Seoul Time

After returning to Seoul very late at night on the last KTX train (since I, despite all my timing and planning, missed the original train...haha) I found myself sleeping on the couch of my new CC pastor.

I got to have coffee, great conversation, and prayer, with my old CC pastor and friend in the morning. I had lunch with my old small group leader and loved the familiar feel, like I had never left.

Then I got onto the subway to go to Seoul Forest with the best laid plans of renting a bike. But alas, when I exited the subway, it was pouring rain. However, if you ever want the rain to stop...buy and umbrella, and that is exactly what I did!

And of course, once I bought my $6 umbrella, the rain quit. Haha. So really, I didn't waste money on an umbrella but instead, I changed the weather for six bucks which is a very good deal...haha.

I then proceeded to rent a bike to explore the park...which is huge!

There was a lot to see, but most noteworthy perhaps was the deer corral. They have like this little feeding zoo just for deer. I am really not sure why. But I met a couple girls who were really freaked out by deer tongue and had me help feed them through the fence.

After that, I pedalled along the river a little and  back to the bike rental. I had a very important dinner date to catch with my friend Julie! I had missed her so much and it was good to see her in Seoul...though we were both Busanites when we first met.

Dinner conversation was great for catching up and I got to try a new soup and rice. There was this delicious homemade triangle noodle which I will not readily forget. In her Australian way, she covered the meal with a "my shout" haha, (which is just a fancy way to say, I am paying!), so I told her, I needed to "shout" at dessert...haha.

There is a place that always has a line here called "Kiss the Tiramasu" and we figured we would give it a try. We waited with all the eager locals in a red roped queue wondering what we were in for. Couple after couple would come out with champagne glasses of Tiramasu and take a selfie with the sign.

Next thing we know (video):

We are having layers of mascarpone, icecream, consensed milk, expresso, cocoa, and shaved chocolate poured into this cup.  We didn't know what to expect, and we hardly know what to call what we got, but alas, it was good! So... selfie time!

We walked around a little more and then found ourselves at a park where there was some sort of battle of the bands. We planted ourselves right up front with a group that played acoustic, bass, and gembe. We knew all the songs and it really was a neat little surprise to fill the heart.

So joyed to end my time in Korea this way. I loved it so much! But, the next adventure calls and on we go to schoolwork in Mongolia. Flying out in a few hours.

Video Update from Korea

Just a little video update on where I am now. 

I did really love my time here in Busan, but it was far too short. Heading to Seoul tonight to meet with one more friend this weekend and then flying to my field study in Mongolia on Sunday. Time flies more than I do...haha.

Internet should be rather rare out in Mongolia since we are camping in a national park most of the time. Will try and keep you updated. 😆

On the road again...well, the air that is...

Somehow my two week field study in Mongolia has turned into an even greater adventure. I left work on the 3rd to drive to Savannah and enjoy an amazing weekend with family. And let me tell you, they spoiled me. I ate so much southern fare and seafood, stayed at the Weston (not bad considering the next three weeks on the floors in Asia), had couple tours, and even a hair treatment at the spa.

After the amazing weekend in Savannah with the folks and the dog, I made the long trek to Atlanta and was blessed to stay the night again at a place that has come to be known lovingly as La Porte. My missionary friends gave me a place to do laundry, shower, and sleep as well as a lot of laughter, food, and even a game of chess...though I lost big time...haha. One friend even better got up at 4:00am and dropped me off at the airport.

And the rest is history. I am typing this little note from the airplane...where I got sat in the economy plus seat with all the legroom (that's blessing #2246 on my thankfulness list.) And I am heading toward my one stopover before winding up in Korea for a few days.

Hoping it all goes this smoothly for the next few days. And I am grinning big. Yay!

Aren't we tired of the B-word......?

I know I am tired of it.  It controls my life sometimes... you know the one; B-U-S-Y.

Yep, that one.  I am so tired of losing the only resource we cannot gain back in our lives.  Especially when I am losing it in a season where I am spending the majority of time doing things I don't even want to do.

BUT, (my favorite B-word), but I am coming up on a time that I will enjoy, very soon.  I have my field study for graduate school coming up.  This field study just happens to be in Mongolia, and I just so happen to get a few days before hand in Korea (yes the Asian nation that stole my heart).

So I will enjoy great food, lounge in jjimjilbangs, meet up with friends, and get to enjoy two services with my church. I haven't planned a lot about it, but I am going to be in Seoul and Busan.  And I am going to be so happy.

Other updates:

• The woodpeckers have fledged and after much chasing with lenses we were able to spot one of our banded ones in the wild.
• Burn season will close in the next few weeks, bringing our increasingly smaller team down to 2 people which means more fun scienc-y land management will be in my workdays.
• I am hoping to meet my dad, stepmom, and dog down in Savannah just before heading off to my field study.  I am beyond joyful about that too!

Joyful Little Things

I finally got to enjoy the aspect of my job that is not related solely to setting the forest on fire...as fun as that is.  This time, I got to do some post burn evaluations and even monitor the endangered red cockaded woodpecker.  We have three banded ones that hang around here, and they just had chicks.  So the wildlife commission came out and we got to be a part of getting the new little guys tagged...how cool! 

I am glad to be getting more into that aspect of my job, and I needed the pick me up as well as the break from burning.  I have been getting fatigued a bit here, and at times I forget all the things that used to make me so joyful.

Today was communion Sunday at church, and as I sat there preparing my heart for that, I got this mental picture.  I had just been telling God that I was sorry that I get so bummed so fast, and that I wanted to renew the way I joyful sought Him and did His will.  But as I was thinking this, I saw a version of that scene from Genesis 15 where God renews His covenant with Abraham.

It was an odd custom back then, but at that time, if you cut a bunch of animal sacrifices in half and walked with another person down the middle of them, then whatever you just agreed on was set.  That was like a "blood promise".  Whoever breaks that covenant has that blood to pay...

But God made His promise to Abraham and then He walked it by Himself...He didn't let Abraham enter in.  Basically God said, "it is on Me and Me alone to handle what I have said."  And surprise, even when the humans fail in our agreement, Jesus' blood still covers it.  WOW!

Anyway, when I got thinking about this, I was relieved.  I know that I want to try so much harder, and do so much better to joyfully seek Him.  I want to commit to have Him be the source of my peace. I want to make Him all these promises of how I can better serve Him, like prayer walks, practicing gifts, or reading more of my bible.  BUT, I really just felt like God was saying, "you can try to hold up your end of this...but remember, it's on ME not you".  Such a great reminder that it is by His strength that we can do all things, and when we fall short.  He's got it.

With that said, let's hope for some more awesome days of finding the joy, seeking Him, and saving the world...one prayer walk, one forest fire, or one red cockaded woodpecker at a time.  What an odd season we are in, huh?

Lessons Learned

 

With every new job, there are always lessons learned.  For this one, I have quite a few:

• There is no such thing as a quick burn.
• You feel less self-conscious about eating out looking like a coal miner if you are not the only one.

• If there is more than one input spout on the UTV, sniff it to be sure you are putting the right thing in the right spout.  I may have loaded water into the drip torch tank on our last burn...
• We are above the law! Ha ha...

• Poison oak really does look like a mini oak and should never be near your woodland potty location...
• And sometimes the mosquito infested areas are the prettiest.

Sit in His Promise

After five weeks here at the new job, new place, new people... I knew that I needed a break.  It's not that I don't like where I am, there is just a lot of stuff going now.  Many long shifts, many grad school assignments, many times where I just miss the calm, the rest, the friends of before, the alone time with God.

This weekend, I got to a bit of all of those.  I spent a night alone at an AirBnB, then got to visit one of those friends from before.  We went to the Aquarium in Atlanta and I got to visit her church, a house church through the 320 Network that my squad coaches from the World Race started.  It was a time that honestly was so edifying that I didn't want to come back at all.

Talking with my old coach and finally getting to speak so much that had been on my heart was great.  And I was able to vocalize how it is easier to give God our youth but not our whole life.  These days I have been a little more worried, because I know that God is calling me in the near future to crazy things, but He hasn't given me the details.  And at this point in life, one is expected to have a plan, not just follow the "whims of the spirit".  Months ago, God and I spoke about this though, and He knows that I will give Him my all.  Though I sometimes need some time to do it.

Anyway, after all this, I went back to my friend's place and she and another former world racer prayed over me.  And the word that she got for me was, "Sit in His promises".  I don't know what this season will hold, or what I am doing half the time, but I know His promises...there is a book full of them.  I can take comfort in that knowing they are for me and confident in my place in His will.