Happy Jewish New Year

Hello!

It's been a long time since I've met most of you. But I want to thank you for supporting our ministries or at least reading the first line of this newsletter after all these years. It's been a tough year for fundraising, but new donors have stepped up to help us, including missionaries. We have two missionary families donating every month, and you can imagine it's a strange feeling to receive their help.

What a Summer!

It was a busy schedule with a good number of visiting teams:

• After the JMU team, FHC came for their fourth year in a row (it's a record for me) to love the children and the adults of Chonburi Mission Center even more than they have done previously. They also spent some time with a refugee family that Dwight helps (In Search of Sanuk), and are following up with some of the things they can do to help them while in the States.
• TGSC, our home church, came again and besides Chonburi Mission Center helped the children Kilang sponsors through Help Live, and also the women Sophia helps in some of the Bangkok red light districts.
• LAFGC came for the 2nd year in a row and implemented their plans from last year in sponsoring many of the children in Chonburi Mission Center; it can be an upgrade of the orphanage, Home of Grace. (Steve, one of the team members, took the photo above.)
• The last team of the summer was from Global Together, which organized a trip of college students from Korea to observe and learn about various social issues in Thailand; we visited agencies like the UN and also spent a few days in a Karen hilltribes village that I've been visiting since childhood.

I noticed that all the teams this summer were repeat teams, which made me feel good. At the same time, my eight years away from the USA might have made me lose touch with potential new ministry partners. There was one team that had inquired but couldn't find an opening to visit during this summer. I managed to find some time in between teams to go on a missionary retreat at Bali sponsored by In Dew Time, where I spent enough time just to realize that I actually need rest. 

Rahab Ministries
The Indehars and I have been teaching English Bible study at Rahab for over 2 months now. The OLC lunch group has also appreciated Todd's teaching style, while I continue to lead the evening sessions every Friday. I have benefited greatly not only from the fellowship that comes with this partnership, but also in observing the quality of Todd and Karen's ministry disciplines. They prepare about 3-4 times better than I do for teaching, and deliver a professional level of ministry for our Thai friends. We're thinking of setting up some fellowship gathering and even start worshiping together with the OLC folks in the Silom area. Rahab is going through a transition, since as of the end of this week they will be without full time missionaries for the first time since they were founded about 25 years ago; we are excited to see the local leaders take full control of this ministry.

Smart Ministry

I had been doing a lot of things the past eight years. I enjoyed getting to know a lot of ministries and ministry leaders. And my friends and I spent a lot of last year trying to start a café as a ministry center. We thought (and still think) it would be smart to establish a sustainable ministry structure for the long term; I spent extra time reading about management, organizational leadership, etc. But I would like to spend the next few months praying more than thinking about ministries. I would like to take a step back and seek more of how God is leading me. I am beginning to feel more strongly that God wants me to play a supporting role in networking with the ministries around me. Please pray with me as I prepare to transition to a more mature ministry perspective.

In Other News:

• The course called Microfinance Training of Trainers (MFTOT) I'm taking has given me a much better grasp of the issues involved in helping poor people; I will finish the course next month.
• Our visa process with ILDI is finally over, and we got our one-year visa last week! It's been very stressful and also expensive.
• We're stressed in dealing with maintenance issues for our rented condo. We call the office to send someone, who often makes things worse.
• Lydia is now on a GED track. We had mistakenly thought that she finished 9th grade on time, but we basically ended up wasting the one-year tuition that a new donor generously gave. There will be no more tuition money for Lydia. We hope that this will be a positive learning experience for her in the long run.
• The 10,000 rubber trees in Chonburi Center that I helped raise funds for basically failed after 3 years; palm trees are being planted instead. The FB page has been unpublished.
• I will go to Korea and the East Coast for a short while next week to help Dr. Myung Lee on a special project. It will be a quick trip but email me if you want to know when we can possibly meet; I'll be happy to share my schedule.
• We're planning to visit the Sates next February for a month or two, so we hope to catch up with many of you at that time.

 

Click on the Partnership Page to Donate

1. You can write a check to GP USA (memo: Paul & Sarah Kim ID# T17). ADDRESS: GP USA, 10582 Katella Ave, Anaheim, CA 92804)
2. Or donate through paypal by clicking the yellow "Donate" button at the bottom of our partnership page.
3. If you're in Korea, KEB account number is 990-090819-148 (김바울, 김은정); please call the GP Finance staff at 02-443-0883 to confirm.
4. Finally, you can transfer to my account in Thailand, Bangkok Bank account: 206-0-75264-5 (Paul Kim). SWIFT* code for int'l transfer: BKKBTHBK; please email me for more details).

Please pray that

1. Visiting teams in the future will benefit greatly while serving the people of Thailand.
2. Our ministry network will develop and help our partners be more effective.
3. Sarah and the children will have a satisfying experience in their studies and fellowship with our neighbors in Bangkok.