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Mark 5: 19b “…Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

After the Argentina International Summer Bible Conference (Jan. 15-18), we had many difficulties, preparing for a Bible academy for ourselves during carnival (Feb. 14-17); an unexpected situation took place, that a reserved place was abruptly cancelled. However, while praying for it, God helped us to use a remote house, which one brother had, as the place of conference; though the house was old and its facilities and environment were poor, I and my co-worker Ruth prepared for and served the conference with joy and thanks.

We were also faced with difficulties to help sheep to attend the conference; new sheep, brother Luis, brother Paul, and sister Ximena, who had participated in the Argentina IBC and each accepted the Lord’s grace, had ambiguous attitudes on attendance at the conference till a week before the conference. A new sheep, sister Angi chose to attend and then changed her mind, whenever the co-worker Ruth invited her several times.

Sister Anis(younger sister of Milka) had participated in the conference with her sister last year, and received grace and then kept on attending SWS, but these days she was too hard of heart to attend church; so it was not easy for her to attend the conference. However, thank the Lord for touching each heart and letting all referred to above attend the conference. We also thank God for prayer support of many missionaries and shepherds, brothers and sisters.

This conference numerically makes few differences from last year’s conference (23, last year; 24, this year); by the way, 17 attendants, who keep on studying the Bible and attending at SWS of 23 attendants at self-conference last year, and 3 new sheep, added to, made 20 attendants at the last Argentina ISBC; 4 new sheep, added to, made 24 attendants at this conference.

A few characteristics of this conference are as follows: First, a notable

participation consciousness of graduate brothers and sisters. In spite of keeping his store, brother Ramiro was willing to spend a quarter of the day in order to bring commodities to the conference place by his truck. Though Brother Martin was also placed in circumstances not to leave his store empty even for a short time, he carried commodities necessary to the conference by his truck, willingly spending his heart and time.

On the day before the conference closed, graduate brothers and sisters prepared for a drama, titled “Jesus who helps Zaccaeus”, and each presented one’s own role, practicing one’s lines one by one so passionately that all the attendants called for an encore when the drama finished. Further, whenever sister Blanca, Ramiro’s wife and sister Yola, Cristobal’s wife saw sister students around hard at heart, they together served each of them through talking with them. 

Though they are 50 to 60 years of age and are not able to offer much time to Lord, we pray earnestly that God may use them for campus ministry even in certain ways and bless their family and their spiritual struggles. May God use each of them for our ministry preciously, like Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth who supported the Apostle Paul’s work pioneering Philippi.

Second, the conference, through which God helped us to overcome a lecherous atmosphere of carnival and accept one word. A disturbing and lecherous atmosphere of carnival festival caused us, who had begun the conference, not to concentrate our attention on it; furthermore, even programs in computer, which did not work smoothly for some time, let us get irritated. My coworker Ruth and I felt a deep sense of crisis, and could not help praying to the Lord together; Ruth kept awake and prayed with tears. At that time, though the outdoors was still noisy and disturbing, God answered our prayers, that from the second day on, he might help us to concentrate spiritually and the sheep to be focused on the word.

On the first day, we each accepted grace through love of Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost in Luke 19 (M. Ruth Shin); Jesus sought and saved Zacchaeus, who sought for the meaning, happiness, and gratification of his life through wealth, possession and high position, and then was in despair.

Especially on the second day, in Mark 5 (M. Marcos Shin) the grace of Jesus, who saved an insane person at the region of Gerasenes, worked greatly in every sheep. Depending on Jesus’ word, “What is your name?”, each of the sheep frankly confessed arrogance, or physical lust, or jealousy and competitive spirit, or hatred and revengeful thoughts, or inferiority complex, or indolence, so that the Lord Jesus might help each person to be free of each problem.

In particular, presenting his testimony, as brother Luis abruptly cried out, “Come out of me, you impure spirit!”, all of us were startled; this was because he found out the power of the evil spirit, that possessed him through several sins, and expressed his spiritual indignation against the evil spirit’s power and himself who was deceived by it to live; furthermore, it graced the conference that he decided to fight boldly against the power of sin and the evil spirit from now on. We pray earnestly that sheep, who accepted a grace through the conference, may keep on fighting against sins through one to one Bible study, SWS message, and testimony to live a life to be pleased with God.

Third, special programs and second generations’ active participation. In order to create a spiritual atmosphere of the conference, praying, we thought it good to present Mother Barry’s life testimony; so we helped sister Ximena and sister Milka to read it for Mother Barry. In the process, not only Ximena accepted a grace, but also Milka, in spite of preparing for college entrance exam, said to us that she was moved through Mother Barry’s too beautiful and sacrificial life, preparing for it with heart.

Before Mother Barry’s testimony, because we thought it right to inform the sheep of Korea’s conditions at that time, we let the sheep view a 5 minute video, “Do you know Korea?” and then “UBF History” video; through these, many sheep told that they became aware of Korean history, and a church history which God have blessed; finally, through “One person’s beginning” video, we watched how great history God could achieve through the person, when anyone taught one person in great vision.

Preparing for this conference, we thank God that our nephew, Youngmeen, Marco Jr. and Somang, who are second generation missionaries, participated in it actively. We directed Youngmeen to once write a life testimony, based on a grace for him to accept through last International Bible Conference in Argentina. Then, for all he had never yet written a testimony and had a short time, he presented a very gracious and moving testimony; he frankly expressed a grief from one and only lovely younger sister’s death, and a hurt due to his oppressive father.

Marco Jr. translated my Sunday message and Youngmeen’s life testimony from Korean into Spanish, and also served music programs during the conference. Somang translated a video program on the first night, “Do you know Korea?” and superimposed Spanish subtitles on the video; by the way, to superimpose Spanish subtitles on the 5 minute video was difficult enough to spend about 4 to 5 hours. It was not easy for him to prepare for it, after he, as a junior high school boy during the term, finished his homework; but he served it to the end.

We believe that God received these second generations’ earnest devotion; we pray earnestly that though they were deficient, they may be used for a work evangelizing intelligent men in campuses.

I cannot help confessing again that God is always full of compassion, reflecting on that God works for himself through the conference. I have always despaired of my own limits and been troubled with a fateful thought, “I cannot do”, living as a self-supporting, lay missionary. However, God has not cast away this sinner, who is living, but live like a dead man, and grasped, caught me till now, with his rich patience.

God sends one by one his sheep like precious stones, his young men like dew from the morning’s womb, whom the Lord Jesus bought for his precious blood, to me, who am not able to embrace and serve even one person. When I only pray, trusting in God’s compassion, though I cannot do it, God can raise up and use them, who suffer from all kinds of hurts, and are also living but live like dead persons in despair and fatalism, as shepherds and missionaries to serve intelligent persons in Bolivia, South America, and then all the world.

“Lord, You have saved this very shallow-minded, arrogant sinner, a sinner like a madman; May the Lord use this shallow man only as an instrument of compassion to testify to your compassion for the rest of my life, that you have worked in this sinner’s life with a great compassion!” We only give thanks and praises back to the Lord, who has worked with an amazing compassion through our conference during carnival.

One Word: “Testify to how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”