L'Abri Newsletter, March 2011

March 11, 2011

Dear Praying Family,

Winter persisted on with a couple of heavy snow in the past month. Everywhere you look, you can only see snow and more snow at L’Abri that turned in to a snow wonderland. Snow may look quite romantic in the eyes of metropolitans, but it soon turns into concern when it continues on. When we had snow for 2 consecutive days, it reached up to our waits, broke thick branches of evergreens and crashed the greenhouse down to the ground; it was a brand new house built with our sweat under the sizzling heat last summer.

After the snow, the major task is to make a way in the front yard at L’Abri. What it normally looks like an ordinary front yard blew up to the size of Siberian plain when it comes to shoveling the snow. Although shoveling was toilsome, the snow was surely God’s special gift to enjoy the last of winter after the day of welcoming spring.

L’Abri had a short break and resumed its second winter program in the mid-February. Within few weeks, we had many students and visitors; the major team was that of Erom’s new employees chaperoned by Dr. SungJoo Hwang, one of L’Abri’s Board of Directors. For L’Abri could not accommodate the team of 24, they commuted from nearby pension to attend L’Abri lectures. Each member of the team was in charge of important role, and we hope Erom will be able to follow God’s will in bettering the world through them.

In between Erom’s visit, we did not lack students. InHwee came to L’Abri for the second time after his first visit in the last winter. He made a very important decision to wholeheartedly trust and follow Jesus upon leaving L’Abri. Wanting to become a hair artist, InHwee will be learning the skills on government scholarship for a year. We ask you to pray for him to live by his decision and to be well prepared for a new life. For JeongYeop, it was his third visit to L’Abri since last winter. As he is a nuclear physics major senior, he came to L’Abri in search of God’s guidance for his future.

We also had seminary students, HyunChul and SoonGi, and they returned home with a new perspective about their study. TaeJin is a history major senior who wants to study theology. Please pray for those pastoral candidates to be well equipped to know the bible and to have right worldview. DooHyun is a graduate student majoring in English Language. He is one of the few who loves church dearly. He originally came to stay for a week but decided to stay longer to study more thoroughly. Lewis worked as English teacher for Euijungbu elementary school for 2 years. After the contract was over, he was to return back home to the U.S. But he had to delay his departure plan to renew his damaged passport and came to L’Abri. He instantly gained popularity in L’Abri for his love for Korean food and fluent Korean.

Recently, we hardly saw female students here except for a couple of them. Eugene worked as a teacher in a private elementary school but quit to further her study in graduate school. She came to L’Abri for a break. EunHee has worked long in a research company but now prays whether she should pursue a new career in teaching children. We also had pastors stay with us; Pastor SungHyun Lee and his wife who worked at church for 11 years in Paju and Pastor SungKeun Park from Yongin. Korean pastors have high tendency to ignore their health as they get caught up in caring for church and congregation. And they were no strangers to it. Please pray for them to eat, sleep, and rest fully during their stay here.

Workers should stay healthy to cater for students to eat, rest, and study. However, we have workers who need your prayer over their health issues. MoKyung had to take a sick leave for medical checkup on her back and other area. ChunSung stayed in bed due to cold for 2 days. InKyung is having a difficult time with his painful heels caused by long hours of lecture on his feet. It is also worrisome to see KyungOk and EunHa’s tired condition from time to time. Health concerns were always directed to L’Abri kids, but now they spread to workers. Please pray for us to maintain our health wisely, and may God touch and heal our ailing bodies.

L’Abri kids have recovered their health and are lively as ever. But we ask you to continue in praying for HaeJin in Canada for her back problem and health. EuiJin is studying English to get into college. HanHee started elementary school, and JiMin transferred to her brother’s day care center. MinHyun and BoKyung are getting used to YangYang life. Their business back in TaeGu has not been settled yet. Please pray that everything gets settled smoothly in His time. InKyung and KyungOk will be attending L’Abri Members’ Meeting in Great Britain in April (April 13th-19th) shortly followed by his trip to Melbourne, Australia to lead Korean young adults conference. Your prayer for health and necessary finance for the trip will be appreciated. We also ask for you to pray for our family as we patiently wait for God’s leading.

One morning, I walked across rice paddies and stood on top of ridges. What caught my eyes were bags of silicates that are used to enrich soil piled up on the cold snowy ground. I came to understand that in order to have abundant harvest, one has to wait for earth to defrost and enrich the soil. I sincerely hope that students here will spend their youth in enriching the soil to bear good fruits in the future.

EunChol

From L’Abri Yangyang

Translated by MoKyung Choi