Much Needed

A much needed break happened over the holidays. I was blessed to be able to fly back to states to spend Christmas with my family. It was a sweet Christmas building memories, doing our family traditions and having some very divine appointments with people who have impacted my life somewhere along my life journey.

I loved spending Christmas with my family and was reminded again how special it is to have a loving family. My family blessed me in so many different ways. They listened to my stories. They were patience with me during jet-lag. They spoiled me with everything that I missed from the states (hamburgers, shopping at Target, getting white chocolate streamers & much more). They played games with me. They let me drive. They took me cross-country skiing and I was able to watch my little sis play hockey so many times! J They encouraged me. They let me cry and reminded me again how faithful God is. They hugged me. They let me sleep in. They loved me and show it to me in so many different ways. Thank you dad, mom, Nathan and Mia for blessing me so much this Christmas break.

My beautiful family!

 

While I was in the states everyone kept asking me “How is it?” “Do you like it?” “Is it good to be in the states?” I have decided that answering these questions are hard- I felt torn. “How is it?”- well, some days it great, and some days it is not so great. It has been a huge adjustment and some of the hardest times I have had to face, but also some of the most beautiful times because I worship amazing God who has promised to never leave me nor forsake me. “Do I like it?”- Yes and No. I love the community that I am starting to feel that I belong to. I love each of my eight students. I love that I am living my dream of teaching. I love the friendships that I building. I love how random things are here in Korea (this is of course very bias).  I don’t like that I can’t speak the language and have no room to learn right now in my brain that is so tried from everything else. I don’t like how stress out everyone seems. I don’t like that it is cold. I don’t like seaweed! I get tired of eating rice and smelling the smells. I am disappointment that our school is going through a year of transition. But overall when I landed back in Korea I had an overwhelming peace that this is where God has me so I will either learn to love my “don’t likes” or survive them! J “Is it good to be in the states?” Yes! My response was “it is a much needed break that I really needed.” It was wonderful to be able to understand everything, to not have to guess what things were in the store, to listen in on people’s conversations and to take a break from grading papers, lesson planning and worrying about if my students are learning or not. “Was I ready to come back to Korea, my new home?” Yes and no! I was ready to see my students again. I was ready to be in routine again. I was ready to see my family away from family. I was ready to take on the challenge again. I was not ready to say good-bye to my family (my supporters). I was not ready to be in place where things don’t look very familiar, but I was reminded again right before I left that God is faithful. He knows what He is doing in my life and my job is to be obedient to the call He has for me. My job is to trust in him whole heartily.

This first week back has been a whirlwind and I have been hit hard with spiritual battles, but it has lead me to lean even more into God who is my anchor through every storm.

An amazing confirmation I got this week was from my students. We started learning about how to write letters this week. One of their assignments was to write me a letter about what they did over break. Almost every one of their letters talked about how they missed me or loved me. Oh, how I love my students. They know how to melt their teacher’s heart!

 

With all that of this said I want you to know that no matter what I am going through I know that I will make it through it because I have a relationship with a holy God who is so loving  and so caring. May His name be glorified through all that I do and say!

                                                                                                            Love, Daniella