Faith & Life

The Virtuous Cycle of Love

The brothers and sisters gathered in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, for a street cleanup. Although it was a rainy season, it was sunny that day as if even the sky was cheering for us. Thanks to the weather, the brothers and sisters in blue t-shirts and yellow vests looked even brighter. The area we were cleaning that day was around a big hospital. All kinds of trash were mingled with dust, so we had to clean them up one by one with our hands. Everyone was working diligently although they were sweating buckets. The trash that we gathered while cleaning for a short period of time in the morning was over one ton. A hospital official who was watching…

Jeong Min-ji from Busan, South Korea

Even Small Defects

During harvest season every year, our Zion members give a helping hand to short-handed farmers. This time, we visited an orchard in Eoreumgol Valley, Miryang, Korea, in order to help with sorting apples. Eoreumgol Valley located on halfway up the Cheonhwangsan Mountain mysteriously forms ice between mid June and August during midsummer heat, and the ice melts in winter. So it has been designated as Korea’s Natural Memorial No. 224. Apples, produced in the magnificent natural environment and the fertile land of Eoreumgol Valley, are a specialty of the village. The farmers here are short-handed, like in other farming and fishing villages. The owner of the orchard we visited was unable to do his work because he had hurt his…

Lee Yeong-jin from Busan, South Korea

Between Determination and Action

“I will not eat at night anymore, starting tomorrow.” “I will read at least for an hour every day from next week.” “I will start working out from next month.” Sometimes we make a resolution to do something, but we don’t put it into action immediately. The thought that you don’t feel like doing it right at this moment, but that it will be easy to start it later, fans the delayed action. However, if you put it off, you are most likely to put it off again when the time you decided to do it actually comes. Then, even the resolution you made at first becomes vague. No matter how determined you are, just making a resolution won’t change…

A Great Meal

Physicist Einstein was very poor when he was young. Because he couldn’t afford to only study, he worked in the daytime and taught students after work; he often only had a piece of bread and water for a meal. One day, some of his friends visited him while he was having a meal. His friends were startled to see his poor meal. “I didn’t know your poverty was this bad.” “Me, neither. I can’t believe that all you are having is a piece of bread and water . . .” Then, Einstein replied, looking all relaxed. “Isn’t this a pretty great meal? I’m having flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, eggs, and water. What more do I need? On top of…

How to Survive in the Jungle

In one jungle in Zimbabwe, a baby elephant fell backwards as it fell into a puddle. The mother elephant tried its hardest to help its baby elephant up, but it couldn’t. The baby elephant kept losing its strength, and lions started roaming around them, waiting for the mother elephant to become tired. Right then, some other elephants that saw what was going on started gathering around them. Some of them worked together to help the baby elephant up, and the rest of them blocked the way to keep the lions away. Since even baby elephants weigh a lot and elephants use their trunks like their hands instead of using their front legs, it wasn’t easy even for several adult elephants…

Say “Thanks to You” instead of “Because of You”

Both “because of you” and “thanks to you” tell the cause-and-effect relationship. However, their meanings are diametrically opposite. “Because of you” has a negative connotation like blaming someone, but “thanks to you” has a positive connotation like having a thankful mind and respecting others. Frequent use of “because of you” causes resentment and dissatisfaction, but a habit of saying “thanks to you” stops blaming others and gives positive perspective. Even when you go through trials and pain, try to think, “Thanks to someone,” then you’ll certainly find something to thank for. Try to speak “thanks to you” instead of “because of you.” Thanks to “thanks to you,” you will be happy. Tip If someone in your family makes a mistake,…

Do Not Give up to the End

At the end of 2018, we received an abundant blessing of the Holy Spirit through the New Jerusalem Preaching Festival, and went on a short-term mission to Kobe in Japan in the beginning of New Year. On the first day of our short-term mission, we met people who willingly listened to us and made an appointment to meet us the next time. It seemed like it was going smoother than we’d thought, but soon after, it became difficult to do our mission. The response to our preaching at best was “It was interesting to know what I didn’t know in the Bible.” Hardly anyone related the word of God to his own life. Over a week or two, we gradually…

Short-Term Mission Team to Kobe, Japan

One Step Before Success

A successful businessman had a time to talk about how he was able to lead his business to success. One journalist there asked the businessman for an interview and asked him to give him each answer in one sentence. “What was the secret to your success?” “It was that I made an excellent choice.” “How were you able to make an excellent choice?” “It was thanks to good experiences.” “What were those good experiences?” “They were the moments I made the wrong choice.” We cannot make only excellent choices while living on the earth. We could fail because of the wrong choice. The problem is how we handle it. When we fail, how about thinking that you’ve just built up…

A Father and His Son

This happened during the 400 m semi-final at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. At the sound of a starting pistol, breaking the silence, eight sprinters started running as fast as they could. Some 65,000 spectators had their eyes fixed on the sprinters as the game was going to be decided in a matter of seconds. But then suddenly, a British sprinter named Derek Redmond dropped down, putting his hand on his leg, at around 150 m mark. He got back up, but the other sprinters were already reaching the finish line. He was in great pain, but he continued the race, limping, after telling the medical team his will to continue it. Then a man from the crowd…

Brotherly Unity in Zion

In the region of Bakaiya in Hetauda, Nepal, there are two towns—one for Tamang people and the other for Majhi people. Until the two towns were formed, the two ethnic groups had been in conflict with each other since centuries ago. To infuriate the gods that Tamang people believe in, Majhi people threw slices of pig fat at Tamang people’s temple, and Tamang people threw slices of cow fat at the counterpart temple. At one time, the people of the whole community had to relocate themselves due to extreme violence caused by the conflict. What would it be like if you meet an implacable enemy in Zion? In Zion, it doesn’t matter at all which ethnic group you belong to.…

Kiran Gautam from Hetauda, Nepal

In the Lowest Part of the Body

“The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.” This is a quote from Leonardo da Vinci, who had a profound knowledge of anatomy. Why did he praise the foot as a masterpiece? The foot is located the farthest from the heart, so it sends back the blood pumped from the heart, which is why it is called the “second heart.” Since the feet have to support the whole body although their surface doesn’t even reach 10% of the body, they have a very detailed and strong structure. The body of an adult has 206 bones. Among them, the feet have 52 bones–26 bones in each foot, occupying approximately one fourth of all the bones. Not…

A Man Looking Around a Museum in a Squatting Position

A man visited a museum. He looked very gentle, but his behavior was a little weird. He was looking around in a squatting position. He would stand up every once in a while to take a break, but then he resumed the squatting position again repeatedly. The museum staff who saw him doing that thought that he was a weird person. A few days later, a group of elementary school students came to the museum on a field trip. Seeing the teacher of the students, the museum staff thought that he looked familiar. After trying some time to remember him, he realized that it was the man who looked around the museum in a squatting position. It turned out that…

Different Personalities? No Problem!

“Whose personality did she get?” “I can’t understand my co-worker,” “He must be from a different dimensional world,” “We’ve decided to split because of our too different personalities,” . . . The most common and prominent cause that damages the relationship between people is the difference in personality. Some students have a hard time with their relationship with other students at school; some people consider quitting their jobs not because of their work but because of the people they work with; and some people suffer from family discord. Many of these people blame their or other people’s personalities. We experience joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure in our relationships with others, and we even measure the level of satisfaction in the…

Where We Are Headed Is the Starting Point

I went on a long-term mission to a region I had been to on a short-term mission previously. I was busy, taking care of the members I had led to Zion before, and as a result, I didn’t have time to recollect my old memories. I was embarrassed of myself because my gospel goals were only about increasing the number of fruits. With a resolution to please Heavenly Father and Mother by finding gospel workers who would undertake the gospel mission, I walked over an hour every day to get to new places for preaching. Since our brothers and sisters had diligently preached there, many people had already heard about the Sabbath and the Passover. However, they did not want…

Choi Su-hyeon from Seoul, South Korea

Watering Holes That Never Dry

Kenya, the animal kingdom, is suffering from severe drought due to global warming. The animals in Tsavo West National Park, such as elephants, buffalos, antelopes and zebras, were in danger of dying for being unable to drink water. But then one day, the big watering holes at the national park began to be filled with water. Tens of animals came and quenched their thirst, but then the bone-dry watering holes were refilled again and again. It was thanks to the “water man.” The “water man” is a nickname for Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua, who is a farmer. For the wild animals suffering from thirst, he drives for two hours with some 3,000 gallons of water (over 10,000 liters of water) in…

Happy Cooking Time

On a national holiday during the year when I became a middle school student, I made up my mind to help my mom a little as she was busy cooking. First of all, I followed her to a grocery store to prepare holiday dishes, pushing a shopping cart. When the cooking day came, I got up a little earlier than usual to help her. The main dish of the day was Sanjeok (traditional skewered food). I sliced ham, an ingredient for the dish. Although I said confidently, “Ham-slicing is my specialty,” it didn’t get sliced as I wanted. Every piece was different in size and shape. My mom said, “What’s this?” but also said with a smile that I did…

Mun Gahng-san from Yongin, South Korea

Restored Confidence

In August, 2008, listeria, one of food poisoning bugs, was found in a food product of a food company in Canada. This resulted in over 20 deaths and tens of people were taken to the hospital. At this critical moment which would decide the fate of the company, the CEO of the company announced an apology, admitting full responsibility of the company despite the lawyer and accountant’s advice against it. Not only did he recall all their products, but he also closed down the plants. He also had his apology played on TV during the prime time. He also kept the information about the outbreak posted on the company’s website, and filed a petition to the government to raise the…

The Right Function of Weak Points

It’s been a long time since machines replaced humans for many types of work. Now, it seems that humanoid robots will work with humans as their co-workers soon. One research team of the University of Salzburg did a research from various directions on how robots can interact with humans better. They programmed one of the robots to make mistakes such as not understanding what a co-worker says and asking him or her to repeat what was just said or dropping what it was holding. Then the people who worked with the robots for the research gave a more positive evaluation on the robot that made mistakes than flawless robots, and they even regarded it as more reliable. The impression a…

Grapes That Have Lost Their Value

In the early spring of 1989, a woman was looking at grapes at the food hall in a department store. One employee, who had been watching her, came up to her and asked her if she needed some help. Then the woman said hesitantly: “I’m so sorry, but . . . can I buy only a part of a cluster of grapes, please?” It turned out that her daughter, who was suffering from blood cancer, wanted to have some grapes. She tried everywhere to find grapes to grant her daughter’s wish although it wasn’t the season for grapes, and she was finally able to find them at the department store. However, the money she had wasn’t enough to buy a…

Like My Family’s Business

The rainy season was particularly long two years ago. After the rainy season was over, I thought the flood victims would ease themselves by looking at the clear sky above, but they didn’t seem to at all. In the cities near Suncheon, Korea, where I live, the embankment of the Seomjingang River collapsed and flooded not only the low-lying agricultural areas but also the apartments; the damage was so huge. Hoping that the flood victims would be relieved of worry even a little bit, our Zion members headed to Gokseong, along with the members from nearby Zions. The situation that I saw while driving was worse than what was on the news. The collapsed embankment, uprooted trees, and roads with…

Gu Yeon-hui from Suncheon, South Korea