I Forgot...

Hi All,

So, I totally forgot that Monday was a US holiday.  The school only celebrates some American holidays since it is an international school and this is not one of the holidays so I will be at work on Monday like usual.  Daniel doesn't get holidays so that is another reason that holidays don't really mean much to me.  The only reason I remembered was because I went to mail something today and the post office was closed.  I got a little irritated because they frequently seem to randomly close and I typically miss the announcement.  Needless to say I won't be mailing anything today, tomorrow or Monday :-P

Something else I forgot the other day was that at 1730 (trying to get better at learning military time) they play both the ROK and USA national anthems.  If you are outside walking you stop and stand.  If you are driving, you stop your car.  If you have ever seen the movie "The Truman Show" it is similar to when everyone is waiting in first position.  If you are indoors you can look outside and see people paused in place, even children.  The military people stop and do their stiff stance while civilians either have their hands behind their back or one hand over their heart.  At the movies on base before the previews they also play both national anthems to which we all stand in respect before sitting again. 

Hopefully you all have a fun and safe 3 day weekend!

Psalm 118:24
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Sincerely,
Camille

Tres Dias

Hello Family and Friends,

I recently attended a women's retreat here with about 27 or so other women that I did not know.  I was asked by a friend from church and school if I wanted to go and I said yes without really knowing what I was saying yes to.  After letting other people know I was going some who had attended were happy for me but others who had not attended were suspicious.

I then got suspicious and looked up information on Tres Dias and was not able to find details but enough information that I felt comfortable.  Plus I trust my friend and so the new faith walk began.

It was 3 nights and days of being blessed to be around other women of God.  Away from daily distractions and left to really just focus on God's greatest commandments to love him and to love people, it was so peaceful.  Not so much peaceful in a worldly sense (because I was exhausted when I finally got home) but peaceful to my spirit.

I really enjoyed my time there and highly recommend that if you have the opportunity to go participate at a Tres Dias, you should go.  Daniel is going this upcoming weekend for the men's retreat.  I look forward to him getting back and us being able to share with one another and hopefully grow closer in our walk with Christ.

Blessings and Love,
Camille

Isaiah 26:3
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid

Geocaching

Ummm... Has anyone ever heard of this and failed to share it with me!?!

Daniel and I went to a formal dinner on base recently for his supervisee and while talking to the guy sitting next to me I learned about "Geocaching."  I got so excited while he was telling me about it and am interested in trying it out.  I never heard of it but with all the hikes we have been on and all the places he and I have been I wish I knew about it a few years ago!!!

So the way he explained it was as a international treasure hunt basically.  Apparently, there are places all over the world where people have planted little hidden objects and you sign the log and note it in your own records.  A map exists that makes note of all of the places that have a hidden piece.  Travelers are able to document all of the various places they have found and check it off on their own documented map.  He gave examples of check ins being hidden in tree bark or under benches, even like a screw hole in a bridge, etc.  Apparently, the hike I recently wrote about has several stop places.

After learning about this I couldn't help but think about our road trip honeymoon, various random trips and my trip to Australia!!!  Too late for those but I do now want to start an account so I can participate.  Daniel is great with maps and I am pretty good at looking for and finding things so hopefully we make a good team at this new hobby :-)  We're just going to do the basic one because we're cheep and the more intense ones seem unsafe so, yea, no thanks.

If you're interested here is the website... https://www.geocaching.com/play

YAY, SOMETHING ELSE NEW TO TRY!!!

Camille
 
Psalm 91:9-12
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place--
the Most High, who is my refuge--
no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

On their hands they will bear you up
lest you strike your foot against a stone.

Share In My Conviction

This one is for the ladies...

So I just spent the last several minutes washing my hair and am currently sitting in a shower cap with conditioner in to moisturize my hair.  The thought crossed my mind how discontent we are with what God blessed us with naturally.  This is not a new thought just one that I began to ponder and wanted to share. Stick with it 'til the end, I'm not condemning us just thinking...

We don't like our natural hair so we straighten it, dye it, curl it, crimp it, cut it, braid it, wear weave... Anything but just keep it clean.

We don't like our skin so we use make up, shave, pluck, peal, wax, moisturize, blot, tan, bleach... Anything but just keep it clean.

We don't like our bodies so we use expensive clothing, gaudy accessories, impractical shoes, excessive diets, excessive workout regiments, surgery... Anything but just keep ourselves covered and be healthy.

We don't like our smell so we use scented any and everything to cover up natural occurring odors...  Anything but just be natural.

Then we project our issues onto other people.  So in other words, "If I have to take the time to do my hair, and use resources to keep my skin looking young, and spend money to make my body look good, and cover my scent everyday... You need to do it too." 

We see people that have hair that looks unkempt a certain kind of way even though if we are all honest, God quite genuinely probably doesn't care that someone's hair is natural.  We see women that put forth no effort and women that put forth too much effort and judge them based on how they look.  Even knowing that God only cares about their heart.  We see people wearing outdated or ill fitting clothing and judge them even though they could just as quickly judge us for unwisely spending money on another new outfit that we don't need.  We avoid and make fun of people that have a musky odor not knowing whether they have a medical condition (how do you think John the Baptist may have smelled?).

Psalm 139:13-16
¹³ For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

1 Corinthians 13:16,17
¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Proverbs 31:30
³⁰ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Not to make anyone feel guilty about wanting to look nice and smell nice, because most of us do, but just be careful about your time, energy, resources, and attitude.  I want to encourage us all to watch what we put our focus and thoughts in because it shouldn't be on anything material.  We live in the world but we are not of the world. 

God's Love,
Camille

 

PS According to this website http://www.worldwatch.org/node/764 (not sure how reputable it is) between Europe and the USA we spend $12 billion  annually on perfume.  Also in the US alone we spend $8 billion annually on cosmetics.  Can you imagine if we put that money towards helping others how many people we'd help!?!

Sharing A Meal but Not A Language

Hello,

Daniel and I recently went on a hike at a location close to our apartment where we also decided to have a picnic.  We previously have hiked at this location, it is an easy place to navigate but also has little patches with a bit of an incline to get the heart pumping nice and fast.

When we got to the picnic point we sat under the Korean style shelter where there were already 2 couples with a couple of the people napping.  When we sat down one of the couples had just begun to pack up their things so that there was actually enough room for us to spread out and not just have a little piece of space.  We had our sandwiches and drinks and were soon offered grapes and cherry tomatoes from the couple sitting close to us.  I had Daniel offer them Cheez-Its because that was pretty much all we could share of our food.  The grapes were large seeded sweet red grapes.  The tomatoes were sweet too, Daniel doesn't like them so I had a couple just to myself. 

We couldn't really talk to each other but we were able to thank them in their language and say good-bye in their language.  It was kinda cool!  I liked that they were not intimidated by us and beyond that were willing to share with us.  Sometimes I really like people :-)

We had Thai lunch today with a couple from church and their kiddos.  I got the below picture from their oldest son and wanted to share because I thought that it was super cute. 

I am on the left with my lighsaber and my buddy Caleb is on the right saying "May the force be with you."

 

In case you wanted to know how a 5 year old spells my name LOL :-D  

 

Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 

 

Have a great day,

Camille

A Korean Man Touched my Toe...

Hello All,

Life is happening and so my posting has clearly dropped off a bit as a result.  I not only am at the school 2 days weekly but we have started a small group with other 20-30 something y.o. from our church that do not have children and we meet weekly.  Plus recently are now hosting a Bible study weekly at our apartment and I am a leader in the women's ministry at church.  Additionally I have been meeting new people, developing relationships and experiencing life all mixed in with everything else!

Last week I attended a show where people were performing various sonnets or monologues from Shakespeare's works.  It was in Seoul and I met up with a new friend from South Africa who has been here for several years.  I enjoyed her company more than the actual performances but overall it was a nice experience.  About 15 or so people got up on the stage and most of the audience I think was made up of artistic type people so they laughed at some performances I didn't actually get at all.  The people performing seemed to be American, Korean, or British, if from anywhere else I couldn't tell (like maybe a Canadian and not a US citizen).  Daniel was a sweetheart and drove down to Seoul and then traded me phones so I would have Google maps to look at.  He went back on the train and stayed awake pretty much until I got home, just in case.  It was sweet :-)

This past Saturday the women's ministry met up at the arboretum in Osan and it was a perfect day!  There were about 11 of us total and we had a picnic under a Korean style outdoor eating area, I don't remember what it was called.  In the group there were 4 Korean women in the group of us and I felt super selfish because the one lady had brought food to share with everyone.  The rest of us only brought food for ourselves.  Apparently it is Korean style to share meals like how she did and I noticed the other Korean women were much more comfortable accepting the food she brought.  I wanted to try the food because she cooked it and I liked everything.  In there was like a spicy "fish jerky" (that's what I'm calling it anyway) and it was really good!  I think because it was homemade it tasted good to me, from a package it seems like it would be really salty or not as flavorful maybe.

I was also able to attend the high school boys' soccer team last tournament last Friday.  They play other international schools here in the country.  I noticed some different rules and was informed of some different rules that they have here.  One appears to be that you have to wait until the player you sub for runs off the field before you run in.  Also apparently you are not allowed to yell out "mine" when you go for the ball because it confuses the other team!?!  To me the refs seemed to call a lot of unnecessary fouls for unintentional things.  Anyway, watching the games reminds me of why I don't like watching sports, I get too anxious and my empathy level goes way up and I feel like my adrenaline is just as high as the players so I get pretty irritated and mad.

Oh, are you confused about the title of my post in comparison to the subject matter!?!  Let me tell you the brief awkwardness I experienced last week...  We were at our small group and waiting to get into the apartment building of the couple hosting when the security guard came over to let us all in.  The security is an older very petite Korean man.  Well, there were 3 of us girls and then Daniel and all of us girls had on sandals/flip flops.  The guard proceeded to say something in Korean as he playfully bent down and touched each of the three of us on one toe.  An awkward laugh escaped with a look of complete confusion on my part.  I thought it was funny but I was super confused, and still am actually.

 The lady sitting right beside me is the one that brought all of the goodies.  This is the structure that we ate in but I am unsure of what it is called.  Also Korean style is that you take your shoes off and sit on the floor when you are eating here, outside was no exception.

 

American, Korean, South African, Filipino represented here!

Look at all the food she shared!  Everything I tried tasted pretty yummy :-)

It was hilarious how exciting it was for everyone to see a squirrel.  In the States it's nothing but here you don't often see them so it was pretty funny to see people trying to take a picture and children running around after it.

Titus 2:3-5 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.  They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 

I stole the pics from the SCBC Women's page,
Camille