Getting Ready

As I write this, I know there are a handful of people who running around doing last minute shopping and beginning to pack their bags for their journey to the ends of the earth. For some, in a few hours they will board planes and begin to head in our direction. It is crazy to think that in just a few days our students will arrive to their home for the next three months, the beautiful coastal city Tauranga.

All but one staff member has arrived and we have been in meetings all week long. The preparation, both spiritually and practically for a 1st time school is huge. Little by little it is getting done though. Excitement is in the air, and it is very evident that God is on the move. We look forward to sharing more with you soon.

By the way - seriously praise the Lord for "crock pots" we wouldn't be eating without them! There simply isn't time to cook.

House of Prayer

We've spent the last 10 days or so just getting back in the grove of what's happening here in Tauranga. I have realised more than ever the importance of the House of Prayer. Being away in Korea for 6 weeks left me starving for an environment of corperate prayer and worship. Stepping back into the House of Prayer in Tauranga has been so refreashing, and has given the ability to rest and refocus, without having to have a "holiday". True rest comes from Jesus....being in His presance. I feel rested and ready to launch in this next phase. We have the DTS beginning in just 8 days from now which we are preparing vigorously for. There is a lot going on at the moment, but I have been encouraged just to keep the main thing the main thing, and lean into God and let Him do what He does so well.

Home Sweet Home

Yeah, it's great to be home and in our own bed. We have spent the last two days recovering from lack of sleep, I can't remember the last time I slept 12 hours straight. After 29 hours worth of travel, it was such a good feeling to step into our own little cottage having finished well what we set out to do. I've learnt over the last 5 years or so that its most important to finish well.

We had a smooth trip back to NZ. No problems whatsoever. It just seemed to take forever. Thanks to a cancelled flight in Sydney we were able to depart two hours earlier than we originally thought which was nice.

Roast chicken was on the menu first night home, such a nice change after Kim Chee and rice. We're going to take it easy this week, before a 2 week onslaught before DTS starts. Looking forward to it.

On the way home....

Well, here we are, 6 weeks after leaving NZ for Korea....sitting at the Internet lounge at Seoul Airport. An incredible last 6 weeks in Jeju, an amazing bunch of students, some great times with God, ministering to those around us, a steep learning curve, and many great korean meals! We've had a blast here in South Korea and have learnt so much. It will probably take a good week or two to process our time here, but we can say that we have finished well, and are leaving totally satisfied with what we have been able to accomplish. No regrets!

Thank you to all of you who have helped us make this time a success! Huge!

allright, over and out, time to have our last taste of korea before we hit NZ!

Take it easy.

Starting to Transition

It looks like even our students kids know that transition is coming soon. These two little one's belong to JungMo and SungWan. This family might be joining Josh and I for the iDTS in Tauranga....I guess we will see if we need a Korean translator after they talk to their church.

Graduation and Celebration

Today marks the end of the school term at the University of the Nations. Last night we had campus wide graduation for all of the students at the University, and the President of the university, Sun-Gun, addressed the student body. Each school leader had a chance to share a little bit about the school, and Josh seriously brought the house down. I don't know if it was because of what he said, or because they are just really excited to have an young English speaking school leader. Whatever the reason, it was a great night and we felt that the University of Nations was standing behind IWT and our students.

Tonight we have our final time with the students, which is actually quite sad. It is always hard to say goodbye when you have put your all into it. We are headed out to a Korean BBQ all you can eat buffet to enjoy what is referred to as a "Love Feast". It should be a good time of hanging out together and laughing through the Konglish (Korean English) conversations. I imagine some eating competitions might just be in order. That being said, I'm putting my money on Hoon!

This is Hoon! He ate two whole chickens the other day!

What's on the Menu.

Tonight, Moses, Joanna, Josh, Aaron and myself went out from campus for dinner. Of course we let Moses pick the place, and he took us to "the very special place". We got out of the car at a place that had a cartoon character of a horse on the sign. There was also a type of corral to the side of the building. Josh and I didn't think much of it, until we sat down and started looking at the menu. You guessed it - they had horse on the menu. Apparently it is speciality and tastes great BBQ'ed. Ah! Now I am from Texas, and horses are our friends - they are not dinner. We ate beef and pork instead.
After some ice cream for dessert, we headed back to campus for our night class. We were met by Daniel, our translator. He asked if we had a good dinner? However, before we could answer, he announce "we had dog for dinner - it was good you were not here." Ah! Are you kidding me. I have nothing left to say - Koreans eat horse and dog. I guess you learn something new everyday, however some of those things you wish you didn't know.

Great Ministry Time

Last night we had a great ministry time with Aaron. We were covering the topic of the Father Heart of God, and the topic of shame keeping you from knowing who you are in Christ and understanding your place in history. You could tell from the beginning of the lecture that it was hitting the "nail right on the head". It was one of those nights were God just wanted to come and touch people.

God wanted our students to feel His presence and they did. Josh and I were talking about it afterwards and both commented that we just love it when God decides to come and change mindset and bring refreshing. It makes our job really easy, we just pray and comfort when God starts moving.

Into the last week....

We can't believe how fast the time has gone by since being here in Jeju. It's mind boggling to think that we only have one week left with these students in this phase of the IWT process. We've had an incredible time so far, and are looking forward to finishing well. I believe that the best is still to come this week. Graduation will be on Firday night at Korean BBQ!

We have Aaron Walsh from the House of Prayer here with us this week which is great. It's great to have a friend around who speaks english and knows who we are and what we're about.