L'Abri Newsletter, July 2014

June 19, 2014

Dear L’Abri praying Family,

The news of summer has at last reached L’Abri. The spring, having painted our eyes with sprouting freshness and dyed our clothes with the scent of grass, has given way to the next season and faded quietly away. Now we greet the season that brings to mind two images that have nothing in common but their association with cool wind: the blue ocean and the air conditioner.

I hope the summer heat has not already exhausted those of you living in the city. After a two-week break, we begin our summer terms: June 23-July 6; July 18-Aug 3; Aug 15-Aug 28. During the breaks, we will be engaged in outside lectures and sermons, as well as getting ready to serve our next group of guests.

The old gas station has been undergoing a process of rebirth, thanks to the continuous and diligent efforts of Mr. Ko, a volunteer carpenter. Renovating the upper floor is now almost complete, which Ms. Duri Mo will be renting for a while. The ground floor has been used as a dining room by ChunBok since March.

Speaking of our helper ChunBok, we have urgent prayer to ask of you. She is pregnant with her third child. First, we glorify God, for without His help no life can be born. Please also join us in congratulating and encouraging ChunBok, especially because it is not easy to have a third child when the whole country is scared to have more than one. Please pray for the health of both the mother and the child.

However, there also seems to be a price to be paid, not only by the family but also by neighbors such as ourselves, for a precious life to come into this world. Due to tricky symptoms in the early stages of pregnancy, ChunBok is unfortunately unable to help us with meals for the next two week. The inconvenience, of course, is a tiny thing compared to the treasure of new life, but we were rather put under a state of emergency.

L’Abri’s meal table, as many of you would know, is characterized by an atmosphere that respects everyone as God’s image-bearer and encourages asking questions from deep down in the heart. Mealtimes are perhaps the most important events at L’Abri. Mealtimes are not only for filling the stomach but also for healing your wounds and restore your soul and whole personality.

We know that you have prayed for this for a long time, but please allow us to ask you again to pray for God to send us good workers very soon. There is a couple who wants to stay here for more than a year, and others with similar wishes, so far they have only been able to serve as helpers, not as permanent full-time workers. Please pray that we hold fast till the end of this summer despite the shortage of staff.

Kim and Cynthia are already beginning to miss L’Abri, now that the date of their departure (Sep 1) is drawing near. Please pray that they will be able to endure the heat of summer in Korea. Wherever they go, every word and action of theirs has a lasting impact on people. We ask for a special prayer: we wish to spend our remaining time with Kim and Cynthia learning from and enjoying with them as much as possible.

Yerin and Inju have been working in L’Abri as helpers for the past few months while studying who Jesus is. Please pray that they will be able to accept Jesus as the Lord of their lives. Please also continue praying for young people who come to L’Abri from afar through the heat of the summer.

We ask you to remember our group guests in your prayer. About 40 young people from Seoul Naesudong Church will be having a School of Christian Worldview with us (July 31 to Aug 3). Kim, Cynthia, InKyung and I are going to lead a conference in Jeju Island for North Korean defectors (Aug 5-8). Ten young people from Ju-An Presbyterian Church will be coming to study the Christian worldview (Aug 12-14). A few other groups have also asked to visit during the summer. Please pray that the Lord will visit and knock on each of their minds, and that their time at L’Abri will help them become closer to Him.

Believing that it is God who sends us people, we flutter our hearts in expectation whenever a new person comes through our door. Why would God have sent this person here? What could L’Abri do for him—and what, in turn, could we learn from her? With curious throbbing, we make the beds, prepare the meals, and get ready to welcome our guests. Hoping that God will help us, we gather our spirits and calmly wait.

Please pray that this summer, with your prayer, gifts, and our efforts together, L’Abri could witness God’s nation and His work. If there is a video gallery in Heaven, we might be able to watch someday, in a little section named “L’Abri”, footages of us praying with you, and feeding and counseling young people with your gifts. I imagine that we would once again shed tears of gratitude and exaltation one day as we look back on the tears of hardship that we shed today on Earth. Looking forward to that day, would you join us and sweat with us once again this summer?

Yours, and desperate for your prayer,

KyungOk

Translated by Haejin Sung