Chillin' On The Subway

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep....Proverbs 6:10

Here is the chaplain on the subway.
psssst....
This ain't prayer!

English Class

Every Wednesday at 6, I head over to Aeshin Orphanage to help with the weekly English Class. One of the 2-9 KETUSAs has been carrying on the class as well as he could with his duties, so I am working to get more of the battalion involved. We have purchased books and workbooks for each of the children that are currently participating in the class. We also purchased an extra book for each level so there will always be a blank workbook for making copies.

Currently, I have the Level 1 group, but when we get more guys involved, then I will move to the workers as they are also interested in improving their English. If this keeps up, then I will have a big part of the peninsula speaking with a wonderful little drawl!

The only test of leadership.....

.....is that somebody follows.

Here are two members of the Unit Ministry Team (UMT) in all their glory. (The third is recording the video and the fourth, the chaplain, is egging it on.) If those of you that know us, were to line up all the UMTs in Korea, it would take you about 3 seconds to figure out which one belongs to the chaplain. While all the other UMTs are standing there in a most angelic manner, it would take someones's UMT about 3 seconds to get started up with the wet willies, singing, thumping ears, performing the dreaded "cross face" and folding each other into submission with various wrestling moves.

It all trickles down from the top.

Graduation Photos

Here are the girls after their "sitting" for their Senior Photos. Okay, I know. Meghan is a bit late, but better late than never. Besides, if it had not been for Erin, I do not think Meghan would have done it.

Shalom House

Today, we attended a worship and fellowship service at Shalom House in Seoul. After the services and a meal, there was a birthday party for the three birthdays in March.

Shalom House is a residence for mentally and/or physically disabled adults. When I say residence, do not think nursing home or other such assisted living facility. This is an old and tiny run down house and these individuals take care of themselves and each other. What one cannot do, anothers will do for him. Through Shalom House, they are able to combine their resources - physically and financially - and create a home.

While this home is mostly adults, there is one little girl, about seven years old, living with them. Her family just dropped her off one day and this is now her new family. She is sweet little girl, and does not let her handicap keep her from running all over the place. She will keep all of them young, but also very busy for many years to come.

The founder is Mr. Pak (he is to my left), and he was injured in a hiking accident when he was in his late teens. He went through some low times after the accident, but met a lady that was also physically disabled and a Christian. She helped to give him new insight and to lead him to Christ. Shalom House is the result of her working and sharing with him. Since that time, other Shalom Houses have been set up over Korea. They are not connected in any way, folks would just take the idea and use it where there was a need.

Their residence right now is about 1200 sq feet and they also utilize a mobile storage building across the alley to house 28 people. They are in the process of moving to a new and larger location that is actually handicapped accessible, but the new neighbors are petitioning to stop the move. Right now, they are moving their belongings to the new house slowly, so as to not alarm the neighbors. The last thing they want is picketing and demonstrations, but the longer they wait, the more it will cost because they will have to pay rent on both locations.

As you can see, Shalom House could really use your prayers.

At the food court....

Here is the chaplain with our youngest chapel member:

Great Things

For Thy word's sake, and according to Thine own heart,
Hast Thou done all these great things,
To make Thy servant know them.
Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God:

We have some great things to tell today. I had sent out several post cards concerning Changam, the Handicapped Children's Home on Jeju Island, and their need for a commercial freezer. Thanks to answered prayer and 2-9 INF along with their big Manchu generosity, the freezer was paid for and installed on 13 March. I had given myself a self-imposed deadline of 30 days, and everything happend 2 days ahead of schedule.

There are about 40 residents at Changam, and the ladies were cooking three meals a day without the benefit of a commercial freezer. This new freezer will save money in their grocery budget, and that money can be reallocated to the rehabilitation services they offer the children. Since rehabilitation is not supported by government funding, freeing up funds for this very important service is a blessing to Changam.

Now I am planning a "Diaper Drive" for Changam, because diaper dollars can be shifted in the budget also. They have 24 or 25 children in diapers, and with a daily allotment of 7 diapers per child, it adds up quickly! You have prayed up a freezer, now let's pray up some diapers! (My goal is at least a month's worth of diapers before we head back to Jeju next month.)

Today's Wanderings

Someone Call OSHA Quick!!

MWR was putting up a new sign to announce upcoming events, and this is how you get your manpower to the top of the sign in Korea. Attention small business owners: Do Not Attempt This At Home!

Today, I headed to the far eastern reaches of Seoul to meet with the director of a Christian ministry for North Korean refugees. At this campus the students are 18 - 21 years of age, and are preparing to enter University. It was a very informative trip, and I will have the opportunity to go back in a week or so. The director and I even have a special project in the works and once it is given the green light by all the staff I will share it with you.

It has really been amazing how these opportunities just pop up, and when a door opens I go running right through it. With only four months left, I do not have time to be slow about meeting, sharing and helping. Of course, circumstances may cause a door to close in one area, but then out of the blue, something new - like this school - just seems to find me. I thought I would come to Korea and do lots of volunteering like I had done in the past. Instead, I am discovering these ministries and passing all the information along - creating a little network between Korean organizations and military folks. My time here is short, so like a spider (just call me Charlotte!) I am weaving a web that will hopefully hang around after I am gone.

Korean War Memorial

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The chaplain had a day off, and we decided to have a sightseeing day. Meghan has classes every Saturday in Yongsan, so we headed south with her. Since the soldier had a free day, we visited the Korean War Memorial. LOL Who would have guessed that his day away would have involved tanks and other such firepower - both primitive and modern. Okay, okay, the weather was cold and windy, and it was a perfect day to be inside.

It took about 5 hours to browse through 5000 years of Korean wartime history, but we enjoyed it. We waited to eat dinner until we made it back to Dongducheon so we could dine at Cary's favorite restaurant - what he calls the "Waffle House." (I have yet to see a waffle in that place.) After some divine cheese and kimchi rice for me and a pork cutlet for him, it was naptime. Full and sleepy in Korea - and loving it!

Traveling to Suwon

We finally had the opportunity to visit with Daniel's parents. After running some chapel errands in Seoul we headed a little further south and had dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Ahn at her restaurant. D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.

Since Suwon is a 2 and a little bit hour subway ride, we had to leave shortly after dinner. We are already making plans to go back and next time it will be an overnight trip - maybe two. I am going to hang out with Mrs. Ahn at the restaurant one day and learn how to cook all those Korean yummies. With only four months left, I am beginning to worry a little bit about where I will get my Korean food in the states. If I take some cooking lessons, then I might survive.

Prayer Breakfast

This morning there was a prayer breakfast for 2-9 and there were almost 100 attendees. SGM Kerns, a member of our chapel and big helper for the chaplain, was the speaker. He will soon be receiving his Masters of Divinity and we will be having a ceremony at the chapel. Although he has already been here a year, he felt the Lord wanted him to stay an extra year (NOT exactly what HE was wanting to do!) and that is going to provide some MUCH needed continuity between the change of chaplains in July. The chaplain calls SGM Kerns his brother and they are very close friends. Well this morning, our favorite blonde said, "You know, Mom, they call each other brother, but Pop and Dale do look alike." I will let you be the judge. Bald heads and Bibles....rofl

Here is Erin and the chaplain as part of the praise team. Erin even talked her Pop into doing some of the hand motions for a couple of the songs.

Right now, the chaplain and SGM Kerns are planning Camp Casey's first ever open air Revival Service. The plan is to have it outside at the amphitheatre from March 30 - April 1. Planning it so early means everyone is in overdrive, but March is the only month when there are no battalions in the field. We will have ALL of Camp Casey to work with.

Catching Up To Do.....

It has been awhile, so here is a catch up of the past couple of weeks.

There were the preparations to "welcome" the guys back from their month in the field. We had a gathering and made banners and posters and cooked all manner of baked yummies for them. I spent a couple of evenings in the chaplain's apartment baking 25 dozen cookies in a teensy little oven. It was just easier to bake them there than it was to drag all the ingredients home, bake them in my teensy little oven and then tote all the cookies back to Camp Casey.

When the guys come in from the field, they have to take all the vehicles - from trucks to tanks - through the wash rack to clean them up before they can go back to the motor pool. Erin (friend, not daughter) and I worked from 9 PM until 3 AM the evening they rolled back to Casey. We made sure the coffee pot was full and distributed all the baked goods. Since the guys in the tanks and some of the other higher equipment could not always come down, I spent much of the evening walking between rows of vehicles and tossing muffins, cookies, brownies and candy up to them.

We also had our Bowling Party for the Children's Home. It took alot of planning and preparation, but we managed and in the end 41 children from the home were able to come on post and go bowling and then have dinner at Popeye's afterwards. (Sidebar to the VanWinklettes: some of the children were wearing their beads from Christmas!)

Aside from the fun stuff, there was the usual Snelling things with Meghan's mid terms and Erin's graduation tests thrown in for a little extra spice. I am leaving today for an International PWOC Conference so I will type at you in a couple of days.