Faith & Life

The Most Beautiful Fingers in the World

When I was an elementary student, I was led by my aunt to a big hospital. When I went there without knowing the reason, I saw someone I was familiar with in a patient gown. It was my mom. She was happy to see me but soon, she screamed. “Ouch! It hurts.” When the doctor poured antiseptic on her hand wrapped in bandages, she said it hurt but she smiled at me as soon as she saw me. Since she smiled, I didn’t take it seriously though I saw her fingertips stained with blood. Mom left the hospital in one month. I received a call to meet her before going home, and waited for her with excitement. She came a…

Ahn Ji-yeong from Kaohsiung, Taiwan

The Power of Diversity

During World War II, Germany controlled the seas with powerful submarines. The Allied Forces were helplessly defeated by the German troops that attacked suddenly, communicating each other by secret codes. Knowing this, the British government secretly summoned thousands of experts to an old house near London. The people came from a wide variety of backgrounds, majors, and occupations, including scientists, chess champions, linguists, writers, crossword experts, and soldiers. They were given a special mission to crack the German codes. The German code generator not only produced 150 trillion number of cases with twenty-six alphabets, but was also set to refresh the code every 24 hours, making it almost impossible to be broken through. However, after years of research, day and…

In Accordance with God’s Word

Heavenly Mother blessed us, “The gospel in Europe, too, will go well.” We had to be patient for a long time as the barrier of the gospel work in Europe was high. However, Mother’s words of blessing greatly cheered us up. We became convinced even more that everything will be done surely in accordance with God’s word after experiencing the amazing work of the Holy Spirit during the preaching festival that was conducted in unity with churches in Central Europe during the Feast of Pentecost. Before and after the Pentecost, things we had never experienced took place in the Düsseldorf Zion. We have led many souls to Zion. The new members asked quality questions with great interest in God’s word.…

The Church of God in Düsseldorf, Germany

Beautiful Showy Flowers

The flowers that are pollinated with the help of bees and butterflies usually have delicate scents and beautiful petals to attract insects that carry pollen. Hydrangeas need the help of insects, but they don’t stand out like other flowers, as their delicate flowers, instead of large and colorful ones, are packed tightly together. This is why hydrangeas take special measures: they make fake flowers. They transform the calyx to look like a flower. It’s called showy flower because it does not bear fruit. Hydrangeas commonly found in flower shops are the enhanced variety that blooms only showy flowers. Showy flowers invite bees and butterflies, surrounding the true flowers. The flowers that have been pollinated will fall, but showy flowers do…

Shinier Than the Restored Jug

Christchurch Mansion is built in England during the 12th century. It is now used as a museum and exhibits antiques such as paintings, ceramics, and furniture, receiving many visitors. In the summer of 2014, the sound of clink rang somewhere there. It was because a five-year-old boy accidentally knocked over a 221-year-old jug and it shattered into pieces on the floor. The museum didn’t hold him responsible for the accident. A year later, however, the museum staff made a press release to search for the child and his family. Guess why? At that time, the museum officer who was preparing for the qualification test on restoration of cultural assets put together all the pieces of the broken jug one by…

A Good Distance Helps Maintain a Good Relationship

On a winter day with cold wind blowing, a group of hedgehogs gathered together to share heat. However, the closer they got to each other, the more their sharp spines hurt one another. Not being able to stand the pain, they had to take one step back. The hedgehog’s dilemma which came from this story is a metaphor about the psychology of humans with a desire to form an intimacy with others and to keep some distance at the same time. Men grow up under the parents’ care at home, make friends at school, and work with co-workers in their workplaces. In other words, they live, constantly building relationships with their parents, spouse, relatives, friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc. While having…

Toward the Ocean of the Gospel, Where Waves of Blessing Are Surging

The Republic of Panama which is famous for the Panama Canal is a country where I have memories of my first short-term preaching. Although it was only for a short period of time, the time I spent preaching all day and sharing Mother’s love with the overseas brothers and sisters was truly a happy time. One thing I felt bad about was that I had to receive much help from the local brothers and sisters, because I couldn’t explain accurately even the words of the Bible that I knew due to my poor Spanish. This is the reason why I chose Panama for the short-term mission again when I was given a chance two years after the first short-term mission…

Oh Ji-yeong from Incheon, South Korea

Talk to Yourself

A Korean university professor divided 16 golf players into two groups, and let one group of people talk to themselves for 10 to 15 weeks: “I’ll relax my wrists and shoulders,” “I won’t attempt too much,” “Yes, that’s good,” and so on. As a result, research showed that self-talk is not only effective in psychological aspects such as increase of attention, confidence, and fun, and decrease of anxiety, but also in athletic performances. Researchers at the University of Illinois Psychology Department said self-talk can be more effective when you talk to yourself as if others say to you. Words like “Let’s shake it off,” “Let’s endure a little longer,” and “You can do it,” can be much more helpful because…

I’m Sorry and Thank You

One day, my elementary school daughter asked me if she could make dalgona (honeycomb toffee made with brown sugar and baking soda). As I had just finished cleaning the house, I didn’t want the house to get messy but allowed her to do it because I felt sorry for her staying only in the house due to online classes. My middle school son, who said at first he wouldn’t do it, was active later perhaps he got interested in what his younger sister was doing. It was nice to see two sensitive children in puberty making dalgona together like they were playing house. After seeing that, I went into the room. But, a little later, I heard the sound of…

Jo Eun-yeong from Anyang, South Korea

The Choice of Six Brothers

The Shinheung Military Academy is an independence army training school, founded in West Jiandao, China, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. It was the cradle of the anti-Japanese armed resistance that had produced 3,500 independence military officers for about twenty years despite many difficulties. In December 1910, six brothers, including Lee Hoe-yeong (1867–1932), left Seoul with their families in the bitter cold. Lee’s family was one of the top five wealthiest families in Korea and produced ministers and vice ministers for generations. In those days, many families in authority turned to pro-Japanese groups, receiving titles and money from the Japanese Empire, but the six brothers resolved not to beg for their life. They sold their entire property and established the…

A Person Who Has Many Favorites

“Freely write down what you like for one minute.” “Freely write down what you dislike for one minute.” These two questions tell you whether you are happy or not. The Center for Happiness Studies of Seoul National University in Korea asked experiment participants to answer the above questions, and then measured their happiness in a separate way. As a result, those who have much happiness wrote many things they like specifically in various categories but could not easily write what they dislike. On the other hand, those with low levels of happiness had difficulty writing down their favorites but definitely knew what they dislike and wrote many about them. This study shows that the head of a happy person is…

The Way for Survival of Sea Turtle Cubs

Sea turtles swim thousands of kilometers to the seaside where they were born during the spawning season. When a sea turtle gets home, it digs a pit in the sequestered sand and lays 50 to 200 eggs as big as ping pong balls. Afterwards, it immediately covers the pit with sand to protect the eggs from predators and to maintain the proper temperature for hatching. That is all the mother turtle does. Hatching and surviving are up to the young. Two months after the mother leaves, the young that have broken out of the eggs work together to escape the dark and hard sand pit. The cubs at the top of the pit break through the ceiling, those in the…

Monitoring Safety

I joined a volunteer service club to complete a course in community service. I had much experience in doing volunteer services, but it wasn’t diverse. Then, a volunteer group called Safety Monitor caught my eyes. Safety Monitor helped the safety of residents by monitoring big and small safety risk factors in local areas and making reports of them to the government institutions to prevent accidents from occurring. My first mission after joining the club was to inspect the surroundings of a university in my area. It was a place I was familiar with. I set to my mission with a light heart. However, I came across a number of things that could be a threat to the safety of residents,…

Yun Gwan-jong from Gongju, South Korea

Until He Completes a Work

Goethe (1749–1832) was a poet, educator, painter, politician, scientist, and world-class literary man. One of his greatest masterpieces is Faust. Faust is a classic that shows Goethe’s diverse, wide view of the world. When he first conceived it, he was 22 years old. Deeply touched at Goethe’s other works, the sovereign Duke of Saxe-Weimar1 asked him to serve as a statesman. Goethe accepted the proposal under the condition that he would work on writing. 1. One of the Saxon duchies However, while working as a high-ranking official, he gradually became far from literature. Mixed up, he traveled to Italy just like an escape and was deeply inspired by the art and architecture there. So he left office, went back to…

Empty Your Mind and Give Ear to Your Family!

A survey of a Korean portal found that conversation time among family members is less than twenty minutes a day. The biggest reason for such little talk with their family even though they live in the same house is there seems to be no one who hears them. In order for a family to live in harmony, the family members should talk to each other enough. For the rich and honest conversation, you have to listen carefully to the other person and pay attention to their words even if they are about trivial things: what your child has experienced at school, what your spouse has been through at work or with your neighbors, and what your parents are worried about.…

Wearing Pink Shirts for a Friend

In 2007, high school classmates David Shepherd and Travis Price in Nova Scotia, Canada, sent a message to their friends, “Wear a pink shirt at school tomorrow.” ‘What if people laugh at boys in pink?’ or ‘What if no one wears it tomorrow?’ Although they were worried, they plucked up courage. The next day, fortunately, a few students came to school in pink clothes besides the two. The next day more students participated, and the number of participants increased day by day, and finally about 800 out of a little more than 1,000 students wore pink clothes. The school became the sea of pink. The two students did this because one of the school students was bullied for wearing pink…

Seeking Humble Souls Who Long for the Truth

The Netherlands, the land of tulips and windmills, is well-known for having expanded its territory by filling wetlands and lakes with earth and building levees. The Netherlands literally means “low countries.” There are many low-lying lands there, so the Netherlands reclaimed land from the sea to prevent chloridation of farmlands by sea water. The newly reclaimed territory of the country is one sixth of the total area. So the Dutch people are very proud of themselves, saying, “God created the world but the Dutch created the Netherlands.” After we were sent to serve as missionaries to the Netherlands, we diligently preached the gospel together with the local members or short/long-term mission members, to seek the souls who were waiting for…

Ah Yeong-hun from Amsterdam, Netherlands

A Restaurant That Serves Wrong Food

What if you get dumplings when you ordered a hamburger steak? What if dessert comes before your order is served? You may wonder who would want to visit such a restaurant, but its diners said they’d love to come again. This is the story about a restaurant that opened for two days in Tokyo, Japan, in June 2017, in order to raise awareness of dementia patients at the suggestion of a Japanese producer at a broadcasting company. The restaurant, where the elderly with dementia received orders and served food, put a notice, “You might not get the dishes you ordered.” Probably because of this, the diners didn’t look irritated or unpleasant at all even though the food was different from…

The Greatest Coordinator

When I was young, my mother always bought me clothes that I loved. Not only my clothes, but also other items that my mother bought me, such as my shoes and belts, fit me very well at all times. I felt good whenever I stood in front of the mirror, wearing the clothes she picked for me. As I became an adolescent, I wanted to buy my style of clothing. After saving some allowances, I went to the store alone to buy clothes for the first time in my life. While looking around with excitement, a mannequin that was wearing a neat shirt and pants caught my eyes. ‘Wow! That is my style!’ I couldn’t take my eyes off the…

Tapiwa Toruvanda from Harare, Zimbabwe

Mother’s Voice

The sense of hearing develops first among five senses. Within a few days of fertilization in the mother, the fertilized egg begins to shape the ear when it is only 0.9 mm in size. In the third week of pregnancy, the inner ear (internal ear)1 develops, and the cochlea is differentiated in six weeks and connected to nerve cells in about 20 to 24 weeks. This means that the fetus can hear sounds. 1. The inner most part of the ear, surrounded by hard bones. It consists of the cochlea, vestibule, and semicircular canals, and transmits vibrations of the eardrum to nerves. The fetus becomes able to hear while other organs have not yet grown, and emotions develop through the…