March 3, 2004
Dear friends,
February was a short month, not only in number of days but also
in terms of time to carry out our duties. But during February,
the bone-chilling winter has passed and flowers are blooming and
walking in the mid-day sun feels hot these days. Unfortunately,
street demonstrations and frequent bundah (forced closings)
are back also. Among many meetings and trips, we are happy to
be able to sit down and write our March letter, all matter of
priorities.
First of all, we would like to correct the impression we gave
in our January letter that we are struggling in the frustration
over the state of our work here in Nepal. We meant to say that
after a period of struggle we now accept our role and find peace
in the Lord who struggles with us and the people we are to serve.
We do struggle daily against the tide of poverty, injustice, and
the enormity of suffering as well as the futility of our efforts.
But, when we reflect on our frustrations, God always leads us
to see one child we can help, one person who wants to learn, and
one small work we have done that was Spirit-led. Without the struggles
we probably could not see the small patches of sunshine in our
lives. Without the struggles we probably could not see the enabling
power of our Lord and the enabling capacity of the people we work
and live with. We need them and they need us. We are OK now. It
took a long time but now we are at peace and can see how we should
spend the rest of our time here in Nepal. We would have blamed
you for misreading our January letter, but when the response of
sympathy for our frustrations came from the head of a linguistics
department at a major American university, we knew our writing
was flawed, not your reading.
While we are on the subject of correcting misinformation, we
just learned that we will be returning to the States for interpretation
assignment at the end of December 2004, not in March 2005. We
will be in the States for six months sharing our experiences and
reporting on the work God is doing through you and us. We will
write more about this part of our work in the coming months. We
have already begun to pray and seek His guidance in discerning
where He wants us to serve and grow after this term. We hope to
continue in mission service with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),
but we do not yet know where and what. We will share with you
as we discern our call over the coming year.
Many of you expressed interest in coming to visit Nepal while
we are here. During January a friend from Korea, a medical doctor
in training, came to visit us for ten days. She observed and absorbed
Nepali people, culture, and nature with eagerness and an open
mind. She was also interested in seeing how our lifestyle has
changed, since she lived in the same community with us ten years
ago. She learned that missionary life is not one of sacrifice
and need, but one of joy, challenge, and adaptation. We hope you
can come and see the same. At first she had a difficult time accepting
the abject poverty, very basic medical facilities, and the streets
where garbage piles, stray dogs, pedestrians and all sorts of
wheeled vehicles claim space. After a few days, she saw the people,
their joys and sorrows, and the wise culture of living in harmony
with majestic yet harsh nature. She also saw efforts to put broken
lives back together, one at a time: Haejung working with the sick
children at the hospital and Simon teaching management class.
When you come for a visit, we hope you can see that our life here
has the same worries and joys as back home. We hope you will see
God in the mountains, in the poor people, and also in the mission
workers who want to obey God’s commands. You will see the
poverty, but also the poor who are doing an honest day’s
work to put food on the table and making sacrifices (investments)
to educate their children. Sadly, you will also see the defeated
and hopeless ones simply waiting for helping hands to come. You
will see the helpers from all over the world working in their
corner of God’s assignments as humble servants. Sadly, you
will also see many modern-day Pharisees, whose daily lives are
shielded from the realities of Nepal, thanking God for their “blessed”
lives (Luke 18:9-14). All in all, it will be a time to meet God
as He reveals himself, not as we want Him. We want you to come,
as we will grow in your experience as well. The climate is best
September through November, but the weather here is never very
extreme unless you want to see rhinos in the Chitwan National
Park (then avoid April through August). |
