L'Abri Newsletter, March 2008

Dear Praying Family,

Now that the Easter is just around the corner, the peak of Mt. SeoRok is still covered with white snow. However, Clivia around L’Abri is about to blossom, already. During February, I gave lectures at several places; and now we are about to start a new term. I got a few practical prayer requests for you.

Our auditors, DongRyul Seol and GungHyun Nam, generated a financial report for 2007(127,000,000 KRW). Praise our Lord for His provision of our daily necessities and for sending us those numerous students and visitors! Your generous donation, small or large, added up into a huge amount to allow our daily operation possible. Though it may not have been abundant financially, but, more importantly, we remained debt-free. Yet, the so-called “spring-starvation” – in old days, spring was the time farmers didn’t have anything to eat until they can harvest barley in early summer – is a reality at L’Abri; so we are tightening our belts. Regardless, we are truly grateful to all of you who generously supported us.

During the spring term, we have many students and visitors. There are several who stays for a few days or a week. They are Jin, JinJong, JeongWon, YoungEok, JungSoon, ShinWoo, SongMi, AaRa, Eugin, and YunJong. Would you please pray for them so that they may find rests both physically and psychologically and may be able to listen to our Lord speaking in their hearts? During this term, we notice that there are many visitors dropping by on their way to business or leisure travel. Please pray for the staffs and students that they may not be exhausted by the visitors. JeongWon is staying with us as a Helper during this term.

At last, we started building the retaining wall around the gully carved out by the Typhoon Lusa, 2002. SaRang Community Church (Rev. JungHyun Oh) gracefully provided us the necessary funds for the construction. Although there are urgent needs for expanding rooms for staffs and guests, we decided to use the gifts for improving the building safety and infrastructure. We wish to finish the project before the rainy season and before the cost of construction material inflates too high. For a while, L’Abri will be a usual construction site with bustling bump trucks and forklift cranes. Visitors and students may have anticipated staying at a monastery-like quiet place; please pray for the students during the construction that they may be able to focus on their study despite the construction noise and please also pray for the safety around the L’Abri during the construction.

Additional construction and repairs will be done, as well. Right behind my house, BaekAm Dang, the retaining wall along the hillside would give out during heavy rain. It will be re-enforced this time. Underground power lines, damaged during the debris cleaning after the last typhoon, will be reconnected via power poles. Faulty telephone lines will be replaced as well. All these constructions will be supervised by Mr. SamYoung Han, SM Housing, who finished our deck in 2006 and got married last fall.

Ever since the current property was donated to L’Abri, we wanted re-zoning the gas station area from commercial to religious or recreational. We found out that it requires additional costly facilities such as fire prevention, etc. Please pray for us that after the current construction, we may identify a solution for this if God’s willing. If possible, due to safety reason, we would like to replace the asphalt-concrete in the gas station area with a beautiful garden. Surely the cost could be enormous – in an effort to reduce the perspective cost, we are saving the dirt and large rocks excavated from the current construction.

We are in need of a vehicle to transport students. So far we have been using local mountain bus (four times a day), staff’s vehicle, neighboring church’s van, or taxi. It is quite inefficient when we have to move around as a group. We are praying for a vehicle that can carry about 9~15 people. As for me, after sending the Galloper to the junk yard due to disintegrating engine, I got a KIA Sepia from a missionary who spent his sabbatical year with us.

HaeJin is studying history at University of Toronto. As you know, now she almost finished her first year with fine record owing to supports from many of you. She is concerned that she may have to skip the fall semester if she does not have sufficient funding. Though she did very well in her study, she got a lot of trouble on her skin to take medicine for it because of the stress from studies and the food. EuiJin has a difficult time as a teenager. Because most visitors stay for a short time, he himself feels unstable and can’t focus on study either. In the mean time, he is learning Chinese at the Women’s Community Center and tutoring elementary school students at nearby Children’s Center operated by SooRi Church. KiJin gave his first lecture on political science at Queens University in place of his advisor. Would you please pray for my children, as well?

Very thankfully wife KyungOk is hanging in there, though she has been serving beyond her physical limits. As for me, if I walk around the construction site during the day, my wounded leg hurts so painful in the evening. Though my wife and I didn’t aware of the seasons while working with students and young adults, finally we are sensing our ages. Please pray for the physical and spiritual health of my wife and myself. Though there have been applicants for the workers position, we haven’t identified a qualified candidate yet. Please pray for us that we may be able to serve diligently with wisdom until our Lord sends us appropriate staffs.

With JongChul Kim, a lawyer, and Prof. JungHoon Kim, both of them are our former workers, we are teaching about 80 young adults at the Christian Worldview School in SaRang Church in Seoul. The school is six week long, every Saturday evening. On the 6th week (April 12), all students will stay near L’Abri and attend a lecture and chapel, as they did last year. Even we have been doing several times for YWAM but this School is the first attempt at local church, in Korea. Would you please pray for the speakers and pray that the school may bear meaningful fruit in the students’ hearts. In April, there will be L’Abri Members’ Meeting at L’Abri England. Our next term will be during May 9 ~ June 12. We are expecting church leaders from Nigeria and Australia visiting us during the next term.

As always, thank you so much for your unceasing prayer for us. May the power of our resurrected Lord, Jesus, who is the first fruit of the resurrection, be with you every moment!

March 22, 2008, on the eve of the Resurrection…

InKyung Sung

Translated by Ohig Kwoun