[After sunday worship on Aug. 12, 2012, most of the American journey team visited Cape Town. But I chose to visit Zimbabwe. But there was a problem with the flight schedule: all flights to Zimbabwe on Sunday were fully booked. In addition Missionary James Lee of Zimbabwe would not return to Zimbabwe until late evening of the following Monday. Furthermore, Dr. Samuel Lee, his wife, and 17 students from Hanyang UBF were scheduled to return to Zimbabwe on Sunday, then go to the Victoria Fall by bus and come back to Zimbabwe by the following Tuesday late evening. I did not want to be left alone by myself in S. Africa for two days. So using this time I planned to visit the Victoria Fall. Luckily there was one cheap flight leaving JNB at 11:00 a.m. Sunday to Livingstone of Zambia from which you can go visit the Victoria Fall. So at 7:30 a.m. I delivered offering to Missionary Joshua Surh of S. Africa (the Conference Administrator). There was another team leaving JNB early Sunday (Moses and Maria Lee of Kwanak UBF and their two sons). Missionary Joseph Lee of S. Africa gave us a ride to the airport.
Zambia and Zimbabwe share the Victoria Fall. The I arrived at the Livingstone of Zambia around 2:00 p.m. From 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. I took a look around the Victoria Fall on the Zambia side, and then crossed over to the Zimbabwe side. I spent a night at a lodge called Victoria Fall Rainbow. ]
August 13 (Monday)
The next morning from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. I did a trail developed around the Victoria Fall on the Zimbabwe side, and came back to Livingstone by bus. From there I flew back to JNB arriving at around 3:00 p.m. Then at the airport I met Missionary James Lee and Hyerin Yoon (the younger sister of Daniel Yoon of Mount Sac). The airplane left JNB at 7:40 pm and arrived at the Harare Airport at around 9:00 p.m. Hyerin's parents greeted us at the airport. That night I slept at the Hyerin's house.
Next day (August 14) Tuesday
Missionary Susanna Yoon (Hyerin's mom) invited James Lee to a breakfast with me at her house. The previous night she did all the laundry for me all neatly folded up. After breakfast, James and I visited the Zimbabwe UBF Bible center. She cooked kalbi-tang. It was so delicious that I said to Mr. Yoon, "Kyulhon jal hasin kud katneyo" ("You married a really fine woman".)
Beginning the year 2000 the Zimbabwe government ordered white people to leave the country. They also nationalized the ownership of the lands owned by the white people. Many whites started leaving. As a result housing prices came down. Until that time Zimbabwe UBF did not have any Bible center.
Then a spacious house right across the street from the campus came out to the market for sale. It was priced way below the market value. At that time Dr. Agustine Sohn of Chicago was visiting Harare. James Lee shared the prayer topic to buy the property as a Bible center. Dr. Agustine went back home and shared the prayer topic. Shepherd Teddy Hambekides heard the news and volunteered to donate $20,000. Others also donated, so for $50,000 they purchased the house. The lot size of the property is square about 150 by 150 feet. It has an auditorium with the seating capacity of about 50 people. Attached to the auditorium are: three rooms, one kitchen, one half bath, a small dining area. On the corner there is a small unit where sisters have a common life. In two rooms attached to the sanctuary students (Steward, Albert and others) have a common life.
After visiting the campus, James and I visited the University campus next door. We also visited Dr. Samuel Lee's office where he teaches a Korean language class on campus. (Dr. Samuel Lee was still on his trip to and from the Victoria Fall, so we could not visit his place).
After visitation to the campus, per James' invitation I visited his house. (The campus, the Bible house, James's Lee's house, and the Yoon family, all live nearby, in the same neighborhood.) James and Petra have four children (James - college 3; Hanna - college freshman; Nayong - 7th grade; and John - 5th grade). At his house, between 10 am - 12:30 p.m. I had a long talk with the couple. Both of them have a "sleep" problem: the energy level of Petra has gone down to a very low level, so she had to sleep more than 10 hours a day. James suffers from insomnia, so he could hardly sleep for more than 4 hours a day. Petra has worn out taking care of sheep and children. James Lee also got exhausted attending triple crosses - work at the Korean Embassy, duties as a missionary feeding sheep, and taking care of family.
Circa the time Zimbabwe coworkers going to the S. African conference the Prime Minister [one of my law-school classmates] of S. Korean government visited Zimbabwe, and he was responsible for attending the government officials. He also went through and overcome a number of unexpected difficulties to transport between Harare to Pretoria the Zimbabwean delegates (including 22 local students) by bus. (It took 24 days to go from Harare to Pretoria by bus, and they had to wait 6 hours to cross the border for the S. African custom officials did not trust anyone crossing the border from Zimbabwe a poor country to S. Africa). After listening to them, I shared with them Micah 5:4a, "He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength and in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God." I exhorted them to memorize the two words: "strength" and "majesty", and the phrase, "in the strength of the Lord" and "in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God." I also asked and explained the meaning of the word "majesty", reminding him that the Lord called James and Petra to serve the Lord's flock in the strength and majesty of "the ruler of the universe". Along the Bible study the faces of James and Petra brightened up.
Missionary Susanna invited James Lee and I to a lunch at her house. There Mr. Yoon, James, and I had cold noodle (called Naeing Myun). During lunch I asked Mr. Yoon why he chose to come to Zimbabwe. (Here is what he said: He used to work at the Lotte company. But in order to start his own business he quit the job. But in order to do his own business he realized that he needed to learn English. Then one day he attended the worship service at the Tongkyo UBF where his wife had a Bible study. That Sunday he heard a mission report by Missionary James Lee of Zimbabwe. Mr. Yoon thought that the best way to learn English is to go to the place where they speak English. On the very spot he decided to drop everything and go to Zimbabwe to learn English. He shared the vision with his family. All agreed. But Shepherd Elijah Lee attached one condition, that is, to share a life testimony and make a decision to go as a missionary. He complied. Now it has been 7 years since he first came to Harare. He supports his family by running a business, "Kentucky Fried Chicken." His Christian name is Jacob Yoon. He has two children: Hyrin and Daniel.
After lunch, James took me to a short tour to a stoney mountain located about half an hour away from the city. Missionary Susanna also invited us to a dinner.
After dinner, all missionaries (Susanna, Caleb and Rebekah Shin, Jams and Petra) met at the James Lee's house where we had a Bible study on 3 John "Work Together for the Truth". During the Bible study they honestly shared their problems in coworking. Rebekah Shin in particular was frank in expressing what was on her heart. She said, "In UBF, only directors get recognition, and receive due attention and support; the rest like us (referring to herself and Caleb) go unnoticed." This led us to the discussion of the role of pain we go through such as Joseph in Genesis, for having lost her mom, Joseph could not get loving attention from her mom. Yet this resulted in him being deeply rooted in the love of God. As he walked with the Lord, he could be a source of blessing. [Calelb is one of James' bible students. They are from Chongno chapter. Caleb runs a Photo shop. Rebekah is a home maker. They have two sons - Caleb and Daniele.]
The next day along with Hyerin and James I went to a local jim. There I showed James how to do build body muscles via light weight training. Then I came to the center early and devoted myself to praying and rest. Two students, Albert and Steward, were also staying at the center. Missionary Susanna gave me a lunch box (Kimbab). I shared the lunch box with them.
That afternoon James Lee took me to the Caleb Shin's photo shop. That evening I invited missionaries to a dinner fellowship at the Shangrira Chinese restaurant.
So James Lee left for the restaurant first to order food. I waited for Caleb to close the shop. He drove and we went to the restaurant. It was already dark, and the streets were poorly lit. I saw Caleb ignoring the red lights. He just drove through the reds. I asked him why? Then he said at the intersection when it gets dark, you better not stop at the stop sigh, for it causes you to be exposed to robbery. On one occasion while he stopped at a stop sign in one of the cross sections of Harare, a robber smashed one of the windows of his car, took his laptop, and ran away. On another occasion while he was traveling by car to Johannesburg, a police man stopped him, and searched his hand bag. On discovering cash he forced him to come to a police station under a gun point. There the policeman locked him behind the bar. Caleb said, "I need to talk to my lawyer." But the police chief did not allow him to call. Rather they asked for more money. He gave them all except for a few dollars, and got released.)
That evening, a journey team (Samuel and Okhee Lee, Moses Yoon of Chongno, Moses Kim of Hanyang, Three students from Beijing, and the rest Hanyang students) arrived at around 9:00 p.m. from visiting Vic Fall by bus. In 5 cars we picked them up from the bus station and checked them in to a guest house where they had a late dinner as prepared by Susanna Yoon.
Then, Dr. Samuel Lee invited me to his house for a tea fellowship. His house is located close to the campus. There along with James Lee, we discussed about the future direction of the African ministry. James Lee opined that we better keep up with the regional setting, provided that we limit the number of foreign delegates, for in case of S. Africa, they had about 70 delegates. Missionaries became occupied with serving the foreign delegates that they could hardly find rest and get spiritually recharged. James Lee suggested that in the future foreign delegates if at all ought to be limited to a small number like mor or less 10 who can actively participate in and serve the ministry by doing things like serving dance program or songs of praise, etc. Around 10:30 pm, we closed the meeting with myself praying. I came back to the Yoon's.
August 16 (Thursday)
At 6:30 a.m. Jacob Yoon gave me a ride to the Harare Airport. Before we hit the road Missionary Susanna gave me a lunch pack, gifts, letters, brand new clothes etc. for the journey. Hyerin gave me a hug and a card with a letter. [May the Lord reward for all of their hospitality!]
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