March 23, 2007
“When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many basketfuls did you pick up?” “Twelve,”
they replied.
—Mark 8:19
Dear Friends around the world,
We want to tell you why this year is a special year in Korea.
Christians here are remembering the 1907 Pyongyang Spiritual Revival
that touched most parts of the peninsula and left its mark of
dedication and serious discipleship on the Korean Church. The
Presbyterian Church of Korea, our main partner denomination, is
having special spiritual rallies for the different regions of
South Korea, and all the staff at PCK headquarters, where Art
works, went to experience the first one four hours away in Pohang.
Many Christian organizations and congregations will have their
own special meetings because there is a longing to experience
again the repentance of sins and unity for mission that came with
the fire of the Spirit’s work one hundred years ago.
Orphans in Sariwon, North Korea, examine a peace quilt made
by school children in California and sent through Lighthouse,
which supplied their clothing.
Some have mentioned that without God’s special work at
this time a last chance for spiritually reuniting North and South
may be lost, as the older generation who remembers relatives over
the border is dying out. Sue Kinsler is recruiting new support
for North Korea with the slogan, “Celebrate the Pyongyang
Revival by doing a five loaves and two fishes miracle of feeding
one million North Korean children.” She calculates that
five dollars a month will provide a child with soymilk and bread
and make a world of difference for these children. Also, Lighthouse
has an open door and a clear path through the many obstacles to
assist the disabled in North Korea.
Sue Kinsler with other gifted persons who will be on staff in
the new sheltered workshop in Pyongyang set to open in May 2007.
Sue left for her 41st and 42nd visits to North Korea in December
and February, spending many hours working out the details in preparation
for the early May 2007 opening of the Botong River Sheltered Workshop.
She met with six physically challenged Pyongyang residents who
will work in the shops at this center for the disabled. Two ladies,
Shin, Ok La, 27, and Lee, Yeon Kum, 32, are polio victims overjoyed
at receiving their new lightweight wheelchairs sent from the Shalom
Ministry to the Disabled in Los Angeles through the Lighthouse
Foundation. They look forward to working in the shop tailoring
women’s clothing.
Kang, Nam Cheol, 41, has a wheelchair that the Lighthouse Foundation
purchased in China, which is like a three-wheel bicycle. He says
that although he can’t use his legs, when he pumps this
kind of wheelchair by hand he travels all around Pyongyang City.
In the new sheltered workshop he will use his expertise of carving
the name seals which Koreans use instead of signatures and hopes
to teach this skill to others. The three men are hearing and speaking
impaired: Kim, Choon Hyo, Pak, Keun Mo, and Shin, Yang Jin. They
will serve as barbers at the new center.
Since Art was born in Pyongyang and visited there last year,
he will team up with Sue to speak for special meetings in June
for the East Gate Christians Association, as we did at Sarang
Community Church in Anaheim, California, last October. We covet
your prayers and concern.
Yours for a Korea united in Christ,
Art and Sue Kinsler
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
249 |
