January 8, 2003

Dear Friends and Family,

Already a full week has past since we welcomed in the year 2003. Here in Nepal, we use the Hindu calendar, and New Year's Day was an ordinary working day, as was the Christmas. We did have a full Christmas: a carol service on Christmas Eve, a Christmas dinner at our home with close missionary families. Instead of having John and Kevin with us, we had surrogate children, young volunteers from Korea, and we played surrogate parents to them. We even enjoyed being surrogate grandparents by giving a two-year-old, battery-operated guitar. By the end of the evening we were so glad that he was taking it home and we no longer had to endure his "music." Ah, the joy of spoiling a child without paying the price.

As many of you had written to us, we were saddened and in prayer over the killings of Christians and missionaries in Pakistan and Yemen. Here in Nepal, we are not targeted specifically because we are Christians or missionaries. Generally, the Maoist rebels leave foreigners alone because either they see us as helpers or they figure any harm to foreigners would be counterproductive. We pray daily for the wisdom and courage to live and work as Jesus commanded us. We completed the formal orientation program at the end of December and began to poke around in search of the right opening for entry into our assigned work areas. Simon's work is to provide consultation in resource management areas, starting with Patan hospital in Kathmandu. Although Simon left full-time teaching many years ago, his call and gift seem to be in educating those who have never had an opportunity to learn management techniques, yet are called to manage resources.

A friend sent us a message noting a National Public Radio program on missionaries http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=898768 . Our view of mission these days is one of living out our Christian faith, not necessarily inducing conversion and measuring our "success" based on the number of souls converted. In Nepal, one finds the entire spectrum of missiology—from pure relief or development work where one's Christian faith is kept entirely personal, to directing every effort to conversion including coercion and bribery.

We not only have to learn tolerance and mutual respect between religions and cultures, but between different views of Christian service. At times, this difference within the family is more painful than the difference we find with the Hindu colleagues.

Simon's primary contact at the hospital is the Hindu administrator. Should Simon provide less assistance because he is not a Christian? We pray that the assistance Simon provides be so genuine and useful the administrator would ask about the source of energy and motivation when he himself cannot give any reward. We hope to be ready with an answer (1 Peter 3:15-16). For those missionaries who deliver care and service directly to the people, the context in which they share the love of Christ can be secondary to the service itself. However, for those of us whose mission is to support others on the front line to care and serve more effectively, we rely on the expressed and demonstrated core values of the organization through which we serve.

We are grateful for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Mission to
Nepal for giving us the structure within which to serve. Thank you for Christmas cards and messages during the holiday season. Your notes made us feel close to you and again reminded us that we are in God's family. Many of you wondered how we are coping with the cold, snow and all. In the Kathmandu valley it does not get below freezing. During December and January, the daily lows are between 0-5C (32-41F) and during the day it gets to 15C (60F). While the absolute temperature is not very cold, the inside of the house does not have a chance to warm up, as the houses here do not have any central heating system. After a while, the cold inhibits activities and penetrates to the core of the body. We do have propane heaters and blankets, and manage to stay comfortable. During our language study we spent a winter in northern Quebec in Canada where it reached 40 degrees below zero before the wind chill factor. (In case you are wondering -40 is -40 in Celsius or in Fahrenheit.) The body made sure to let us know that it is extremely cold and we should take protective measures. Here, the chill is gradual and we are lulled into thinking the body adjusts to the change, until we are shivering and become inactive, perhaps "boiling frogs" in reverse.

We wonder whether our faith can suffer a similar chilling effect. When we are faced with direct challenges and difficulties, we spend time with God and put up the guard. But when we continue on the ordinary journey, our spiritual health gradually comes to a dormant state and no longer energizes our daily lives. Many of you noted that living as missionaries, our sacrifices in material wealth are well compensated by rich spiritual overflow. Well, we find the exact opposite. When we lived in Denver, we were "rich" but "poorer" than most around us in the neighborhood and in the church to which we belonged. As missionaries, we have more material resources than most we live with. Also, working as missionaries, we think that we are close to God and feel less urgency to cry out to the Lord for our own spiritual needs, although we spend time to pray for the people around us. As we "do" God's work our personal relationship can enter the dormant state. We ask for your prayers for our spiritual challenge and health. When we think about leaving the field often, at least daily, it is a healthy sign that we are struggling and seeking the truth from above. Did not mean to preach, but to confess.

When we were leaving the States, several friends asked how they could help financially. We had a plan to purchase a vehicle and some of you contributed generously to the vehicle maintenance and operating fund. After spending several months here, we have come to a decision that owning a personal vehicle is not a necessity for our mission, in fact it can create a gap between the folks here and us. We will be asking the donors for their permission to re-channel the funds towards teaching and presentation equipment for Simon's teaching ministry. Does anyone have an access to or know of a good (economical and reliable) source for an LCD projector? Just today we received a care package from a couple in Illinois, whom we probably have never met (our apologies if we have). We felt the care and love in the selection of food items, and in the careful packaging. In addition to the hefty postage, it must have cost quite a bit. We accept the gift and love with gratitude as your kind act reminded us that we are representing all of Jesus' disciples in the land and many are praying for us. It was a jolt for us to reexamine our spiritual life and kneel before God.

Thank you friends, thank you God.

Haejung & Simon

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 166