Well, on February 17th we hit 6 months of being in Korea and March 1st was 6 months of teaching. It has been a whirlwind! We have learned to live out daily life in a foreign culture. However, there are somedays (cold winter days when we hardly leave the house) that we forget we are across the world from our family and all that we’ve known. With the wonders of technology, we are so blessed to be able to stay in contact with friends and family pretty easily.
We have had our ups and downs throughout these last 6 months. We’ve known since we got here that in February we would have to make the decision to commit to a second year or finish up in September 2013. Our thoughts and feelings have changed multiple times since we’ve been here. The holidays coincided with the end of the semester and with that came pangs of homesickness and burn out students. We were feeling slightly negative but a great vacation and time spent in prayer realigned our attitudes.
I’ve also mentioned before that finding a church and friends were a struggle for us at first. Coming over here we didn’t know exactly what the Lord had in store and we can’t pretend that we fully understand it now. It has been a process, however, He has blessed us with a renewed vision, purpose and patience as he uses us to fulfill His will in our lives here.
So, all of that to say this… We have committed to stay a second year, until September 2014! It was a difficult decision but we felt that we have been given such a gift to travel, save money , and soak up a different culture. A year is truly a short time to engage in a new lifestyle. In addition, we honestly don’t know where or what we will be doing after this season. However, we know that it’s ok to be unsure. The Lord gives us what we need to know for the time being. The future isn’t guaranteed and we all need to learn to live life in the present and not waste time waiting around for the next thing. This is a lesson I’ve had to learn and relearn many times.
Well, spring is peeking around the corner and we are so excited! The winter has been a somewhat depressing season. Our house has been very cold. When I say cold I mean, we see our breath throughout the house except for the room with the kerosene heater, take a shower and use the toilet in a frigid bathroom and spend around $300 dollars a month to keep our pipes from freezing and heat basically one room. So, you can imagine how ready we are for the spring! There are some great perks to living in a house (space). However, we talked with our boss and should be moving to more practical housing sometime this summer. We are so hopeful for our future here. This next year and a half will hold multiple visits from family and friends. Ethan will go home for his sister, Melyse’s, wedding in May and my mom and brother will be flying back with him for 2 weeks. Also, we decided that since we are staying for 2 years we will both come home for Christmas!
Wish I had more pictures to share but the cold has put a damper on our adventures. Here are a few pics we’ve taken the last few months.
A chilly hike on a nearby mountain with a friend, Megan. 
A trip to the coast with some sweet ladies from church. Oh that reminds me, Ethan is in need of more guy friends!
We took a trip down to Geoje Island for a 3 day weekend the beginning of March to see two couples we went to college with (Derik and Amanda, who we vacationed with over Christmas, and Jared and Amber, who just got here in January). Once again, Amanda worked some photography magic. We spent an evening on the beach playing around with sparkler picture art and releasing sky lanterns. In addition to that, we had some awesome quality girl’s and guy’s time. It has been really tempting to move down there but we feel confident our place is here in Seosan for now.
There’s a little update on us and our next year and a half! We feel so humbled and blessed to have your support and prayers throughout this journey!
esventure 