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Thanksgiving 1999
Dear Friends:
Thanksgiving is almost here and Christmas is, as the saying goes,
just around the corner. And Christmas will be followed by New
Year's Day and the year, 2000, and coming a few weeks later will
be the Lunar New Year, which is an important holiday season here
in Asia. As we celebrate the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ
at Christmas and look forward to the coming of the third millennium
in the year 2000 (purists say 2001), we find that this is an appropriate
time to look backward to our roots and look forward to our fruits.
Our roots and fruits came together this past summer during a
trip to England to attend a theological seminar at the University
of Durham. While in England we visited a retired Presbyterian
missionary in Taiwan, Miss Alvinza Riddoch, who lives in East
Sussex. Now in her mid-eighties, she lives with another retired
missionary from India in a comfortable apartment just across the
street from the sea. Alvinza Riddoch was Carol's teacher many
years ago at the Tainan Theological College in Tainan, Taiwan.
She taught kindergarten education and was one of the first Christian
teachers to impart to Carol a desire to also be a teacher. We
have kept in contact with Alvinza Riddoch down through the years,
and this was the third time that we have visited her in England.
It was a joy for us to pay our respects to this former teacher
of Carol's and to see in her one of those roots from which we
have drawn sustenance.
We also had the opportunity to attend the graduation ceremony
of Mr. Lee Suk-In at the University of Surrey. He received a degree
in theology that prepares him for ordination of the United Reformed
Church. Currently a missionary of the Presbyterian Church of Korea
to the United Kingdom, Mr. Lee serves with "Churches Together
in Britain and Ireland" and helps with the publication of
Korea Link, an occasional newsletter on Korean church life and
work. In addition he teaches a Bible study for Chinese immigrants
in London, works with ethnic minorities in the Kingston United
Reformed Church in South London, and serves as a liaison between
the Korean and British churches. He is one of our fruits, for
he was our student at Hanil. When he came to us expressing an
interest in mission work among the Chinese, we arranged for him
to go to Taiwan where he learned Chinese. Later we introduced
him to former missionary friends in London who helped him with
his studies of both English and theology. Now he ministers not
only to ethnic Koreans in London, but also reaches out to the
immigrant Chinese community.
Roots and fruits. We look to former teachers such as Alvinza
Riddoch for our roots, and to former students such as Lee Suk-In
for our fruits.
One of the joys of serving in theological education is realizing
the importance of teachers and the impact they have upon the lives
of their students. We look back with appreciation to those teachers
who have influenced us, while at the same time realizing that
we too are influencing our students. Thanksgiving is a time to
look back to our roots, which run deep through the influence of
our teachers; Christmas is a time to realize God's presence with
us in the teaching-learning process; and New Year is a time to
look forward to our fruits as our students take their places in
ministry and mission.
We would also like to mention several items of news concerning
us and our work. First, all of Carol's family in Taiwan are safe
and sound following the tragic earthquake of 21 September. We
give thanks to God for their safety even as we pray for our many
friends and colleagues in Taiwan whose fate we will almost certainly
know in the coming weeks. We would ask that you keep Taiwan in
your prayers and concerns. Second, by the time you receive this
letter it is almost certain that the president of Hanil University
will have resigned and an acting president will be in place until
a long-term president can be selected. The continuing controversy
over the president was apparently resolved on 17 September when
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea refused
to confirm the decision of the university board to reappoint him
to another term. We are not certain what this will mean for the
university or for our work. Of one thing we can be certain, however,
and that is that there will be changes. Please pray for Hanil
University and its future and for God's guidance in choosing the
person who will lead the school into the new millennium. Third,
we would ask that all of you give careful attention to changes
of address and that you notify the office in Louisville whenever
you change your address. Failure to do so means that the Worldwide
Ministries Division must pay a thirty-three cent postage due fee
on every newsletter that is returned because of an incorrect address.
A prompt change of address notice can save mission money for more
urgent projects around the world.
We are indeed privileged to live not only in two centuries but
also in two millennia. When you stop and think about it, very
few persons in all of human history have this unique opportunity.
That makes this holiday season very special. At this special season
we wish all of you God's grace and blessing!
Yours faithfully in mission,
Carol and Daniel J. Adams
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