BAM Field Trip 2026 - Bishkek Kyrgyzstan (August 2026)

Bishkek is the capital city of Kyrgyzstan. I have been traveling to Bishkek for almost ten years now. For the past decade, this small city has transformed tremendously. There are more buildings, more cars, more people, and greater hope for the bright future. After we crossed the border, Mr. Hyun Park came to pick us up to the lodging. He runs a travel agency and tour operating business. He came to this country as a missionary but decided to devote his time to running this business instead. 

The first program we had was time with Caleb Choi and Caleb Park, two leaders of Eastern Christianity Institute. We had dinner together and learned about Eastern Christianity that practically was buried by the western Christianity. 

The next day, we squeezed one program into our itinerary. Mr. Ilnam Jin is the owner of a business that sells T'Way airline tickets. He came to serve in this country after retiring from an airline company. We learned about his life journey and the potential opportunity to run a pilot training program at smaller airports in Kyrgyzstan. 

Our next meeting was with Dr. Luke Moon, a dentist, who successfully established a few dental practices and has been running them sustainably. We listened to his journey and ministries. Also present was Mr. Hugh (Sehyun) Choi who runs the property business including the building Dr. Moon's dental practice is located. Our meeting was educational and inspirational. We had lunch together.

After lunch, we headed out to visit Almaz's sowing factory. Almaz is a local pastor and a leader of house church network. He runs a sowing factory to generate profit and establish financial sustainability to run his house church network. To empower local pastors and their businesses for self-sustainability, we agreed to help automate his factoring operation, first. The timeline for implementation would be in  2027.

Also present at our meeting were two ladies who also run sowing factories. One of them, Aizirek, I met at the BAM Global Leaders Forum. She is a young lady leading a youth ministry as well as running her sowing factory. She was quite passionate about serving the Lord and we plan to empower her with her business as well. We visited her operation as well. All our members shared the sentiment. 

We had dinner together with Almaz's team members at Navat, a traditional Central Asian restaurant. This time of fellowship was cordial and encouraging.  

The next day, we spent the whole day visiting Dutch Nature, and meeting the CEO Micah's team members. First, we listened to Micah's presentation about what the Lord had been doing in and through Dutch Nature, which serves the six-phase value chain of agriculture. Its main cash cow business is animal feed, but there are seven other businesses affiliated to Dutch Nature.

I knew the stories through Dutch Nature board meetings, but all others praise God for His grace poured upon this business and its affiliates. Micah's passionate presentation was always challenging and inspirational. SfK made an investment in Dutch Nature, made a loan, and I serve its board. Three leaders of this business attended SfK's BMT program.

After his presentation, he gave us a tour of the manufacturing plant that had expanded since the last year. 

After the factory tour, we took them out to lunch. People in Central Asia eat a lot of meat, being the nomads. There was no exception this time. We ate a lot of meat along with traditional spices and veggies.  

After lunch, one of Micah's leadership team, called Jengish, was taking us to visit a few places where DN Impact is serving. DNI is the public foundation of Dutch Nature and Jengish is the director of DNI. DN provides DNI 10% of its net profit every year. DNI's major goal is to empower local pastors to be self-sustainable through jobs or businesses related to Oasis Agro or Dutch Nature. He used to work for Food for the Hungry Korea so he spoke fluent Korean as well. Since he joined DNI, DNI's activities became much more active and the reporting has become streamlined. We thank God for sending him to us. 

One of the places we visited was the seed farm that I visited a few days earlier. Kyrgyz government officials visit this seed farm and Dutch Nature plans to supply seeds of good quality to improve the Kyrgyz agriculture.

We also visited a rehabilitation center where drug or alcohol addicts receive the rehabilitation over a two-year period. There is no outside support, other than $100 they receive from a local church. So they had to support themselves. They raise layer chickens, the program participants work at construction sites together to earn money, and they grow veggies in the field. Their story was touching our heart and we gave a donation to support their operations with a prayer. DNI provided them with a grant to finance the expansion of the chicken coop.

Before we left Bishkek, we met Sy who had been running a silk product purification business. Unfortunately, his factory was located in the area close to the new presidential complex, and he had to close the operation. He was feeling disappointed and somewhat bitter about the situation. We promised to explore ways to help him out. Later, Mr. Sangtaek Oh of Rothem Cafe met with him and we are also exploring the possibility of a joint venture with a Korean silk manufacturer. 

We had to say good bye to Koo Chung who would be returning home in Atlanta Georgia in the U.S. due to his limited vacation time availability. We took a flight to go to our next destination, Tashkent Uzbekistan. 

We found a great potential with Almaz's team and we prayed to God for His provision of ample grace upon his operations and his network members. - Jeffrey

BAM Field Trip 2026 - Almaty, Kazakhstan (August 2026)

In 2026, we went to Central Asia again for the BAM Field Trip. A total of six people joined the trip. Our first destination was Almaty, Kazakhstan. Almay was the capital city of this large country, but the capital city was moved to Astana. Nonetheless, Almaty remains the largest city in population and economic activities. This city is surrounded by snow-capped mountains and located at the elevation of 800 meters from sea level. I had to leave Joseph Summit early to travel to the border to Kazakhstan to reach Almaty on land.

On the first day, we met up with Daniel G. who has been running a large oil and gas business called Gateway, which funded the establishments of three prominent international schools in Almaty and Astana. Also, it has done a lot for the local pastors through BAM Lion's Den programs. We met in the lobby of a hotel and later joined the reception Daniel hosted for his guests. I met a supreme court judge of the country and a former chief of the security for the Philippines' President. His international guest were with such a high profile. I agreed to follow up with Raushan who coordinates Lion's Den and to explore ways to set up a microcredit agency for Central Asia. 

The next day, we visited Daniel of Grill King and King's Land. They make and sell customized luxury BBQ grill and specialty wooden products. The interior of the building he bought last year has been significantly renovated. We agreed to explore the possibility of refinancing a loan that is due. It appeared that his business has stabilized, but its profitability still needs more sales and better expense control.

Later, we visited CS-Thomas, a business that focuses on printing and making promotional marketing items. Two wives of local pastors (Anzhelika and Patima) have been running it to help people in crisis, such as alcoholics, victims of domestic violence, widows etc. We agreed to finance a plotter and 3D printer. Chinhoon Chung agreed to be the bridge between SHINE and CS-Thomas.

The next day, we listened to the presentation made by Meehee Shin, who started The Eden Garden, a lunchbox and desert catering business. We were requested to provide an investment for her to complete the renovation to register as a limited liability company to handle the B2B business. We provided inputs and agreed to process her request. This request was later approved and funded. The business has been growing rapidly since the approval, thanks to God's grace.

Later, we spent time with Chihoon Chung, who was a graduate of theology school, but has become a very effective businessman. He runs a cafe and restaurant in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan as well as in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Particularly, his coffee business, Flask Coffee, has gained a reputation of Almaty's Starbucks. He also runs a garment manufacturing business, usually uniforms for companies. He was impressive when he presented his business stories to us. We agreed to serve together in Central Asia.

This year's BAM Field Trip was the fifth year. One of the most memorable times of the BAM Field Trip was our devotion time we had in the morning. We took the turn and meditated on God's Word. Everyday this time was the greatest blessed time. 

We stayed at Happy Bridge House Meehee Shin and her husband are running. The employees of the lunch box business were graduates of bible school that Shin's husband runs. They made lunchbox for us on the day we left. Their smiles were bright and hopeful. 

We took a photo before we left. Then, we traveled for three and a half hours to reach the border town Kordai to cross the border into Kyrgyzstan.

This lunch box we had later at the border to Kyrgyzstan, called Kordai, was delicious.

 This was the second year to hold BAM Field Trip in Central Asia. Each day was filled with blessings God poured over us. Thank you, Lord! - Jeffrey