Hi, this is Chelsea! My homestay host (Cho, Hyun Wol) was so nice! She was very humble, serving, kind, and joyful all the time. She, her husband, and her three daughters had escaped from NK into China, lived in China for four years, and then were arrested and brought back to NK. They were all able to escape again from NK and into South Korea!
Mrs. Cho, however, is concerned that although her family is physically safe, they are not spiritually saved. She loves her family very much and is very devoted.
I think she liked me (if I said something she thought was funny, she would call me a cute child). Our translator, Aram, was very helpful in helping us understand each other's culture and language.
The hardest part for my host was that Mrs. Cho and her husband were actually very well off in NK and escaped for political reasons; however, she felt guilty about some of the poor people still left in NK.
One personal note: we went and visited a Christian cemetary containing the graves of many missionaries to Korea. In the children's section, I found a grave I thought I recognized from a photograph in a book I was reading about orphans in Korea (Seed from the East). The child's name was Judy Lee Holt. It turns out, she was one of the children Harry Holt tried to bring over to America. Due to some mixups in America, she was registered as Betty. A couple months before leaving, Judy became very ill and died. She was only 6 months old. Harry found another girl and named her, Betty, but he wrote that he was very sad and heartbroken over Judy's death.
This, and other events, led Harry Holt and his family to start an adoption agency in Korea for the orphans that resulted from the Korean War. My mother was adopted through Holt Adoption Agency. If it wasn't for Judy and the other orphans, I wouldn't be here right now. God's hand is certainly over Korea, not just America
Well, I better sign off!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Chelsea~very poignant story; thanks for sharing :0)
ReplyDeleteChelsea! Thank you for posting. We are praying!
ReplyDelete~The Friedrick family
In 'The Seed from the East' in July, 1955, Harry Holt sent a letter to his family concerning Judy Lee Holt and her death:
ReplyDelete"Mr. Underwood, the missionary who took charge of the funeral, has his parents buried in the same cemetery where our Judy lies. Mr. Underwood's mother was one of the first Americans murdered by the communists in Korea in 1949. Before the war she had meetings in her home and she tried to stop the communists from taking one of those in attendance, they killed her.
In the cemetery the gravestones with the best testimonies are bullet scarered from the recent conflict. The location is beautiful. It is on a hill overlooking the Han River. All that happens here is the will of God; I am waiting before Him to learn what to do next, Love, ... (Harry)"
Chelsea, amazingly, now, you've been there on the same hill and you are a witness to God's ongoing hand upon Korea and to His faithfulness in blessing even a short lifetime as Judy Lee Holt's with fruit for Him even a half a century later.
Prayer time tonight for the balloon launch was well attended. Kim, Joon Sang prayed for you tonight:) Praying for you all. Brent Colvin
"Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the East, and gather thee from the West..." ISAIAH 43:5
It is a small world and a world which our Lord has control, even down to the smallest detail!
ReplyDelete