Letters from Overseas

June 2008

Chances are we will not have much time or energy in the next month to write you all a report of our last month in Korea before returning to Canada. So we will do our best to sum up our second-last month here and give you a glimpse of the months to come. Hopefully we will get another report to you all before the end of the summer to let you know that we arrived safely and give you some idea of what work we are undertaking on the Canadian side.

The month of May has been a time of preparing to leave: deciding dates and flights, setting appointments for good-bye gatherings and, of course, packing. In the midst of this we have continued with our respective routines and projects. There has also been some time for reflection on the three years gone by since we arrived and for discerning the next steps back in Canada.

Among our great accomplishments this month was Hannah’s first ballet. She performed with grace. She learned to tell stories with movement, something that has a long history in Korea.

Noah has been helping his dad in the garden. We are trying to leave a few flowers on our patch of ground for the neighbours to enjoy when we are gone. Noah survived his first ever parent-teacher day. The results are classified.

David preached at the chapel of Ewha Women’s University, the biggest women’s university in the world! Two thousand students listened to him as he told them of a visit our English ministry congregation made to a mosque in Seoul. The Bible passage was from Genesis 12:1–3, the promise of God to Abram that whoever blessed him would be blessed and whoever cursed him would be cursed. Since Muslims and Christians are sisters and brothers in the faith, should they not then bless one another?

After the sermon David was thrilled when a woman with a head covering emerged from the crowd to speak to him. She was a Muslim from Malaysia. It was the first time she had heard such a sermon in Korea. She was very grateful. After her in line was a young woman from a conservative church. She had never heard a message like that either. She sincerely wanted to know more. Was there anything in the New Testament that would back up my call for Christians to bless Muslims? It was a good exchange.

HyeRan took a Sunday off from our huge, downtown HanShin church to preach at a tiny, family-sized MinJung church (a MinJung church is a small church geared to serving the underprivileged in its neighbourhood.) She spoke about the blessing of human sexuality. This has been one of the themes of HyeRan’s ministry here. Her words were well received and there was good discussion at the study she led after lunch.

Already Noah and Hannah’s extracurricular programs are wrapping up, David’s chapel responsibilities are finished, and HyeRan’s course at the Christian Institute for lay leaders has come to a conclusion. Hannah and Noah are looking forward to completing their last month in school, interrupted on occasion for a day off to take a special visit to family or friends. David and HyeRan have university classes to finish and marking to do. The rest is packing and good-byes. Both are hard work—but the good-byes are definitely harder.

But we are all looking forward to our return to Canada. Let us give you just a brief outline of our plans for the months of home assignment. July will be rest and recuperation with a medical exam and a debriefing session or two thrown in for good measure. August will see us beginning our mission interpretation work starting with the general assembly of the World Christian Student Federation in Montreal. If possible, we would like to visit some churches and camps and start to share our story directly with people. It is possible that we will continue as mission interpreters until December.

We plan to take part in the “Behold! One Another” conference on intercultural church in November and otherwise to be involved with schools and churches as much as possible to let people know about the great things God is doing in Korea. It is our sincere hope that we will see each of you before too long.

Peace like a river,
The Kim-Craggs

HyeRan and David Kim-Cragg (London Conference) are United Church of Canada overseas personnel serving with our partner The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK), along with their children Noah and Hannah. The work of overseas personnel and resources such as this letter are made possible through your gifts to the Mission and Service Fund of The United Church of Canada.