March 9, 2007
Dear Friends,
This year is a special year for “Another Home,” a
shelter for runaway juveniles founded by the Women Ministers Association
(WMA) of the Korean Presbyterian Church. It is similar to another
shelter run by the WMA, the Good News Shelter (victims of domestic
violence), which I have written about before. Another Home has
been serving runaway teenagers for more than seven years.
Yeon-Joo (front row, center) at the farewell party given for
her on March 4, 2007, at the Good News Shelter.
Yeon-Joo Moon came to Another Home when she was in the seventh
grade and grew up there with nine other juveniles. The girls at
Another Home all have different backgrounds—family violence,
no parents, financial difficulties, incest, personal troubles,
etc.
Yeon-Joo came to Another Home because there was violence in her
family situation. Her father is very violent, and after her mom
left, Yeon-Joo became the father’s victim.
This year, Yeon-Joo graduated from high school. When she came
to our shelter, she was only 12 years old, a girl with little
self-confidence and very insecure about her future.
The staff of Another Home has worked closely with Yeon-Joo, helping
her with her school work and with personal emotional problems.
Now she became a fine young lady and is planning to study hotel
cooking at Beaksuk College. We are so grateful to God and happy
for her that she has overcome so many difficulties and has moved
to another stage of her successful life. She left the shelter
the first week of March to go to college.
Yeon-Joo with the presents given to her at the celebration on
March 4.
Last Sunday, March 4th, we celebrated her with a farewell party
for her. All the members at the shelter enjoyed the party and
prayed for the success of her new journey. We provided gifts and
household materials for her new life as well. This was an exciting
moment for me and for shelter staff—one runaway girl found
her goal of life through Another Home and now looks forward to
a better life. And an even more exciting thing is that while Yeon-Joo
was at the shelter, she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal
savior and became Christian! I am grateful to God for the Women
Ministers Association here in Korea that helps women survive domestic
violence and helps troubled juvenile girls build good lives for
themselves. I’m asking God to give me strength and not to
burn out myself in order to help these people to heal their pains.
The church movement this year in Korea
Korea is celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the “Pyongyang
Great Revival Movement.” The Presbyterian Church of Korea
has proclaimed this year a year of prayer for North Korea and
asks for prayers for love, freedom, and peace in the Korean peninsula.
The PCK calls the global church and Christians worldwide to join
the South Korean church in actively praying for North Korea and
for a revival of the South Korean church. Korea celebrates 100
years of the revival movement through repentance, devotion, and
purification.
Our hearts are deeply troubled by the extreme spiritual darkness,
repression, and suffering that North Korea suffers today. In light
of the current situation, we call on all churches and Christians
to pray for North Korea and for a spiritual awakening of the Korean
church. We ask your prayer for an end to the deprivation and sufferings
and for the day to come when the love of God and the blessing
of salvation break out again here in the Korean peninsula.
I would like ask your continuing prayer and support for my ministry
with women and for the spiritual revival movement in Korea.
Peace,
Sook Hee Bae
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
247 |
