My new Korean friend

Angelina at Jacobs Ladder

Aggggghhhhhh

Sure enough, my rollerblades sold today. It definitely must have been the Holy Spirit leading me to sell them! A lady rang me up from the other side of Oz and arranged to deposit the money directly into my bank account tomorrow. Nice! Feel a bit gutted to let go of these skates, but I really don't feel i'm going to be settling long enough to get maximum use out of them.

Feeling nervous about teaching in South Korea. Oh my goodness, lets recap again .... I have no teaching experience, have extremely limited skills in speaking in Korean, can barely read and understand Korean writing and haven't particularly enjoyed any of the Korean food I have eaten so far. It is going to be super freezing cold, like minus 15 degrees Celicius some days and I don't know any of the people I will be living and working with. Oh my goodness. How do I get myself into these situations?!?

One of the Korean guys at bible college suggested the other day that he find me a Korean bf. He said it's the only way i'll survive. lol ... What a crazy idea! Well fortunately I have a beautiful Korean friend here, Rachel, who i'm meeting with Wednesday to learn some more Korean from and i'll be going to the bible college graduation where i'll be sitting with the Koreans this Thursday.

Where is the turkey?

Someone put this up as a bit of thanksgiving humor, for those in America celebrating thanksgiving with turkey. Hahahaha

Nat's a winner

My friend, Natalie, just won a prize for her unpublished book called Bundaburra! Good on her, I say :-) I am so happy for her. I saw this web page confirming her win.

Donating glasses

Well now that I no longer need to wear contact lenses or glasses, due to successful Lasik surgery, I am going to donate my glasses here to a program that will turn pre-loved glasses into a blessing to people in poor countries! How exciting :-) Here's a cool I found online.

Henry the Octopus, our role model

The other day I was doing Angelina's hair in the bathroom and she asked me if I could close the bathroom door. I told her I wasn't able to because I only had two hands and they were both being used to do her hair. She looked at me and said "Oh", then after a long pause, she said "Aunty needs many hands like Henry the Octopus" :-)

Hahahahaha Oh this little kid makes me laugh so much. I think she should be on the advisory panel in Heaven.

Farewell my beautiful blades

Sad to be selling my skates super cheap, but no one seemed interested when I put them up at a more reasonable price. They are worth $590. I am selling them for $199. Oh well, that's what I felt strangely led to put them on offer for. Was it the Holy Spirit leading me to do that, or just my foolishness? Oh well, I guess they are no use to me when I am obviously becoming a jet-setter.

Battling in the spiritual realm

Yesterday was such a strange day spiritually. The previous night I was unable to sleep. I tossed and turned and felt very unsettled spiritually. I arose at 5.00am and powered my way through two hours straight of praying in the Spirit. I felt extremely emotional and worked up with negative feelings about my sis and about a girl from bible college. It was really odd. Just before Julz came over with the kids, I was praying intensely for her, pleading God for her salvation and I praying for God to give me wisdom. I was reminded of what i've heard many times at Victory - to be wise as a serpent, cunning as a fox, bold as a lion and as gentle as a dove. I knew i had to bite my tongue and be careful.

Well, we ended up having an amazing time. Lars was asleep when they arrived, so Julz came in and slept on my bed with him while I entertained Angel. We ducked in to check on them twice, but Julz was obviously so sleep deprived, she lay there motionless. Angel poked her face and patted her :-) lol Funny kid!

Anyway, afterwards, Julz blessed me with some money and a gift card. It was the HUGEST blessing to me. Interesting how praying in the spirit can release blessing.

Afterwards, we went and fed the peacocks and sat on the river, before visiting mum at gran's house, where she was busily working on the garden yet again. Angel loves going to that house.

After they left, I went for a run in Kings Park. On the way there, I felt the Spirit come upon me and I was propelled into a time of intercession for Julz again. I was moved by God's presence and had streams of tears pouring down my cheeks as I prayed fervently. Then I wiped the tears away before getting out of my car and doing a satisfying run from Fraser's restaurant car park and back.

Before I went to sleep, I told mum that breakthrough is coming. God's timing is different to ours, but I know He is faithful and His never returns void.

Love the cookie monster

Dream

Last night I had a dream that was comparable to many dreams I had many years ago during one very interesting year of my life. In that year, I had all sorts of sporting dreams in which I was extremely fit and healthy and successful - a bit of a contrast to what I was like in the natural. At the time I thought God wanted me to get fit, so I started running on my lunch breaks and doing Jacobs Ladder - a 242-step cement staircase frequented by fitness fanatics. In hindsight, I realised God was talking to me about my spiritual life - He was going to take me to a higher level of prayer and intimacy with Him. Doh!

Last night I was power running on a bush track. I was fit and strong. Then I looked to the right and saw a blonde girl with her hair in a single pony tail ascending a wooden ladder that was built up against a tree. She was heading to a wooden platform. Ahead of me was a wooden platform about one metre high and five metres long. It was about three or four metres off the ground. While I was running, I did one mighty leap and landed on the platform. I realised I was at a higher level to the girl that had ascended the ladder. I walked to the end and realised the end of the platform was unsafe, so I looked over the edge to see whether I could jump down. It looked a bit too high. I was still contemplating how to get down when I woke up. I feel God is going to take me to a higher level of authority in the spiritual realm somehow.

Funny how a fitness dream can provide the motivation behind a good fitness workout. I just got back from a 30 minutes fitness session in which I jogged from the carpark behind Frasers restaurant to Jacobs Ladder, then down the ladder, around Mounts Bay Rd, up Cliff St, then walked up Mount St, then jogged back to the car. I stopped and did 20 sit-ups and push-ups along the way - not bad for only my second day back after not working out for over a year! I am surprised I am not as unfit as I thought I would be.

I am going to teach myself how to lead kids in early morning exercise, then volunteer to run the exercise program in South Korea.

Korean blessing from Jun-Mo

주안에서 늘 기쁨이 넘쳐나기를 기도합니다

( I pray you have joy in the Lord all the time)

Long day

Got up super early to go and collect my favourite Angel, then spent the morning entertaining her. She is such a precious, beautiful and sweet little girl. I love her to bits. Then I drove her all the way home and back and made myself a sandwich and cuppa, before heading back to bed for a quick nap! Then I went with mum to her unit to do some more work on it.

Yesterday was so crazy, we went there to prune more trees and all these people starting coming in and walking around. I was in my underwear up a ladder surrounded by thorn-covered bougainvillea cuttings feeling really unprepared for meeting so many people! It turns out the real estate company had arranged a home open. It was very popular! All sorts of people came through - an old professional-looking man, a young computer geek-looking guy, three university students - a young geeky-looking guy and two asian girls wanting to share, two Caucasian girls who looked in their 20s, an indian couple - the guy teaches denistry at UWA, a PhD student, a snobby Asian lady, an Asian couple viewing the place for a friend, a young couple with a baby .... oh all sorts!

Today, I sawed almost an entire tree down. It was covered with a multitude of stink bugs and was absolutely disgusting. I prayed for God's grace and just kept sawing and sawing and sawing until there was almost no more! Mum was a bit shocked. I guess I was too. I vacuumed up all the carpet fragments the carpet guy left everywhere around the house - that took over an hour because of our dodgy vacuum without a proper head attachment. I glued three panels back on (in the bathroom and laundry) and cleaned all the surfaces. Mum and I bought fish and chips for the third time this week on the way home!

Gosh what a day. The unit looks great now with a shiny new oven, new carpets and vinyl, and fresh paint on all the doors and walls and ceiling. We have really done the gardens nicely now. The place looks so nice that mum and I were kind of dreaming of moving in. I wouldn't be surprised if one day I do live there. That would be funny.

Getting ready

Spent some of this morning revising YWAM skits to teach the kids in South Korea. I've typed up Bananas Unite, Funky Chicken, The Box Skit and The Joy Stealer. I'm now going through some lesson plans I found online that a Canadian couple who are currently teaching in South Korea kindly shared. The only thing is, they are very obviously not Christian and they have some very morbid tastes when it comes to movies and music :-( Urrrggh

God's will for my life

Had a bit of a clash with mum today over my future and God's plans for my life. So frustrating. Why can't she see that South Korea is God's will for my life. I made the mistake of telling her I only ever knew three to six months ahead of me. I don't really want to know more than that because I don't think I can handle the revelation. I don't know why God's plan for my life seems so different to everyone else's plan. I know I'm in His will though.

Reward stickers for the kids in South Korea :-)

Visa

FINALLY got my work visa for South Korea today. I was expecting a letter and perhaps some of my documents back, but all they sent to me was my passport with the photo-less visa attached. I thought that was really odd. My visa is until early February.

Handong

Mum and I worked so hard yesterday at Gran's unit. I sawed lots of branches, pruned others and swept up leaves for hours! Was so tired afterwards, I went to bed at about 7.00 pm! Today I want to go for a run and start building up my fitness level again.

We had to write a blurb about ourselves for the Handong Global University page showing who all the teachers are for this year's winter camp. This is what I submitted:

My name is Michelle Lincoln. I completed a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours in Microbiology at the University of Western Australia. I am passionate about prayer and intercession, health and fitness, and travelling to other nations to share the love of Jesus. I believe God is preparing a generation of young people who will be leaders of integrity, purity and faith. Inside every child is a potential leader. I am excited to teach English to children at Handong Global University and to encourage them in the purposes and plans that God has for their lives.

Chillzone jacket

Women's insulated long sleeve jacket

RRP : $249.98

SUMMIT CLUB : $149.99

• The jacket provides lightweight warmth without bulk. Elasticated cuffs. High neck warming collar. Drawcord hem. Two zipped hand pockets. Internal zip pocket with music/phone cord eyelet. Elastic loop inside collar for music/phone cord. Fleece lined collar and pockets. Jacket can zip in to the Monrovia Jacket v2 Wmn. Woven tape with domes at cuffs attach to elastic loop in cuff of outer jacket. DWR finish sheds water and snow.

Shell 100% Nylon
Lining 100% Nylon
Fill 100% Polyester

Incheon Guest House

So today my accommodation plan changed yet again! After talking to Jun-Mo, he convinced me that it is way too cold and snowy to be travelling one hour to Seoul, then one hour up to colder temperatures at Prayer Mountain (which is North of Seoul and the opposite direction of Pohang), then back to Seoul, then down to Pohang. He said that due to the snow, the roads will be crazy and the traffic challenging to get through.

So then I contacted Liza and asked her about accommodation and her sister suggested I stay at a jjim-jjim-bang, which is a sauna. The $7/night sounded great. Then strangely enough, I got this email from Ana Seo shortly afterwards and she also suggested staying in a jjim-jjim-bang. She also included some guy's blog to read on his experience. While the cheap rate sounded great, the idea of public showers did not! I'm really not into exposing my assets! So fortunately, she included some hotel options.

I decided to go with a room in the Incheon Guest House. The single rooms were booked out, but they offered me a twin room for 50,000 won/night (equate to about $43.34 AUD). Great! I would much prefer to pay a little more for some privacy :-)

I had a quick squiz at the people i'll be working with that were on Ana's email list. A couple of guys from South Africa, one from the Netherlands, one from China, one from the UK, one from America. Eight guys and two other girls on the email. Interesting. I am glad I deactivated my FB account, so they can't take a peek at me! lol