#prayerletter

I praise God for the new students, new curriculum, and the new opportunities to serve our MKs.

Please continue to pray for Sejong Global School, our church activities this weekend, and the short term team coming from the Philippines in October.

Also, please include my Korean Proficiency Exam on October 19-20.

Praise God for the strength and joy during the whole move! Praise God as well for everyone who helped!

Please pray for this whole new academic year. Pray as well for my visa extension, that I will be able to gather all the necessary documents needed, and that it will be approved with no problems.

Hoping to hear from you!

Praise God for His faithfulness, His vision, His continuous provision, His community of believers.

Please pray for transitions as we go to Daejeon next month. May we see God at work in the students, and through the school.

Pray as well for my transfer to another school in the fall semester, and finding a local church.

Thank you for being in this journey!

Music:

Your Love is Deep (with I Could Sing of Your Love)

Sung by Jacqueline Rosete and Bokyu Kim (Guitar)

Why do I love Christmas?

 Better picture

An honest picture ofmy family would not be that of van Gogh. It could pass as a work by a third grader I guess. Each of us try to paint it a little better every year but there’s always a lot more room for improvement. A great thing about Christmas is it reminds me that there is hope for this picture.

Hope that it would finally be made of the right material and that we’ll let the great painter do His work in it. Hope that we would someday have a Christmas that is not a celebration of decorations and food (although those are still welcome), rather a celebration of Christ in each of us. Hope that the painter always loves this painting, however it might look like.

More opportunities

A lot of people celebrate this holiday, even if they don’t understand what it’s really about. It’s an opportunity for me to invite friends and family to Cantatas, to Christmas service, to Christmas parties hosted by Christians, or even to a friend’s house to experience a Christian Christmas celebration. Each one a great opportunity for them to hear why Christmas is such a great celebration: Emmanuel!

This year, my sister’s friend who is a pilot is in Tokyo. I took this opportunity to invite him to a Christmas eve service in a Japanese church. I’m certain they can somehow accommodate him, and I am hopeful that Christmas will have a new meaning for him.

  Always a New Song

I simply love singing, and however old the carols might be, they always ignite a new spark in my heart every year as I sing them. Singing them over and over again is a daily reminder of the Christ, the promises in the Messiah, and the glory of God.Part of the popular carol, O Holy Night, goes:

The thrill of hope

A weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks

A new and glorious morn!

The next line is but a fitting response to this wonderful fact. Jesus is the given hope that is celebrated on Christmas. The Messiah is come, he reigns and is glorious. Let us fall on our knees before the King and Lord of all.

 As you celebrate Christmas this year with family and friends, sing carols, and read the Word, may your heart be filled with joy and thanksgiving for the love God has been showing us. Remember Christ, and I am sure you too will have a thrill of hope in your heart

 Christ became human flesh and lived among us.

We saw His shining-greatness.

This greatness is given only to a much-loved Son from His Father.

He was full of loving-favor and truth. (John 1:14)

It started the day before leaving for Singapore (so I could come back here and stay for 30 more days). Suddenly a friend messaged be and offered their place for me to stay at while in Singapore. This just made me start praying for the people God has been blessing me with.

There are the friends, new and old, whom I got to meet up with while I was in Singapore. For some reason, it was so refreshing to simply chat with them, even if it was our first time hanging out! It is such comfort simply being in fellowship with God’s people. ^^

There are also times when I just have to stop and praise God for placing people at such opportune times, especially those times of desperation. I recently found myself in such a situation, and a friend was there to listen. God is just so amazing and awe-inspiring in the people he brings!

But what is really similar to the background of the song is the thankfulness for friends who may only be there for a little while in life, but change us forever. That’s what is so amazing about the people I am getting to know here. Each one has shared the story of God’s work in his/her life, which rarely leaves one unmoved. It makes me giddy thinking how He will use them for His work among the unreached.

“It may well be that we will never meet again in this lifetime… so much of me is made of what I learned from [them], [they’ll] be with me, like a hand print in my heart.”

– For Good, Wicked

It is a privilege to be serving here however short this program may be. Please pray as we come to an end of this training:

Pray for the students – that they would be encouraged to strive even harder, and that they would have a strong grasp of the language. May they also grow to appreciate the family that they have found in this place.

Pray for the teachers and staff – that we would be creative in teaching, and continue to remember that God is the one at work in everything we are doing. It is really grace that enables us to do everything within a day! Pray for us whose visas will be processed two weeks from now so they can extend their stay. Mine was granted a little over a week ago. Hallelujah!

I found myself crying that first night. I was begging God to wake me up from this dream and give me more time to prepare. But at the end of the prayer, I surrendered my helplessness to God and begged him to work through all the feelings I had that I might see more of His power in my life.

God is good to remind me of how I got here: friends who encouraged me to come, prayer warriors cheerfully willing to partner with me, and the overwhelming support my family has been giving me. And even as I am here, he takes away all the anxiety by filling me with joy: from the early morning prayers, to the smiles and laughter I hear in and out of class.

As this second week with them starts, I see God is just beginning to show His mighty deeds to every one of us. These days, I have been more expectant in what surprises God has in store. I need not grumble for I know and I can see that God is doing great things.

This Mission English Training Course (METC) is such a wonderful venue for the students, and even us teachers, to learn about culture, the Bible, and language. The best part of it for me is seeing that half of them are just about to enter university and are excited to be used by God in their respective campuses. I should not forget to mention that these are schools in Buddhist nations! (If you want to pray for them, please contact me so I can also share their prayer concerns with you)

Some of the students. I wasn’t able to give them time to smile.

As we meditated on how the disciples immediately left everything when Jesus called on them to follow Him, I asked myself, “what would my response be whenever God calls me?” My prayer is that I would be able to leave everything and follow Him. It will never be easy, but He will be the one supplying me with everything I need. It’s pretty much like what I am experiencing now. Amazing grace indeed!