June 27, 2008

Dear Friends,

Spring is one of the loveliest times of the year in Korea—the flowers are in full bloom, the new leaves on the trees are a bright green, the weather is pleasant, and most of the insects (including mosquitoes and centipedes) are not active yet. We would like to tell you about one of these fine spring days and share with you how, on this day, Hanil University and Presbyterian Theological Seminary have influenced the Jeonju community.

Our day began with morning worship at 11:00 at the Sung Ahm Presbyterian Church. This is one of the larger churches in the city with about 2,000 members. Among those greeting us as we entered was Mr. Kim Song-Ho, an evangelist at the church. He is preparing for ordination. He is a graduate of both the undergraduate college and the theological seminary at Hanil University. After being seated in our pew we looked over the morning bulletin. On the front page the names of the church staff are listed. One of those names is Ms. Moon Young-Ok, and she serves as a Christian educator at the church. She too is a college and seminary graduate of Hanil. She was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament on March 11, 2008, and we attended the ordination service and shared this significant event in her life. Mr. Kim and Ms. Moon were both our students, and they first met as undergraduates when taking our class “Theology of the Apostles’ Creed.” We could see that they were attracted to each other, and so we acted as match makers. Not long after that, they were married. Today they are both serving at Sung Ahrn Church, and following Mr. Kim’s ordination they will be a clergy couple, which is still something rather new in the Korean church context.

At 3:00 p.m. we were visited in our home by another former student, Mr. Lee Kyoung-Kuk. This was only a couple of days after official Parents Day and the Sunday on which the churches of Korea celebrate Parents Day. After several years of unsuccessful romantic ventures, Mr. Lee proudly introduced us to his wife, who is expecting their first child in a few weeks. She is a graduate of the Margaret Pritchard School of Nursing (founded by Presbyterian missionaries) and has been serving as a nurse at Chonbuk National University Hospital for the past 15 years. Mr. Lee was our student over ten years ago in the college division of Hanil. After obtaining a degree in theology he went on to get his masters in social welfare from Hanil University. Currently, he is director of a large social service facility in the nearby town of Kosan. This social service center is a joint program of a local Presbyterian church and the provincial government. He also serves as a part-time lecturer in social welfare at two local universities. He and his wife brought us a cake and a gift of candied ginger in honor of Parents Day. Said Mr. Lee to us, “You are like my second set of parents. For all these years you have been concerned about me, you have prayed for me, and you treated me just like your own son. I am very grateful.” He and his wife will continue to serve the community—he as a social worker and she as a nurse—thereby bearing witness to the love of Jesus Christ.

Hanil faculty serve God and the community through music. The performers, Ms. Park Hyo-Jeong and Ms. Cha Hye-Won, both teach music at Hanil.

At 6:00 p.m. we joined two friends—one Korean and the other from Scotland—for a quick supper and then hurried off to attend a duo piano concert at the Sori Arts Center, the premier concert hall in Jeonju. Featured pianists were Ms. Park Hyo-Jeong, a professor of music at Hanil University, and Ms. Cha Hye-Won, a part-time instructor of music at Hanil. The sponsors of the concert were Hanil University and Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The hall was filled with Hanil faculty and students, music students from across the city, friends from local churches, and members of the Jeonju community. We were treated to a delightful evening of classical music. At the reception following the concert, we joined faculty and friends in congratulating the two pianists. We left the concert hall filled with gratitude for the talent and dedication of Hanil’s music faculty and for the way in which they bring glory to God through the arts.

As we look back upon this one day—Sunday, May 11—we give thanks to God for the influence of Hanil. Graduates and faculty from Hanil are making an impact upon the wider Jeonju community through ministry in the church, through social service agencies, and through the arts. Hanil University and  Presbyterian Theological Seminary are making a difference, and we are grateful for the part in which we have in making this difference a reality. We are even more grateful for the part in which you have had—and continue to have—in providing quality education through Hanil. At the end of the day we could truly say, “Thanks be to God.”

Faithfully in mission,

Carol Chou Adams / Daniel J. Adams

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 101