OMS Korea

In the year 2000, “Sunny” entered South Korea for the first time, after spending about three years in hiding in China. She had left North Korea in 1997 in search of food and hope for survival. North Korea was going through a terrible famine, and hundreds of thousands fled to neighboring China, where they had to hide out to avoid being captured and sent back to North Korea to prison and/or death.

In China, God led Sunny to Christians who helped her to find shelter, food, and protection. There she heard the gospel for the first time. Later, Sunny was captured and sent back to North Korea where she was imprisoned and beaten. She called on the Lord, whom she had heard helped Daniel in the lions’ den, and she experienced God’s protection.

Sunny was released and escaped to China again, but those who had helped her before were afraid she was a spy and turned their backs on her. Finally, one of the Christians there found a journal that Sunny had left behind, and in reading it realized that she was sincere in her growing faith. They decided to help her again, and she lived in hiding for three years until she was able to reach South Korea.

I met her after she arrived in South Korea. Through Sunny, I learned more about the terrible realities in North Korea, as well as the cultural differences and barriers that make it difficult for North Koreans to accept the gospel. I developed a greater concern for North Korea, and for North Korean defectors in South Korea in particular. I became involved in a Korean prayer movement called PN4N (the Prayer Network for North Korea and the Nations), for which I translate prayer requests into English so that people around the world can pray more specific, focused, and continuous prayers for North Korea.

Sunny is continuing to be transformed, as God helps her to overcome some of the hurts she has experienced from Christians and misunderstandings about the gospel. Sunny has an especially tender heart to help those in need. She works as a nurse and saves her money to help those around her, and hopefully be able to help her family in North Korea as well.

Please pray for North Koreans to have the opportunity to hear the gospel and be transformed, and pray for me to be faithful to God’s call to pray and prepare for ways to reach out to the North Korean people.

Lisa, me, Jan & Tom Sparrow

I’ve spent the last two months in the United States, where I’ve been able to see many of you and share some about my ministry in Korea. One highlight was traveling to Indiana, Kentucky, and Colorado with Lisa Hwang, who works in the OMS Korea office. We visited the OMS headquarters, spoke with college students interested in missions, and met missionary colleagues and supporters.

Now I’m preparing to begin the spring semester at Seoul Theological University on March 2, where I’ll be teaching students in the English department. I’ll also be teaching English to Korean missionary candidates preparing for the mission field. Pray that I’ll have wisdom as Korea field leader as we work in partnership to train leaders to plant and grow churches in Korea and overseas, and reach out to foreign workers in Korea.

Thank you for your prayers and support, which keep me working for God’s Kingdom in Korea and around the world. God bless you!

Greetings from chilly Korea! I spent November 11 to January 15 in the United States on a short homeland assignment, and I’m glad that I was able to see many of you during that time. First, I went to the OMS headquarters in Greenwood, Indiana, for the annual partnership meetings between leaders of the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church (KEHC) and OMS. We discussed our partnership in spreading the gospel in Korea and around the world. I also had the opportunity to have some debriefing meetings as I finished a term of service and began a new term.

I spent most of the rest of my time in Texas, where I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my family for the first time in a long time. For Christmas, my parents and I went to see my sister and her family in Tucson. I was also able to visit friends and supporters in various parts of Texas. One highlight was the visit of Samuel Lee and the Park family to Waco. Samuel Lee is a graduate of the Mission English department at Seoul Theological University, whom I’ve known since he entered as a student in 1998. After graduation, he worked as a bookkeeper in the OMS office in Korea from 2002 to 2007, and then served with the OMS Extreme Walk program as a short-term missionary in Central Asia for ten months. Now he is studying at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, MS. The Park family, also studying at Wesley, served as missionaries in Kenya with the KEHC, and Rev. Park is also a graduate of Seoul Theological University. Above is a picture of them with my parents and me in front of our home in Waco.

I headed back to Korea on January 15, and was glad to be back to see the people at my church, at Seoul Theological University, and at the KEHC headquarters. After just a week back in Korea, I was able to participate in an OMS missionary retreat with about 35 colleagues in the East Asian area. It was great to have fellowship with coworkers that I don’t usually get to see, and to be challenged and encouraged through the messages of Randy Spacht, OMS Executive Director of International Ministries.

Now I’m preparing for the spring semester to begin at Seoul Theological University. After graduation on February 16, new student orientation February 18-20, and faculty retreat on February 24, we start off the 2009 school year with the spring revival meetings February 25-27. Classes begin on March 2. Pray for me as I teach students in the Mission English department in classes on English communication, English education theories, and English Sunday School teaching. I am also looking forward to teaching English to the Korean missionary candidates in the Missionary Training Center on Thursday afternoons. Pray for these missionary candidates as they begin their seven months of intensive training in March, to prepare to be effective witnesses for Christ in various cultures around the world.

We are also preparing for our annual intensive English program for ministry and missions, “Adventures in English” (AIE). AIE 2009 will be held July 12 to August 3. The first week is orientation, followed by two weeks of teaching as a “guide” in the AIE program. If you would like to volunteer to help this year, please let me know. It is a great chance not only to have an influence on young Korean Christians and future missionaries, but also to get a new perspective on the world as you share your life with these precious brothers and sisters.

Thank you again for your prayers and support that keep me here working for God’s Kingdom in Korea and around the world. God bless you!

In Christ,

Susan

Greetings from Seoul, Korea! It has been a hot, humid summer in Korea, as usual. I want to thank you for your prayers and support for my ministry here with OMS. Let me catch you up with some of what’s been going on.
Bill Oden, the OMS Asia-Pacific regional director, visited Korea May 6-9. He preached in the graduate school chapel on May 6, where he shared about his missions experiences in the Philippines. At that chapel, we passed out the newly translated Korean version of Missionary Warrior, the biography of Charles Cowman, one of the founders of OMS. Many Koreans have already been touched and challenged by this book.
On May 9, the Missionary Training Center of the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church (KEHC) celebrated its 20th anniversary. We rejoiced in the fact that over the last 20 years, over 300 missionaries have been trained and sent out to spread the gospel all over the world. Then May 27-30, Dr. Mary Conklin of Point Loma Nazarene University came for her annual visit to lecture on “cross-cultural adjustments” at the Missionary Training Center. We are thankful for her service there every year. Above you can see her being blessed by some of the missionaries in training.
In June, Dean Davis, Folmer Strunk, Dave Graffenberger, and Levi Graffenberger came to Korea for meetings regarding the Every Community for Christ evangelistic ministry in Korea and around the world. We also had final exams at Seoul Theological University. And the annual conference of the KEHC was held, where the new church leaders were elected and decisions were made.
In July, we held our annual intensive English program for ministry and missions, “Adventures in English” (AIE), July 21 to August 1, on the campus of Seoul Theological University. We had 14 “guides” from the U.S.A., Canada, N. Ireland, and Australia, and about 40 teens and 40 adults who participated. Many grew in their faith and were challenged and trained for future ministry. In the picture above, I’m interviewing one of the missionaries in training during an evening program.
Thank you again for your prayers and support that keep me here in Korea teaching English for God’s Kingdom. God bless you!

In Christ,

Susan Truitt