The Roberts in Korea

Off to India

Becca and Ryan are off to India.  From February 21-28 they will be in Bangalore, India working/serving at an orphanage called the Beulah Home.  There are over 90 children that live at the Beulah Home Orphanage with ages ranging from 3 years old to 16 years old. 

Becca and Ryan's trip to India is part of the "Love All Serve All" (LASA) mission trips sponsored through the Student Ministries Department of Taejon Christian International School.  This last week of February is a school vacation (Winter Break) and during this week there are four LASA trips taking place.  There is the India/orphanage trip, a Borneo trip where a team of students will serve as an evangelical team moving from village to village sharing the Gospel, there is a Habitat for Humanity trip to the Philippines and a trip to Boracay, Thailand where students will work with a local missionary, helping and serving in various ways.

We will have no access to the Internet throughout the week that we are in India, so this blog will be silent for a while.  On March 1 please check back for details about our trip.  In the meantime...every time you think about checking our blog this week, please pray for us instead.

Skipping School

Shhh... On Wednesday Sarah and Ryan skipped school (just a little bit).  Ryan is going to be gone all next week and he is going to miss his precious daughter, Sarah.  So, on Wednesday he surprised her and took her out on a date during the school day. 

You see, a month or so ago, Sarah read the book, The Tale of Despereaux, and the movie has come out here in Korea.  Sarah really wanted to see the show, but the problem was that the voices to the movie had been dubbed over into Korean, so Sarah thought that she wouldn't get to see the movie in the theater.  However, Ryan found a midday showing of the movie in English.  So Ryan took Sarah out of school and took her on a date to the movie theater.

Ryan and Sarah left school around 10:30 a.m. and went and got a "Roti" and some hot chocolate.  It was a grand time.  The highlight was when Sarah accidentally leaned up against the light switch and turned off all of the lights in the restaurant.

The movie was good...but not great.  Sarah said it was much different than the book and the book was better.  (Isn't the book always better...?)

After the movie Ryan and Sarah went to a nearby Holly's Coffee and had lemonade, coffee, a brownie and a rum raisin muffin.  The highlight of the coffee shop was the silly sign on one of the walls and the fact that Ryan and Sarah couldn't open the lemonade bottle (a big thanks goes to the nearby Korean man with small, muscular hands).

The ultimate highlight of the entire date was the fact that Ryan got to spend some time with his wonderful daughter, Sarah.  Ryan will always treasure the memory of their "date"--walking arm in arm, eating snacks and laughing.

Becca is Home!

Becca arrived home from Shanghai, China on Sunday night. She was gone five days and was participating in an Asia Pacific Athletic Conference (APAC) girls' basketball tournament.  This was the first year that TCIS has participated in the APAC tournament.  The team didn't fare too well (6th place), but individually Becca did a great job.

Over the 6 games that Becca played in, she scored a total of 49 points and was voted by the other coaches in the tournament as the "All APAC Player" for her team.  This is a great honor--especially since Becca is only a freshman in high school.

Becca has had a great year playing volleyball and basketball.  We are proud of her.  Now it is time for her to focus on her studies and the piano (according to her father).

Doctor Fish Pics

The video is good, but here are a few pictures of the Valentine's Day Doctor Fish visit.  It was a rather spur of the moment venture.  We were in the Rodeo Town building and had just bought tickets to a movie (7 Pounds) and we had a couple of hours to burn before the movie.

On the fifth floor of the Rodeo Town building there is a Korean spa and one of the aspects of the spa is Doctor Fish.  I saw the sign and Dina said, "Let's do it," so we did.  We paid 12,000 Won for all four of us ($10) and within minutes, the Millers and the Roberts, were soaking their feet in a tub full of hungry fish.

Thirty minutes later we pulled our feet out of the fish pool, went and ate some pizza and eventually found ourselves sitting and watching a movie...with particularly smooth feet.

Valentine's Day Doctor Fish

On Valentine's Day, David and Ryan did a most romantic thing for their wives.  They took their wives to a place where they could get the dry skin eaten off of their feet by fish.

 

 

Becca, Bball and Shanghai

Just an FYI.  Currently, Becca is in Shanghai, China playing basketball on the Taejon Christian International School girls' varsity basketball team.  They will be in Shanghai for five days. (lucky kid)  Here is a link to the tournament site:  APAC Tournament

"Sticks" Roberts

Sarah got a new drum set for Christmas--an electronic drum set.  It is really the only type of drum set that will work in the close quarters of a home and neighborhood in South Korea.  It is pretty nice.  The set comes with an external speaker and can be played out loud or "quietly" with headphones.  One cool feature of the set is that there is a jack where an iPod can be plugged in so she can play along with her music.

She is getting better and better at playing the drums.  She had a lesson a couple of weeks ago from George Zickefoose.  He is a good drummer.  Sarah is fortunate to be able to learn from George.

 The family band is taking shape:  Sarah-drums, Becca-bass guitar, Dina--piano/keyboard and Ryan-acoustic guitar/vocals.  Plans are under way for the "world" tour.

Last Tuesday Sarah played drums in the Middle School Chapel service.  She did a great job.  We are proud of Sarah.

Put In My Time

“Spiritual maturity is not reached by the passing of the years, but by obedience.”
                    --Oswald Chambers

As I look in the mirror I see that the little bit of hair that I have left on my head is turning gray.  I would like to think that these signs of silver are a harbinger of wisdom in my life, but I know myself too well to know that sadly, this is not the case.  I am a bit disappointed, because I thought for sure that by the time that I reached the age that I am, I would have it all together—but I don’t.

I have been a follower of Jesus Christ for nearly 29 years.  That almost sounds impressive.   As they say, “I put in my time.”  Surely, all those years have served to mold me into a wise, gray haired man of spiritual maturity—nope.  That is not the way things work in the Kingdom of God.  In the Korean culture age yields respect; in the American culture it yields Social Security, but in the Kingdom of God age yields…wrinkles?

God is unimpressed with age; He knows that He is the only source of real security and He doesn’t notice wrinkles.  God is interested in one thing—our hearts.  Our hearts are timeless.  Humans are created in the image of God and are eternal beings.  Chronology has no effect on the human heart.

In the Kingdom of God the heart of a Christ follower is to have a “childlike” quality about it.    The maturing heart of a Christian is realized not by years of experience but rather by acts of obedience—childlike obedience.  When I think of childlike obedience the following descriptors come to mind:  joyful, unreserved, risking, trusting, hopeful, selfless, unquestioning, faithful, committed and absolute.  Some of those descriptors sound…scary.

Jesus says, “If you love me you will obey me.”  John 14:21

Can’t I just put in my time?

©2009 Ryan M. Roberts

Becca's Birthday

Becca celebrated her fifteenth birthday here in South Korea.  Wow, she is getting old.  Her birthday fell on a very busy Monday at the beginning of a very full week.  There was no time for a weekend party (because she was at the basketball tournament) and there is no chance of a party on the upcoming weekend because she will be playing  basketball in China.  So...she had to celebrate her birthday via a small party with the family.  We had fun.

She had decorations (thanks to Sarah), brownies (thanks to Sarah and Dina), gifts and a song.  For her birthday Becca got a cool Nike shirt, some chocolate and some won (money) from her sister, some cute tank tops, some dried mangoes (she loves 'em) and a pretty blue iPod (wow).

At school today Becca's friends got her a cake at a nearby Baskin Robbins and they celebrated in Dina's classroom after school.  February 9th is a special day and Becca is a special girl. 

Basketball Weekend

This past Friday and Saturday was basketball weekend.  Ryan, Dina and Sarah played hooky from school on Friday and spent the day (and Saturday) at Seoul Foreign School at the KAIAC district basketball tournament.

Becca played in the tournament on the girls' TCIS varsity basketball team.  We all had a great time up in Seoul for the two days.  Becca took the team bus to Seoul and then stayed the night at the school on Friday night.  Ryan, Dina and Sarah took the KTX Bullet train up and back to Seoul on both Friday and Saturday and greatly enjoyed the luxurious travel and sleeping in their own beds on Friday night.

The girls' TCIS team did a good job in the tournament.  They came away from the tournament with a sixth place standing.  It was a good season for the team and Becca did an outstanding job as a freshman on the team.  We are proud of her.

This Wednesday Becca and the TCIS team leave for a 5 day trip to Shanghai, China. They will be playing in the girls Asia Pacific Athletics Conference (APAC) tournament.  Wow!