Dalat, Vietnam (March 2019)

Chiang Mai or entire Thailand gets very warm from March through May. Kristin wanted to get away from this unbearable heat with humidity. Her choice for 2019 was Da Lat, Vietnam.

It is called the City of Eternal Spring. Its altitude at 1,500 meter high enables the city spring-like weather throughout the year. No wonder France developed the city as the vacation destination for its expats during its colonial period for Vietnam.

Kristin made a reservation at a family-run hostel, namely Gia Pham Hostel. Thai was her primary contact, but Tan, Thai's younger brother studying at Dalat University, and their parents, the Yeop family, all worked to serve the guests. After the first night at a room without any view, we ended up staying on the 4th floor with a common area right across from our room. Because of this easy access to the common area, I called our room a penthouse. The only drawback for this penthouse stay was a lot of walking up and down the stairs. Well... we got our legs strengthened a lot. For this stay, we paid only $8.00 per night. Not bad at all...

We stayed from March 1 - 29, except my trip to Singapore during 13-16. We did not do much at all, other than resting and resting and resting, with some walking. I was at the tail end of my physical recovery from a 6-week illness and the fresh breeze we enjoyed in the common area kept us inside the place pretty much all the time, except our walking time.

Vietnamese streets are filled with motor bikes. Everyone rides one and there are plenty of people traveling everywhere. I rode it for a few days myself, at VND125,000 a day or US$5. But, whenever possible, we walked to most places.

Initially, I complained about the noise from the streets and potential pollution, but I came to realize that it was heavenly after we returned to Chiang Mai where the air pollution was severely hazardous due to the spring burning. They say that PM2.5 level is above 100, it is unhealthy while Chiang Mai's PM2.5 level shot up as high as 500! Yikes!!! I miss the blue skies and white clouds that we took for granted in Dalat.

As we walked around, we found a pine tree woods where we spotted a cozy place to look at green houses growing flowers and veggies. A tranquil pine tree spot drew our visits twice more times.

On another walk day, we visited a place that was supposed to have artificial waterfalls. We decided to pay a visit, but we were disappointed by the stinky sewer smell coming from the water. Well... at least we cannot smell the stinks on the photos.

One day, we were able to walk around the lake located in the middle of the city. We ended up walking 12,000 - 15,000 steps. Our lower back pain caused some pinching pain as we walked, but we overcame the pain to complete the walk.

Dalat has one Big C Supermarket. We found this place a truly affordable market where you can buy almost everything at affordable prices, even lower than at the traditional markets. I ended up buying six shirts and one pants, costing us 5-6 dollars per item. Wow...

As we walked, we experienced several scenes that are noteworthy.

Dalat has only one Korean church, that is fairly new and is renting a space from a Vietnamese Reformed Church, Tin Lan. It is the largest protestant church in Dalat. We worshiped at this church while we were in Dalat. On the second Sunday, this church celebrated its 90th anniversary.

We spent some time with a couple from the Korean church: Mr. and Mrs. Yeol Suh. He is teaching at Dalat University as a volunteer. He used to be a teacher and also got involved in international trade while he was in Korea, particularly olive oil.

There are several Korean restaurants in the city, but we enjoyed Fungi Chingu, a B.B.Q. place. For two of us, an order of octopus, an order of chicken, an egg dish, two orders of ghimbab and one liter of beer, plus unlimited supply of fresh veggies, set us back only $11.90. What a steal! We visited this place four times. Great value for the price!

Cho in Vietnamese means market. So Cho Da Lat means Dalat Market. This market is considered the largest in Vietnam, I heard. A little bit hard to believe. But they had a lot of stuff.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay in Dalat although we could not resist a sense of the city being far too small. - Jeffrey

Bangkok, Thailand (February 2019)

Before our trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh, I spent a day with Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Jeong in Bangkok. He has been serving in Pakistan for a few decades. He also served with InterServ in Korea and also as Area Director for InterServ. The meeting was quite productive and uplifting to each other. We discussed at length about how to collaborate in the minstries in Pakistan. We will see what the Lord has in mind.

Right after our trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh, we returned to Bangkok to attend the joint meeting of SfK Life board and SfK Korea board.

The themes we selected for the joint board meeting were: Fellowship, Unity and Synergy for the Kingdom of God. We hoped to pursue fellowship in unity towards the synergy for the Kingdom of God.

We planned several activities, but the one that stood out was visitation to two freedom businesses. One was Night Light Corporation, a member of SfK MBC and the other was an NGO engaged in business activities to rescue and empower the victims of human trafficking: Samaritan Creations.

The joint board meeting covered the review of what God has done through SfK for the past three years and what is in store for the next two years until 2020. The meeting was productive and more than anything else, both board members expanded the touch points. SfK Korea board made a few important decisions and we were excited about the new developments.

I was ill during the time and had to excuse myself from all evening activities. The only evening program I joined was the dinner cruise on the river that passes through Bangkok City.

Because of my illness, I had to return to the hotel by myself even from Asiatique, a modernized night market.

Peter Lee, Sky Bay Thailand CEO has organized all programs and his service was standing out. With BR Lee and I posed for a photo with Peter Lee to appreciate his service.

Now, I will have to see what God has in store for the future of SfK Ministries and how He will lead us to the next stage. - Jeffrey

Dhaka, Bangladesh (February 2019)

The primary purpose of me and Mr. Bong Rae Lee traveling to Dhaka, Bangladesh in February 2019 was to lead a 2-day BAM Seminar primarily for Korean missionaries and some businessmen on top of the plan to meet with a missional entrepreneur who has successfully run an agricultural farm in a Muslim village.

My physical condition was pretty bad and the lodging condition was not every accommodating, but we were able to manage the seminar satisfactorily. After the seminar, the participants began Bangladesh BAM Network and we will see what the Lord desires to achieve through them.

An experienced businessman's engagement was a big plus.

Can you imagine a cafe located on the fourth floor? One of the participants is running a cafe on the fourth floor and they manage to survive. We had a farewell dinner after the seminar.

It took us a round trip of nine hours to travel to an agricultural farm where we met with Mr. Yeon Sup Yoon who has lived and served in a remote Muslim village for the past 20 years, on and off. As we were listening to him, we were greatly encouraged by the principles we shared in BAM. He and his wife plan to wrap up their service in Bangladesh and Mr. B.R Lee invited them to Cambodia to seek advice and if the Lord willing to invite them to serve in Cambodia. We will see what happens.

We joined the farm workers for lunch and ate the foods with our right hand without silverware because it is their custom.

Mr. Yoon's farm, a joint venture owned and run through a 6-member partnership, has dug 40 wells, fixed 50 toilets, built 8 houses, and many other village projects for free. Mr. Yoon has made the apparent Christian business well acceptable to the Muslim village. Even some antagonistic Muslims now admire and compliment this business and Mr. Yoon. Christians have built a church and the farm workers have created their wealth as good examples. That is transformation!

The farm also runs a kindergarten for little children and a vocational training program for village workers. It is an example of biblical community development case.

The first impression of Dhaka was that it has a lot of mosquitoes/ They were everywhere, even at the airport and in the car. They have not figured out how to eradicate them because there are water holes everywhere.

The second impression of Dhaka was so much noise. All cars and motorbikes were honking everywhere. Moreover, there were so many rickshaws - man rickshaw and motor rickshaw all together.

The residents were sharing a complaint in that Bangladesh offers no tourist places or points of interest where they can take a break or rest. So whenever possible, they try to get out of the country for vacation.

Bangladesh has been popular for garment businesses due mainly to its cheap labor forces. But these businesses are pulling out of the country because they have found a way to produce more with robotics production. In other words, Bangladesh no longer offers cheap labor advantage.

Bangladesh is a poor country with a lot of people living in chronic poverty. Yet, it has many geographical disadvantage, such as frequent floods. Moreover, they are spiritually in darkness. My heart was sad when we left this country. - Jeffrey