Tres Dias: Three Days of Blessing

Tres Dias: three days.  I have seen these words over and over each week on the Announcements and Prayer Requests email that comes through from our Christian ministries office for the last two and a half years and paid little attention to them until the start of this school year when my curiosity was sparked.  "What happens at Tres Dias?", I had asked my colleagues who had attended.  Their vague responses and seemingly secretive nature was a little off-putting, so I pushed the idea aside as little more than a three day women's spiritual retreat.  Actually, burying the thought is probably a more apropos description, until this fall when as clear as day I heard the message--it was time for me to really consider attending Tres Dias even though I wasn't exactly sure why.  I dismissed the November weekend because I was just too busy, but when Gigi said that she thought it was time for her to go too, we agreed that we would both apply for the spring weekend...and we did.

As the weekend approached I felt the anxiety increasing in my body.  We were scheduled to depart on Thursday afternoon right after school and hours before I allowed myself to get so psyched out about it that I nearly cried about three times and thought about canceling the whole thing on the spot.  When I voiced these feelings to a friend she reminded me that this was an even better reason to go--I couldn't let these negative thoughts and feelings lord over me, I needed this time of spiritual rejuvenation and an opportunity to assess my relationship with God.  So, at 2:30pm I dashed out of my classroom and home to my apartment to grab my suitcase and change my clothes.  By 3:05 we were rolling down the hill and on our way--there was no turning back.  Jo and Joy accompanied Gigi and I to the meeting spot on the military base and waited with us and three other candidates until our ride to the chapel arrived.  Let the fun begin...

We kicked off the festivities by surrendering our watches and electronics at the door.  It was an interesting sensation to be completely deprived of email, Facebook, and knowing what time of day it was.  It was also incredibly freeing and allowed me to focus my energy on getting to know my fellow sisters and God better.  Many of the ladies at the retreat were affiliated with the military or the base in some way, many were seeking spiritual growth and restoration, many were broken.  I learned that it is absolutely impossible to know what someone is going through by what you see on the outside, and was blown away as I learned about the struggles of the ladies who sat beside me and willingly shared their hearts with one another.  I also learned the power of a community of believers and how a group of ladies supporting and praying for one another can make such a difference.  We don't have to suffer the difficulties alone!

I won't say much about the specific activities that took place during the retreat itself other than it was more than I expected in a number of ways.  There were 15 unique and incredible teachings that I wished I had heard years ago when I was a very young Christian.  A week later I am still letting the words of the ladies, and men, who presented them seep into my soul.  There was a lot of time spent with the ladies at my table who turned out to be wonderful people.  I'll be reuniting with them again next weekend and I'm truly looking forward to seeing their faces again!  There was time to lay things before God that had been festering in my heart for a long time, to share sorrows, to release ourselves from burdens, and to receive support and love from the other ladies attending the weekend.  There were some lovely surprises that brought tears to my eyes, and experiences that moved others in ways I cannot describe in words.

Although I felt physically ill for most of the retreat with digestive anxst, I left feeling spiritually refreshed and challenged to approach my faith in a new way.  Note: I am still a pretty demure Christian though I do truly admire those wonderful women who are bursting with joy for Jesus.  I'm not quite there.  I haven't yet begun the spiritual fitness routine that I have planned, but I will begin to implement small changes to my habits a little at a time in hopes that these small changes will, over time, grow into something larger and long lasting.  Setting aside time for daily bible study, prayer, and simple reflection is something my mind and spirit desperately need in this busy environment and a gift that the summer holiday will bring.  One of my big personal challenges is to overcome the disabling fear that my digestive disorder brings and to get myself out of the apartment and into a church family in the near future.  As the school year is coming to a close this may be a goal to implement in August and I have several wonderful colleagues who have already invited me to check out their church anytime.

I hope these feelings of renewal, introspection, conviction, confidence, and blessing will continue to rain down in the coming months and challenge me into action.  One of my table mates challenged herself to put down the umbrella that was shielding her from receiving God's full blessing and I think that it's time I do the same.  We all have our umbrellas--the excuses we make, reasons we hide, insecurities--that keep us from soaking up all of the greatness of God's love and grace.  It's time to take a walk in the rain and be blessed!  The fourth day has arrived...De Colores! 

Celebrating Learning and Life

Life at Seoul Foreign School is never dull!  On Friday we gathered up 100+ juniors, packed our lab supplies, and loaded up the buses for a field trip...down the street to Hongjechon canal!  It was time for the annual IB Group 4 project day!  The project officially begun three weeks ago when the students were given the task of designing their own experiment, to be conducted at the Hongjechon stream area.  The great part about this project is that it doesn't assess their scientific inquiry skills at all; rather we watch the students as they work collaboratively with three or four of their peers and grade them on their personal skills.  Yes, there is a rubric for this!  Each group (s)elects a leader who is in charge of liaising with their teacher leader, turning in their experimental design proposal, getting feedback, etc.  Then, the day finally arrives where we actually go out and watch the kids do the experiments they have so carefully (or not) planned and we examine their interactions with each other.  It is a pretty fun and fascinating day as we all learn a bit more about each other.  I wasn't feeling 100% on Group 4 day--pesky migraine--but I was still able to appreciate fully the beauty of the flowers covering the hillside, the laughter and discussions of the students as they worked, and the mysterious background music that ranged from k-pop to classical (we finally determined its source--strategically placed speakers which were covertly designed to look like rocks).  Here are a few of the photos I shot of the project site.

After wrapping up their data collection and eating sack lunches, we headed back to the classroom so the students could synthesize and analyze their findings.  Their final product was a scientific poster that had to be completed and taped to the wall by 3:00pm...oh the pandemonium!!  Alas, we all survived--quite tired, but a little wiser about experimental design and playing nicely, I mean working well, together.

I was up bright and early Saturday morning for some more physical activity.  A group of us had joined forces to build a Seoul Foreign School Relay for Life team, as so many of us have been directly impacted by cancer and we wanted to do a little something to make a difference.  Relay for Life is a 24 hour event in which a team has at least one member walking around a track at all times during the day and night for the duration.  Team members obtain pledges in advance to benefit the American Cancer Society.  There are all sorts of activities that take place throughout the 24 hours to keep everyone entertained along with ceremonial components to recognize survivors, honor those currently battling, and remember loved ones lost.  Our event was held at Seoul American High School on the military base near Itaewon.  Seven or eight of our 20+ member team signed up for the first leg of the relay and were present to kick things off.  We watched as two of our colleagues walked the first lap especially for survivors--a few additional survivors joined up with us later in the day.  We also celebrated the caregivers, the teams were introduced, and then things got down to business.  

Leslie and John, two of our survivors!

Survivors and caregivers!

For the next couple of hours we walked and talked. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and I was amongst lovely people--what more can you ask for on a Saturday morning?  We persisted until noon when the next group of our teammates arrived, then left for a lunch break.  This may sound cheesy, but getting on base doesn't happen often so we decided to take advantage of it and have a nice sit down meal at Dragon Hill Lodge before we taxied back to SFS.  Gail and I were just resting up for our later walk...we signed up for the 9pm to midnight shift too!  At 7:30pm we headed back to the base, stopped for a Starbucks, and made it back to the track just in time for the luminaria ceremony.  This was the most difficult part of the event for me as I gazed at the three illuminated bags with the names of my three grandparents lost to cancer on them.  It was even harder to listen the "In Memory of..." names read and hear lists of several names from the same family.  Wow...  We pressed on walking for the remaining hours in our shift and greeted our remaining teammates who arrived to cover the middle of the night--way to go John, Jo, Anne, Heather, and Christel!!  I would have dropped from exhaustion if we'd carried on much longer.  I think Gigi figured out that we walked more than 40,000 steps during the day which is somewhere between 17 and 20 miles!

Remembering my grandmas who left us way too soon...

So many to honor and remember

When I signed up online to participate in Relay for Life I had my Grandma James in mind.  I remember so clearly the afternoon my mom hung up the phone and told me, "Grandma has pancreatic cancer."  I knew in that moment that it wouldn't be long before we'd be saying our good-byes and I was so angry at this disease.  Only a year earlier my grandpa had battled prostrate cancer, and by the grace of God and a rigorous course of treatment, won the fight.  Despite the fact that he is cancer free, his body still feels the effects of the treatments a decade later.  I've grown up with only faint memories of my Grandma Donatella--she lost her battle with colon cancer when I was four years old.  And just two years ago my Grandpa D was waging an internal battle with renal cell carcinoma.  I think he's the lucky one in all of this--to live 90 years without cancer in today's world is downright miraculous it seems.  In short, I do not want to hear the words "I have cancer" ever again.  I know this is a pipe dream, but with science and modern medicine, I hope we are closer to a cure.  Maybe events like Relay for Life are getting us there.  Having the opportunity to walk alongside survivors from my own community is proof that there is certainly reason to hope.