Looking Forward to 2020... (January 2020)

By the time I write this blog post, the world is concerned about Wuhan-originated coronavirus that is causing many people to die. The Chinese-style hush policy has made it spread a lot faster than otherwise. So the planned travel schedule may change unexpectedly.

Nonetheless, the year 2020 sounds and looks really good with its number combination of 20 and 20. So I cannot resist the temptation to document what is lying ahead for travel in 2020.

Travel-wise, I counted 92 countries in total after I counted the six new countries that I visited in 2019 and it is really enticing to look forward to reaching the mark of 100 countries in 2020. 8 more countries to go. I have already scheduled for 5 countries and 3 more countries to travel to in order to reach 100.

January was the month of rest and planning while I am staying in Chiang Mai.

February begins with a series of travel to Sri Lanka to explore the ministry opportunities, Nepal to launch the first Focused Training and to follow up with the SfK MBA BCT graduates, Pakistan to conduct the second Focused Training, Oman to stop over, Georgia to design the road map with an SfK MBA BCT graduate to start a missional business and Madrid Spain to discuss with an SfK Kingdom Fellow about expanding SfK MB Trading activities to Europe

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March will be a month of break, but with some exploring in Valencia, road trip from Valencia to Malaga and in the surrounding area. Also, we will make a short trip to Malta and Tunisia.

In April, we will fly to Casablanca and travel on land to Rabat, We will join Gate 1 group tour to explore several cities of Morocco. After the trip, we will explore a few more days in Casablanca. From there, Kris will fly to Rwanda and I will fly to Cairo, Egypt to discuss the business plan for a missional business that started in 2019. After Egypt, I will travel to Bangkok to attend the FBA Forum and BAM Congress to take place in Jomtien, Thailand, close to Pattaya.

In May, after the BAM Congress, I will fly to Cambodia to spend time with Hesed Cambodia leadership. Potentially, I will meet up with Rev. Jae Chul Jung and Ilcheol Shin. After the stint in Cambodia, I will fly to New York to reunite with Kristin who will fly from Rwanda directly. While Kristin takes care of the stuff in the storage, I will fly to California to attend the SfK Life board meeting. After that, I will fly to Dallas to unite again with Kris. Amanda will wed to Ray on May 30.

After the wedding, on the first day of June, we will fly to LAX and continue the journey to CNX to return home. Also in June, we will celebrate my mother's 90th birthday on a short cruise embarking and disembarking in Singapore, which will visit Penang, Malaysia and Phuket, Thailand, togehter with Minja and Minsook. After the cruise, we will spend a couple of days in Singapore before we return home.

In July, I will have to travel again to LAX to attend the GMMA conference in Irvine. I will get together with Hesed people and also potentially lead a BAM seminar for John Lee's ministry.

In August, I will be in Korea, to take the medical exam, to attend the KBM Global gathering, to meet up with SBS members and to meet up with people. I am certain that the Lord will open other ministry opportunities as in the past.

In September, the schedule remains open. We may take a Turkey tour or join Expat Explore tour to visit Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. I may also visit Yanji in the second half of September. But for now, we keep it open.

In October, we have a schedule to run SfK MBA BCT in Chiang Mai, but it remains uncertain. Anyway, we will fly out on October 16 to LAX and fly to Kauai to stay at Pono Kai, Hawaii. Prior to that, KAGMA will hold a consultation on North Korea at Incheon and I am inclined to attend this event on the way to LAX. Also, the trip to Hawaii is uncertain at this time because we could have a conflict to do this trip with the tentatively scheduled SfK Life face-to-face board meeting in Cambodia in November. If this goes as scheduled, I may have to cancel the trip to Kauai. I agreed to train Latino missionary candidates about BAM for a week during the September to November training schedule for potential missionaries through John Lee's ministry Vision 800.

In November, we normally get together for our family reunion with our daughters. We will meet in Dallas this year. Also, in this month, I visit and meet with existing and potential donors to SfK Ministries located in several cities.

In December, my visits to meet up with SfK supporters continue. I plan to finish these visits by the middle of the month and return to Chiang Mai. This schedule could change, however, depending on Thai government's visa policy on our retiree visa that will expire on December 18.

At any rate, this travel schedule still looks quite dizzy even after I have cut it back consciously. Lord willing, I hope to be able to finish the schedule with a healthy body in a healthy condition. - Jeffrey       

Happy New Year 2020!

The year 2020 has carried a special meaning because of its number. It represents a perfect vision 2020.

In Chinese zodiac order, the lunar new year 2020 is the year of rat. I am sure it has a lot of meanings that the Chinese people love to talk about.

A new year symbolizes a new beginning.

As a Christian, the new beginning represents a renewed determination to imitate and live more like Christ, which can only be achieved by walking closely with Him through diligent time of prayer and meditating on the holy scriptures.

Moreover, we Christians should be the blessing to people in the world, including fellow Christians. Through our service, we will be able to honor and praise our Lord Jesus Christ.

 To be a blessing, however, we should receive God's abundant blessings that are coming from the heavenly realms.  Thus, we wish each other God's blessings.

On the New Year's Day, we had rice cake soup, or Ddeokkuk, which makes us gain one age according to Korean customs.

It was delicious! That is how we began the New Year 2020. May we live with His abundant blessings according to His will to be a steadfast blessing to people in need around us and around the world! - Jeffrey 

Chiang Mai, Thailand (December 2019)

After I returned from Phnom Penh, Cambodia on December 24, I had to spend most of time resting and recovering from prolonged fatigue. But, the recovery process included daily walking at Central Festival Shopping Mall that was well decorated with the commercialized version of Christmas.

On the Christmas Day, we had smokes salmon with fruits for breakfast.

And we attended the worship service at CMCC. The bible overview that points to Christ Jesus illustrated by photos and the back of the photos depicted the bible story. God's mysterious grand salvation plan is never easy to understand.

For dinner, we decided to eat at Okhaju Restaurant.

We also managed to spend time with a couple of missionary friends: Donghwan Ahn's couple and Taemin Kim's couple.

With the Ahn's, we had lunch at a place called Tar Tar Bistro on the way to Sankampaeng. It was a cozy place.

With the Kim's, we met at Nana Jungle Cafe and Bakery. It was a cute and cozy place where we enjoyed our fellowship with a mini lecture on BAM. I am grateful for his willingness to sponsor our visa while he did not know us well.

Meanwhile, people exchanged a lot of Christmas messages, including one from Kamal in Nairobi, Kenya.

As the year 2019 sets into the past, the decade of 2010's also went into oblivion. Nonetheless, Christmas begins with Christ and without Him no Christmas has any meaning. The world needs a Stable Influence. Indeed. - Jeffrey

Looking Back 2019

The year 2019 has now gone into the past. It was the last year of 2010's. Looking back, this decade was full of travels and memories. For now, I wanted to recap the travels that we did during 2019.

January
I went to China, visiting Kunming, Jinghong, Lanchang Jingmai. The transit from and to Kunming over night was tiring, which led to my sickness.

I traveled to Phnom Penh to lead the SfK MBA BCT for two weeks. I got sick with stomach problem and body ache.

In January, Kristin's auntie in Seoul and Gloria's family visited Chiang Mai and stayed with us.

February
I met with Matthew Jeong and his wife in Bangkok.

I traveled to Dhaka Bangladesh with Bongrae Lee to visit an agricultural farm as a  missional business. It was a thriving business in a Muslim village of 2,000.

Then, I traveled back to Bangkok to attend and lead the joint board meeting between SfK Life and SfK Korea. By this time, I became seriously ill.

March

I was timely that Kristin made a reservation at a housing in Dalat, Vietnam for our month-long stay. I was able to take some rest and recover.

But, I still had to travel to Singapore to attend the FBA F2F board meeting. It was a strategic meeting.

After the FBA board meeting, I spent time with John Kim for collaboration in missional businesses. Robert Oh also joined us for a day or two while he came to preach at a church.

April
We took a Gate 1 Tour to China. Before this tour, the Moons and we took a separate independent tour to visit Yellow Mountain from Shanhai.

After the China tour, I flew to Bishkek and to Issy-Kul to lead the MBA BCT for the Kyrgyzstan businessmen and businesswomen.

May
The SfK MBA BCT Issy-Kul ended on May 11.

I then flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to conduct a 4-day training for GP.

I traveled to Korea from May 16-June 9 to attend the SfK Korea board meeting and to meet people.

June
I attended the IBA Leaders Forum in Sorak and BAM Conference in Seoul, Korea.

I attended a week-long Middle East Consultation held in Beirut, Lebanon.

I stopped over in Bangkok to hold a meeting with other BAM training course leaders at the tail end of IBA's Nemo House.

I visited Lahore from 6/30-7/6 to take part in the PBC led by JES.

July
I led the MBA BCT in Arusha, Tanzania for two weeks.

I flew to Kigali, Rwanda to spend time with Nanuri people.

Then, I flew to Nairobi, Kenya to spend time with Kamal and Margaret to discuss about Karen Huduma.

August
I led the SfK MBA BCT Kathmandu, Nepal (19-30).

I spent time with Peter Lee of Sky Bay Thailand in Bangkok.

September

Kristin and I took a tour with Expat Explore to visit Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in the Caucasus region.

I flew to Los Angeles to attend the Bethel BAM Conference, Irvine, California.

SfK Life held its F2F board meeting in Artesia, California. Three new board members joined the board: Steve Kang, Sam Kim and John Kim.

I took a short flight to Dallas to meet Ray, Amanda's boyfriend and I flew to Calgary, Canada to spend time with Youngsik Yoon and his wife. We drove to visit Banpf and enjoyed the colorful Canadian Rockies.

October
I traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to spend time with Hesed Cambodia leadership. (11-17)

Kristin's Thai visa expired on October 18 and we had to leave the country earlier than scheduled. So we took advantage of the opportunity and traveled to two cities in Mexico: Guanajuato (19-22) and Queretaro (22-25).

After Mexico, we flew to Denver (25-30) and to Atlanta (30-11/7)

November
After Atlanta ( ~7), we flew to Bogota, Colombia to take part in the Gate 1 Tour (8-18), visiting Bogota, Pereira, Manzales, Cartagena and Medellin.

We had our family gathering in Medellin, Colombia (19-12/1) over Thanksgiving. Joyce came first and after she left Amanda came with Ray to spend time with us. We had a fiasco with an Airbnb housing in Laureles and ended up losing some money. Oh well...

December
After Colombia, we flew to New York (1-8) and to Los Angeles (8-16). The Los Angeles trip was consumed by five consecutive trip from Buena Park to Los Angeles to apply for and receive the retiree visa to Thailand. It was a hassle with health insurance and FBI report.

As soon as I returned to Chiang Mai on Dec 18, I had to travel to Phnom Penh, Calbodia (20-24) to lead the training sessions.

We attended the Christmas Service at CMCC on December 25.

Of course, while I was traveling, I had to manage numerous conference calls. It was quite a journey in 2019.

In a nutshell, my small white board was showing the summary of all travels and major events that occurred in 2019.

I am grateful to God that I was able to manage my travel schedule to 22 countries. - Jeffrey