Article No. 300 | Youth Mission

In these times when it is difficult to find Christian youth, we introduce the scenes of young missionaries in their 20s who have shared their destiny with the gospel and are fighting a fierce battle of faith every week in various mission fields. <the Editor>

At a port in Durban, South Africa, where we arrived on April 11th, Dry dock, which is work of bringing a ship ashore for repair and maintenance, was in the middle of process. More than half of the people left the vessel and went on outreach to various parts of the world, and we who are left here now are really working hard, burning our bodies.

Work starts at 7 AM and ends at 5 PM. We work for a full eight hours, excluding meal times and breaks. Every moment I work, it feels like I’m filming a scene from an action movie. I’ve been shoving things in, getting stuck somewhere, and hanging from high places. I kept trying things that seemed impossible and I realized, ‘It is possible.’ It is up to the person doing the given task to find tools and methods to do it, and thus creativity was also required.

The time I spent working went by much slower than I thought. There were many days that I thought ‘the morning work time should be over by now…’ but it wasn’t even 9 AM. The vessel was so hot that I was sweating even when I was still, with almost all of the cooling systems turned off due to work on the air conditioning and ventilation systems. The engine room was hot, sometimes exceeding 50 degrees.

So after work, whenever I wash my body, which is always covered in sweat and all sorts of dirt, I find new cuts and bruises. After dinner around 6 PM, we have a different evening schedule every day. Community activities, various events, prayer meetings, worship services, etc. When my evening schedule is over, I head straight to bed. I have no choice but to go to bed between 9 and 10 o’clock. Otherwise, it was clear that I would have a really hard time enduring that six-day work week schedule. Even while I was sleeping, I would wake up sweating profusely because of the high temperature.

As I write down my daily life like this, I realize that it’s full of things that sound negative. From a perspective view of people who do not believe in Jesus Christ, it’s clearly crazy to work like this without getting paid a single penny. Even if you are here as a missionary, the environment here can be tiring.

Just as his/her family becomes the motivation for working for the breadwinner of a household, it is obvious that even though the people on this vessel don’t make money, they have some other motivation to work like this. Working at LOGOS HOPE without any special motivation is like volunteering to be a slave.

There were two friends who asked me the same question. The one is who works with me and the other one is who felt tired and lost motivation to work.

“Why do you work so hard here?”

And I answered “I believe that every little situation and every little relationship that comes before me is permitted by God. Because nothing can come to me without the Lord’s permission. And if God, who allows all those situations and relationships to come to me, is the one who loves me, I think it’s right to be loyal to all of the situations and relationships.”

And there was the day that the Lord tested me with the confession that I made with my mouth.

Every Saturday is called “half day” and we only have to work until 12 PM. After a busy week, I was looking forward to this day. I thought I would finally be able to do what I was supposed to do. Actually, I had a perfect plan to finish this prayer letter.

That day, I was in the role of “standby” (a person on standby with a radio 24 hours a day). I didn’t have to worry about the role because I only had to do my regular work unless something special came up. However, the radio kept coming in, which was unusual, and eventually, I ended up finishing my work past 7 PM. I had to run around so much that I couldn’t even eat leisurely. Every time I was asked to do something, I thought, ‘Again? No way, again?’ I had no choice but to let my plans, which I absolutely had to carry out, fall through. I thought ‘I really don’t have time. Is today ending like this? How can things be so non-stop? Why today of all days?’ However, after a moment of reflection, I became convinced that these events were not just coincidences but something that God had placed before me. Even though my best plan was to do all my things on Saturday, I have come to accept that God’s best plan is different from my plan. Then, I felt at ease. Back then, I just accepted it without knowing why. But now, I realize that the day contained God’s heart that wanted me to live the confession I had made.

My trust and love for my Lord Jesus Christ opens my eyes every morning. My trust and love for Him motivates me to work hard. The trust and love for Him are powerful enough to fill my life that cannot help but be difficult with joy and gratitude.

Many times, we sang the hymn “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone.” Only true hope can bring eternal happiness in the midst of a difficult life. LOGOS HOPE is a fresh blue battlefield. In the vessel, young people from all over the world gather to wander and worship together. Specifically, the physical combat in the dry dock process is no joke these days. Please pray for us that may Jesus Christ, the true hope, be the reason for me and all the young people here to get up every morning with strength. I will also pray for all of you who are fighting the fight for Jesus Christ in different places.

The dry dock is actually finished. The vessel is now ready to enter the water again. However, repairs and maintenance will continue even while the vessel is in the water. About 63% of the process is now complete. We opened, closed, and cleaned about 70 tanks located throughout the vessel. I really didn’t want to clean tanks anymore, but the cleaning tanks is almost done. The condition and safety of the vessel was also inspected by outsiders. While working, I had the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the structure of the vessel and various other things. It was also a time of enduring the terrible smell due to the open tanks all over the vessel, though.

The boat rocked and everything fell

Before the Dry dock process started, during the voyage from East London to Durban, England, I had the unique experience of guarding the engine room. I had the honor of being a part of all the process including all the steps needed to be prepared before sailing and a step of operating the main engine required for navigation and steps of managing and stopping the main engine.

The route was rougher than usual. The vessel rocked a lot because of the high waves. But it was enjoyable enough.

But while I was sitting in the engine room, enjoying the rocking vessel, I heard the sound of dishes falling and breaking in the kitchen inside the cockpit. Then all the objects around started falling and breaking. The vessel rocked so much that I couldn’t even stand properly. Sugar, curry powder, plates, various pens, chairs, keyboards, mice, guitars, desks and so on. Everything was broken, dropped, mixed up and a mess. But until then, I could laugh.

However, at the moment we realized that the cause of the vessel’s unusual rocking was not just the high waves, but engine problems, needless to say, it was chaos. The engine control room was packed with people, including all the engineers, electricians, and some people from the engine department.

So, the first thing we did when we got together was praying putting our arms around each other. Running to the engine having problems was not our first action. What struck me most was that the first thing we did in that confusing situation was praying. I could see the meaning contained in that small act.

The prayer meant ‘Even if it seems like a problem we can solve, or even if it doesn’t seem like a problem we can solve, we acknowledge that all sovereignty belongs to God.’

I was moved because I realized that the principle on which LOGOS HOPE operates is under the sovereignty of God, whether it is ministry or sailing, ultimately, it is all possible under the Lord’s grace, and there are people of God who believe in it and move forward humbly.

When I think about all the things I’ve done, they were all dangerous. Isn’t it a miracle that I have survived so far amidst so many dangers? I am thankful for the simplicity of life, where I can think of only one possibility: God’s sovereignty, without having to calculate many possibilities. The vessel, which had been in shambles, was restored to its original condition in about a day or two thanks to our alliance.

I intended to write a short letter because I didn’t have much time, but it turned out to be longer than I expected. But still, it’s not enough to contain all the stories I want to tell. [Gospel Prayer News]

Missionary SIEUN KIM
(letter provided by Valiant Warriors Dispatch Headquarters of THE SCHOOL HEBRON

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