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Believe the Good News

Mark 1:15,  “'The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’”

I. 2010 ministry report

The 2010 New Year European Directors’ Conference was held in Israel, where we felt like we could feel Jesus’ breath. It was very meaningful. I pray that the people of Israel may accept Jesus as their Savior and be fully restored as God’s people.

I started the year of 2010 holding on to Romans 1:17: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” At the beginning of the year, we studied Romans at our worship service. We had two worship services: I served little Grace and Anna with the word of God from Romans, and M. Grace served Johann Jr., Isaac, and Joy with the word from Genesis. Through Romans Bible study, I discovered my sinful ego and I learned a little bit of the grace of Jesus who died on the cross for sinners. Through the Bible study and worship service, we came to know that the most important prayer topic for second generations is for them to meet Jesus personally who died on the cross.

Due to her disc problem, M. Grace could only work part-time, so I started to take up the cross of self-support as a taxi driver. In his grace, God allowed me to get a taxi driver’s license and opened up the way to be self-supporting.

For the Easter conference, we got together with M. Joseph’s house church from Norway and M. Esther from Spain and held a three-day conference on a Finland ferry in order to pray for the pioneering of Finland. The missionaries memorized 1 Corinthians 15 in their respective languages, and we earnestly prayed at the Helsinki square and at the Helsinki University that God may send servants to pioneer Finland.

In June, little Grace attended the Second Generation Conference and the Kyungsung UBF Summer Bible Conference in Korea and received much grace.  Joy, Johann, and Isaac attended the European CBF Conference in Czech Republic. They received the word of God and the grace to be baptized. They also served the joint Northern Europe Summer Bible Conference through a music performance they had done at the CBF conference, which was very graceful.

God allowed us to have the joint Northern Europe Summer Bible Conference from July 30 –Aug. 1 in Sweden. The title of the conference was “The kingdom of God.” Since all of our Bible students had left, we did not know how to prepare the conference. But God helped us to invite our children’s piano teacher to 1:1 Bible study. Her name is Bolor and she is a foreign student from Mongolia. Her parents had been Buddhists, but through the invitation of Korean missionaries, they are currently attending a church that Korean missionaries are serving in Mongolia. She was amazed at the changed lives of her parents and had interest in the Bible. Even though she did not have great spiritual desire and had financial problems, she attended the conference to serve the music program. And she brought 2 of her Mongolian friends to the conference. They are studying at the Royal Music Academy at Stockholm. Their names are Baegi and Jaya. They have spiritual desire and also a spiritual foundation. At first, they wanted to attend just one day of the conference, but when all the messengers asked them to stay and serve through playing music at the conference, they stayed all three days. God also moved the heart of Thomas from Denmark so that he shared his life testimony at the conference. And God sent my cousins and mother from Korea and they prepared delicious food for us. I thank God who answered our small prayers and faith and did his work through his word.

After the conference, God sent the Mongolian students to attend our Sunday worship service. They had already been attending a Swedish church, but due to the difficult language, they could not receive the word of God. For their sake, God helped us to hold the worship service in Swedish. God gave us the direction to do a 12-step Bible study with them to help them to lay a spiritual foundation. God started to raise us through our Bible students. We made Swedish Bible study questions and had to prepare Swedish messages. But after one month, God sent them back to Mongolia because of their visa problem. We did not know what God’s will was, but we deeply accepted that God is the one who brings Bible students and sends them away, and we sent them to their homeland. They still couldn’t receive a visa, but we are praying that through this opportunity, they may meet God personally.

When we had no Bible students, God sent precious servants to go to the campus and build an altar of prayer with me.  I was the European representative to attend the dedication worship service of Riga UBF. The missionaries from Riga came to Stockholm and served the Sweden UBF ministry. They came to the university that we are pioneering and prayed for our pioneering ministry. M. Isaac from Moscow slept in our house and shared precious fellowship with us. M. Isaac and M. Rebekah from Los Angeles undertook the difficult journey by train because they remembered our Sweden UBF ministry and crossed the whole Scandinavian Peninsula in order to visit us. The missionaries gave us God’s word and prayed wherever they went. Their visit was often short, not even a day, but they gave us strength through the word of God and encouraged us.

Through Jesus who helped the Samaritan woman in John 4, God gave us wisdom how to invite students to Bible study. We took Bible study questions with us when we went to the campus to invite students. When there was a girl student standing there alone, we gave her the questions and started to talk to her. Jesus had said, “Will you give me a drink?” We asked her to help us with Swedish since our Swedish is deficient. We asked her to correct our Swedish Bible study questions. The girl readily agreed. We met her just 2 times, but God had answered our prayers and she is the first Bible student whom we could have spiritual fellowship with on the university we are praying for. Her name is Sara. I pray that God may plant in her the desire to start 1:1 Bible study.

God brought back the Mongolian Bible students and also Kristina who had stopped coming. Kristina’s mother had come from the Philippines and scolded her for stopping Bible study, so they are now both attending our worship service. God also sent Alan, the ancestor of faith of Uganda UBF. Because of the collaboration of the Swedish government with the Ugandan government, he is doing his PhD studies in Uppsala, which is 70 kilometers north of Stockholm. He comes once every 3 months to Stockholm and his prayer topic is to finish his studies in 4 years. God raised him as a servant of God’s word at the Christmas worship service on December 19. We pray that Alan may be a source of blessing and a campus Bible teacher for Uganda.

II. Spiritual direction and prayer topics for 2011

In the year of 2010, we had to take up several crosses to support ourselves financially. Since I got a taxi driver’s license and drove the taxi at night, my daytime was free. Together with my wife, I visited the campus, took care of the children, and cured patients with oriental medicine. While driving at night, I could see the night culture of Stockholm. When I saw the true nature of wandering souls who don’t know God and who were like sheep without a shepherd, prayers for them naturally came out of my heart. I realized that what they really need is the word of God. I repent that I often could not live by faith even though I say I am living by faith. My key verse for this year is Mark 1:15. I pray that this year may become the year of holding on to God’s word and preaching the gospel at all costs.

One Word: Believe the Good News

Prayer Topics:

1. Sweden may become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (120 Bible teachers and 12 house churches by 2017)

2. Sunday messages on Mark’s gospel in 2011

3. Twelve 1:1 Bible studies, 12 Sunday worship service attendees (Kristina may grow as a disciple of Jesus)

4. Our children to grow as second generation missionaries and be spiritually and physically healthy

5. M. Grace’s health (healing of her disc)

Dr. John