A new journey

In late August, I attended the memorial service for my brother-in-law, Elder Kee Sohn, in Champaign, IL.  He was two months younger than me and during the 36 years I have known him we have been very close.  Since we left Champaign in 1985 sometimes we have not seen each other for many years.  After we entered mission service for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1997 and lived in Africa and Asia, our face to face encounters were few and far in-between, mostly at weddings of our children.  Kee passed away at a young age of 64 due to esophageal cancer.  He was loved by everyone and hundreds attending the service during a weekday morning was a proof.  I was very glad that I made the long trip of twenty four hours to be a part of the farewell party.

As I got on the plane home and I realized that I am starting a new life without Kee, although we did not have many physical contacts during the past several years, he was in my life.  Eunhee, my sister, nieces and many friends need to start shaping radically different lives.  It is not just continuing their lives with one piece removed, but a new one.  When we entered mission service it was a new one rather than a revised life, and each subsequent field assignment proved to be a new life with new community, culture and relationships.  This realization was very useful and timely, since we were starting a new life with three Young Adult Volunteers (YAV) staring their year of service in Korea.

The day after I returned to Korea, Haejung and I drove to Inchon Airport three hours north of Daejeon to greet these young missionaries. I am sure they were glad to see us after 19 hours of travel with three hours of additional car ride ahead of them.  We made home safely, and started on new lives together.

During the past dozen years, we relied on our letters to family and friends to share our lives in the field which can be found here.   This blog is to serve as a communication tool for the YAV experience, providing a parallel view of the new life experiences shared by Jenny, Katie and Becky. 


I invite and encourage the parents of these young ladies to read the notes on this space for more complete understanding of your daughters' new life experiences.  Hopefully I can provide some useful context and perspectives for richer understanding.  I also invite young people who are contemplating a service with the YAV program to read and comment with your questions and concerns.  It will take several days for me to catch up with the ladies, but I think that will be the story of our lives during the upcoming year.