01.25.07
Posted in General News, Mission Trip Update, Prayer Updates at 1223 by SeismicMike
This spring break, the school is sponsoring a missions trip, and I (Mike) have decided to participate. We are going to the Philippines (though I’m not sure exactly what part). This is somewhat exciting for me as I have wanted to return ever since my first trip in 1999. Please pray that God will put together a team of servants for Him on this trip.
Also pray for me because I will be needing to raise some support for this trip. The cost is significantly less than the last time I went (seeing as how I’m already on the same continent). Also pray that God will prepare my heart, both as a servant and as a leader/chaperon.
The dates of the trip are Friday, March 23 - April 1.
At any rate, it looks like I’m going to be fulfilling the promise I made to myself some 8 years ago… just like Gen. MacArthur… I shall return!
PS. Anyone who wants to help with the trip can send money to us c/o the Stitzels. Email us if you want to contribute and we’ll give you their address. The total cost of the trip will be somewhere around $700. I need to have raised $250 by February 20, the next $250 by March 6, and the rest by March 23… Also, if we raise enough Mandie would like to go too, but that would double the cost of the trip.
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01.21.07
Posted in General News at 1546 by quitomandie
Hey, just a quick note - we are starting Korean lessons on Tuesday! This is really exciting for us. We are both more than ready to learn how to communicate here. Our teacher, who is the H.S. Korean and German teacher at the school, will be teaching us a little bit of history and culture as well. Anyway, just wanted to share.
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01.15.07
Posted in General News, Prayer Updates at 1520 by quitomandie
Well, here we are in January!
With the New Year comes a time of transition for both of us. Mandie is teaching Algebra 2 this semester, along with her regular Spanish classes. Mike is taking on a shift in responsibilities at work, as well, as our guidance conselor has moved to the States, leaving him in charge of report cards and transcripts. We are also taking on some extra responsibilities at church - teaching childrens’ church for two months. This is a wonderful opportunity to invest in the lives of the children who attend our church, as well as to get to know and encourage the two teenagers who will be working with us.
We are very thankful for our families, and for the Godly heritage passed on to us by our parents and grandparents. Mike’s grandpa has been struggling with cancer during the last few months, and it is a challenge for us to be so far away and not always sure of what’s going on. Mandie’s grandpa retired last week after a lifetime in the minestry and 23 years as Sr. Pastor of Great Lakes Baptist Temple.
On a similar note, Uijongbu Baptist Church is preparing to say goodbye to our Sr. Pastor and his wife as they retire and move back to the States this spring.
Please pray with us for smooth transitions - for the churches as they seek new pastors, for the retiring pastors and their families, for us at work and for our students, and for the children’s church minestry. Also, please pray with us for Mike’s grandpa and their family.
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12.25.06
Posted in General News at 2243 by SeismicMike
Merry Christmas Everyone.
A week ago we sang in the Christmas Cantata at our church and it went pretty well. They recorded us and I’ve uploaded the songs to the site. I’ve included links. You’ll need some sort of player like windows media player, winamp or quicktime to listen to them. Here they are:
Uijongbu Christmas Cantata
1. Choir - Arise Shine
2. Choir - Emmanuel
3. Choir - O Holy Night
4. Mandie Solo - Hope is Born Again
5. Choir - Little Lamb
6. Tom and Laura Vasel - Born to Die
7. Jeanelle Francis and Fatima Perez - Angels We Have Heard on High
- (Flute Duet)
8. Choir - Carol Sing
9. Choir - Tapestry of Carols
Choir Songs Feature Mandie singing Soprano and Mike singing Bass.
Songs were recorded by Jimmy Perez and mixed/produced by Ted Shinn using Audacity the choir having been directed by the aforementioned Mr. Shinn. Piano accompaniment for the choir was provided by the illustrious Jeanelle Francis.
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12.18.06
Posted in General News at 1211 by quitomandie
Well, here we are, Christmas break starts tommorrow, there’s snow on the ground, and my classroom is COLD!
I thought all the stress of exam week was over for me last year. No such luck. If anything, being a teacher makes the whole finals process even MORE stressful. First you have to choose what kind of exam you are going to give - multiple choice, “blue book,” short answer, etc. Next, you have to write the exam. Then, you have to plan the review. (Or you could be like me and do those backwards.) Also, you have to figure out the best way to help your students who have been slacking off til this point in the semester and are suddenly panicked, as well as keeping the students who are exempt from the exam from totally checking out. Then, during the test period, you are having to keep track of who has their hand up, am I allowed to answer that question, are they cheating, and “oh, no, I just saw his answer to #4, and it’s wrong. Did I really not cover that point well enough?” And then you have to grade them - and, in the process, grade yourself. Was the test too hard, or too easy? etc. And, of course, all your A kids are out of the reckoning, so the curve is skewed, which makes any kind of evaluation confusing.
The end result, though, is that while they may not have done as well as I would have liked, no one’s grade changed very drastically, so I guess I’m OK.
Now life get’s stressful for Mike, who is printing report cards and entering grades into transcripts today and tommorrow.
The last couple months have been challenging at times - we’ve been dealing with loneliness, homesickness, sinus infections, and other frustrations. However, we’ve also had some pretty good times, as well. We spent Thanksgiving with other teachers at the school, and had tons of food followed by a wonderful evening of board games and Charlie Brown movies. We are now the proud (and sometimes frazzled) owners of a kitten, as well as of a Christmas tree that the kitten thinks is her jungle-gym. I taught a Sunday School class at church for three months, and Mike had the opportunity to speak in both chapel and a wednesday night church service. We both sang in the Christmas cantata this weekend.
Life is busy, and we wish we could be with our families this Christmas, but overall, God is good, and we are enjoying his blessings.
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09.15.06
Posted in General News at 2004 by SeismicMike
These are a tad outdated, but not by much. The only differences I can think of off the top of my head is that the water cooler is now against the wall between our little table and the counter. The other is that we have a kitchen table now :).
Kitchen
Our Kitchen: gas stove/oven, two basin sink, refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, and a coffemaker 
Living Room
Our living room…. Couch, TV Desk, bookshelf/cupboard, clothesline
Bathroom
Our lovely bathroom, which is basically a big shower…. Oh yeah… we have a sink now. That’s a funny story :). The picture on the right is of the bathroom cupboard complete with a picture of my birthday party during which we celebrated Ohio State’s come from behind victory over Michigan.
Jersey
This is my brand new OSU #40 Howard “Hop Along” Cassady replica jersey that I bought in Seoul off a street vendor for 10,000 Won ($10)!!!!
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09.06.06
Posted in General News at 949 by quitomandie
Well, school is in full swing now. Mandie’s classes are going well, for the most part. The Spanish 3 class has been a particular blessing, as they are all hardworkers and have good attitudes. It is a class focused on writing, so we’ve done several essays and short stories, and they are working on a research paper for December. I have been encouraged by their willingness to try, even though at the beginning of the year they were very scared of the whole idea. Also, in that class we are memorizing Ephesians 2:4-10; I know verses 8-10, but had never memorized 4-7 before; so I am trying to learn it with them. I figure it is a good idea for me to get back into the practice of hiding God’s word in my heart!
The Spanish 2 class has been particularly encouraging as well, but in a very different way: They are so full of life! Sometimes it is hard for me to keep that class focused, but it also is fun and a good change from the ordinary. Most of them are really trying hard, even though their level of comfort with spanish and what they’ve retained from the first year class varies widely. That class is a bit of a special challenge for me, partly because I enjoy their energy, but am not always a strong enough leader to channel it, and partly because of the huge differences in ability. Pray that God would give me wisdom as to the best approach to cover the content that needs to be included while also treating the students as individuals.
I have two beginning Spanish classes, as well.
Mike has been really stressed at work lately. He has a lot of loose ends he’s trying to tie up from last year, and keeping up with work from this year at the same time. He’s also trying to learn Korean (and doing rather well, I think, but I guess I don’t really know) and keep up with all the football and baseball news from back home.
We’ve both gotten involved in our church here. Mike is playing his trombone on Sunday morning and guitar on Sunday night, and is singing in the chior. Last week he played a special on his trombone. He has also been thinking and praying about possibly starting a men’s Bible study at the church. There is nothing like that right now, and we were talking to one of the pastors the other night about how they’d like to have one, but both pastors are too swamped to lead it and no one else has volunteered. I am also playing my oboe some, singing in the chior, and substitute teaching in a Sunday School class for this quarter.
Please keep praying for us. We are still adjusting to cultural differences, language barriers, and learning how to rely on public transportation. We are also still trying to get settled into our jobs and apartment. So far, the transition has been going pretty well, but we both are struggling with occassional bouts of homesickness. Labor day was really hard, because we were missing the fair, pancakes, parade, and fireworks. We know this is where God wants us, though - and we wouldn’t want to be anywhere he didn’t.
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08.29.06
Posted in General News at 944 by SeismicMike
The DSL guys came yesterday and hooked everything up. It was actually kinda providential b/c I came down with a MINOR ear infection this weekend, so I took the day off to go to the doctor (see below) and then stayed home the rest of the day so I could be there for the DSL guys. But anyway, long story shortened: we have internet at home now, which means…………. I CAN LISTEN TO THE OHIO STATE GAME THIS WEEKEND!!!! oh.. yeah… and we can skype :)… So.. yeah! We want to see all of you on tonight! (er tomorrow morning for you)… yeah… this is for each of you who have made me get up early in the morning in the last few years. This is payback! lol…. We’ll probably be on from 8:30 - 10:00pm our time, which will be 7:30 - 9am Eastern time, so we want to see each of you online :)… with skype you will have to take turns.. sorry… so if you get online and try to call us and we can’t answer, we’re probably on a call and we’ll call you back as soon as we get off. We can’t wait to talk to everyone
Oh yeah.. about that doctor visit. The doctor is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment…. She’s a pediatrician, but seemed to have no trouble dealing with me. I went in about 8:50am and waited about 10 minutes until she called me back (I had to give them some paper work first… they gave us a card for Korean national insurance which has all the necessary info on it)… and then she looked in my ear… she took a video camera in there and took a picture of each side and then compared them to see the swelling and redness (it looked really cool)… pronounced that I had an outer ear infection and prescribed me an antibiotic, an antiinflamatory and a pain killer. Then it got kinda weird… they took me and made me sit down in front of a little counter and put this thing in my ears that looked like a stethoscope, but it wasn’t. I think it expanded and contracted or something b/c it kinda massaged the inside of my ear and, though I couldn’t notice it very well, it felt kinda good.
So anyway, then I went downstairs (same building… doctor on floor 3… pharmacy on floor 1) and got my prescriptions. Here’s the kicker.
Doctor visit: 3,000
Prescription: 3,480
Korean Exchange rate: Priceless! (1,000 W = $1.00) and the above prices are in Won…. The whole thing cost less than $7.00!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I love this country! lol
We love you all very much
Goodnight
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08.25.06
Posted in General News at 910 by SeismicMike
As soon as we get DSL hooked up at the house we will be on Skype a whole lot more and will actually be able to talk to everyone :). We’ve been working through a Korean man in the office here to get that arranged and it’s been going kinda slow, but I think he’s ordering it for us today and he said that it should be installed on Monday or Tuesday. So… here’s hoping
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08.23.06
Posted in General News at 1510 by quitomandie
Hey!
Well, the first week of school has gone well, for the most part. My day starts with a prep period, study hall, and another prep. This makes for a VERY long, slow morning, and a very busy afternoon! My first class is 8th grade Spanish, which is a new class this year and has no textbook. I am enjoying that class very much, for the most part, although many of the students in it are very quiet. Next is Spanish 2, which is one of my wilder classes, but for the most part they seem to be trying and excited about speaking Spanish. They are probably the class that is giving me the most trouble as far as my teaching abilities, because it is in this “in-between” group that I am most painfully aware of my lack of background in Spanish Ed. There are so many things I take for granted, only to find out that I’m wrong! Spanish 1, after lunch, is my largest class. They also, for the most part, seem to be excited about using what they are learning. It is really a blessing to have so many of my students eager to learn! The day ends with the Spanish 3 class, which is only 3 students. It is nice to be able to relax a little with this class, in which the focus is on writing.
Pray for wisdom as I’m trying to create a classroom environment that is both fun and promotes learning. Also, pray that I would be self-disciplined during my long morning, so that I can get things finished at school and not have to take them home.
- Mandie
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