New York, USA (November 2018)

Kristin and I made a trip to the U.S.A. in November/December 2018. It was an annual trip that we make after we started SfK Ministries.

We traveled together from CNX to New York to Denver and to LAX. While we were in New York, we traveled to Cancun, Mexico to have a family gathering with Amanda and Joyce over the Thanksgiving week. But, my schedule was a bit more complex with a trip from New York to Atlanta, Georgia and from Atlanta to Memphis, Tennessee. Also, from LAX, I traveled to El Salvador while Kristin returned to Chiang Mai, Thailand to prepare to receive the visit of Joyce during her school break.

On the day I arrived, we had a get-together with the couples of Jay Yoon and Jaesup Choi at Kumkangsan in Flushing. They are our travel companions and we agreed to travel together in Thailand in October next year and to Patagonia in February 2020. It was a progress. We spent some time checking out the status of Mr. Choi on his cancer. Unfortunately, we forgot to take any photo.

Even during my visit, my global work continued. I had the board calls for FBA and SfK Life. It is an inevitable routine for a digital nomad. I also had a conference call with Dan Stafford to discuss what to do with FBA finance manager responsibilities. I am grateful that he is willing to step in to bridge the gap until new Finance Manager is installed.

I had lunch with Da Young Choi, my personal banker at Shinhan Bank America and Myung Sook Moh, my former colleague at SHBA now working for Hanmi Bank.

When I travel to the U.S., I normally use Metro PCS, but it has been acquired by T-Mobile and they have jacked up the price for the monthly data plan. So I decided to use a new start-up, called Ultra Line in Flushing. I chose to pay $29 per month for the data of 5GB plus unlimited text and phone calls. Not bad at all.

I had lunch with Ji Bae and Alex Hong, my two Kingdom Fellows on IT matters for SfK. Their contribution has been tremendous, particularly Ji. I am grateful for them.

Suhui is one of Kristin's nieces. I presided over her wedding. She works in the field of fundraising for non-profits. Since she is not a believer, there was a limitation on what we do at SfK and how much she can help, particularly without a budget for salary. I wish God would send someone like her with Christian faith.

It is one of our routines to dine with Kristin's brothers. Normally we have been meeting in Flushing or Bayside, but this time, we met in Pal Park, New Jersey since the second brother, Kwang Gu's couple, moved to California to be close to their two children and the third brother is not well. He is still recovering from a kidney transplant surgery that had a side effect. It is a blessing to have brothers and sisters.

Paul Hyun was a banker. He became the CEO of More Bank when we left for Rwanda. Now this year he has changed his career to serve full time at CMBC. I hope to find a way for SfK to collaborate with CMBC.

We briefly met up with Kwangho Cho and his wife who is the nursing school friend of Kristin. It has been one of the routines for our visit to New York. He is an elder at his church and is now studying for M Div. to serve the Kingdom better. Also, they are preparing for the life after retirement.

On one Sunday, we worshiped at one of Korean American churches in Murray Hill. There was a body worship contest for youth. Youth always remains fresh and energetic. Their creative and passionate performance reminded me of the time of serving the youth 30-35 years ago.

Normally, we stay at Kristin's oldest brother's apartment in Elmhurst, Queens when we visit NYC. We did this year also. I am deeply grateful for him and his wife for letting us stay at their place. After returning from a trip to Cancun, we had to stay at an Airbnb place close to Northern Blvd and 150th Street in Flushing because they had another visitors. While we stay at the Airbnb place, we learned that the area has developed into a new Korea town. There were a lot of Korean restaurants and merchants. It is close to public transportation, including buses and the Long Island Raid Road (LIRR) Murray Hill station. Of course, there are Ubers and Lyfts as well. Shared bathroom was a bit inconvenient, but we enjoyed the surrounding amenities.

Together with Kristin's oldest brother, we paid a visit to Kristin's mother resting in peace. It was still amazing for her to live alone for 40 years, raising four children in New York since her husband passed.

I had lunch with Taeok Park, my college friend and also my CPA. He takes care of our personal tax returns and the tax returns for SfK. It is a blessing to have someone like him to handle tax matters remotely.

Steve and Mona Park, living in Philadelphia, PA, drove up to New York and we met up in Manhattan. Our relationship dates back to Pastor Steve's college time at OMC, Los Angeles. It was joyous to meet up with them to catch up.

A new development in contacts in New York was Alex Chi and his team. We were supposed to meet at Samwonghak in Bayside, but due to rain and heavy traffice, only one person showed up, plus Alex, but it was great joy to meet Pastor Sunin Oh, who is deeply involved in market place ministry including BAM. We will see what the Lord has in store and how our relationship may develop. It is likely that SfK's relationship with Alex and his team will expand although I am not sure about how and when. We will see.

I had lunch with Jennifer Oh and Jae Sup Choi at Kumkangsan, Flushing. It was a good time to catch up.

I also met up with Yeunho Suk at Tang in Bayside. He has been trying to help sell the products of Earth Heir in Malaysia. There has been no outcome, but Earth Heir has realized that B2B sale is not very feasible. His intent to help out has been encouraging anyway.

I had lunch with Yeonhee Han, SJ Lee, Brian Oh in Manhattan. They all are my former colleagues although they are now working for different banks. Yeonhee works for Hana BNB, SJ for Pacific City Bank and Brian for Shinhan Bank. They are all good friends.

Hana Bank purchased an ailing Korean American bank, namely BNB, and is still struggling to clean up the bank. But they opened the Manhattan Branch right next to Shinhan Bank's Manhattan Branch. A copy cat. Also, Woori America Bank moved its headquarters to the same building where Shinhan Bank America is headquartered. Moreover, they opened their Manhattan Branch at the same building. Obviously, Shinhan Bank America looked a bit awkward with their presence at the entrance. Oh well...

I had a brief gathering with Mr. and Mrs. Sung Eun Hong at Kumkangsan Flushing. I am grateful for their friendship. Mrs. Hong was severely injured when they were involved in a can accident in Belize, but Mr. Hong has been taking excellent care of her and she has recovered tremendously. They are believers in Buddha, but their hearts are warm.

We departed LGA to DEN. - Jeffrey