May 23, 2007

Dear Friends and Colleagues in Mission,

Dan and Sok at a meeting of Jeonbuk Presbytery this spring.

One of the joys that we have had in recent years is working with students who are in one way or another affiliated with Korean mission organizations. Students have served in China, India, Japan, Kenya, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, and the Philippines. This past year, however, we have had a first—a Cambodian who serves in his country with the Korean Society for Service in Asia (KSSA). This is a highly respected non-governmental organization (NGO) that works in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Mr. Ngov Sok has worked with KSSA as an administrator for approximately ten years. He is now studying missiology at Hanil University’s Asia Pacific Graduate School for Theological Studies. Following the completion of his M.A. thesis in June, he will return to Cambodia. Upon his return home, Sok will become the director of the newly opened KSSA center in Phnom Penh.

Sok is a dedicated Christian who works with KSSA in numerous development projects, including sponsoring a nurse in a government hospital to care of orphans, taking visiting teams of Korean doctors and nurses to rural areas, organizing literacy programs in the villages, and constructing housing for those in need. His father died during the Pol Pot regime, and now his mother lives with Sok and his family. Sok is active in a Christian church in Phnom Penh that was founded by Korean missionaries. One of these missionaries, the Rev. Song Jun-Sup, was formerly a pastor in the Chung Buk Presbyterian Church in Cheongju. He brought Sok to our campus and introduced him to us at the beginning of the semester. At least once each month, Sok makes the one-and-a-half hour journey from Jeonju to Cheongju to worship with the congregation of this church. This church is one of many that provide financial support for the KSSA in its development and mission work in Southeast Asia.

Cambodia has been shattered by years of war, the horrors of the Pol Pot regime, and the almost complete destruction of all social institutions. Young men and women like Ngov Sok are the future of Cambodia as they seek to rebuild the nation. The Korean church, through organizations such as the KSSA, is there working side by side with the Cambodian people in this endeavor. Korea is not only a global center for theological education and mission, but it is increasingly becoming a center for development aid and NGO outreach. Hanil University—through the Asia Pacific Graduate School of Theological Studies and the Graduate School of NGO Policy Studies—is in the forefront of the holistic approach to Christian mission.

To underscore this holistic approach, the students in the Hanil Theological Seminary now have the opportunity to receive both an M.Div. preparing them for ordination and a license in social work preparing them for community service. At Hanil UniVersity the gap between evangelism and social action is being bridged in keeping with Christ’s words to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind … and to love your neighbor as yourself.” Mr. Ngov Sok is a living example of how Hanil University is striving to put these two great commandments into practice. Do remember him in your prayers as he returns to Cambodia in mid-summer.

As many of you already know, we will be taking a five-month mission interpretation assignment in the United States from July through November. We leave Korea on June 20, and from July 3 through November 14 will be in residence at Mission Haven in Decatur, Georgia. We can best be contacted via email; we will try to check our email several times each week. During the month of October we will be among 30 missionaries participating in Mission Campaign ‘07. We will be speaking every day in four presbyteries—one presbytery each week, with the goal of increasing an awareness of global mission across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In addition, we will be visiting some twenty supporting churches, attending at least three mission-related conferences, and participating in our annual continuing education event. It will be a busy time with a great deal of travel. Do keep us in your prayers—that we may stay in good health and that our speaking engagements may further the cause of international mission in and through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

May God grant you grace and blessing during these summer months!

Faithfully in mission,

Carol Chou Adams / Daniel J. Adams

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 247