July 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

Our journey continues. The Presbyterian Women had their tri-annual gathering earlier this month in Louisville. Simon was again asked to provide translation for Korean speaking participants — Korean Americans, guests from Korea and one Korean Japanese participant. This assignment coming so soon after the General Assembly, it was quite a challenge. Simon feels God is giving him repeated opportunities until he does a good job of translating, almost like Hindu reincarnation. If that is the standard, Simon will never get out of translation circuit.

Although both meetings were church-wide meetings and centered on discerning God’s will, the meetings were so different and so were the translating experiences. During the General Assembly, it was critical that the translation was precise and the logical arguments understood. As such, it was important to explain Robert’s rules and regurgitate the key points before the votes. On the other hand the presentations at the PW gathering were mostly poetic, metaphoric and emotion evoking, which presented unique challenges. It was gratifying to find those who participated through translations were discussing the speakers’ true intentions just as those who heard in English.

Both of these meetings were God-centered and both were celebrating God’s ministries among us, yet the “feel” was so different. Simon believes in the General Assembly, God of truth, justice, knowledge and power worked amongst our deliberations, while in the other gathering loving, forgiving and embracing God revealed himself and encouraged us to do the same. It was another occasion to humbly acknowledge God is certainly bigger than our imaginations.

Simon wishes this powerful God would do something about the cancelled and delayed flights. During the last three trips, at least one leg had significant disruptions. In late May, returning from Cameroon the flight from Paris to Chicago was delayed by four hours which necessitated rescheduling the Chicago-Indianapolis sector. Once Simon arrived in Chicago, the final flight was delayed by fifteen minutes at a time for four and one-half hours and was finally cancelled at 10:30 p.m. Simon exercised his leadership skills and organized six other stranded travelers for a vanpool to Indianapolis, arriving home at 5:00 a.m. the following morning. In an effort to keep the driver awake we were telling stories and Simon had a lot to share about our partner churches in Africa. Then coming home after the General Assembly meetings in Birmingham, the flight to Chicago was cancelled and we had to spend an extra night. Once again Simon had an opportunity to make mission interpretation to stranded Presbyterians with nothing to do at the Holiday Inn. On July 13 Simon got up at 3:00 a.m. to make a day trip for a meeting in Durham, North Carolina. Checking in at the Greensboro airport for return flight, Simon learned the flight to Washington Dulles was to be delayed and would cause him to miss the connection to Indianapolis. Fortunately another airline had a flight going through Charlotte. Simon arrived in Charlotte on time just to learn that the flight from New York that continued onto Indianapolis was delayed. The best estimate is for the plane to arrive at 11:15 p.m., giving an arrival time in Indianapolis at 1:30 a.m. The earliest Simon could hope to arrive home was 3:30 a.m. Mission is exciting, but this schedule is not sustainable! As you may have figured, this long paragraph is written while waiting for the plane in Charlotte. Simon made it home at 2:30 a.m.

Now back to the big God. We are beginning to see that we box in God to fit our own imagination and our personal needs. We heard impassioned pleas for loving and accepting God during the business meetings of General Assembly, and the grumblings about the just and righteous God being forgotten during the Gathering. It is clear to us that God is all of these and more. As missionaries we need to help others to experience these undefined, complex and sometimes conflicting personalities of God. Some of us are so certain of the God we personally experience, we are not as open to God’s creative ministries tailored to specific needs of others. We are often reminded that God made us a couple and a team to share different aspects to God to each other and to others. We pray God uses us to help others stretch their imagination and experience God’s heretofore-unknown personality. In this role, our lives are necessarily chaotic and unpredictable, very un-Presbyterian. We find this service also stretches our relationship with God. As we begin to contemplate our overseas base again, we are determined not to shy away from the challenges of new culture, relationships and assignments.

At the end of July we will be spending a week at the New Wilmington Missionary Conference in Pennsylvania. Imagine 101 continuous years of gathering to hear and experience Presbyterian mission. Our primary responsibility is to share the stories of God’s ministry with small groups of high school students. We will also have opportunities to share with young adults about their careers and mission involvement as well.

Our journey continues. We do not know where, when and what of our next call, but are not anxious, just curious. In the mean time we walk in the woods every morning and enjoy God’s nature.

Haejung and Simon

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 261