Greetings faithful readers!
We'll start off with a snapshot from the past month:
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| Fall leaves on fall trees... |
It was a crisp Saturday night, and we were heading out for our weekly date night dinner. As we walked out the front door of our building, we ran into our Iranian neighbor.
"We're going to Hollywood!" he told us, joyfully.
"Oh!" we exclaimed. "You're going to the United States?""We're going to Hollywood!" he told us, joyfully.
"No..." he responded. "We're going to Hollywood here in Itaewon."
"I didn't know there was a Hollywood in Korea..." Joy said, now feeling confused.
At that moment, the door of the building opened and out stepped a young witch holding a sparkly orange wand.
"Oh, Halloween!" we said, finally putting the pieces together.
Our neighbor was surprised that we were not celebrating this popular American holiday. We learned the value of properly interpreting accented English and walked away with a fun "lost in translation" story to share with you.
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| The beautiful colors of fall. |
Welcome to the latest edition of the Benjoy Times. As always, much has transpired since our last
post. In no particular order…
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The first quarter has come to an end, many tears
have been shed, and extra credit assignments begged for. Alas for the cold hearts of teachers. We had a marathon of grading the last weekend
of the quarter to get everything punched in by Monday. Parent-teacher conferences went pretty well. More parents show up for these than we saw in
the States, and, in a cultural norm that we enjoy, many come bearing gifts!
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Classes:
we are busy as always with planning.
As mentioned in previous posts, Bennett is developing two new AP physics
courses while Joy is teaching a host of different subjects for the first
time. We have moments of feeling weary,
so please pray that we will have peace in the midst of busyness, and trust in
the Lord’s provision. We know that
“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those
who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:30-31), and we want to depend on
God’s strength, not our own.
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| A scene from "Shadowed Stories", a student drama production of five short stories. |
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Life Study Group: We have now completed four 40-minute sessions with a
group of 15 students (instead of our usual weekly chapel) on the topic of
biblical relationships and marriage. To
our surprise, our group was comprised of roughly equal numbers of guys and
girls (due to the machinations of the high school chaplain). It seemed that the students were engaged and
got something out of it.
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GWAM: our school’s spring break mission trip
program. After several days of
uncertainty (“We’re going to Manila!”
“Well, we really need people for Bangkok.” “Okay, we’ll go to Bangkok!” “Wait, actually Hong Kong might be better…”
“Nope, Hong Kong isn’t happening.”) and prayer, we have determined that, we
will be heading to Trinidad in the Philippines over our spring break. We have our team, and our trip will be
focused on running a Vacation Bible School, and helping Christian students
share their faith. We’re looking forward
to this opportunity to invest in our students and, hopefully, help them grow in
their faith. Another request for prayer!
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| The courtyard filled with families for the annual FunFest. |
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Bible study:
we’ve been meeting up with a couple of other couples (hehe) to study 1
John for the last few weeks. It’s been a
good time to delve into God’s Word and reflect on our need for Christ. Pray for continued growth individually and in
fellowship.
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Other events: We’ve had a good time over the last couple of weeks going to the high
school orchestra concert, Shadowed Stories (a production of short stories via
shadow puppets, narration, and music – very cool), volleyball games, and the
ever-popular annual Funfest, a gala of food and gathering for students,
parents, and staff. Many good times had
with friends, coworkers, and students. And, in other news, Joy's journalism class has published its first digital newspaper - http://www.yissbeacon.org/.
So…that’s what’s been going on! Please be in prayer for us for everything
above. Please also continue to pray for
our decision about what to do next year – that we will have wisdom, be
following the Lord’s direction, and choose on the basis of serving and pleasing
Him, not for what we might want for ourselves.
Until next time….
Love,
Bennett and Joy
