Monday, December 31, 2007

I'm in SOUTH KOREA

Hey there people
i have made it to south korea... after an 11 hour trip to Hong Kong and then 3 hour flight to Pusan. We stayed overnight in Hong Kong at the Novotel... that was fun. Went to church in the morning as it was sunday, stayed for about an hour and joined in. Was a very cool experience. We met some lovely people- they were so friendly and really interested in what we were doing. We had to leave the service early as we needed to get to the airport. The pastor prayed for us as a team- very cool, and I also gave a greeting to the church.. the others had someone managed to leave the service earlier.

We arrived in Pusan at about6.30pm.. got picked up by John Bailey the camp co-oridantor and we got driven on the uni bus to the uni- we got taken to our rooms- we each have our own room, we settled in and then we had dinner with the teacher assistants. My assistants name is Sumi - she is a very sweet young woman. Our group name is the Monkeys- we have already has some fun monkeying around.

We met our kids this afternoon after the opening ceremony. Us teachers had to sing a song as an item - we sung God of wonders - and I accomponied on the Piano. I have 14 beautiful 12 year olds - which are actually like 10 year olds in NZ- the age system is different to ours. Apparantely tomorrow all the kids turn 13 as it is a new year- kinda crazy to me, but thats ok.

I am just gettting ready to teach my kids again, am going to play some games with them to try and get them interacting more with each other. I'm really enjoying it so far.. and know that the Lord surely did bring me here. Its a real honour to be able to teach children and impart life to them.

oh.. its VERY cold here. ITs HOT inside but FREEZING outside. Really need God to keep us well.... mum i' m taking my vitamins ok... hope you are smiling at that.

Anyway... i better go, the kids will be here very soon.
love you all
katie

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

KOREA HERE I COME

I hope you all have had a fantastic Christmas and that the new year starts off awesomely for you.

My Christmas was really great. I spent time with my family.. in Levin. My Sister and Brother N Law have just built a new house so we spent the day with them a their new place. It was a really nice day.

I am now at home for a night and tomorrow I head to Auckland for a night, then on saturday afternoon I leave for Korea. I am going to be teaching Enlgish for 3 weeks at Pusan University of Foreign Studies. I will be teaching a home room class 3 hours a day - they are 10 year olds, and in the afternoons i will be teaching music. I think all the kids will see me for music atleast two times! There are about 12 other teachers from NZ going over.

I would really appreicate your prayer for this...
that we will be kept safe, not get sick...
that we will all relate well to the kids and other teachers That God will do what he wants to do through me I have been feeling slightly nervous as i have not done anything like this before!!

2008 is still a bit of an unknown but I do know that the Lord certainly knows where I will be and what I will be doing. I have some options of travelling overseas to do some mission work.. and am processing this and praying about it at the moment. I'm sure it will be more clear after i get home from korea.

Well I do hope you are well, and that whatever you are doing and where ever you are that you are experiencing the Peace and Rest of the Lord.

Lots of Blessings to you and Your Family
And thank you for Friendship and support this last year


I will be posting regular updates on my blogspot while i am away so stay tuned.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Rachels 5th Birthday.


Its been a crazy few days. I left taurnga at 6.15am thursday morning to travel to levin for Rachels party. I stopped in taupo and picked up mum, then we met Dad near Taumaranui and drove to Levin. We managed to get their with about 1/2 hour to spare. We had so much fun celebration Rachels birthday, she loved her gifts, and enjoyed playing games with her friends. I nearly won pass the parcel... i quickly passed the gift to the next child as i didnt think it was fair that i win.. hehe. On friday morning we went to Rachels end of year play for kindy - she was a sheep. We then looked at her new school, and then hit the road to head back to Camp. We did a stop off in Taumaranui - which was a major detour, but I got to catch up with the girls from teen girls camp and I also got to meet the boys who were at boys camp!! It was soooo cool to see them and have fish n chips with them.. food is always a good thing we connecting with people.


I'm now at Lake Taupo Christian camp and have just helped run a kids programe for the kids that here for break away solo parents camp. We did some singing and talked about TRUSTING GOD, and fishing.. .and how Jesus forgives us for our sins - and forgets about them we say sorry for doing wrong. Amazingly the kids listened and hopefully will remember the TRUTH of who God is.


Well i gota go and do some girls nails .. yay... might do mine to... catch you later

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

End of the year... celebrations


Well today is my last day of teaching for the year. I cant believe that 2007 is nearly finished. Tonight some of my piano students are performing at the school end of year gathering and then i'm off to Taupo for the night.. then to Levin for my neice Rachels 5th birthday. Im so looking forward to being at her princess party and celebrating her turning 5. Again I cant believe how fast 5 years has gone.. i remember when she was born and it doesnt seem like that long ago.


On Friday night and saturday morning I'll be helping with a camp.. called breakaway for Solo Mums. It will be cool to hang out with the kids and spend some time encouraging them and letting them know how precious they are.


Just wanted to post a little update.

More exciting news to come soon.


katie

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

lifes not easy..


Well hello there People... how are you? Well the last week has been a pretty full on, exciting and challenging one for me. I had the priviledge of being part of the first ever teenage girls camp that Lake Taupo Christian Camp has run. I have been involved with hundreds of camps there ( as it is where i grew up), but this was the first ever teen girls camp. There were 12 teenage girls.. and they were absolutley beautiful. There were 6 leaders. I had the oppotunity to speak and share some things that I felt the Lord had put on my heart for them... about how precious and unique they are and also about the kind of girls he wants us to beand what I thought a Jesus Revolution would look like for his daughters. It was such an honour to get to know the girls and find out the things they are going on their lives.


I came back to Tauranga really challenged and angry in a way too as I had some insight into the stuggles these lovely girls are facing. I know we all have struggles and hard things to face... i mean life is full of challenges, i just dont like the way some people get treated. I totally beleive that everyone deserves LOVE, everyong deserves to have someone to believe in them. I am soooo thankful to the people who inputted into my life as i was growing up and who still do now, i guess i'm challenged to be that kind of person for others.


I 'm into my last week of teaching piano.. my awesome students are performing tomorrow to the school and then some of them are performing on sunday night at the school country fair... it will be awesome to see them sharing the gift of music that they have.


oh... i got my visa this week so that I can go to Korea to teach English in January. I am heading to south Korea with about 10 other teachers from New Zealand to teach for 3 weeks at an English camp... i'm starting to get excited about this amazing oppotunity. I will be teaching 10 year olds... ! its gona be fun.. i will keep you posted about my time over there.

well thats it for now.... Many blessings.. keep smiling. God loves you..and so do I.