News > Asia

The year 2010 was a year of incessant attempts and dynamic changes. The schools in the Philippines start their vacation mid-March. We had a Summer Bible Conference on April 9-11. Our Summer Bible Conference was held separately from Dr. William’s chapter in an effort to get to know our Bible students. There were 4 Filipino attendees and 6 Korean attendees, including my family and me. All of the attendees were asked to serve as a messenger, singer, and testimony sharer. We spent 3 days there, had 3 messages, watched the movie “The Passion of the Christ,” and went hiking and swimming. Since there were few attendees, everyone was entitled to certain responsibilities which gave all the members a chance to be closer to God and to be closer to each other.

After the conference, Sister Girlie acknowledged God’s calling for her. Then we changed her name from Girlie, which implies the literary definition of girly, to Rebekah. We prayed for her to live as a mother of thousands upon thousands. However, her being the only breadwinner in her family did not provide her enough time to sincerely attend the worship service and serve God’s mission. She went on a business trip, but was fired because her company went bankrupt. After those long absences, she attended the worship service in a gloomy and desperate state. We could understand her desperation in following money as her priority, but we are praying for her to seek God’s kingdom first.

Brother Ralph served one of the messages and prepared another report on his own. It was a report about mass media and evangelization. From this, I realized that Filipinos usually do not refuse when asked to do something. I contemplated on this matter and found that they are the part of the elite in the best schools and that this is the common character of Filipinos. At the conference, they tried to finish their songs once they started even if they seemed to be bad singers. From this realization, I concluded that it is important to set them as voluntary leaders in serving God’s mission.

During the conference, we had time to get closer with the Bible students. Unfortunately, there were some who left us.

Sister Zie had been studying the Bible sincerely and had attended the Summer Bible Conference, but she had to leave us for her new job in Singapore. Most Filipinos dream of working abroad since the salary abroad is about 10 times higher than that of the Philippines. Actually, there was one student who passed the exam to be a doctor as a top student, but gave up his dream of becoming a doctor and entered nursing school instead just to work abroad. We could not keep Sister Zie from going to Singapore because it was a great opportunity for herself and her family financially. We experienced limitations in making disciples. Moreover, other Bible students stopped coming without saying anything, and M. Sarah got hyperthyroidism, which made her weaker against hot weather. I was in agony to see her get that kind of disease in a hot country. However, she was willing to passionately go out to invite students to Bible study and serve the ministry.

During this time, Dr. William sent his son who is a UP student. His name is Samuel. He is still spiritually young, but he has leadership and a shepherd mind for the Philippines. He goes out to invite students to Bible study and serves the worship service in the Quezon chapter by playing the cello. From Jan. to Aug., Maria and Ellie came from the Downey chapter in LA. M. Isaac sent them to us. They went together to invite students to Bible studies and taught the Bible to students. It helped us a lot in many ways since they were fluent in English.

We had held our worship service in a 2-floored house for the last 3 years. We had used the first floor as our worship area and the second, as our own house. However, we experienced a lot of difficulties in having our home and church together in one house. We wanted the students to come more easily to the church. Therefore, we prayed to find a new house near the university to use as a Bible house. M. Sarah, due to her sickness, became exhausted and sweaty even in milder weather compared to the real hot season in the Philippines. We doubted if we would survive the hot weather in the Philippines. We came to the decision to move our house to the cool high floor apartment near the college. God led us to move our house to a condo where we could get to UP within 3 minutes by car in December. The place is windy, and through this, we could realize the importance of wind. Since the rental fee in the Philippines is expensive, we bought a small condo, eliminating the burden of the rental fee. We finally found a Bible house for the UP campus. It is an old, but fresh house surrounded by trees. Brother Ralph exerted much effort in trying to find the house. We find hope for Filipino students whenever we see them acting as leaders and giving a helping hand.

Every end of the year, I had to worry about my contract with my company in Korea. My worry became most severe last year because my boss had made it clear that the contract would not continue. However, the chairman of the Korean company came to the Philippines on a trip. I served him well. The Chairman, after eating a delicious lobster, told me about the renewal of my contract with his company for one more year. We thank God who deals with all things one step ahead.

In December, M. David Min came here from the Downey chapter in LA.  As he wanted to meet M. Paul Ko, we had the blessing to meet him together. He prepared the worship service message and 1:1 Bible study. We held the Sunday worship service in my new house. We were consoled through the message. It was the message of Isaiah and the topic was “Light for the Gentiles.” We saw a vision through his message to send the Bible students who go abroad as missionaries and to raise 1,000 Bible teachers within 10 years.

I realized that my big problem throughout the 3 years of ministry in the Philippines was my lack of vision. I had not been so passionate about finding Bible students and making the Philippines a Bible nation because I had focused too much on my work. I had a desire inside me to just serve Bible students without passion. I just served them out of my responsibility as a missionary. I should have given them prayer topics and visions, but I could not. My mind was filled with fear, money, and lust. I was too obsessed with the increasing exchange rate. However, I feel ashamed when I think of God’s grace. God has blessed me and my family in many ways. He gave us a dream house that would have been impossible for us to buy if we were in Seoul. He has relieved me from the oppressive company life and has given me a chance to work at home freely. He sent us leaders, missionaries, new Bible students, and the Chairman. I pray to stop being afraid of worldly matters and serve the Philippines with faith and vision. May God help me to serve God’s ministry in 2011 with faith and vision.