Faith & Life

To the Southernmost Part of Japan

Japan is a long island country with four main islands and countless islands around them. Kyushu is the most southerly among its four main islands. And about two hours by plane from Kyushu, there is a little island called Okinawa in the very southernmost part of Japan. Right now, one deaconess runs a house church where some brothers and sisters are keeping their faith. It’s been a long time since a house church was built in Okinawa, but unfortunately there were only a few members left because many souls who received the truth failed to overcome various trials and temptations, and the deaconess’ children moved out to a different region. It must have been hard for the deaconess, but she…

Oh Seung-gwon from Osaka, Japan

Make an Exciting Family Slogan!

Before players come onto the field, they say, “Let’s go!” to cheer up each other. In Spanish, people say, “Animo!” When you shout encouraging words, you give yourself strength and confidence to do things, and you can strengthen team spirit, radiating good energy. Family, too, is like a team. Why don’t you create your “family slogan” for good teamwork? Family slogan does not only build family teamwork, but also give strength and courage to each other, conveying the message of hope. Now, clench your fists and shout your family slogan all together! Tip Discuss which words would be nice to be included in the slogan. Make the slogan give an impression of joy and positiveness. Clapping and a gesture can…

A Woman Who Lives as a Man

Sisa Abu Daooh, 65, makes a living by polishing shoes in front of a train station in Luxor, Egypt. Having short hair wrapped in a turban and wearing a baggy robe, Sisa Abu Daooh looks like a man, but is actually a woman. Every woman wants to look womanly and beautiful no matter how old she gets, but she’s been dressing like a man for over forty years since she was twenty-one. She lost her husband when she was six months pregnant, and she had to fight the world alone. She had to do something to raise her daughter, but women were not given any job back then because of severe gender discrimination. That’s why she made up her mind…

A Young Lady Disguised as an Elderly Woman

A woman in her prime age of 26 went out to the street, disguising herself as an 80-year-old lady. She wore a white wig, put on make-up to look wrinkled, stuffed cottons in her ears not to hear well, and wore dirty glasses to make her view dim. She even wore iron leg brace to make herself slow to move. Patricia Moore, an industrial designer, traveled around 116 cities in Canada and the United States in the form of an elderly woman for three years. The reason she was disguised as an old lady was to experience the physical difficulties the elderly go through, and to know what they really need. She is known as a key figure of Universal…

A Dad Who Does His Daughter’s Hair

A special class is given once a week at a beauty academy in Florida, U.S. It is the Daddy Daughter Hair Class, which is a program for dads and daughters. The instructor is not a beauty expert, but a 33-year-old car mechanic. The reason he started a hairstyling class, doing rough work, was because of his nine-year-old daughter. He always felt sorry for his daughter as he was raising her alone. He made a lot of effort to fill the void left by her mother, but he had much difficulty in doing delicate things, and it was too hard to tie her thin and long hair with his big hands. However, he did not give up doing it for his…

With Father and Mother’s Protection

Portugal where I stayed for a year for the mission work is a very peaceful place. The people there, living comfortable lives, were not interested in God’s word. However, there were still God’s children among them. One day, I was preaching near a bus stop when a young mom came up to me. She asked me for directions at first, but then she was curious about what we were doing. We told her that we were preaching about God the Mother, and she showed interest by asking us back, “God the Mother?” We opened the Bible right away and showed her the existence of God the Mother. She said that it was very interesting and wanted to learn more about…

Kim Gyeong-ryun from Bucheon, South Korea

Great Wine

Making wine starts with planting vines. Good wine requires good grapes, and good grapes are produced on good soil. Winemaker’s skill is important in making good wine, but the biggest impact on its quality is grape-producing region. France is famous for its finest wines because of its natural conditions—vineyard location, soil, rainfall, and sunshine. The set of all environmental factors are called terroir which is derived from terre, meaning land. The land that is good for producing wine grape is a slope near the river and a rough and barren soil with many small stones. When the ground is dry, the vine grows stronger with roots deep in the ground, looking for various nutrients from different layers of soil. When…

When We, Who Are Different from Each Other, Are United

A sigh came out when I opened the refrigerator door. There were sesame leaves and a little bit of bean sprouts, which were left over after I cooked spicy chewy noodles; some carrots and baby vegetables, which were left over from when I cooked bibimbap; and some water parsley, crown daisy, and a cabbage. A little bit of all kinds of vegetables that were left over was taking up space on one side of the refrigerator. After wondering how I could utilize those ingredients that would go bad if I left them in the fridge any longer, I decided to make buchimgae [Korean pancake]. It was perfect menu for the weather, for it was drizzling outside. There are many different…

Lee Hye-gyeong from Seoul, South Korea

A Boy Who Became a Shoe Shiner

In April 2011, a Chinese rural boy began to walk toward Guangzhou, one of the largest cities in China. All he had was a shoeshine kit box made of waste wood. He walked along the national highway, and when he was hungry, he ate wild grass and drank water from the rivers. When the day got dark, he lay on grassland or wilderness to sleep. It took a full month to arrive at Guangzhou which was about 340 kilometers away. The boy went to the most crowded place in Guangzhou and started working as a shoeshine boy. Why was the boy so desperate to earn money? It wasn’t to get what he wanted or to become famous. While walking on…

Accompanied by Angels

When I was going to India, a small problem occurred in the process of issuing a visa at the airport in Nepal. The money I had was only Indian rupees, but they said it was impossible to pay unless I had Korean won, American dollars, or Nepalese rupees. Even the currency exchange machine was broken, so I was going here and there without knowing what to do. But with the help of two kind foreigners, the urgent situation was solved. It was definitely Mother who sent the angels to me. The appearance of angels didn’t stop there. I planned to spend one night in Nepal and then go to India. So I wanted to see if anyone from the hotel…

Kim Ji-young from Busan, South Korea

Halmangbadang (Granny’s Sea)

In 2016, the UNESCO officially recognized the culture of women divers [haenyeo] in Jejudo Island, Korea, as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The local community’s solidarity, economic activities co-existing with nature, diving technology passed down from generation to generation, the strength of women jumping into the sea without any mechanical equipment, and its scarcity were acknowledged to be preserved. Among them, the culture that cares for the weak is indispensable. The sea zone of the women divers differs according to their personal skills. It is a tacit rule that high-level haenyeo dive in the deep sea. However, even if they are excellent in diving, when they grow old and weaken in strength, they cannot help but underperform. There is…

How Not to Forget

A man went to the lecture of a celebrity. His lecture was so popular that the man barely managed to buy a ticket and enter the lecture hall. As he had expected, the lecture was very informative, and while listening to the lecture, he was highly encouraged to live a better life from then on. One thing he regretted was that he didn’t bring a notebook and pen. Because he couldn’t take notes, he was worried about forgetting the contents that he wanted to memorize for long such as cutting remarks and touching stories. After the lecture, he came across the celebrity who was about to leave the hall. He greeted the lecturer gladly. After a short conversation, he expressed…

Having Dinner My Son Prepared

One day, when my son in his fourth year of elementary school returned home, he said all of a sudden. “Mom, I want to prepare a meal for you.” “Did you have a cooking class at school?” “No. You’ve set the table for me so many times, but I’ve never made a meal for you. So I want to cook something for you.” My son said he would make fried rice wrapped in a thin omelet. I asked him if he knew how to do it. Then he said he would make it according to the recipe on the Internet. I taught him how to use the gas stove and make the dish, and then left for the hospital. He…

Park Gyeong-suk from Paju, South Korea

Getting Rid of Thorns from My Heart

There was a cleanup at the Seneca Creek State Park in Maryland. The park manager asked us to get rid of weeds and invasive plants. It was easy to pull the weeds that had dried up during the winter. When we were almost done with our project, we found fresh green rosebushes in the corner. The green bushes looked pretty, so we were going to leave them there. However, just to be sure, we asked the park manager and he said they were invasive plants and we had to get rid of them. As we were confused and didn’t understand why roses were harmful plants, he explained that the thorns of the rosebush might choke animals. Right after that, we…

The Baltimore Church in MD, U.S.

The Motto of the Rich Choi Family

In the era of Joseon Dynasty of Korea, the Choi family of Gyeongju lived in a mansion that encompassed 99 rooms, 100 servants, and a ware-house that could store up 800 sacks of rice (144 ㎏ each). There’s a saying, “Wealthy families lose their fortunes in three generations,” as the second or third generations often squander their parents’ hard-earned wealth. However, the Choi family maintained a good reputation as a millionaire in the course of 300 years and 12 generations. What was the secret? The Choi family had a deeply-rooted family motto made up of six rules: “You can be an officer, but do not apply for a position higher than Jin-sa1. Give back to society if you have more…

The Power of a Small Practice

If you set rectangular blocks in a long line at regular interval and push down the first block, the rest fall down one after another. This is called “domino show.” Dr. Lorne Whitehead of the University of British Columbia has experimented with dominoes’ hidden power. He made 13 blocks by increasing in size by 1.5 times, and measured the force that was generated when the blocks fell one by one. As a result, the force generated when the first block fell over the second block was about 0.024 μJ (microjoule), but the force increased exponentially, and it was 51 joule when the twelfth block fell over the last thirteenth block. That is even over two billion times more than the…

Expectancy Violation Effect

If a kind and gentle person suddenly treats you coldly, you feel sad, but if a cold person suddenly treats you gently, you appreciate it. That is because of the expectation you have toward the other person. Everyone has some expectation about others’ actions. If they violate this positively, your favorable impression grows. But if they break it negatively, your favorable impression drops. In psychology, this phenomenon is called Expectancy Violation Effect. A different expression of expectancy can be called a “frame of thought.” The problem is that if you create a frame of thought, it is easy to give negative evaluation on the other party. The bigger expectancy becomes, the bigger disappointment gets, but if you lower your expectations…

The Reason It Is Always Green

There is a tree that stands firm in a snowstorm, showing off its greenness. It is labeled as an evergreen, and is the symbol of integrity and firm spirit from old times, as it keeps the green color alone when everything changes. This is the pine. It’s easy to think that the pine tree leaves never fall and stay on the branch all the year round because they seem always green. In autumn, however, pine tree leaves turn yellow and pile up under the trees. Then, how can the pine tree always stay green despite the fallen leaves? Pine trees have new leaves every spring, and the leaves usually last for two years. That means the trees drop their old…

The Way to Love Your Country

Ahn Chang-ho (1878–1938), a Korean independence activist and educator, went to the U.S. with his wife right after getting married. It was from his belief that the way to develop national power was to learn new culture, broaden horizons, and cultivate talented people. He picked oranges with his countrymen by day and studied English by night in Riverside, California. One day, he felt an urgent need of improving the impression of Koreans when he saw Koreans being discriminated and despised. So he always dressed himself neatly and asked his compatriots to work diligently and sincerely. He also emphasized the importance of honesty. When he heard that Americans were reluctant to lease their houses to Koreans because they kept the house…

The Reason Why One Person’s Concern and Love Is Important

Due to the low birth rate and aging population, the number of blood donors is decreasing, whereas the number of patients who need blood transfusions is increasing. Hoping to help those in urgent need of blood, I decided to participate in donating blood, thinking that a patient is someone’s father or mother, or perhaps can be my brother or sister. Before the start of the event, I visited the hospital to check my eligibility for blood donation. Unfortunately, I found out that I was ineligible to donate blood. However, as I really wanted to be of some help, I decided to volunteer as a staff member. On the day of the event, the blood bank was crowded with people from…

Kim Seon-suk from Chungju, South Korea