To the Great Outdoors

Yesterday I finally submitted my IRB application! Hooray! I'm not sure what's going to happen now, but at some point this month it's going to get reviewed, and hopefully it'll be approved. Now I'm working on the questionnaire that my fieldworkers will be using to interview my subjects. I'm really excited about my project, and I can't wait to get things going!

Today I decided to take things easy since I had been staying up late every night working on the IRB application. So I did some laundry, went to the pool, and joined the church choir at CMC campus. They practice every Sunday from 4pm until 6pm when service starts. I hadn't sung in choir since college (wow, that's 4 years ago...), but I still remembered how to sing and read notes (I definitely felt a lot sloppier though). It was a lot of fun singing in choir again.

RUHSA

Tomorrow I'm going to RUHSA (Rural Unit for Health and Social Affairs), which is a department of CMC that is located about 30-min drive from the main hospital. As the name implies, RUHSA serves the surrounding rural areas. (More info on RUHSA here). Lucy and I went to RUHSA about 3 weeks ago and got a brief orientation there. This time we're going with all the 1st-year (soon to be 2nd-year) CMC medical students and OT/PT students for a 2-week long Community Orientation Program (COP).

Basically, we'll be spending the next two weeks in a small village called Kavanur near RUHSA. In groups of 3-4, we'll be going door-to-door to collect their demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related information, while learning to build rapport with the people in the community. It sounds like a great learning experience. I'm really excited because this will be very similar to how my research project will be done (although it will be done by fieldworkers that I hire).

The boys will be staying at the village throughout the week, while the girls will be staying at a hostel in RUHSA. I'm guessing I won't be having much internet connection while I'm out there, so you probably won't be hearing from me for the next couple weeks.

So just to entertain you while I'm gone, here are some random pictures:

Everyday, a herd of goats are brought to a patch of land by the main road that is piled up with garbage. It appears that goats clean up all the edible garbage (e.g. paper), while people burn the rest. Hmm... doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it does make a lot of scent (it smells pretty bad—another good reason to have a bike, so I can zip past it while holding my breath)

A sign in the computer room at CMC campus library. Looks like the Lord isn't the only one who sees what you do there.

A mantis at the pool. This crazy insect attacked me while I was in the pool. It fell into the water, so I saved it. Then it kept following me... it must have thought I was its mate.

Maranatha, Turtles, and Homemade Ice Cream

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Today we went to Maranatha Church, which is a few minute walk down the street from the compound. This is the church that Scott has been going to. Scott is a long-term missionary who's been working at the radio station for many years, and he's going back to Alabama for good on Tuesday. Since this was his last Sunday at the church, he spoke to the congregation and bade them farewell.

Afterwards, Amy, Laura, Evan, and I went to Christoph, took a quick dip in the pool, and ate lunch at the poolside. They have a few turtles at the hotel, so we paid them a visit. Nothing too exciting, and their water needed to be changed, but it was cool to see turtles in Haiti.

Amy joined us again for dinner. The kitchen ladies had prepared sloppy joe and ice cream for us (they don't work on Sundays, so they made them yesterday). Ice cream was a bit too sweet for me, but it was still ice cream, so it was good. Later we hung out at Amy's as usual, and the three of them (Amy, Laura, and Evan) watched another episode of Grey's Anatomy while I chatted with friends online. I love Grey's, but I'm not big on re-watching shows unless they're hilarious.

It was another relaxing weekend.

Sickle Cell Crisis, Cannonball, and English Bible Fellowship

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Gavin was in charge of taking us to church this morning. There were Laura, Evan, Vicki, Nadine, Amy, and Steve, who is here for a week to work on some projects with the radio station.

Gavin had been up very early this morning because he had been called in to the clinic because a 10-year old girl was having a sickle cell crisis. He had relieved her symptoms and she was resting at the clinic when we left for church. A few minutes after, Gavin got a call from the mother of the girl saying she was in pain again, so we turned around to go back to the clinic.

Gavin and Amy rushed into the clinic while the rest of us waited outside. I didn't want to bother them, but I got concerned about what was happening, so I carefully went in. I watched Gavin and Amy as they started an IV and tried to calm her down.

A few minutes later the girl's father came in. While Gavin was out of the room looking for something, the father asked me, "Doc, in your opinion, do you think there's a cure for this?" All of a sudden I felt a huge weight on my shoulders, as if I had to deliver a bad news. I almost choked, but said in broken Creole, "Well, Gavin is the doctor, so he would know better than me, but this is a genetic disorder so..." The father understood what I wanted to say, and he responded, "But we can control the pain, yes?" "Yes, we can," I replied, and he accepted my answer.

It seems that the father had already heard that there is no cure for his daughter's disease, but I felt awful to think that I might be the one to tell him there's no real hope. I had learned about sickle cell anemia many times probably since elementary school, but actually seeing how it affected the girl and her family had a profound impact on me. It made me realize how serious the disease is, and that the people suffering from them are not just numbers in statistics.

Gavin and Amy were able to calm her down after a few minutes, and we let the family stay in the clinic with her while we went to church. Since we were running late for church, Gavin decided to go to the church next to the OMS compound. We used a little portable audio system so Gavin could translate into a mic and we could listen to him through an earphone. He started to translate for a bit, but he left in the middle because he was called by the girl's parents again. I could only catch a few phrases because they talked so fast, so I couldn't translate. I need to practice listening more.

After the service, we went to Christoph Hotel as we usually have lunch there on Sundays. We took a dip in the pool afterwards. We did a few cannonball dives, and Laura and I threw Nadine and Gavin in the air like we did last time when we were at Christoph.

Later in the afternoon, we went to English Bible Fellowship, which is held at the Radio 4VEH station every Sunday at 4:00PM. There were a few short-term mission teams with different mission organizations. It was cool to see them and to be able to worship together in English.

On Sundays we are on our own for dinner, which just means that we don't have a cook to prepare us food or wash dishes, but they make pasta salad or something we can heat up in advance. We also don't have a long-term missionaries scheduled to join us, but Amy joined us for dinner tonight, just because she can.

Afterwards, we hung out in Vicki and Nadine's room as they packed their bags because they are leaving tomorrow. We watched the rest of Chaos Theory, which had a pretty good ending. It's going to be so sad to see the two leave tomorrow morning.

Mobile Clinic, Day 2

Sunday, June 29, 2008

We went to Ms. Prudence's church this morning. Her husband is the pastor there, and this is the church where we did our mobile clinic yesterday. During the service Gavin introduced us to the congregation, and each of us said something briefly. I said something in Creole, and I almost choked up, but I hope I said what I meant to say.

Just as we got out of church, there was a crowd of people gathered around something on the ground. It turned out to be a 14-year old girl who had been carried in on a stretcher from a village far away. She had a big laceration behind her left thigh. Some old man hit her with a machete on Tuesday, so she had an open wound for the last 5 days. Since it's been too long since the injury, we couldn't suture it. Instead we cleaned the wound, bandaged it, and brought her down with us. She'll be treated at our clinic everyday.

I'm in awe of how people here can just carry heavy loads on their head and trek over a mountain barefoot. Many of them were so willing to help out as well. On the way back, it started to rain a bit, and then it poured when we got on the truck. It reminded me of the time when I went to Zanmi Lasante, and rode through the pouring rain on a open-back tap-tap for over 2 hours. It felt good to be in the rain.

We got back around mid-afternoon, and I took a nice hot shower. Oh, I never mentioned, but we have hot shower here. It's amazing. After dinner we finished watching Enchanted at Laura's place. I think we all have the song "How does she know that you love her" stuck in our heads.

Mobile Clinic, Day 1

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Today we went up to a place called Souffrier to do a mobile clinic. Tim (lab professor) got sick this morning, and there was another extra spot on the truck, so Carly and Emily, two of the girls on Tim's medical team, came instead. Our team consisted of Gavin (doctor for N. Ireland), Amy (nurse from Canada), Julie (physio from N. Ireland), Evan (doctor from N. Ireland), Mary (lab technician from the US), Ms. Prudence and Ketsey (Haitian nurses), Joel (Haitian evangelist), Carly and Emily (girls on Tim's team from the US), and me.

On the way there we stopped by an ice factory to fill up our icebox. I had seen so many people selling ice on the street, so it was cool to see where they were getting the ice from. It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the foot of the mountain, then another hour and 45 minutes to hike over the mountain. There were many volunteers from the village we were going to, and they carried our boxes and bags for us. The guys who carried our boxes on their heads, most of them barefoot, took a shorter but steeper path, while our team took the longer and easier way. We walked along a stream, which we had to cross several times. Near the end we had to cross a river on foot, so we took off our shoes and socks. The girls made fun of us guys because the Haitian guide "helped" us cross the river by holing our hands, which we totally didn't need at all. In fact it would have been easier to cross if they just let us on our own. Anyhow, it was a fun hike.

Our hosts had prepared brunch for us when we arrived. It was about 9:30AM. We were told that we won't eat until we finish the clinic, so I ate a lot, but then we ended up eating lunch at 1:00PM. They had slaughtered a goat for us so we had it for lunch and dinner. It'll probably be our breakfast tomorrow as well. Usually when people slaughter a goat, they use every part of it. They make soup out of the gut and bones, which we had for dinner, and they even eat the head, which fortunately wasn't served to us.

We were able to set up the clinic surprisingly fast. We used the church building for the waiting room and consultation rooms, and the storage for the pharmacy. The lab was setup outside next to an amazing view. Gavin and Ms. Prudence consulted on their own while Evan and Amy worked together (they either say Amy was translating for Evan, or Evan was helping Amy confirm her thoughts). Julie, Carly, and Ketsey worked in the pharmacy. Mary, Emily and I worked in the lab. Joel walked around talking to people about Christ.

I greeted the patients that came to the lab, checked what tests needed to be done, and drew blood if needed. There were a few patients, especially kids, whose veins were so small that I couldn't draw blood from them. b helped me out by using the syringe technique. In all, I drew blood from about 20 patients and did finger sticks on a few. Emily did the screening tests. We had a lot of patients with H. pylori, a few with malaria, and a few others with Hep B. Mary did everything involving the microscope and all the rest. Since Tim wasn't there, she was quite busy.

Joel, our Haitian evangelist, did an amazing job, and lead 25 people to Christ today. That's 10% of all the patients we saw. Praise God!

Overwhelming

Back from Haiti as of Friday
Miss the kids at the orphanage
My Haitian friends
Talking in Creole
The pure cornflower-blue eastern sunset sky
My feelings for Haiti, they're overwhelming

Need to get a lot of things done before med school
Send out my newsletter
Get new prescription for my glasses
Move in to my new apartment
Things I need to do, they're overwhelming

Thankful for the experiences I had in Haiti and Africa
For getting into med school and finding housing at UCSD
For my dad's new position as a senior pastor at a church in Cypress
God's grace and mercy, they're overwhelming

Incredible what just happened in the past thirteen months
Dedicated these post-college months to God
He made all the difference
So much more than I had ever imagined
Things that God does in my life, they're overwhelming

Sunday / Looking For A New Church

Last Sunday, after taking lunch at OkHab Church, I attended the EM service at Natchimban Church, where my brother is a Sunday School youth pastor. My brother had just come back from a mission trip to Thailand, so he was wearing a suit, and I was in my normal Sunday clothes (which is usually just normal clothes). My brother introduced me to some of the church members, and some of them went down like this:

To a little girl:
Sundo: Hey, this is my brother.
Me: Hi.
Little girl: Hey, no offense, but you guys don't look alike at all.
Sundo: ...
Me: Um... thanks.
Then to an older adult:
Sundo: Hi, this is my brother.
Me: Hello.
Church member: Oh, I see. [to Sundo] He's more good looking then you are. [completely serious. walks away]
Sundo: ...

Anyhow, the service was pretty good. Though I already serve at OkHab Church, I should keep going to a service where I can focus on worshipping God. I personally don't mind going back to my old church where my dad used to serve ("don't mind" is an understatement, 'cause I definitely miss my friends there), but I suppose I should take this chance to explore other churches. All my life I've been going to my dad's church, which I don't have a problem with, but it wouldn't hurt to see new things.

To be honest though, I don't want to join another Korean church. Not that I don't like Koreans, but it's that I've grown up in a more diverse environment, and I would get along better with people where there aren't just Koreans around.

So I think I'll look for a (non-Korean) church that I can attend on Sundays after 1PM. Would anyone like to recommend one? It would have to be somewhere near where 91 and 5 freeways meet (Buena Park, Cypress, Anaheim, Fullerton, etc.)

Update on Church Situation

Thanks everyone for praying for my church and family. A final decision has been made, and I believe everything went according to God's great plan.

Last week Thursday, two pastors and two elders from our denomination came to our church to act as mediators. God had given my parents peace in their hearts, and they told the mediators that they would accept whatever demands the other leaders of our church make. So the mediators talked to the church leaders, and they decided that my father will leave the church as of last Sunday, just as they demanded. My dad was assigned to start a new church in Hacienda Heights. Praise God for delivering my family! Please continue to pray for my family and the church.

When I heard the decision, at first I felt like my dad should have called the mediators from the beginning, and then the matter could have been settled earlier. But now I believe it was God's plan for things to get a bit ugly in the church. The issue that my dad had to face didn't just come up couple months ago. It was there for several years already, and it had to climax to this, so that people could see what's really wrong in the church. Perhaps that is why God called my dad to stand firm until God opened another door. It seems that God revealed the need for a new ministry in Hacienda Heights at just the right time.

There's no arguing that what the elders and other pastors did to my dad was morally wrong as well as illegal. But there's no need for me to describe what they've done, because what's important is that they know what they've done, and that they repent.

I'll tell you one thing that you should be aware. Just don't believe what people say against someone unless they can prove it. And even if they can prove it, don't listen to them if the information does not concern you. Telling gossip is sin, so don't let your brothers and sisters sin by telling you gossips. Besides, if they talk crap about someone to you, they probably talk crap about you to others. Gossip is quite prevalent at the church, so no wonder problems like this came up.

Anyhow, I believe that God will correct His beloved. He will not forsake them. I pray that the people in my church will be convicted of their wrongdoings, and that they would repent. I hope that they would not just forget what happened, but will learn from their mistakes. Please pray for those who are still in the church, that they would be protected from lies and gossips.

As for myself, I'll focus more on the ministry at my other church (one that sent me to Kenya). And when my dad sets up a new church, I'll probably be helping there as well.

Urgent Prayer Request: May the Truth Set Us Free

Thank you all for praying for my family and my church. The situation is still very stressful and sad, but I am beginning to see God working amongst us.

One specific prayer request is for the church members who have been told lies and rumors for so long that they are blinded from the truth. No matter how much you tell them the truth, they would not accept it. Please pray that their eyes and ears will be opened, so that they may know the truth about the situation and repent.

It seriously hurts so much to see the leaders of the church being blinded with lies that they are acting irrationally and with anger. Pray that God will not forsake them, and that He will deliver them from the hands of evil.

Pray for my family. We are hurting because of all the lies told against my father, and because our friends are being deceived. It hurts me to see my family being hurt. Please pray that we could be more patient. Pray that we would wait upon God and not act on our own thoughts.

In all of this, I know that God is working. I know He hears our prayers. I will trust Him and not lean on my own understanding, so that He may make my paths straight. May God help me to depend on Him alone.

KEEP PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE. PLEASE.

Urgent Prayer Request: Pray For a Miracle

Please keep praying for my church.

I won't go into any details of what happened today, but at this point, only a miracle can mend the situation we have at my church. This isn't just about my dad being kicked out of the church. It's about the church being used as satan's tool.

Perhaps it'll be easier for both my dad and the elders if my dad left the church, but in that case, no body wins but satan. The elders and other pastors are not the enemies. They are just blinded by the real enemy, which is satan, and they don't realize that what they're doing is wrong.

But our church is already too deeply in the hand of satan, and there's nothing we can do to change it. Nothing but a miracle. I believe that everything is possible by God. And by God my church can change. By God it can be restored. Only by God and God alone.

I love my church, despite what they have done to my family. So it hurts so much to see it go down like this. It hurts so much to see them running towards destruction.

So please pray that God will work in our church. Pray that He will be glorified. Seriously, pray for a miracle because that's the only way the church will survive and be blessed.

PRAY. PRAY FOR A MIRACLE. PLEASE.

Urgent Prayer Request: the Church Situation

My church and my family need a LOT of prayer as the year is coming to an end.

Long story short, the church (elders and other pastors) wants my dad (the senior pastor) to leave the church after this month (December) for no legitimate reason. It's not like my dad had an affair, stole stuff from the church, or anything like that. Basically the elders and my dad don't get along great, and the elders seemingly refuse to get along. My dad may not be the most social or people person in the world, but it's clear that he hasn't done anything to get kicked out of the church. Dad agreed that he would leave if and only if God leads him to another ministry, but the elders just don't want him. Dad told them he would serve the church even if he doesn't get paid because he believes that God has called him to ministry there, but they don't think he's "good enough."

I won't go into all the details, but situation seems to get uglier by day. Apparently some elders/pastors are spreading false rumors about my parents and are conspiring to get people to not attend the new years eve service at church but to meet on their own without dad. They even told dad that if he holds a new years day service at church, they would have a separate service in the next room.

Personally, I'm ok either way: if we left or if we stayed. But as a son of my father, and as God commanded, I'll honor my dad by supporting him on his calling. I also believe it's a sin for a church to separate as divorce is a sin (Malachi 2:16). But if the hearts of the elders/pastors are hardened, so be it (Matthew 19:8).

Please pray for the church because things could get really messy in the next few days. Pray for my dad because he's going through a lot, and it could get worse. And above all, pray that God will be glorified in all this.

I'm sorry to show you the ugly side of my church, especially if you're not Christian and don't know much about Christ. But please remember that people who call themselves Christians are also human, and not everything they do/say are representative of the teachings of the Bible. That applies to me as well. If everyone in the church were following what God says, things like this shouldn't be happening. It really sucks that we're going through this. But of course, there's no such thing as a perfect church. (If you find one, don't join it because you'll ruin it!)

This situation reminds me of Isaac and his wells (Genesis 26), and I wonder if we should just leave the church and move on. But I think for my siblings, mom, and me, the situation is like that of Noah's children (Genesis 6), which my sister brought up the other day. I know that dad firmly believes that God has a purpose for him at the church. Likewise, Noah was called by God to build a huge ark in a mountain. As expected people ridiculed Noah, and I bet his children were mocked as well. But the children had to support their father and help him build the ark. I don't know if you understand how much it sucks to have my dad be opposed by his own church on his calling to serve the church, and how much it would suck to have him kicked out for no good reason. You probably don't know how disappointed I am with the elders and some pastors at my church for how they are behaving, but I think Noah's kids could probably relate. Maybe you remember the time I yelled at a pastor a while back. Well, that's not going to happen again, but I am probably as upset as I was then, if not more. This time I'm more sad than I am angry. Anyhow, I must support my dad and pray for him.

I pray that the hearts of these elders and pastors will be softened. But if God has allowed their hearts to harden, so be it. May God be glorified in everything that He does and everything that happens.

African Courier #3: On the Other Side of Academia

Jambo!

I know I said the third newsletter was coming soon. And that was already two weeks ago. But you see, in Africa (and perhaps in your country, too) "soon" can mean anything between a few minutes to a few years, especially in restaurants, as I found out the hard way.

Anyhow, here are some of the things that have happened since my last update:

· At the end of August, we had a pastor's conference at BCEA Kenya. About 200 African pastors attended the conference. I attended some of the sessions and learned some good lessons on the Bible, many of which I never knew. I also got to learn some of the Fundamentalist perspective of Christianity. Lots of good stuff. The main speaker was Dr. Jeffery Khoo from Far Eastern Bible College (Singapore).

· Beginning of September, we opened the new Bible college in Arusha, Tanzania. Day after the opening ceremony, I went with Dr. Gary Johnson to a local church surrounded by a thick forest of banana trees. I got to share of my testimony, and Dr. Johnson preached. At the end of service three ladies came to Christ! The amazing thing was that these ladies had been going to church for at least 10 years, and had never before prayed to receive Christ! Praise God for giving us such an amazing opportunity to serve Him.

· A lot of my money was stolen at a hotel in Tanzania. It was a big mistake to leave my pouch in my hotel room. Probably while I was eating dinner, a hotel worker unlocked the door and took the money from the pouch, leaving the room as if no one had entered. I didn’t realize until I was back in Nairobi that my money was gone. So I actually don’t know for certain when or where the money was stolen.

· I got infected by some round worms. Soon after I came back from Masai Land, I was having some periodic gastric (and gas) problems. I got a chance to go to Dr. Johnson’s clinic in Kitui one day and got myself checked for parasites. When we looked at my stool sample stained with iodine under the microscope, lo and behold, there were some fertilized ascaris eggs! (I think I got infected when I drank water from a boma in Lenkijape. They get water by digging the sand in a dried-up river) At Dr. Johnson’s clinic, I bought some mebendazole and ketrax (sp?) along with some medicine for my shoulder (I landed on my right shoulder in a bicycle accident in Lenkijape). All of it cost only Ksh50 (~$0.70). What a steal! Dr. Johnson invited me to spend some time at his clinic so that I can learn some tropical medicine. I’ll probably go sometime next year. I’m really looking forward to that.

· I've been teaching two English classes at BCEA. One is for foreigners (Sudanese, Congolese, etc.) who don't speak English very well, and the other is for mostly Kenyans who've finished up to secondary school (equivalent of high school). It's been a challenge especially teaching the "beginner" class, since English is a foreign language to them. Sometimes I use a bit of French that I learned in high school to teach them English (Congolese speak French). It’s been encouraging to see many of the students improve.

· I’ve been conducting the church English choir. The church at BCEA has two choirs: Kiswahili Choir and English Choir. Since Rev. Kim’s daughter (who plays piano for English choir) left for seminary in California, Eben (who conducts the choir) now plays the piano, and I’m conducting. It’s been really fun trying to teach them vocal techniques that I’ve been learning since 10 years ago. It’s so cool to see them improve. They’re starting to read the notes and are making a lot less mistakes than when they started. It’s a huge challenge though, because they are used to singing African music (and hymns in Kiswahili often have different tune than the original). Although we may never sound like UCLA Chorale, it’s a fruitful work.

· I  became a vegetarian. Ok, I’m just kidding. But I caught your attention, didn’t I? I’ve been cooking a lot since I have to prepare every meal myself. I just decided to cook only vegetables so I can eat a lot and not worry about getting fat (and being accused of causing starvation in Africa when I come back to the States). I’ve learned to cook a variety of dishes (thanks to the Internet). Mom, you’ll be proud when you sees all the pictures of the food that I cooked! Sometimes Mrs. Kim invites me over to her place for food, and once in a while the three “bachelors” (Richard, Eben, and I) do a potluck (other two are married, but their wives are out of the country). I eat a lot of meat then, so I can handle not eating meat often.

· I’m almost done with my medical school application. I finally finished writing the first draft of my personal statement, which was the last thing I had left to do. If you have some spare time and want to proof read/revise/butcher it, let me know and I’ll send you my latest draft. The deadline is October 15, so I need to finalize it very soon.

Ok, as a reward for those that read this far, I’ve finally posted some pictures online and you can see them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/doxadeo
Well, maybe not a reward since it was actually up three weeks ago, but if you don’t check my blog often, you probably haven’t seen it yet. Warning!: there are some pictures of dead animals (chicken and goat)! Just don’t click on the thumbnail if you see it. Feel free to leave some comments on the pictures! I might upload some more pics depending on your feedback.

Finally, some prayer requests. Please pray for:

· my medicals school application. I’m applying quite late (close to deadline), and it’s a disadvantage with schools that have rolling admission (which is most of the non-top-tier schools). Even after submitting this application, there’s still a lot more to do (secondary apps for each school, interviews, getting letters of recommendation, etc.). I really need God’s guidance on this matter.

· my health. I think all the parasites are gone now (except for mosquitoes... but they don’t have malaria in Nairobi). I haven’t had much stomach problem since I took the medicine other than when I used some really old kimchi water for cooking. I haven’t slept much the last couple days trying to finish my med school apps. So please pray that I can manage my health more carefully.

· my English classes. I don’t take the responsibility of teaching English lightly, especially when I’m teaching the future pastors and evangelists. Please pray that God will give me patience and wisdom to teach effectively.

· the library catalogue project. This is my biggest project that I need to finish before I go back to the US. I’ve figured out how to use the program, but I haven’t had much chance to enter the information of books on the computer. Please pray that I can work efficiently and that I’ll be able to finish the task I’m given.

· midterms. No, I’m not taking any midterms (thank God). Remember I’m on the other side of academia now. In fact I’m making midterms (ugh!). The students are taking the midterms next week. Some students have been doing very poorly that they were asked to leave (also because they couldn’t pay school fees). So please pray for the students.

· the faculty of BCEA. Recently we’ve had some trouble with one of the faculties in BCEA Tanzania. He had been AWOL for three weeks, causing burden on other faculties there. The students in Tanzania are doing wonderfully, but it seems that we don’t have enough teachers. Also pray for the faculty in BCEA Kenya. Rev. Kim is always working very hard even though his health conditions has not been at its best for a while.

· the ministries in Masai Land. Please continue to pray for both Kiluani and Lenkijape. We’ve finally resolved some land issues in Kiluani, but a lot of work needs to be done to mend the relation between the secondary school and the clinic/church. Last Sunday, 9 of our church members visited the church in Lenkijape for some one-day mission. I don’t know the details yet, but keep them in your prayers (especially if you’ve been there. Hey there, London Team!)

· whatever I forgot or didn’t mention that needs prayer. There’s always a lot to pray for here in Africa. Please remember us!

Thanks for taking the time to read the news letter! I would love to hear what’s been going on in your life if you care to share them. Best wishes to those who have stared going to school!

God Bless,
SunMin
http://doxadeo.blogspot.com

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