My month at home included much needed time in the prayer room at IHOP-KC; running time with a good friend; coffee dates; revisits of my favorite restaurants; a one-week trip to Eastern and Central Iowa where I saw one of my aunts/uncles/cousins, my close friend and one of my sisters and her family; and then I headed to my hometown for two weeks where I got not nearly enough time with my parents and other siblings. There we celebrated Thanksgiving, I met up again with friends and I headed back (tearfully) to KC for a couple very short days before flying out of the country.

This is clearly a vague description of what I did during that time, but most of you who read this got in on at least one or more of the phases of my trip and for that I’m more grateful than I can express to you all in words. Thank you!

There are clearly a few others that I had intended to see but just wasn’t able to, and those visits I surely hope to get to in the future. Some states I think of off the top of my head that include these people would be mini-trips to Florida, Virginia, Washington and California. Soon and very soon…

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As I’ve arrived back in Korea, there’s been minor (re)adjustments. I think I’m pretty well over the jet lag, I’ve just recently gotten sick (a minor cold, but please pray for quick recovery) and I’m back in my academy teaching English to my 40+ students every Monday through Friday. Most of you know that I returned to the same academy, so I didn’t have to go through another long list of transitions this time around. I actually only have about 10 months left on my contract with this academy, so I’m thinking ahead already on what my next step(s) will be. You can pray for me to have wisdom as I pray, too. There are a couple of options for directions I’d like to take after September 2012. I will process these with you after the end of December. Thank you for praying.

One note to leave you with as I finish this short update is one thing I can articulate at least a little bit regarding what my first year here looked like is this: my relationship with the Lord and how it looks to me both internally and externally in this very different environment compared to my past 7 years of full-time ministry at IHOP-KC is just that–very different. It’s taken me at least as long as my first year to recognize that and to adjust accordingly. It’s been hard and good and I’m hopeful for this second year regarding that relationship. Vague, I know, but that’s what I got.

Continue checking back here. Don’t give up on me, or more specifically, my post-writing irregularities. My intention will be to share with you in January again as I continue to process my options for next fall. They will very likely include you at some level. I’m grateful for all of you. Grace and peace.

What I’d set out to establish and believe I’ve been at least somewhat successful with concerning my own lifestyle has been quite different than what I’ve read about, quite different than what I’ve observed as I see those previously read blog posts acted out in life all around me.

Simply put in the following list: I’m older than all of my fellow teachers, I’ve never been into the drinking/party scene, I have bills to pay and debt to climb out of, I’m not nor have I ever been too concerned with the latest fashion, I try to go to bed early and get up early as a matter of principle and stewardship of the time given me in this life, I love Jesus and His ways, I love time feasting on His Word (not all the time so let me rephrase: I love cultivating time in the Word with a vision that it get written on my heart and play out in all I say and do), I yearn to walk in righteousness and so have every intention of aligning my lifestyle in order that I be successful in that in the eyes of the Lord, I’m not too interested in social butterflying (or social flitting about? Whatever…) and I suppose the list could go on.

I like being set apart and if I’m being completely honest, which I am right now, I really don’t feel like I’m missing out at all. I don’t feel the slightest envy in my person regarding the lifestyles of the typical foreigners (described above). I don’t even feel an urge to travel too much, though that sort of activity in and of itself is not bad.

All I want to do, and what I’ve been doing all this time (and that’s a lot why I haven’t posted lately), is faithfully showing up to work on time every day, sending money home to pay off my debt every month, waking every morning to do my daily run, reading my Bible, praying, working hard on improving on serving those around me, brushing my teeth, all the while abiding in the vine.

So, that’s all. I know most of you who read my “stuff” are really only asking for that much, but when life is as mundane and normal for me as it is for the next guy, it just takes a bit more to finally sit down and put it to pen, so to speak.

All that to say, my heart is alive, I’m not sure of my future just like you may not be sure of yours, I love growing in the Lord, I still don’t necessarily enjoy children (that might be something you didn’t know about me) and I really look forward to visiting home in the fall. I’ve taken more pictures, but I really don’t feel like doing the work to post and caption them, etc. etc. etc.

There you have it. I understand that if there are readers who are themselves English teachers and this may be offensive, that is not my intention. On the other hand, if the shoe fits…

My friend and I went first to the saunas. I wanted to sweat this thing out, so we went into one first, I think it was the 36C sauna. That wasn’t working fast enough, so we transferred to the 60C sauna and that did the trick. The first sauna had stone floors where we just sat and talked. The second had thousands of little pebbles as its floor, and there we sat, talked and sweat like whatever sweats a lot.

Next, we made our way through the big, open stone-floored common area where even whole families were sitting, eating snacks, talking, lounging in their provided sauna clothes, and we headed to the baths. I forget the order of different temperatures we plunged into, but this was quite relaxing and refreshing, especially having sat in a sauna for at least thirty minutes, all the while drenched in my own toxins.

After the baths we showered. It was great. Everything you need, which isn’t much, is provided: towels, sauna clothes and lockers with a key for your clothes, shoes, belongings, etc. I brought my own soap, but you can even buy little sample-sized items at the jimjilbong if you’d like. Will I go again? For sure; maybe even tonight.

My second first doesn’t demand as much description: I took a taxi home after the jimjilbong. Buses don’t run past 11PM, so unless I wanted to lose all that I’d gained in experiencing the jimjilbong and walk in the freezing cold on ice-clad sidewalks (Korea seems not to enact a snow removal system), I needed to take a taxi.

Taxis are very cheap here, so I never hesitate in that way, but there’s still that language barrier. Oh well, got over that, asked the driver if he could take me to Sinchang-dong (my neighborhood), he nodded, we tried to talk to each other during the 3-minute ride, I said, yogi (here) and he dropped me off within 1/4 of a block from my apartment having only racked up 2200 won for my fare (equivalent to 2 US dollars).

That’s it. I’m excited I’ve experienced both of those things now, and I feel empowered to do them again.

On a rare occasion do I get to see the sunset

The following are pics of a path I often hike or run. This was the walk I took on Christmas Eve as referred to in a previous post.

This is a very typical scene in Korea--an outdoor gym--in the hills, mountains and along footpaths even in the city

Pre-party pose

Korean school party not complete without a quiz

Holding up their answers