The Been Briefing

faith as small as a mustard seed....

tonight i prayed for cindy's back. cindy is a teacher at my school, and the sweetest, kindest young woman. she is not a Christian (yet!!!) ... but neither is she antagonistic towards the Lord. apparently her back has been hurting her for a while and she left to go home and rest and then came back. please pray for her complete healing!


my kids have been more difficult this week. so much whining. it's hard not to let it get to me. i was telling my grandparents on skype that my love for the children is constant (and i want them to know that, regardless of their behavior, i still love them), but i don't tolerate bad behavior. grammie said that it sounds like a mother. haha. well, in so many ways i am a mother to these children, even the 13 and 14 year olds. what a balancing act it is to be merciful and yet to be firm so they don't walk over me! i definitely have the confucianist respect-your-elders in my favor, but kids are the same all over the world - a mixture of sweetness and blatant selfishness.


we've had pushing, yelling, tattle-taling, begging for no quiz (and a movie instead)... but we also have had good storytimes and lessons on putting others first (little ones), and great movie discussions - ie. captain jack sparrow in pirates of the caribbean and wilson in castaway (my older ones). always i find that these kids are DYING for genuine love and encouragement, and i have to dish it out, even while challenging them to rise to a higher level of academic achievement. i told my intermediate kids yesterday, "no more training wheels, kids! it's time for harder work. and you can do it!" pray that they will. and that i will have wisdom to arouse the internal motivation - that they will want to do well for their own sake and not because i or their mother is standing over their shoulders with a checklist.


tonight esther and i are going to the ori CGV (ori is the closest town with a big movie theater) to see the new pride and prejudice. it's finally made its way to korea, and i'm stoked.