Rudge's Ramblings

If you read our blog regularly, you've heard me talk about Nikki. My friendship with Nikki is one of the deepest and most Christ-centered I have ever had. She is a relatively new Christian (2 years), and she is truly an inspiration to me. She recently started a blog of her own to write down her thoughts as she works through the Old Testament. My prayer is that you will be as encouraged by her as I am. How blessed I am to call this Brit not only my friend, but a dear sister in Christ.

Rudge's Ramblings

Proverbs 27:17  Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

A Day Trip to South America?

On our first day off for Lunar New Year, Laura, our friend Kelsy, and I trekked to the other side of Busan to visit Gamcheon Village. We had seen pictures of this part of the city with its brightly painted buildings. We read that this is one of the poorest parts of the city, so they decided to paint the buildings in order to attract more tourism. It seems to be working because we definitely weren't the only tourists up there that day. To me this village made me feel like I was back in Central or South America, and I loved it. We wandered down streets, turned down narrow alley-ways and meandered back down to the bottom of the mountain. It was beautiful.

Notice the difference in the name of the store from the top to the window.

Two Years Later

It's hard to believe that it has been two years since we decided that Justin would go to the UNI Job Fair to look for an overseas teaching position. Nearly two years ago I began this blog in order to record our journey for your sake and our own. We had no idea how many wonderful things would be in store for us here. With that being said, we have officially turned down offers to remain at our school for a third year, but it is one of the toughest decisions we have made. Let me explain.

We LOVE living and working in Korea. We are blessed with incredible jobs that are both challenging and rewarding in many, many ways. We have grown professionally, spiritually, and personally as we have embraced this new culture. We have made friendships that will undoubtedly last a lifetime. We have worked with people who have molded our careers and helped us become better teachers. We have a church family that is more like a family to us than just friends. We have been able to save money and travel frequently. So how could we leave, right?

While we love this place and will be immensely sad to leave, we are ready for something new. We look forward to being with family again. We have also found ourselves to be almost too comfortable at times with how easy it is for us to vacation and spend money on things because we can. We have grown so much spiritually that we are excited to share those things with others and get involved in another church (Don't worry, waygook friends in Korea who are reading this - our RICC family will ALWAYS be dear to us).

So what's next? All we know for sure is that we're going to Bali for Spring Break and Europe for 2 1/2 weeks before we come back to Indiana. After that, only God knows. Justin is in the process of filling out applications to schools in Indiana. He has completed applications for nearly 40 school districts so far, with many to go. Most schools won't have openings posted until the summer, so for now, we are trying to stay ahead of the game by getting as many applications in as possible.

If ANY of you have connections to schools, PLEASE let us know! We are open to any suggestions. But most of all, please pray for us as we finish our time in Korea. While we are excited to come back to the States, it will be very hard to leave. We want to take full advantage of being here rather than just looking forward to the future. You can also be praying for our future as we work on applications and figure out what's next. We trust that God will provide!

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Hello, 2014!

We got up to see the first sunrise of the year on Haeundae Beach. I know, I know, you're shocked. Megan got up to see the sunrise on purpose?!?!?! Yes. I did. And I'm so glad I did. It was a beautiful morning for a walk to the beach with Justin and Nikki and was absolutely beautiful. See for yourself. Man, God is good. Enough said.

Beautiful sky overlooking Dalmaji and the sea

Tons of people released balloons into the air when it was the official time of the sunrise

Balloons in the sky

with Nikki.

First glimpse of the sun

Busan Aquarium...Take...10?

We love going to the Busan Aquarium. Last year for my birthday we got season passes, and with them expiring soon, we decided to take one of our mornings off this week to enjoy going there for free one last time.

We are always impressed with this place - they are always changing something so it's still fun to go even though we've been several times.

Here are some new favorites (and some old ones)!

One of our favorite fish in the entire aquarium was no longer there, but this guy was in the tank he used to be in. The old favorite was a big fish with a HUGE knot on his head and about 4 teeth that stuck out funny.

New sting rays

we always love these clown fish

one of Jusitn's new favorites

The sea turtle I was looking for in Hawaii was here all along.... ;)

 

We start work again tomorrow with students starting again on Tuesday. It has been wonderful to be home but not have anything to do yet - it has been so relaxing. You can be praying for us as we gear up for the rest of the school year and work to get back into our routine.

Aloha, Hawaii!!

This winter break we were blessed with the opportunity to travel to Hawaii with my (Megan) parents, brother (Tim), and sister-in-law (Lissel). While we missed having time at home in Upland and missed seeing SO MANY other family and friends, it was wonderful to be in a tropical climate while exploring more of God’s creation that we never thought we’d get to see in our lifetime.

To start our trip, we headed up to the Osan Air Force Base south of Seoul where Justin’s cousin is stationed. We spent a day and a half with them and their 3 boys. It was fun to see what a base is like since we have never been on one – it felt so much like an American town to us compared to what we’re used to. Even their apartment felt “American.” We enjoyed getting to know them better and playing with Jonathan and Caleb and Seth. Hopefully we’ll get to see them again soon!

Our travels to Hawaii were easy. We flew out of Incheon (near Seoul) and got a flight directly to Honolulu that was less than 8 hours – piece of cake compared to the 13+ we’ve done before! We purposefully planned a 6 hour layover in Honolulu so we could make a trip to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial. It was the perfect amount of time to do what we wanted and got a better, fuller knowledge of what happened on the “day which shall live in infamy.” We saw a 20 minute video about that day which included video footage of the Japanese – it was sobering. We then took a boat out to the Arizona Memorial where you can look down and see the ship still sunken with oil still leaking up to the surface. Sobering, indeed.

First glimpse of the Arizona Memorial

Pulling up to the Memorial

Part of the ship that is exposed

We then returned to the airport and took off for Lihue in Kauai where my parents were supposed to land 8 minutes after us. Key words: supposed to. Long story short, their flight from LA had mechanical problems and they had to return to the airport. We were finally able to get wifi and find out that they had gotten our car rental company to allow Justin and I to pick up the car instead of them. We had 6 hours to kill before their new flight came in, so we got to know the Walmart in Lihue VERY WELL. Let’s just say it’s a pain to not have American phones, and people give you weird looks when you’re American and you say that you don’t have a phone. As always, God’s timing is perfect and I think it made our reunion with my parents that much sweeter after a stressful evening. Tim and Lissel joined us a few days later with, thankfully, a very uneventful trip.

I am going to share our trip with you by telling and showing all of the ways in which we saw God’s creation throughout our ten days in Kauai – land, sea, sky, animals (and a few others which didn’t fit into these categories).

The Garden Isle

Kauai is known as the Garden Isle and also contains the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." In other words, we were never short of anything beautiful to look at. The North Shore, where we were staying, is lush and beautifully green. We have never been to the Grand Canyon, but this canyon was incredible. I'll list below some of the landscapes we were blessed to take in.

1. Waimea Canyon - the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific"
We drove to the top of the canyon one day and must have stopped at least half a dozen times on the way up to take pictures. What was awaiting us at the very top was stunning as one side looked down to the ocean and the other side back into the canyon. One of my best friends in Korea, Nikki, became a Christian just a few years ago. One time I asked her what it was like to see beautiful places and not know Christ. She told me that it was just beauty. That's it. No more to it than that. I am struck by how much I feel God's presence and majesty in these places. To think that He created such beauty, yet He cares about me!? This canyon is one of those places that filled us with a deeper sense of God's glory.

2. Opaeka Falls and Wailua Falls
Who doesn't love waterfalls? Unfortunately we didn't get up close to either of these, but they were still beautiful. We must have seen 20+ waterfalls on our helicopter ride as well. WOW.

Wailua Falls

Opaeka Falls

 

3. Queen's Bath
This is a natural pool formed by lava rocks and the ocean. It was a steep, muddy walk down, but pretty cool. We were advised to not swim here during the winter but other people were swimming.

4. Fern Grotto
We went on a tour down the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto - it was beautiful and lush.

5. Spouting Horn
This is a blowhole that occurs from water rushing under the lava rocks on the coast. The tide was out when we were there, so it wasn't spraying as high as during high tide, but it was pretty cool. We could hear the wind whip under the rocks when the water receded.

Amos 4:13
For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
    and declares to man what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness,
    and treads on the heights of the earth—
    the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

If Grace Is an Ocean We're All Sinking

We visited many beaches on the island and saw some breathtaking coastlines. The water was cool but not too cold, and we had a blast snorkeling and/or body boarding. I never get tired of looking out to the sea.

At Tunnels Beach - the beach where Bethany Hamilton got attacked by a shark

Justin body boarding at Hanalei Beach

the pier at Hanalei

 

Watching the rain - yes, there was a rainbow!

One day before Tim and Lissel arrived we rented four bikes and rode on a 5 mile bike path that went along the coast. It was one our favorite activities the entire trip. I don't think we would have seen those views without biking along there.

 

Hawaiian Shave Ice is the BEST

Psalm 93:4
Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
    mightier than the waves of the sea,
    the Lord on high is mighty!