My woe-halmoni’s
(maternal grandmother) name was Chung, Jaesook. The first child
born to a Confucian scholar father who valued propriety over
anything else, she was not allowed to leave the house compound
after age seven and was denied the privilege of education because
she was a girl. She, however, was raised by her grandmother,
who was the first convert to sae-doh (new way) in her family,
and my woe-halmoni became her own grandmother’s most beloved
disciple in faith.
After the Korean War, my woe-halmoni had nothing except five
children and a paralyzed husband. She had to do whatever she
could to make a living. Time and again she won the best evangelist
award in her church. She said to me, “I never told them
that they had to become Christian.” The people who followed
her to the church were her neighbors, whom she served.
All of her neighbors were also poor. She collected secondhand
clothes from her congregation and gave them to families in need.
She served as a midwife in her neighborhood. For more than twenty
years she took care of all funeral-related services for her
church, including washing and clothing the body and making mourning
clothes. She was a poet. Those of us who heard her prayers felt
our pain washed away and our spirits lifted, and we saw glimpses
of the beauty of God’s goodness. I am a follower of Jesus
because of her powerful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God for this gifted woman!
—Rev. Unzu Lee, program associate, Presbyterian Women’s
Program, General Assembly Council |
