Dear Friends in Jesus Christ!

Greetings!

First of all, I thank you for your concern and prayer for my missionary work in theological education in the Philippines. It is now the time in much of the U.S. when frozen soil and rivers thaw and the new leaves sprout up. When spring begins there, sultry weather begins here. The Philippines is tropical, so it is hot and humid year-round. We have a high percentage of humidity here and the sun is very hot from April to May.

The Philippines is, unofficially, a Catholic country (80 percent Roman Catholics, less than 10 percent Protestant, and about 8 percent of Muslim). It seems that there are invisible disadvantages for Protestants. One of them is transfer credits. If a student studied at a Protestant seminary and transfers to another college or university, the school does not accept seminary credits. Another problem is obtaining visas. A Protestant seminary student from a foreign country does not receive a student visa, but a missionary visa. If the student is young, she or he has difficulties getting a missionary visa. In that case, she or he gets a tourist visa but has to renew it continually. For me, I renewed my tourist visa for more than a year until I finally received a missionary visa last December. Although the missionary visa is only for one year, that’s better than renewing it every month.

From January 5 to 6, we had a student and faculty retreat. On January 12, I presented minjung theology at faculty forum. Filipino professors at the divinity school envy the minjung theology of Korea. There is a theology of struggle in the Philippines, but it is not yet theoretically systematized. This theology reflects Filipinos’ life first as a colony for over 300 years and then under long-term dictatorships. While the Filipino senate had an impeachment trial against president Joseph Estrada, Filipino citizens had rallies on EDSA in Manila. The higher justice of the supreme court appointed vice president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as president, and political turmoil paused. However, there is still potential for more political turmoil. While I watched the impeachment trial, I realized how many of the senators were previously famous entertainers, movie stars, TV stars, athletes, and basketball players. In fact, more than half of senators in the Philippines was movie stars, TV stars and athletes.

The Rotary Club of Dumaguete City entrusted me with selecting the outstanding high school students in Dumaguete City. Among representatives of religion, law, school, ane the student body, I was a chair of judges. On February 3, we reviewed personal profiles about an hour, and had three hours of interviews with eleven finalists for the honor of outstanding student. On February 10, we gathered and selected five outstanding students. The interesting thing was among eleven students, only two were boys and the other nine were girls; among five outstanding students, only one was a boy. It seems that female students are smarter than male students. The president of student government at Silliman University, for example, was a female student, and the vice president was a boy. A present candidate for student-body president is also a girl student and vice-president candidate is a boy. The president of the Philippines is a woman too. On February 27, we awarded plaques to the five outstanding high school students.

From February 10 to 14, the Asia Regional Consultation on Ecumenical Learning met in Dumaguete City. In order to take advantage of this learning experience, I brought my students of church history class and attended the consultation. Right after class and just before the final exam, I invited the seven students in my history class to have lunch with me. After lunch, we sang songs and had a time of sharing. They evaluated me not only a professor but also as a brother and friend and showed their close feelings toward me.

On March 17, we had a commissioning service in which we sent graduating students to their local churches and internship students to their places of ministry for the summertime. Each faculty blessed one or two students during the commissioning service and I gave the blessing to one of my students. On March 18, we had baccalaureate service in the morning, and the 88th commencement in the afternoon. Thirteen of my students and other one thousand students graduated this year. This year is Silliman’s centennial year, so commencement is more significant. On Sunday March 25, I will preach at the chapel.

I would like to ask your continual prayer for my missionary work and me. Particularly, pray for my health, good relationships with students and faculties, and the spiritual revival of the Filipino Protestant churches.

I thank you once again and may God bless you.

Sincerely,

John Eunsik Cho

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 188