Rev. Dong Ho Kim and Merry Year International

During my trip to Korea, I also met with Rev. Dong Ho Kim. Rev. Kim is a Christian pastor, a radical man of God. He served several churches, including quite a few that he started.

He refused to build the church building. Instead he decided to God's invisible church by establishing social enterprises that were targeted to help the refugees from N. Korea. They were not as well educated as S. Koreans and not trained in business. But he set up a few businesses for them, such as paper box manufacturer, coffee shop, leather wallet manufacturer. He also started a social consulting company to provide consulting for other NGOs that desire to start social enterprises. His foundation owns a building in the heart of Seoul, but he makes the building space available to other NGOs and even social business start-ups for free.

When MYI staff visited to leave Sungeun Choi as an intern

Rev. Kim expanded this social enterprise work to overseas. He supported a few initiatives in Asia and Russia. Recently, Merry Year International, an arm of Merry Year Foundation for international development work, took over one of United Nations millenium development villages in Malawi. MYI wanted to start a micro finance project in Rwanda and has also signed an MOU with UOB to provide support for secondary school students. One intern has been working at UOB for the past three months.

He is now in fight against one of undesirable practices among Korean churches: senior pastorship succession. to the senior pastor's sons or sons in law. It is totally unbiblical but Korean churches have been silent about it when the first one occurred. This practice has since mushroomed to become a generally accepted practice. He finally stood up and declared to initiate a movement against this practice. I am in full support of it. This is the culmination of unbiblical and ungodly practice of making church ministry posts the social elite classes. This practice has induced people to want to cling to their positions, forgetting that the positions/responsibilities were to serve others.

 Our meeting in the office and over lunch were inspiring and encouraging. I also met with Rev. Bumseok Kim, who is Secretary General for Merry Year Foundation and Merry Year International. May the Lord bless our relationship to be a greater blessing to many underprivileged people of Rwanda. - Jeffrey 

Handong Global University...

Handong - God's University

On October 4th, I had an opportunity to visit Handong Global University, a Christian university in Pohang in S. Korea. Handong was founded by Dr. Young Gil Kim, the current president, in 1995. So it is 17 years old. It is new enough to maintain the original founding spirit of Christian faith and values. Handong's main building displays its name as "Handong God's University."

The campus is small and cozy. The University has approximately 3,500 students, including 1,200 graduate students. Approximately 250 faculty members serve these students, including 100 or so foreign national professors.

I visited Handong because I have been invited to speak to approximately 110 students, including business students and students of international development and cooperation. Most of international development and cooperation students were foreign nationals so I had to deliver my lecture in English. I talked about transformational development followed by who UOB is and what UOB does.

I had to be in a hurry to close because there was another class after the lecture, but I had a good first-hand experience of teaching college and graduate students in English at a Korean university environment.

I met with the president Dr. Kim for 30 minutes. In principle, Handong and UOB agreed to sign an MOU for cooperation. Handong wanted to send an intern regularly so that there will be continuity. But he volunteered to sit in my class, initially for 20 minutes, but he ended up sitting in for an hour. I also met several professors, including Dosoung Choi, vice president of globalization, Young-in Kim, vice president of administration, Bumha Jee, dean of business and economics department, Kee-Seon Yu, dean of graduate school of international development and cooperation, Dae Shik Kim, professor of business and economics. I also met other professors. All of them looked gentle, humble and godly to me.

With Professors, school restaurant owners, YG Kim, students

I also had a pleasant surprise of seeing my old friends. Dr. Young Gurl Kim is Executive Director of Institute for Biblical Community Development housed in the campus of John Brown University in Arkansas. We were involved in Integral Mission Alliance together with other like-minded fellow Kingdom workers. He is an adjunct professor and came to teach a course. He happened to stay in a room right next to my room at the Handong Guest House. We shared great joy of reunion and talked for hours to catch up with what God is doing in our lives. I ended up committing to teach at his institute in May next year.

I also saw Mr. Yong Lee and his wife Kay Lee. I have known them from our time in California as far back as in 1989. Kay Lee used to work for me at Premier Bank in Colorado. Both are now teaching at Handong. Kay Lee's daughter went to the same primary and secondary school with our daughter Amanda in Colorado.


All this was made possible because God opened the door through Dr. Myungsool Do, a professor at the school of bio engineering. He is now on his sabbatical leave but has undertaken a social enterprise to be established in Rwanda under KOICA's funding program. His team member students were also in attendance in the class that I taught.

I do not know what God has in mind, but the short visit and the opportunity of meeting numerous people did not look like a coincidence. I am grateful and hopeful for what God may have in mind. - Jeffrey 

Agaciro Development Fund

"Agaciro" means "dignity" in Kinyarwanda. Agaciro Development Fund (ADF) was initiated by Rwandans to help accelerate the development of Rwanda with their own fund.

It is also called "Sovereign Fund." It is because the Rwandan government promoted this fund to bridge the gap in development funding which resulted from either delayed or reduced payment of development/aid funds from major Western countries, such as the U.S., the U.K. and the Netherlands. Their actions were associated with an U.N. report that alleged Rwanda's involvement in supporting the M23 rebels fighting against the DR Congo government. The Rwandan government has flat denied all allegations on every account.

This initiative has motivated all Rwandans to stand up for the country's dignity, hence Agaciro, and participated in the fund-raising drive. The President Kagame has openly declared that it should be purely a voluntary participation from whoever desires to do so. However, many feel that they have to. This sends a signal that many are doing it in fear or reluctantly while others may be eager to do it. It is reported that government officials or staff have pledged or donated up to 100% of their one month salary to be paid over 12 months.

At any rate, this Agaciro Development Fund drive has raised $30 million worth of pledges in just two months. That amount happens to be the same as the amount that has been a shortfall in Rwandan government's development funding needs. Coincidence? Could be. Calculated maneuver? Could be also.

At any rate, UOB and all UOB staff also participated in the fund-raising campaign after a lengthy debate among representatives of the staff. In total, UOB and UOB staff, including myself as a friend of Rwanda, have donated RWF21.1 million or approximately $35,000 in cash. The bank has decided to make the lump sum payment on behalf of the staff to be collected over the next 12 months.

Personally, I think it is a good campaign to mobilize savings among Rwandans. It is an effort for self sufficiency. There have been other cases in different countries. If this drive continues, however, without genuine desire collectively expressed in consensus among Rwandans, it would become another form of tax for the Rwandan citizens and businesses. It may also worsen the otherwise wonderful leader's tarnished image as a dictator although I personally think he is a benevolent strong leader. We will see. - Jeffrey

Here is the link to an article about our giving published in the New Times.
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?i=15131&a=12837

Ministry Updates - September 2012

Time of Worship at OIN Global Leadership Conference

Dear family, friends and fellow Kingdom workers

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Glory and honor be to Him and Him alone!

As we have just finished the month of September, three quarters of the year 2012 have passed away now into the past. September was another month that compels me to praise and honor our gracious Lord for what He has done, beyond our expectation and imagination.

The following were highlights:

1. Kristin and I had a privilege of participating in the Opportunity International Global Leadership Conference that took place at Keble College, Oxford University, U.K. The conference was themed as "Blueprint for the Future." As the theme indicates, Global Microfinance Operations (GMO) CEO presented a strategic blueprint for the next few years. It was encouraging and a blessing to meet/see many colleagues from around the world, who have been responding to and are partaking God's calling for serving the poor. 

2. Kristin and I also took advantage of visiting this great historical education city by visiting some colleges. Also, God has blessed us with an opportunity to see a long-time friend and fellow Christian couple who are serving the Lord at Oxford Center for Mission Studies: Drs. Julie and Wonsuk Ma. Both are faculties and Wonsuk is Executive Director. The late John Stott was one of the founding and contribution members of OCMS and we shared our direct and indirect experiences about this great godly man.

3. UOB held the regular board meeting in September. The board reviewed the second quarter performance and praised God for His overflowing grace in all fronts.

4. UOB held six focus group meetings with approximately 160 clients to collect feedback on four new products that UOB has been designing to serve the needs of clients better. The products are: Home Improvement Loans, Emergency Loans, Secondary Student Loans and Premier Life Insurance. Based on these feedback, we plan to gradually introduce new products over the next six months. May the Lord bless these products to benefit Rwandan clients!

5. UOB received a Social Audit from Planet Rating in September. This audit was commissioned by Oxfam Novib that has lent UOB a medium term loan to finance UOB's growing lending activities. This Social Audit findings and recommendations will help UOB improve its social performance management.

6. UOB submitted an Expression of Interest for grant funding to DFID (Department of Finance for International Development - UK). Also, UOB submitted a Concept Note for grant funding to Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR). We are waiting for the result from two other British development agencies to which UOB submitted grant funding proposals. We pray for God's favor in these proposals, but we are not concerned at all. We are confident that our God provide whatever we need whether through these development agencies or not. So we can remain in peace whether they are approved or not. Meanwhile, we seek your intercession until the result comes out.

With Drs. Julie and Wonsuk Ma at Christ Church

7. UOB started an operation at its new Ngoma Branch. Ngoma is a district in Eastern Province. From this office, we expect to serve the growing needs of clients in Ngoma and Kirehe districts. UOB is also working on opening its Huye Branch (Southern Province) and Gisozi Minibranch in Kigali City. Also, UOB has opened two new credit offices in Southern Province, thus making its total number of offices now reach 44. Moreover, UOB will soon start signing up its client service agents in Eastern Province. We target to establish at least 60 agents by the year-end. These expanding client service points will only help serve our clients better and more conveniently.

8. UOB has been developing a new credit scoring method (named B-CAT or Business Credit Assessment Tool) that will be used for Micro Business Loans. With the technical assistance received from Triple Jump, this effort started with the market research and product design. With the development of this tool, procedural manual development and staff training are scheduled for October. After expected implementation in October, we will run a pilot test for six months after which we will hold an evaluation for refinement.

9. UOB registered another month of growth in its lending and deposits. The loan portfolio increased 3% to Rwf10.3 Billion and a slight increase in client number to 42,592. PAR>30 remained strong at 1.27%, although showing a slight increase from the previous month-end.

10. Jeffrey has continued his preaching and teaching ministries at UOB, Agape Korean Church and Shalom Bible Study. It is a wonderful honor to be used for these ministries. 

11. Kristin has committed to helping build two classrooms at a church-led nursery to induce little children from the streets to classrooms from early age. She has started offering to others the opportunities to participate in this effort. Please see the blog post http://jeffreyandkristinleeinrwanda.blogspot.kr/2012/09/church-kindergarten-project.html  for additional information.

12. We have the following prayer requests. Please pray for us whenever you remember us in your prayer time:

• For God's continued guidance in developing the mobile banking solutions in a timely manner for a timely launch in November
• For God's provision of wisdom in designing the road maps in implementing IFC TA funding
• For God's provision of discernment in analyzing, assessing and deciding on human resources cases, including frauds so that our decisions may be godly and edifying
• For God's guidance in designing and implementing four new products in a way that benefits Rwandans reflecting the focus group feedback.
• For God's conviction to all staff about UOB's mission, vision and core values so that our transformation efforts may be apparent and evident in all we do.
• For God's mercy upon our aging parents to finish their lives on earth in joy, hope and love.
• For God's grace upon our two daughters who are in service for different purposes in Africa so that they may serve as if they work for the Lord and they may clearly see the path that the Lord has prepared for them. (Amanda has now returned to the U.S. after successful mission in Africa. Praise the Lord!)
• For God's continued illumination to us to be able to understand God's Word clearly so that we may preach, teach, coach and lead many people who have been bestowed upon us to serve.  
• For God's favor in raising all necessary funding to help complete the construction of class rooms for a nursery.

Thank you all for standing with us in prayer for this wonderful privilege of serving "the least of His brethren" in Rwanda (Matthew 25:40)

Gratefully in His service,

Jeffrey and Kristin Lee in Rwanda 

 

Church Nursery Project in Gicumbi...

Gicumbi in red color

Pastor Innocent

Gicumbi is one of the districts located in the Northern Province in Rwanda. Its old name was Byumba. Gicumbi's altitude is 2,300 meters high or higher and its terrain is pretty mountainous.

In Gicumbi, there is a church called PEFA Gicumbi that has approximately 120 adult members and 100 children. This church is ministered by a Rwandan pastor, Innocent (photoed), who is building a dream in educating young children, particularly 60 kids of five years old or younger.

Mud bricks under production

This 43 year-old pastor wants to build a nursery that provides basic education and care for little children who normally wander around on the streets and fields while their parents work in the fields. Pastor Innocent wants to build the nursery building with mud bricks. The church members have already started making mud bricks as shown in the photo. But he cannot afford to buy other construction materials, such as structural beams, concrete cements to lay the foundation for the building, window frames and iron sheets to cover the building. The construction cost is estimated to be $15,000 for two classrooms, including costs for basic necessities, such as blackboards, desks, chairs and school supplies.

The Lord has convicted me to be of help for Pastor Innocent and young children at PEFA Gicumbi Church. I would like to invite those whom the Lord is also convicting to help these young children in Gicumbi Rwanda to participate in raising funds for this project. Once the nursery project is going under way, Pastor Innocent hopes and prays to build additional classrooms for kindergarten and even primary schools to help out the underprivileged people of Rwanda whom he has been called to serve.

Would you be interested in helping this energetic and motivated pastor helping young Rwandan children?

Children of the church

We have deposit accounts set up in the U.S. and S. Korea to help you make contribution. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact me via e-mail (klee80111@gmail.com), skype (kristinlee) or facebook messenger (klee80111).

Thank you and may God bless you richly! - Kristin

"He who willingly gives away what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose is no fool." - Jim Eliott

God's Will

Today, September 16th, 2012, I had the privilege of sharing God's Word at Agape Korean Church in Rwanda. It was my first time at the current location after the recent move.

God's will is a little fuzzy concept for many. Some may think it is a hidden secret. Others may think you can not really know God's will until you experience mystical voice or trauma.

But, I believe that God has clearly revealed what He desires His followers to obey and keep.

In the Old Testament, God the Father was clear about His will. He communicated clearly and directly to His people.

When Jesus was on earth, He himself revealed Himself directly in human flesh. But He also showed many signs pointing to Himself. Even after He completed His redemptive work on the cross, resurrected and ascended to heaven, His apostles carried out the evangelical mission pretty much the same way Jesus did: showing many signs pointing to the Christ. All signs were empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.

Now we are living in the Church era. Jesus is the logos, the Word. He was with God and He was God. (John 1:1) He came to us in human flesh, Jesus. It was incarnation. After He completed His redemptive work, He went back to the Father, but He left the Word. It is the bible. God's Word. God's Word therefore reveals God's will clearly, extensively and in details.

We are men and women of God if we believe in God and in Jesus Christ as the Savior and the Lord. We as Christians or Christ-followers, therefore, ought to honor and follow God's will.

King David, as praised by God as the man of His own heart, desired to follow God's will (Psalms 40:8) and prayed God to teach him to do His will. (Psalms 143:10)

But no one can come even close to Christ who exemplified as the doer of God's will. In the prayer He taught us to pray, He said "Thy will be done as is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) He said the purpose of His coming to us is to do the will of the One who sent Him, the Father. (John 6:38,39) When Jesus was praying before He was arrested, He was obedient to the Father's will despite His own desire of avoiding the cross, if possible at all. He chose to put His will only after the Father's will. (Matthew 26:39) On the cross, Jesus declared "It is finished." He was referring to the will of God for Jesus Christ to die as a ransom for all humanity. From the birth to death, Jesus was doing the will of God.

We Christians should do the will of God.

Let me quickly and briefly highlight seven wills of God that have been clearly stated based on Ephesians 5:15-21 and other selected scriptures:

1. God's foremost desired will is that we be saved. "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come into a knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:3,4) God is waiting with patience until all whom He chose before the foundation come to repentance.

2. Being filled with the Spirit is the will of God. According to Ephesians 5:18, we are urged to be filled with the Spirit instead of getting drunk. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can experience the explosive power that was manifested among the apostles. Peter was a good example who was able to proclaim Jesus in front of the whole Jerusalem leading more than 3,000 people to salvation despite the threat of being arrested, persecuted and possibly killed. It was the power that made it possible, which resulted from the filling of the Holy Spirit. It is God's will that we be filled with the Spirit.

3. Singing praises and thanksgiving is the will of God. According to Ephesians 5:19,20, we are urged to sing praises and saying thanks in everything we do. God's grace is amazing whenever we think of His decision to save us without any merit. We were lost but are found. We were blind but now can see. With grateful heart, we can sing praise to God for His grace. The opposite is thankless heart. Despite many blessings, we look at what we do not have, thus being unsatisfied, unhappy and ungrateful. Ungratefulness leads to discomfort, worry, despair and the downward spiral. It is God's will that we rejoice with thanksgiving and praising.

4. Being mutually submissive is the will of God. Ephesians 5:21 urges us to be mutually submissive. This pertains to relationships. We should be submissive to our spouses, our parents, our superiors at work and to our governments. Not out of obligations we should be submissive but out of reverence for Christ, the scripture says. We should do with all our hearts in everything as if we work for the Lord because we submit ourselves to the Lord, not men. (Colossians 3:23) Romans 13:1 says that all authorities have been established and blessed by God. We should be submissive to the government in honor of the Lord, but to the extent the government does not conflict with God's own attributes, based on Acts 4 and 5.

5. Being sanctified is the will of God. It is God's will that we be sanctified according to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6. Our  sanctification pertains to achieving personal holiness, avoiding sexual immorality, attaining full control of our own body and avoiding abuse of our neighbors. We have been called righteous because of the righteousness of Christ and it is God's will that we complete the sanctification process.

6. Suffering is the will of God. Believe it or not and like it or not, it is God's will that we go through the suffering for the sake of Christ's goodness. If we suffer for the Christ's sake and His righteousness, the scripture says it is our blessing. In such cases, we should rejoice because there is great reward in heaven. (Matthew 5:10-12) If we suffer for Christ's sake, the world will hate and persecute us not because of us but because of Jesus. Apostles rejoiced when they were persecuted for Christ's name sake because they were glad that they were considered to be worthy of the suffering. It is God's will that we suffer for His name because the glory bestowed upon us in heaven is far greater than the suffering that we may have to endure. (Romans 8:17,18)

7. Self-will is the will of God, but only after we have kept the wills of God that were listed above. In our daily lives, the wills of God stated above may not be practically helpful to us. We still face day to day challenges in our lives. We may do it as we wish and desire and He will honor our self-will as long as we remain in Christ and His words remain in us. (John 15:7) If our decision and desires are clearly against the will of God, He may keep us from going in such a direction. Instead He will show us alternative ways. He is good and faithful beyond our imagination.

It is my prayer that you and I discern His will with the divine wisdom and do it willingly and obediently. He will be honored with our obedience to His will. May God bless you with this message! - Jeffrey

Borrowed Talents for UOB...

UOB has benefited tremendously from many borrowed talents. Other organizations call them interns or volunteers. I called them borrowed talents because they are indeed talents who have been borrowed from the first world. They play an important role in bridging the gap that exists in the human resources pool.

Sungeun, Roopa, me, Jeremiah, Jamie

Their roles are quite different from people to people. Some are exceptionally good with finance and analysis. Austin and Kyle were examples. Some excelled in power point presentations. Jinho and Sungeun fall into this category. Some were greatly talented in writing and editing. Jerimiah, Seungchul, Kristine were in this category. At any rate, these young people are talents whom I treasure so much.

Until recently, we had Jeremiah from the U.S. He is an MBA candidate from Oklahoma Christian University and has been helping us with designing and drawing workflows for mobile and branchless agent banking, plus helping us revising the Operations Procedures Manual. Jeremiah had worked at UOB for 10 weeks until end of August when he went back to the states to finish his MBA.

Roopa is an Indian lady who is currently living in France. She finished her master's degree in microfinance at a school in Belgium. Her work at UOB was an internship. She has also helped us with the preparation for the mobile banking and agent network development. She assisted us for two and half months until the end of August when she returned to France.

TJ, Jamie

U of S.F. research team

Jamie (Hyeonguk) Lee was a KOICA volunteer. He helped us primarily with the IT Team but later on he had also helped us serving the USD clients, particularly KOICA clients and Korean Embassy. He had worked for UOB for 18 months until early September when he returned to Korea.

Sungeun Choi (Uwineza) is an intern from Merry Year International in Korea. She came to Rwanda in July to work for UOB for a year. Her primary assignment is helping design, develop and implement a secondary student tuition fee loan product in cooperation with UOB and also introduced a web-based individual lending program, called "Story Money" in S. Korea. She is also trained in other areas of microfinance. 

Jackie on Umuganda Day

Jinho and Seungchul 2009

 There were many more borrowed talents whom I cannot name all here: Austin, Kyle, Jared, Patrick, Whitney, Michelle, Maurice, Jinho, TJ, Seungchul, Jackie, Kristine etc. I am so thankful to the Lord who has supplied all these talents timely and appropriately. Their contributions have been tremendous and will be remembered for long. Thank you! - Jeffrey

Opportunity Global Leadership Conference Oxford 2012

Delegates praising God

For three days, September 10-12, 2012, Opportunity International Network Global Leadership Conference  (OIN GLC) took place in Oxford, UK. The venue was Keble College, one of 38 colleges under the Oxford University umbrella. We stayed at the college's bed and breakfast facility. This OIN GLC is held every 18 months. The previous one was in March 2011 at Chennai, India. This was the third GLC that I have attended after I joined the OI Network.

This year's conference theme was Strategic Blueprint: Shaping the Future.

Under the new leadership of CEO Harry Turner, the GMO (Global Microfinance Operations) presented the strategic blueprint. It was encouraging to see the global leadership come up with the blueprint in unity. The presentations were reasonable and forward-looking.

Harry Turner, GMO CEO

Many leaders and board members from all over the world came and actively participated in the conference. The conference schedule was tight and packed with programs. Unlike previous conferences, I led a couple of working groups and gave a presentation about what UOB is doing through partnerships, particularly with a world renowned payment service provider.

There were six presentations: Social Performance Management, client solutions, global portfolio, channels and partners, operational effectiveness, and people. Each presentation included a key note speaker presentation and a group of panelists who also gave presentations. A questions and answers session followed each presentation session. Afterwards, all members were assigned to working groups that came up with observations and recommendations for each presentation or theme.

Latino delegates leading the praise 

Michale Ramsden, the devotion speaker

There were side meetings over breakfasts, lunches and dinners with different stakeholders. Due to these packed schedules, I did not have sufficient time of discussion with colleagues working in different countries on topics of common interest.

The sessions that I liked and enjoyed most were devotions. Michael Ramsden who is a professor at Wycliffe Hall and European Director of Zacharias Trust. His messages were so inspiring, engaging and profound that I was deeply touched by them. From three familiar parables, he was able to draw profound truths and messages.

Keble College Campus

View from ARCO Building where we stayed

Overall, the conference was productive, efficient and informative. I trust all other participants would also share my sentiment. Praise the Lord! - Jeffrey

Oxford in Spires...

Queens College Courtyard

Kristin and I have come to Oxford, England to attend the Opportunity International Network Global Leadership Conference that is scheduled to take place from September 10-12, 2012. We came a couple of days earlier to catch up with the Mas, the previous blog post, and to tour Oxford, the city of "dream spires."

Oxford is in spires and also inspires.

In England, there are two oldest universities: Oxford and Cambridge. Collectively they are called Oxbridge. University is relatively a new concept to them because in olden days there were only federations of colleges. Colleges are independent legal entities, employing their own staff, owning their own buildings, managing their own endowments and hiring their own staff. The central university only administers and coordinates among colleges.

Schulman Auditorium

Oxford University has 30 colleges and 12 permanent halls. Some are better known than others. In total, Oxford University has approximately 16,000 students, including 5,000 graduate students pursuing higher degrees.

Today, September 8th, Kristin and I had a tour of Oxford, visiting some of the colleges. Fortunately, today happens to be an "Oxford Open Day" that allows tourists to visit some of the college buildings for free. We visited Queens College, New College and Magdalene College.

Inside Queens College

Queens College from High St.

Queens College opened its chapel and auditorium. The alley towards the auditorium was very romantic with two rock-built walls leading to the auditorium. Before entering the auditorium, there was a small courtyard that had a big tree, meticulously maintained grasses and a few benches. It was so cozy and soothing. I felt I could study well in such an environment. The auditorium was built with wooden panels. It was not so big but it appealed to me strongly to make me feel like lecturing to students there.

Students after Final Exam

Trinity College

New College is the newest college of Oxford University, but it celebrated its 600th anniversary recently. So other colleges are 800-900 years old. New College has become famous after Harry Porter's movie filed dining hall scenes at New College's Dining Hall. What appeared in the movie looked a lot bigger and more grand than the reality, but it was still pretty sizable. Its campuses, buildings, meadows and walking trails were all meticulous and romantic.

Sheldonian Theater

New College from Courtyard

Magdalene (pronounced Moh-dlene in old English) College is the home for famous scholars, such as C.S. Lewis and Oscar Wilde. I could not find any external evidence for C.S. Lewis' teaching there. I was told that one of the walking trail rest spots has one of his poems by the bench, but I learned about it after I have come out of the trail. Its courtyards were maintained with excellence. Clean and beautiful. The walls and floors in the corridors have been worn out due to the age, but such worn out parts looked rustic and classic.

New College Dining Hall

New College

We also toured other parts of the city, such as Martyrs Memorial, High Street, Broad Street, The Covered Market, Sheldonian Theater, Trinity College, Examination Schools, Blackwell Bookstore etc.

Sheldonian Theater is where all University official events take place, such as welcoming ceremony to new comers and graduation ceremony. There was a wedding ceremony in the back of the theater.

New College

Magdalene College

Examination Schools building is the most feared building for all students. As a tradition, all students who are taking the final exam must be wearing black suits, white shirts, white bow ties and gowns. Today, there were students who must have taken the final exams. Many students were coming out of the building in such outfits. I am sure they felt relieved from the finished final exam and proud to be part of Oxford tradition at the same time.

Magdalene College

Oxford is a city of "dream spires" and is a city in spires. Indeed it inspires. - Jeffrey

Reunion with Drs. Julie and Wonsuk Mas in Oxford

Wonsuk and Julie Ma

Dr. Wonsuk Ma is Executive Director at Oxford Center for Mission Studies (OCMS) in Oxford, England. He has been leading this institute for the past six years. OCMS coaches and grants students PhD degrees in mission studies. Dr. Julie Ma is the wife of Wonsuk and a professor at OCMS. They both graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA with their PhD degrees.

St. Phillipe and St. James Church

But, what is more significant to Kristin and me is that they both attended the same church when we were living in Los Angeles. It was in the early 1990's when we were attending the same church. Since then, we have gone our own ways as the Lord has led and we have not seen each other for almost two decades.

Thus, our reunion was joyous.

The Mas were missionaries to the Philippines for more than two decades before he accepted to lead this historically important institution six years ago. Their field experiences plus academic background made their qualifications stood out. OCMS, once struggling, is now stabilized and begins to thrive. Praise the Lord!

Kristin and Julie Ma

OCMS is located at the former St. Phillipe and St. James Church building, that just celebrated its 150th anniversary. Every corner and floor spaces are used for the OCMS staff or faculty offices. OCMS remains significant to the mission academia because it has been the pioneer in holistic mission, as acknowledged by the late John Stott.

We had a delicious dinner at the Kings Arms Restaurant located right next to the Thames River. We ended up being treated by the Mas, gratefully. We both praised the Lord for His faithfulness in our lives through countless number of blessings, with many in the form of miracles. Julie Ma went through a couple of medical situations that were diagnosed by doctors to be hopeless, but she has been cured in both situations. Hallelujah!

Wonsuk Ma at his office

OCMS in the church building

We agreed that we were grateful for the fact that we are being utilized for His Kingdom and His ministries. Until we have to pass our torches at the opportune time, which we have to discern well not to miss His timing, we would put our best efforts to carrying out the responsibilities He has bestowed upon. Amen! - Jeffrey