNA, JOE AND DAHAE

Memories

We will always have wonderful memories of our time here. We had our last co-ops last week! Time has gone SO fast! We have learned so much not just school-wise but in other ways as well. It has drawn our family closer for one thing. Just because of that I think it has been well worth it.

Here are some pictures of random memories...

Joe and Jonathan...


the Willings...




Friends...






Field trips...


"Doctor" Hannah


Family...

When pigs fly...

We all said we would come to Korea when pigs fly. Well, here we are and here's the pig. We all had a big laugh and the vendor thought we were the usual crazy Americans

(this is a hand-carved pig that we saw at the market)

Praise Report

As I mentioned before, this year was the very first home-school high school co-op. We've watched as many struggled and found how truly hard it is forging a new trail. Many had to learn how to be self-disciplined and self-motivated. Some we weren't so sure were going to stick it out, but they did. And they amazing thing is that they said they are all going to do it again next year! EVERY one as far as I know. I know that we were an imperfect bunch and there are always issues that come up, but I praise the Lord that overall it was a good experience for everyone. Can't wait to see what God does in the lives of all these kids.




This post was copied from Krissy's blog. (www.krissylyn.blogspot.com)

the Korea homeschool symphony season finale

Last Thursday the Willing's orchestra - Heavenly Sounds Youth Orchestra (110 students)- had their last performance for the season. It was very well attended. There was testimony after testimony from families about how blessed they were to have been in this orchestra. And at the end literally 1/2 of the audience came up and hugged the Willing family (sorta like a wedding reception line). They got so many flowers they didn't have enough room in their apt and gave us some! I hope you enjoy these pictures.

some notes of encouragement

Our last two co-ops are June 25 and 26. This is a note of encouragement to us written by our pastor's 11-year-old daughter.

Hi!
I'm really thankful for your hard work. You were really helpful for all of us. I hope you will help others even at America. Everyone will miss you. Keep up on the good work and God will bless you were ever you are.
I hope you will never forget to be kind and helpful, then all people in the world will begin to like you. Hope you stay as you are,
your friend
Joyce Kim

[on the back side] Goodbye, Hope to see you again, Joyce


Here is another written by her sister.

PATTY FAMILY, goodby I will miss you


This is one to Joe from another boy about his age.


[front page] Dear Jeo
[next page] Dear Joe I'm Jason I am sad because you are going back to usa. you were my little good friend. I hope you come back.

From Jason.



I just love these notes. : ) Here is one more.


[front page] to . Joe from me (Edwin)
[next page] Dear Joe I know that you are going back to USA I hope you come back and meet me Have a good time at USA and bye bye BYE BYE ps: Don't forget to smile [then all sorts of smily faces]



The interesting thing about this note is that we don't know who this is!

These are just a few of the written encouragement notes we have received that will go in our scrap-book.

~Sarah

p.s. I did not change any of the spelling or punctuation so what you see is just how it is written.

Getting closer to home!

Time seems to fly! It seems like we just got here!

2 more weeks of co-ops! It has been great to see the students grow: exciting but sad
We'll be leaving all our new friends: so sad.
Going home and not knowing when or if we will come back: very hard but we know it is in God's hands!
The 16 hour flight home; exciting because we are coming home but very tiring!!
Living in our new house that has only been our home for 2 weeks: wonderful.
Seeing all our friend: EXTREMELY JOYOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Getting all our animals back: fun.
Being drawn closer as a family and to God: CANNOT DESCRIBE!!
All the friends and memories: PRICELESS!!!

Our Sunday Hike

Last Sunday we had a great air quality day and went on a hike up "Brother mountain", where the trailhead starts 5 mins. from where we live. Our fellow trekkers were the Willings(not Mr./Mrs. Willing), their aunt and cousin, and Mrs. Hurtado. We had lots of fun and got to see the "country side" looking down on where we live. I thought you would find the pictures pretty amazing, as we did as well. We talk a lot about all the apartments, but I think 'a picture paints a 1000 words' in this case. The hike by the way took over 2 1/2 hrs. up and back. We plan on a 'full moon' hike before we return to the U.S.A.. Although I failed to get any pictures, we passed many Koreans who were dressed as if they were hiking Mt. Everest!! :-)


The view from the top -- our complex is middle-far right in the photo. Each building has 65-85 individual apt. units.


So... which way again Dahae??


The hike was really beautiful and most of it was tree lined and shady.


Brother Mountain in the background left from our unit. Grandfather mountain (further and a harder hike we are told) is directly in the distance. I honestly don't know how it got it's name, but local legend gives credit to the Voellers.

My speech at the High School Co-op

The following is the text of a speech I recently gave during the High School Co op "Great Communicators" public speaking course my dad is leading. Each h.s. student will have given 4 stand up formal speeches during the course, and for most it was their 1st ever public speech.

I am working on a longer version I hope to give when Norm Wakefield is here in August and we hold another 1st -- A Father-Daughter retreat. Please pray for me.

The following was given in English only and I distributed the text and will have it converted into Korean. For the Father-Daughter retreat I will have a translator: I speak a sentence, then the translator speaks that sentence in Korean. This will be yet another new and interesting experience for me!!

I welcome any and all feedback that you feel could improve my speech.

Also, please pray that God will use this speech to convict hearts to dress to please Him and not just to please the world.

*** Text of Speech follows ***

(EXCITED!!)
Did you hear the news! Did you hear? Jesus is coming. He’s on the elevator right now and will be here any minute! Isn’t this exciting??

If Jesus walked into the room right now, would you be prepared to meet Him or would you be embarrassed by the way you are dressed?

Would you run and hide as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden?

Before Adam and Eve sinned, they were very close to God. They were truly glorifying God in their appearance. In Genesis 3:7 it tells what happened after they sinned; “Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” Adam and Eve ran off and hid when they realized their nakedness. They knew they did not glorify God any more. God even asked Adam in genesis 3:11 “ Who told you that you were naked?” Adam and Eve tried to be like God when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then they sinned and lost their innocence and their intimacy with God. They chose their own clothing and justified their actions. They made excuses. This was not honoring God and they could no longer be in His presence. He even made them new clothing from animal skins and drove them out of His presence.

When you choose your clothes each day, are you thinking about the Lord. Are you asking yourself ‘will this honor and glorify Him so that he will want me to be in His presence?’ Am I a testimony for Jesus Christ as I walk down the street? Do I dress for God or dress for the world?

I Timothy 2:8-10 Paul says “ …in like manner also that the women adron themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.” Paul doesn’t have a list of do’s and don’t for modest dress. He doesn’t say that skirts need to be a certain length or blouses should cover a certain amount of skin. He simply states that women are to dress with “modesty and self – control”.

Modesty is so much more than a ‘dress code’. It is about the heart intent – what is motivating us to dress the way we do?

This brings us to the issue of immodesty. When we dress immodestly,, we are doing what Adam and Eve did. We are saying : Pride and just doing what we desire are most important.

I have titled my speech “Dress for Success - The Power of Dressing Modestly.” There was a very popular book in America a few years ago that talked about how to dress for business: What makes a good 1st impression in your workplace and how to dress successfully. How your dress showed your identity, your confidence, your style.

But today what I want to talk with you about is far more important – Do you dress for God or dress for yourself and the world? (pause and look at the
Audience)

While I will mainly address this to the girls here, I think the boys should listen up as well.

These are my three points : 1. Who do you dress to impress, 2. what does how you dress say to the world, and 3. what is motivating your heart?

This speech is not about wearing dresses as that would be legalistic. It is about pleasing God in how you dress.

My 1st point is that how you dress is about who you are dressing to please.

Is it yourself, your friends, the world in general, or God?. I am often told “wearing pants or shorts isn’t a sin” and my answer is “of course not”. Sin lies in the heart and only God sees that.

I am still surprised how people often noticed that my mother , Iryna and I only wear dresses. If we are in an airport or store, people will ask if we wear dresses because of our religion. We were asked this recently touring one of the Korean palaces. If my dad is there, he will speak up and say “no, it’s because I love my ladies dressing like ladies..”, or we will comment “we don’t wear them because of our religion, but we do wear them to honor God”.

So my 1st point is that who we dress FOR tells a lot about who we desire most to please? Is it God or Man? As Christians we should dress to please God. My challenge to you is to dress with a purpose. Choose whom you serve and then dress accordingly.

My 2nd point is that as Christians, we have a responsibility to reflect godliness in everything we do. Yes, we must live IN the world, but we are cautioned to not live AS the world . I John 2:15 says “love not the world , neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

We know many families in our community in Texas that have made a personal choice to wear pants, jeans, shorts, etc.. We know them by their fruit, not by how they dress... and by their fruit we see that they love God. They have made a different personal choice for their family. How any one family/person chooses to dress is a matter of personal choice and not one of moral absolutes one way or the other.

I do challenge you to look at yourself in the mirror and think about the identity and image you want to give to the world. Do you feel your image tells the world your true hearts desire for God?

I want to close with my 3rd point – modesty in dress is a matter of your heart, not of your hemline or length of your skirt. It is a matter between you and God.

Often times how a person dresses is an expression of pride and self- importance, or just laziness, which is just the opposite of humility, diligence and loving God.

I wear dresses because I have the desire to do so even on outings such as a field trip. Although there are times it’s just not practical to wear a dress, I love wearing them and I do so out of MY desire, not out of my parents’ requirements.

I won't think wrongly of your for your choice of how you dress, please don’t judge me for mine.

In conclusion : Dress to honor God, dress to reflect godly character to the world, and dress to reflect the heart that beats under those clothes. Do this each morning and then get dressed.

Dress with a purpose. Dress for godly success.

God’s blessings to you and thanks for listening.

the kids of the highschool co-op

This is of Isaac translating for Dad during Great Communicators. It is funny to watch Isaac try to copy Dad while he translates since Dad is SO animated!



This is just before co-op started.



One of Krissy's 3 science discussion groups. They were having fun competing with each other for candy!



Three of Dad's english class students - Isaac who is most fluent in english, Sally whose father is a creation scientist, and Sarah whose parents are one of the high school lead families. They read and discuss articles on current events and other teen related articles. I am in it too! (They didn't know I was taking pictures. The girls especially hate getting their pictures taken!!
My dad thinks it funny (so do I) that he is leading an english class as he says english is not his 1st language!!



Sarah Kim. I FINALLY got a picture of her!



Daniel Lee reading a (Korean) book.



The fastest thumbs in the west! Actually, this is what the kids do whenever they want. Normally it is hidden under the table during the co-op.
We now have four and a half more weeks to go! That is exciting, yet, I have REALLY enjoyed it here and how fast the time has passed! It is amazing to look back and see what a change God has done in my heart. How He changed my attitude about being here, serving with my family, be separated from friends and the 'comforts' of our (new) home. Two weeks before we left, as the reality set in, I began to get resentful and a bit fearful about coming. I did not understand why the Pents had to leave when they did. Gods answer: That is so your family could go! But now, I LOVE it here and want to come back! So please pray for God's will, not my will, to be done with my family and that I will be content regardless of the outcome.

~Sarah

p.s. I need some help. I am writing personal letters of encouragement to each of the highschool girls (one per week). Many of these girls have been in public school all their life and homeschooling is a new and different experience for them as you can imagine. I am including a unique scripture verse with each letter. I would appreciate you sending me your favorite verse(s) and maybe a brief comment of why. Don't worry about the context of what I will be writing and how your verse may fit in. Just send me your favorite verses and God will inspire me to create a special message around it. Or I'll just include it as a special verse from a friend of mine. Thanks in advance! ~ sarah

What we do at the co-op

We...

...help mom demonstrate the character trait...

...and Mom and Dad speak on topics such as character, parent training, and teach English

Yes we also have fun and sometimes the kids get wild like this cute little fellow.

(Dahae, how do you say "look at my tonsils" in Korean?) :-)

Happy birthday!!!!!!!!

This was a big week for birthdays (and birthday cake!!). Mrs. Willing, Mom, and Mr. WIlling. We love how the Koreans take such special notice of birthdays. In our family many years ago we began to put more emphasis on birthdays to make them really special. At that same time we began to eliminate gift giving at Christmas. Also, Koreans have an unusual way of calculating a birthday. They consider that your are born at 1 year and then each January 1st EVERYONE gets another year added to their birthday. They still celebrate on the actualy date, but depending on the birth date, there can be 1 or 2 years difference in "american" age.

It is the korean custom to make big deals of birthdays and just drop in. So....


The Kim family dropped by to say happy birthday on their way to orchestra. They live an hour away!


Grace and Mayo Kim (another Kim Family) came as a suprise and brought an umbrella and African Violets!

We also had a small celebration with the Hurtados, a Korean friend of the Hurtados, Willings, and Mr. Voeller.




The middleschool/elementary co-op celebrating mom's birthday. Notice the cake. (It's from Costco)


I love how the Koreans celebrate by just stopping in! You never know who will yell SURPRISE to you!!!


I know, this is a little late, but..... We loved celebrating your birthday with you in Korea Mom!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. and Mom - I know one of the little brothers of a families in the elementary co-op asked you your age and then
guessed "100".:-) We don';t think you look a day over 30!!! Must be the Kimche!!! :-)

China!

Oops... my pictures are in backwards order. They start at the bottom. Sorry...



























Mom's comments on China...

When we came to Korea we got a tourist visa which is good for 90 days. It must be renewed by traveling outside the country before the 90 days has past. We chose to go to China. We were in Beijing from May 16-19. God provided safe passage and an exciting adventure! Inspite of the beauty and rich culture, it is a very pagan, superstitious country. We must pray for the missionaries there and for Christ's gospel to reach many. Please pray for our tour guide Jason. He was extremely informative and funny but has no relationship with Christ. As we left we realized how blessed we are to be children of God and to be free to worship Him!!!