Dear Friends,

Can’t believe that we have been in Congo for six months already, our French is still as if we arrived yesterday. While the time has passed so quickly, we have seen many changes and we must have been changed a lot also.

We have to clear up a few things from our November newsletter. Mama Agnes is the next door neighbor and when she came home from her surgery, she ate the family rooster, who had been waking us up at dawn each morning. Many friends asked us why did we name a goat, who will eat anything, "Mama Agnes." Clear now?

Now we are truly into the rainy season, mosquitoes are out in force. The hospital is built in an open architecture and gives free access to mosquitoes. Now Simon remembers to carry a can of insect spray whenever he goes to the bathroom. It is very difficult to defend against an army of mosquitoes while using the facilities.

We are amazed at finding uncanny similarities between Korea of 40 years ago and the Congo now. Not only in the state of the economy, but in daily lives and relationships. It would not have been possible to have any exchange of culture between the two societies at that time. Our Korean friends will appreciate seeing a toddler playing in the dirt dressed in nothing but a large rubber band around the waist. For those who have never seen it, it is to hang the diapers. Haejung was

so surprised to hear a parent teasing a child by saying, "She is not your real mother, we found you under the bridge and brought you home." How is it possible that the cultures at two opposite ends of the earth be so similar? The only way we can figure is that God made us all in His image and gave us souls.

Thanks to Dr. & Mrs. Fletcher, the only other missionary family here, we had our Thanksgiving turkey dinner. It was a Brazilian turkey, purchased in Kinshasa and flown to Tshikaji, served with margarine from Holland, bread baked with flour from Yemin, Pakistani rice, and lemonade made with local citron sweetened with America’s own NutraSweet. We were thankful for many things, but especially for the opportunity to get close to God and our Savior Jesus.

On Advent Sunday, the choir from the village church was performing at another village five miles from here. We were all set to walk until it rained when we had to leave. So we waited and took a pick-up truck instead. We were glad that we did because after three-and-a-half hour service it would not have been easy to walk back five miles in rain.

At 3:00 p.m. the entire hospital had to get into action. At a Catholic orphanage 16 miles from here, they were feeding the street children, and one of the children who were helping used the scoop for pesticide to scoop milk powder. Everyone who drank the milk became very sick. Fifty-one children and two adults came to the hospital for emergency care. All the doctors and nurses who live in the station and the nursing students all rushed to the hospital to help. Simon was called because he is the keeper of keys to the warehouses. Only a couple of days earlier, we were wondering what we are doing here, whether a hospital like ours is truly needed in rural Congo, and other difficult questions such as whether we have any right to insist on higher standard of care than what other medical institutions in the area provide. What a way to find out why we are here!

The Dutch priest from the orphanage prayed with us and praised God for placing His servants at this place to care for His children. While it was a sad event, it was a time of affirmation also. All 53 left the hospital in good health after one to three days of hospitalization. We were able to send a pack of medicine for further care. The bill for all came to be slightly less than $1,000. What a bargain! The Catholic mission was able to pay slightly over half and Institute Medical Chretienne du Kasai (IMCK) took responsibility for the remainder. The next day we received the news that Ed and Edyth Johnson (Central Presbyterian Church, Denver) gave some money for our work here. A portion of it went directly to cover the charity care. Thanks Ed and Edyth. Thank you God. We (IMCK) have set up a charity fund at the hospital to intentionally reach out to the population without proper medical care, especially poor women and children. We will strive for good care starting with family planning, prenatal care, vaccination, nutrition, and hygienic living. You could make a Christmas gift to this fund through the Presbyterian Church. A tax deductible receipt will be sent to you. Checks should be made out to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) with notation of "IMCK—(ECO 320202)" and sent to Central Receiving Service, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202.

Many friends in the States and in Singapore wanted to know how they could send the umbrellas. Thank you all. The friends at the Korean Presbyterian Church of Champaign-Urbana collected funds for more than two-thirds of the total and another friend in Illinois donated the rest. We were able to find a local source to buy 200 umbrellas as a Christmas gift from you all to the workers at IMCK. Thank you friends. Thank you God. We hope the rain will no longer keep the hospital from opening on time, but we know better. A nice Christmas gift nonetheless.

When we visited Seoul in 1997 to say goodbye to friends for a while, a couple gave us some money to use in our ministry. We waited until we found an occasion we know they would approve of. We found out there are two primary schools in the village, one public (Ecole Primaire Musasa Kumi) and one at the station (Complex Scolaire Bon Berger). At Musasa Kumi there are 415 students in one building, actually one large hall with several half partitions, 158 in the first grade and 22 in the 6th grade. Students have to pay about $.50 per three-month term. By the end of the school year the number of students will be reduced to half due to the parents’ inability to pay. That is one reason why the number of students get reduced to 50 percent of the previous grade. 1st-158, 2nd-80, 3rd-68, 4th-56, 5th-31, and 6th-22.

At the CSBB, which has 208 students, half of them the children of IMCK workers, the situation is quite similar. 1st-62, 2nd-42, 3rd-30, 4th-25, 5th-25, 6th-17. They will get down to about 60 percent at the end of the year. The school fee is about $1.00 per month here. Myers Park Presbyterian Church built a very proper school building for the community on the IMCK station, but the operating expenses are the responsibility of the parents. The first term ends for both schools on December 18, and we decided to give each student and the teachers a notebook and a pencil as a Christmas gift, but also to encourage all of them to return to school. The Lees do not have much money, but lots of love. Thank you friends. Thank you God.

Friends, we are happy and thankful that we can assist you in your ministries in a small way.

December 21 of this year is our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Simon promised Haejung that for the 25th anniversary, he will take her, just her without the children, to a very exotic place to which only a few people have traveled. How remote can you get than Tshikaji! God’s sense of humor is always the tops. It takes a while to sink in. We will spend a quiet and reflective anniversary, Christmas and New Year’s day. John and Gwenda Fletcher went back to the States for the memorial service of John’s mother, who was called home in November. She and Dr. Archie Fletcher were both born in Korea to missionary families many years ago. John and Gwenda will be back in early January (jfletcher@maf.org).

It certainly has been a challenging and action-packed year. We think we grew a bit, in our dependence on Him. John and Kevin had to mature in a hurry. We thank them and thank God for their lives.

It will likely be year two thousand before we send another report. We talk a lot about the Y2K bug, but we know it is the same faithful God who care for us and we serve. We are grateful to be a small outpost of His ministry among His children.

May you all have a great holiday season filled with spirit and love.

Haejung & Simon Park

(If you e-mail us, please don't send attachments. We have to pay by the byte.)

The 1999 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 33