Update on COVID-19 (June 27, 2020)

The worldwide confirmed cases of COVID-19 exceeded 10 million people on June 27, with the U.S. and Brazil still actively adding the number with 40,000 daily. At the same time, the number of deaths from the coronavirus exceeded 500,000. They are big numbers.

There are over 4 million active cases with 58 thousand people in serious condition. 

Out of the 10 million confirmed cases, more than a quarter was in the U.S. with 13% in Brazil. Yet, in the U.S. people are taking the micro creature lightly and casually. Protests and demonstrations related to "Black Lives Matter" movement continue, resulting in serious social unrest throughout the nation.

I am deeply concerned about the U.S., Brazil and India where the coronavirus is still actively spreading helplessly.

In the midst, Joyce still works from home, Amanda is pregnant and working, and Ray opened his Taekwondo studio. Lord, I put them in your hands. Be merciful to them and to humanity, forgiving their sins. Please give us the discernment to make right decision on everything we do. In Your Son's name, I pray. - Jeffrey

My mother's 90th birthday (June 21, 2020)

My mother was born on May 1, 1931 on a lunar calendar. In 2020, the lunar calendar May 1 fell on June 21, 2020. She turned 90 years old in 2020 because in Korea the life in the mother's womb is also counted and people become one year old the minute they are born. For an interesting example, if one was born on December 31 in the lunar calendar, one becomes one year old and the next day, the New Year's Day, one becomes two years old. In other words, a two-day-old baby becomes two years old. But, people celebrate their birthdays on the day they were born.

Because of the COVID-19, we could not travel to Korea, but my sisters and their children were able to have a small gathering to celebrate my mother's special birthday.

I made a short video clip to convey my and my wife's greetings to her. Also I combined their photos and video clips into one video that is linked below.

Click here to watch the video

Happy birthday, mom! May God keep you safe and healthy all the time! - Jeffrey

3 Months Since We Returned Home (June 18, 2020)

Updates on COVID-19
Worldwide, the COVID-19 is still spreading strongly. Brazil, India and Russia are showing significant increases in new cases. The USA seems to have flattened the curve, but in conjunction with the premature reopening of the economy, the number of cases has surged again. But, the rate of death has slowed quite a bit. Here are some of the statistics as of June 17th.

In Thailand, the COVID-19 cases have been pretty quiet and businesses reopened. But the foreigners are still banned from entering the country through June 30. We still do not know what will happen in July.

SfK Ministries
The ministry must go on despite the COVID-19. I have held a lot of conference calls. We published the monthly newsletter in English and Korean.

We are preparing to launch the On-line Business Management Training. We have sent out an invitation to a selective group of people to introduce the program and to collect their feedback. We will hold two virtual meetings, one for Korean and the other for English.

I have started to hold virtual meetings with SBS group members, starting with SBS Seoul. Their zeal was so strong that we had another call a week later. We have had the calls with SBS Chiang Mai and Los Angeles, and plan to hold SBS Heart to Heart and SBS Rwanda.

One of SfK Kingdom Fellows got married in Korea. I made a video with congratulatory blessings.

One of SfK MB Community members has been leading a movement to save a Christian hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. It used to be a prominent teaching hospital with 216 beds, but has been deteriorating over the past two decades. I have been getting some help from the U.S. to help him out with this endeavor.

Newly installed sign board

Chiang Mai Life
When we returned home on March 18, the air quality was pretty bad with the pollution index over 300 some days. After the rainy season started, the air quality has improved significantly. This morning, it was only 16. Superb!

Kristin has continued cooking delicious and healthy home meals. It has been a great blessing to stay home for the past three months. These are a few samples.

Once in a while, we ordered some Korean foods to be delivered. In general, our experiences have been so so. 

We know a couple from South Africa, Ken and Myrna, who are attending the same church and living close by. We were invited to Ken's birthday party held at a pretty cool restaurant called Chic 39. The place was quite nice and it was a joyful event.

For the first time, I made a video for Ken and Click here for a short video for Ken's birthday party.

As the Central Festival Shopping Mall reopened, we resumed our walking at this mall. Three rounds of walking on five floors equal to 10,000 steps. We have walked twice to three times a week.

I also made a short video clip of the environment. 

Click here to see a short video of our walking environment.

Learning
My learning has continued. I have completed eight courses of learning various topics. Also, I have learned and practices adding texts to the photos and making video clips. Also, I have improved my skills with Quick Book, Excel, Power Point. I am pretty happy with and grateful for the progress that I have been able to make in learning various topics. These are some of the products I have made.

We still do not know when things will become predictable and allow for planning, but surely it is time to be patient and wait on the Lord. - Jeffrey

American COVID-19 Casualties Exceeded 100K (May 26, 2020)

The COVID-19 has been spreading like a wildfire in the U.S. with the confirmed cases accounting for one-third of the world patients. The pace of spreading has slowed noticeably in recent days, but the country has seen the casualties passed the original forecast of 100,000 - 200,000.

Here are the statistics as of May 26.

Initially, along with China, Korea was getting cold face from many countries, but now its numbers have been pushed down far below with only small number of cases and only a few hundreds of deaths. Korea has done a great job!

At the same time, a newspaper article showed Korea's economic standing based on the national GDP. Korea stood at the 10th largest economy in the world in 2019. It looked like a great achievement, but Korea was lamenting that this ranking dropped by two notches from the 8th in 2018. However you look at it, Korea's economic development to this standing from ashes and ruins from the Korean War from 1950 - 1953.

I just pray that the Korean left-wing extremists are not driving the country backward. - Jeffrey

Chic 39 Restaurant, Chiang Mai, Thailand (May 2020)

On May 26, Kristin and I had lunch with Ken and Myrna from South Africa. We go to the same church, CMCC and we live close by. They are the only people with whom we fellowship from CMCC.

The restaurant where we dined was called Chic 39. The way to the restaurant was a little tricky on the winding narrow roads, but when we arrived there, it was like a restaurant on a treehouse. It was truly chic.

Nearby was a bed and breakfast and more buildings were under construction.

The restaurant ambiance was quite enticing and the open-air surroundings were also refreshing.

Of course, the foods were delicious at a reasonable price. I forgot to take photos of other meals, but my spaghetti dish was beautiful and delicious with a shockingly spicy taste at the end. Yikes!

I took a selfie of us before we left.

I think we have found a nice restaurant which we want to visit again. Chick 39! - Jeffrey

Two Months of Staying at Home (May 18, 2020)

May 18 marks the two month anniversary of our return to our home in Chiang Mai. We struggled but successfully managed to fight off a seeming COVID-19 infection for both of us. It was relatively mild but still an arduous process. We thank God for His grace. Kristin has been cooking delicious home meals that have surely helped.

First, COVID-19 Update
Over the past month, the number of COVID-19 patients has increased by 120% to 4,8 million from 2.2 million, while the death toll also increased by the same percent to 317 thousand from 145,417 over the same period. Both numbers more than doubled over the past month. Astonishing...

By country, USA tops the list with 1.5 million confirmed cases while Russia ranked the distant second with 282 thousand cases. European countries seem to show slowing signs, but the fatality rates are still alarming. Brazil and Turkey seem to climb the ranks pretty fast. Korea keeps it under control despite a recent spike in cases due to cluster infection at gay bars in Itawon.

Several more detailed updates:

• USA, UK, Brazil, and Turkey have gotten worse fast. The speed of spread in the US has been somewhat slower, but still quite serious. It used to be 30,000 daily in confirmed cases and 2,000 deaths a day, now 20,000 confirmed cases and 1,500 deaths a day. 
• In the midst, they are trying to reopen the economy. Some people protest for the faster reopening of the economy against the health experts warning for dire consequences of the premature reopening of the economy.
• $2.2 trillion economy impact package was implemented, but not enough. Another stimulus packages are under discussion. Unemployment continues to rise to a level that clearly signals another recession, and potentially depression. A negative interest rate is being priced into the financial market. Under this scenario, people get paid to borrow and get charged to keep money at the bank. Yikes!
• Europian countries remain a significant challenge. Spain's lockdown is over 60 days. Italy seems to calm down and France seems to see a higher number of deaths than its number of confirmed cases. Germany keeps its death toll low.
• Russia's confirmed cases have surged while the death rate remains below 1%. People question the accuracy of the data and Russia defends it.
• Brazil, along with Russia, has seen a daily increase of 10,000 + in confirmed cases in recent days. The leaders of both countries downplayed the seriousness of the COVID-19.
• Korea has been praised for its early aggressive containment, but gay bars have become new sources of COVID-19 patients. No country is safe.
• Thailand extended its state of emergency and the ban on foreigners from entering the Kingdom through May 31, then once again to June 30. Oh no!!! Chiang Mai remains relatively mild, fortunately. Some businesses have been open and even the shopping malls opened yesterday.  We have settled for in-home exercises, but today we walked at the Central Festival for the first time in a long time.
• The WHO Director General has been in scandal and criticized for its excessively close ties to China. Whether true or not, Trump has frozen the US funding to WHO and has recently indicated the willingness to pay as much as China pays. 

SfK Ministries
My travel schedule has been disrupted, but the ministry needs to continue. The activities have included:

• SfK Life board meeting
• SfK Korea board meeting
• Joybells America monthly board meetings
• Publishing SfK newsletters
• Glen Africa board meeting
• Nanuri board meeting
• Talking to Riaz on several issues
• Talking to several other people on various issues.

Learning



But, the most effective use of my slack time has been learning. My learning has centered around the following topics:

• Our Planet
• Sacred Texts of the World
• Customs of the World
• America and Global Economy
• Understanding the inventions that changed the world
• Information Communication Technology - Now, I can add text to photos, make video clips with photos and add text, voice, sound effects and music to the videos, use One Drive for transferring photos and documents, make photos stream on PowerPoint slides and much more. It is exciting to learn and address many I-wish-I-could-do issues.

Virtual Travel



Also, the COVID-19 stopped us from physical traveling, it can never stop us from making virtual travels. Not the virtual reality shows, but on the internet.

I have been consciously traveling to places I have not been to yet, including Norway, Iceland, Umbria, Italy, Mongolia, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, and several cities in Korea. This virtual travel keeps my travel bug and wanderlust alive.

No one can tell even inaccurately what the post-coronavirus era may look like. But I trust God reigns over any and all challenges that may seem overwhelmingly too big to tackle. With His mercy, we shall overcome this pandemic and His goodness will be declared and proclaimed. Until then, I need to keep the hope in Him ever grow and be prepared for the next chapter of life afterward. - Jeffrey