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| My grandfather (Rev. Kim Il-Nam, 85) passed away last year on November 27. My parents and I were lucky enough to be able to travel to his funeral during the protests that had shut down the international airports in Thailand. Both my father and I are first-borns, which is important in the Korean culture. My wife and the kids stayed back because of the expenses, and also because the airports were closed and it would’ve been disastrous to try to get off the ground with kids. I still really wanted to take my whole family, but I was advised that even if I succeeded in doing so my supporters would consider it a waste of “God’s money”. One mourner described his principles in life and ministry with “truth and sacrifice!” His preferred way to lead was by example. Another one declared, “More than my master, father, next to Jesus!” My grandfather had taken him into his home after he was released from prison. At that time, my grandfather had a wife and five kids, and a two-room house. So his whole family slept in the one bedroom, while this ex-convict took the living room. He is now a retired pastor. His salary in Um-Da Church was an unbelievable 42,000 won ($30) per year, even for rural Korea at that time! He is an example of someone who really relied on God for resources. He had planted the church in the middle of nowhere, and the rural parishioners eventually moved around the church to found Um-Da village. Most of the families basically ate what they planted; it wasn’t an easy lifestyle, but he left his mark in rural church planting. After 16 years he was moved by his presbytery to a troubled church in the nearby city of Mogpo, which had something like 11 pastors in 12 years. I think he went against a lot of principles I was taught in my seminary in Deerfield, IL. He retired there after 34 years, pastoring it to be the biggest church in the city—until the full gospel church moved in! He often shared how he experienced God’s amazing grace while ministering in the middle of dirt in Um-Da, with $30/year, before the bigger church in Mogpo offered a sufficient salary for him and his family to live on. The older children received scholarships for secondary and college education, while they were able to pay for the tuition for the younger children; he is survived by six sons and two daughters, nineteen grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, but no dogs. I hope that I will always consider God to be richer than any other institution on earth. As he retired at the age of sixty-five, he proposed one of his assistant pastors to succeed him, but the board thought he wasn’t ‘good enough’. My dad was committed to Thailand, and so the board called his son-in-law from Germany to pastor the church. The charismatic pastor ended up splitting the church, and my grandfather suffered the problem of succession in ways many pastors emeritus in Korea go through these days. He maintained his joy and heart of thanksgiving despite unpleasant events beyond his control hurt his legacy as a church leader. He still continued making the most of every opportunity and served until the evening he fell asleep. He founded a nursing home, shared the gospel with friends and strangers, even public figures, including having breakfast with an acquaintance every Sunday morning for over a year until he came to church and began growing in the faith. Two national senators and the mayor of Mogpo were among the public figures that encouraged us with their visits during the funeral week. Another interesting visitor was the daughter of the first Korean dentist! I can’t wait till I retire and do nothing; we’ll see… He never stopped learning. I remember teaching him how to drive when he was vacationing in Chicago at the age of seventy. I thought he was ready and took him for the driving test at the local DMV; they failed him because he started and stopped too fast—so what’s wrong with that? He later got his license in the more challenging “DMV” in Korea, and drove until this year. His tenacity or perseverance is one of the most amazing traits that people talk often about. He was known for being stable and providing stability for his church, presbytery and the denomination where he also served as the moderator; he stayed in the same presbytery to which he was born all his life; his pastor had suffered torture for his faith during the Japanese colonization. He was recently honored to lead the procession in the denomination assembly where his denomination was merging with another one that had split during his active ministry days. The recently combined denomination honored him by sponsoring the funeral service, while the presbytery sponsored the burial service; and his older friend who had been in the ‘other’ denomination for decades gave the benediction in the funeral. I don’t like church splits. He is counted as one of the ten pastors who led the Korean Presbyterian church since before the Korean War. We think about 1800 people from around the country came to show their respect throughout the wake and funeral services. He was buried next to his parents and his first wife in the Um-Da church cemetery on December 1. I want to be cremated and have my wife carry my ashes around in her purse. I have learned a lot from his example as a pastor. He invested in people, all kinds of people. Twelve pastors came out of a random weekly bible study, where he had taught that producing and discipline one church leader is more strategic than planting and maintaining one church. My father and I first heard this story when one of them, now a retired pastor, shared about his inspiration for ministry in a eulogy during the funeral. There you have it: a key insight into the dangers of neglecting individual people for sake of institutional growth. Among all the church noise I have to endure as a vocational Christian I try hard to keep this point clear, and resist the temptation to compromise the welfare of an individual for sake of my institutional promotion; choosing to spend an hour discipling one person will not be much for me to report about, but it may be time more worth spent than trying to raise funds for a hundred trafficked orphans with aids, who are also color blind! And homosexual! Not that there’s anything wrong with that… Wanna read Korean? Check out this article about my grandfather, and the eulogy at the funeral. [EDIT: i just realized that non-members can't see my facebook note; so, i pasted it above; below is my 'last' xanga post.] 
the photo used for my grandfather's funeral; he must've been in his 70's; i think it's fitting to upload this photo for my last xanga post. my parents and i went to korea last november, as soon as we received word about his passing. he was a retired pastor and had 8 children; my father was the first born, and i am the first born, which made our presence important for the korean christian funeral. i really miss him, but know that he's doing fine right now with Jesus. i also know that i'll see him again soon, without any fear of being separated again.
this was the desktop photo in his computer; my father's sister and brother had visited thailand two years ago with a team and we all took a photo at the old airport before they left. not sure what was going to happen to this computer, i deleted all photos and files that were related to me; my grandmother doesn't use computers.
our funeral trip included three days of receiving guests at the funeral house, the funeral service itself at the church, the service at the cemetery, and, finally, the application for the certificate of death at the city of mogpo. i tagged along my father and my aunt till this last step. i want to establish personal relationships with people in his city and keep visiting mogpo with my children. i didn't get to call or visit any of my friends in korea in this trip since we rushed back. this all happened during the protests and airport shut downs in thailand. i'll write more details on facebook later and put a link here when i do. in the meanwhile you can visit my website or my more issues-centered blog. | | |
| so how good are these near biblical truths? wanna know what really goes on in OLC? that's the "outreach language center", or my thu bible studies in english for thai professionals. i teach on thursdays, santosh on tuesdays, sarah on thursdays at noon. the thais are upgrading bbqs to a new green era. and read about the english teachers in korea. a while ago, i went to www.howmanyofme.com and was pleasantly surprised to find that there are more daniel kim's, joseph kim's, david kim's, michael kim's, john kim's than my precious 'paul kim's! how many of you are out there? i play the game of life with my kids from time to time. from the game we learn that money is the only thing that matters in life. kids are a financial burden, education is all about getting a good job, and we need to get all kinds of insurance-- american style! but i do miss american beef. and southern california tacos. and i still remember the al pastor tacos in that restaurant in oaxaca. and who can forget eating those special tortas with el toro near the prison in tijuana? i should say something serious about missions. it's been almost 3 years now, and i feel more strongly than ever about how my personal example should be the 89% base for the tip of the iceberg that includes my preaching and activities. and my question to you: what's the difference between the two categories? (the western culture has been all hung out in systems and categories ever since aristotle; but no, don't let me answer for you.) | | |
| just got this sad news, but i'm inspired by greg mckendry to do the right thing at the right moment.
this is a casual update that i just sent to a few of my supporters who requested more frequent updates:
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Thank you for your prayers and strong interest in our ministries. I'm writing this casual update, between ouf official newsletters, to the 16 of you who expressed more interest in hearing from us. I hope you are doing well, and staying cool in the hot American summer. I'm enjoying the cooler rainy season here, since the Thai summer ended in May.
Right now, I'm in Chonburi Mission Center with a team of 7 college and high school students from my home church, Torrance Good Shepherd Church (TGSC, Rev. Nathan Kim). Pastor Lee J. Yi is leading them. We're having a great time getting to know each other, and they're really blessing our neighborhood by teaching English in the local elementary school; they've also dedicated most of the evenings to playing with the 37 orphans in the center. And, Pastor Lee will bless me by lecturing at the seminary tomorrow morning, so I can take a break and just translate. But, pray for them, since about 4 of them are sick from something they ate at a streetside restaurant last Saturday. My family and I've never been sick from food, and neither has any of the previous 4 teams I hosted. So, I'm humbled a bit, and will take more precautions from now on.
The teams from Redeemer Presbyterian (Rev. James Han) and Harvest Community (Rev. Jae W. Kim) came earlier this month, and we also had a great time. (See photos link 1, link 2.) They were an older group, and encouraged me a lot with their questions and a good listening ear. They focused their ministries in a Karen village and various urban ministries in Bangkok, including the slums and teaching English in the national police headquarters; they also visited The Well (a ministry for ex-prostitutes), Newsong Bangkok church, Tyrannus Publishing ministry (Rev. Joong-Shik Kim), Bangkok Refugee Center, and so on. The TGSC team will leave this Thursday, after vising Rahab's ministries and Night Light (ministries for ex-prostitutes). And, I will host my final team of the summer from New Life Community (Rev. Chris Lee) next week, August 5-14, who will divide their time between Chonburi Center and a Karen village.
So, I'm spending a lot of time with the 4 teams this (American) summer, but at the same time I've tried to maintain my weekly teaching duties. It's been tough, and I got sick early on; so I'll consider making changes for my ministry schedule for next year's summer. Joan (from Redeemer Presb) is staying on for 2.5 months volunteering as a nurse in Bangkok Refugee Center. She's off to a good start; and she's also subbing for me at OLC (outreach language center) while I'm in Chonburi Province, and leading the English Bible studies on Thursday evenings. Sarah is also enjoying her Thursday afternoon teaching sessions. Eli in Chonburi Center is also doing very well, teaching English in two local schools and winning the hearts of all the orphans in the center. OLC had a retreat 2 weekends ago, and our whole family with Joan and Eli, and also Santosh and Christy-- Santosh's fiancee, had a very good time with the mostly non-Christian Thai group.
I also missed my 12th year wedding anniversary yesterday, but will try to remember to buy some flowers when I get back home to Bangkok later this week. My good wife is not angry, just a little depressed that she married a pastor in the middle of summer when the ministry schedule is the most hectic. She did bring the kids for a visit this past weekend, where they got to spend time with the team from Torrance and also play with the orphans. Lydia is growing very fast, and shocking people when I tell them that she's only 10. Timothy is also very social now, and makes a lot of friends everywhere he goes.
Please pray that the visiting teams will have a great learning experience here, and also for my family, that we will stay healthy and keep growing in Christ; pray also for my parents who are now in Chicago for the big mission conference for Korean missionaries; they will also visit my brother and his family in St. Louis. Finally, pray for OLC as we're looking for a place to continue meeting 3 times a week after August.
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i'll try to post pictures later. maybe on facebook.
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| i just made an update on my 'official' website, and cut and pasted below: Sarah is learning a lot about herself and issues of culture, as she gets to know the Thai people and society. Please pray for strength and wisdom as she continues homeschooling Lydia, and has added on the responsibility of leading a weekly Bible study.
Lydia is growing very fast, as a preteen. Her attitude is changing and she's trying act like an adult while still being like a little kid. She's also getting to know the Thai culture pretty well as the only foreigner in a traditional Thai dance school. Please pray that we will be gentle and loving parents while she goes through rapid changes.
Timothy just started his third year of Thai kindergarten last month; he really likes school and has a lot of Thai friends. Please pray that he will grow to know Jesus Christ personally.
Paul says, "I am very busy this month (June 2008). This past week: Monday (Thai lesson in the morning and a weekly dinner with Eli), Tuesday (a full day of giving lectures in Chonburi seminary, 2 hours away from Bangkok, then rushed back for a farewell dinner for a missionary family), Wednesday (lunch with another missionary couple we studied Thai with, Newsong staff meeting, Thai Bible study), Thursday (speak at BCIS high school graduation, lead English Bible study, run to the airport to see the missionary family off for home assignment), Friday (lead leadership class discussion group in Chula University, take a long subway ride for lunch with a Thai deportee-- who cancelled after I got there, shopping with Eli for his stay in Chonburi Center, Lakers 1st finals game at Santosh's place-- a rebroadcast for Asia), Sat-Sun (regular church schedule). All this while I had to prepare annual reports and presentations for our agency's annual conference next week; I also had to make final arrangements for the visiting short-term teams. I didn't get to exercise once, or read or rest. And I just remembered that I have a wife and two children, especially while I'm updating this webpage! So, please pray that God will help me not to burn out but to be an effective missionary in this busy month; I barely have time to think. I need to focus and prioritize. I need to watch a movie. But, I'm also a month behind in my update newsletters." | | |
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at breakfast this morning with my parents and with GP board member steve cheong (far right). eli will teach english in the local schools and also help with the weekend or evening ministries in chonburi center for about a year. but first he'll learn thai for a month in bangkok. i just picked him up at the airport last night and he delivered what i had requested-- the picture bible (david c. cook), plus other goodies other people requested.
left to right: sadie and dk, poom, annette, anabel, me, abe lim, abe; abe and annette will move back to california today(!), after ministering here for over 2 years; dk and sadie came to take them back. we will miss all of them.
lydia at her ram thai (traditional thai dance) performance last monday. can you find her? she's third on the left line. she'll perform again tonite, when the crown princess will attend; this is the only performance this school puts on each year. as the only non-thai, we feel lydia is learning a lot about the thai society and culture.
sarah and me looking distinguished, but not quite thai, during the concert.
an outside view of the concert, in the traditional thai house where they practice and perform-- that means no air conditioning; timothy was sweating and getting restless so i took him home early.
my parents for their bday dinner (both on april) in baang saen, chonburi province. more photos on my facebook.
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