Coffee... Korea (September 2018)

Coffee is one of SfK MB Trading's strategic products. Lord willing, we at SfK desire to establish the entire value chain for coffee from production to consumption. So I am trying to meet people whenever possible.

I made a trip to Daegu to meet Mr. Gyung Do Jin, the founder and CEO of Hands Coffee, a missional business that IBA has produced. Hands Coffee has 100+ stores in Korea and 30+ stores in Yianjin Province, China.

He was open to collaborating with SfK on coffee. Also, he is involved with Now Mission, a mission agency focusing on BAMers and was willing to serve with SfK if there are things to be done together to produce synergy for His Kingdom. He appreciated the presentation material that I shared in introducing him to SfK Ministries. He asked me to share the material and I did gladly. We will see where this newfound relationship leads.

1Kg Coffee or Cafeir

I visited another coffee business located in Gwangju, Kyungki-do to meet up with Mr. Sang Ho Lee, the founder and CEO of Cafeir. The company roasts coffee beans and supply freshly roasted coffee beans to the buyers. They supply approximately one ton per day, using four roasting equipment of 40 tons, 20 tons, and 2 15 tons. In addition, they have designed and developed individually packaged drip coffee to end-users. The life of these products lasts for 3 months.

I also met with Mr. Shinho Lee, who runs Bless Bean that imports and distributes green beans. Reportedly, he is one of the top five distributors of green beans. Unlike Mr. Sang Ho Lee, who graduated from Yonsei University but are not a believer, Mr. Shinho Lee is a devout Christian and I thoroughly enjoyed our meeting.

I am not sure how these new relationships will develop, but it was encouraging to hear that they were willing to work together for the common good of people in the world, needless to say for the glory of God.

I also met up with Mr. Hyun Namgoong. He once worked for E-Land and also was CEO for Erom for 7 years. Now he is importing and distributing green beans. Apparently he is supplying green beans to Hands Coffee. He has developed a private brand coffee and selling it through Cconma, an on-line marketing platform. He has been training prospective cafe baristas to be deployed to other countries. In principle, we agreed to work together, but we are still exploring the possibilities. I trust that the Lord will lead us to fund the way that He designed in His time. We need to be patient while making conscious efforts.

It has been a blessing that I have resumed drinking coffee since I have been learning about coffee. - Jeffrey

Meeting BJ Kim, one of the students in my Sunday School class 40 years ago (Sept. 2018)

When I arrived at ICN in the morning on September 10. Wonjin Choi and JJ Jang were waiting for me. JJ Jang had just arrived from Manila and Wonjin Choi is working as ICN Branch Manager for Aero Mexico. On the way, we picked up BJ Kim, who is the ICN Branch Manager for Qatar Airlines.

While we were traveling together to Mt. Sorak to attend the KBM Global Gathering, the Lord gave me a pleasant surprise.

I was born again in May 1978 while I was teaching 3-4th grade students at one of the churches in Bokwang-dong, Seoul while I was about to finish up my military service. I had one month left before the discharge. I was leading the bible study for the students based on the story of Deacon Stephen depicted in Acts 6 and 7. He was a human just like myself but he was willing to die for Christ and also to pray for God's forgiveness for the people who were stoning him to death. Meanwhile I was a sinful Christian who could not even close to him in my faith let alone godliness.

I repented genuinely and committed my life to Christ. So I was indebted for my new life obviously first to Christ, second to Stephen, and third to the students in the class.

While we were discussing, I found out that BJ Kim was in the class which I was teaching during my military service and that helped the Lord transform my life and give a new life. His life. Eternal life. It was 40 years ago. God is amazing! He has helped me how faithful He has been with His grace and love.

During the 15-minute brief sharing time, he calmly shared his life journey. In his college life, he was bold in reaching out to the challenging nations, such as Rwanda post genocide, Somalia, Philippines. He was getting trained for greater ministry opportunity in His time.

Now he is 50 years of age and is leading people in witnessing Christ in the world. I am deeply blessed and profoundly amazed at His overflowing grace and meticulous design. BJ Kim is now being considered to take up regional responsibility. I sensed that the Lord has been preparing him for wonderful opportunities of serving Him and His Kingdom. I look forward to witnessing what the Lord has in store for him and what He will do through him. Praise the Lord! - Jeffrey

Sorak and Sokcho, Korea (September 2018)

I made a trip to Korea in September for 17 days. One of the primary purposes of this trip was to attend KBM Global Gathering. Including this time, I have been attending this event for the past five years out of seven years. The format has changed over time, but basically it is an informal gathering for current and prospective BAMers to learn, to listen and to share among all participants. Approximately 50 people attended the gathering this year.

Paul Sydnor was one of the main speakers. He is involved in the refugee ministry. Paul is an American but has been living in France for the past 20 years. He is affiliated with Refugee Highway and International Association for Refugees (IAFR). We agreed to follow up to see if there is an opportunity for collaboration in Africa. Juan Lee, originally from Argentina and living in Los Angeles, acted as his interpreter. He is a pastor working hard to be a BAMer.

Luis Morales was another guest speaker. He is from El Salvador, but has been living in Boston in the U.S. for the past two decades or so. He is a pastor shepherding the largest Hispanic church in Boston. At the same time, he is an entrepreneur. Personally, he runs 3-4 restaurants. Also, through his church, he is engaged in running 11 radio stations in the U.S. and 4 eye clinics in El Salvador. Moreover, he is interested in Geisha coffee farming, plastic block manufacturing, aquaponics, efficient wood stove business. After a breakfast meeting, we agreed to meet up again in San Salvador in December. Again, Juan acted as his interpreter.

Other speakers included Harry Kim, Dongho Kim, Jae Jung Jang and myself. I talked about Overview of Missional Business and SfK Ministries.

Each participant shared his/her story briefly. It was interesting to hear their stories.

For each session, we had time to praise. Harry Kim's church praise team includes children and they played a pivotal role in leading the praise time, as usual. Well disciplined children performed in perfect harmony. Wonderful! 

The Gathering was not filled only with talks. It also included a mini concert performed by Sing a Song Writer and Pastor Woong Jae Han, a famous professional gospel singer and Hee Jung Kim, the wife of Harry Kim, who played flute. A few other teams also sang and danced, just for fun and laugh.

For each day, there were some leisure activities, including hiking to Ulsan Rock, outing to the beach, foot bathing, and dining out to Sokcho City.

 Various snap shots were taken during the gathering time.

Overall, it was good to be back to KBM Global Gathering after skipping last year. - Jeffrey

Yunnan Province, China (August 2018)...

The last stop was Kunming, China. I arrived at almost midnight and Mr. Song came to pick me up. Instead of the hotel I was supposed to stay, he took me his home for a short night so that we may depart early in time for a long journey. For 4 days, we drove approximately 2,500 km. Along with Mr. Song, Mr. Baik, a dentist, also accompanied us as a back-up driver. He also was interested in serving the Tibet people. I learned that in China my international driver's license cannot be used.

Shangri La was the first stop. We visited the old town briefly and stayed at Elim Guesthouse and Restaurant which a brother is running. Mr. Song has been maintaining the relationship over the past 10 plus years. It was raining but nonetheless it was a cute town.

In Tibet, there are cow-like animals called Yak. They eat its meat like beef. I saw a white Yak. I think someone was collecting money for people to take a photo with the white Yak.

Shangri-La is a fictional place describved in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. He descrives Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of Kunlun Mountains. A few places claimed that they are the very Shangri-La. China was aggressive in making the claim and changed this town's name to Sharingri-La and started attracting tourists. Well... in my humble opinion, the place was not quite that close, but close enough to be like the place in the novel due mainly to the fact in the town you can see the snow-capped mountains.

On the way to Shangri-La, there were numerous signs for the direction to Meri Snow Mountain. It is the holy mountain for the Tibet Buddhists and many circle the mountain wishing for the blessings. Tibet Buddhism is the combination of the South East Asian Buddhism, Hinduism and Sharmanism. It sounds like a religious dictatorship under which the monks rule over and benefit from the believers.

I never saw the mountain, but someone else took this magnificent photo of the Meri Snow Mountain ranges. Fantastic!

Also, we passed the entrance to Hodohyup, a valley and a trail where you could enjoy panoramic view of the mountains. Perhaps some other time.

The second day was to drive to a Tibet Village in the valley of the mountains. We had to zig zag and cross over the mountain (4,200 meter high), drive through a long tunnel (5,180 meter long) to reach the remote place.

We passed through an important commercial town, called De Chin. The town was laid long with a steady slope going down into the valley. The uphill climb would require quite a bit of physical strength, I suppose. From this town, you go to the Meri Snow Mountain.

Also, we stopped over at a 150 year old Roman Catholic Church. It was one of the national heritage. A Tibet man was praying solemnly.

 Mr. Song has been supporting six children with scholarship through a believing college student from the same village. They all were quite pleasant and outgoing. I practiced English and agreed to hold a month-long English class in January 2020 while I will be learning Chinese.

De Hanheung, Guochun, De Lisa

Two boys... and Gatsuo

The host family, the parents of the college student, were very hospitable with foods and lodging.

The only inconvenience was using the open-air toilet in the corn field. Well... they may be right in not collecting the human waste. When money and human waste are collected, they smell. When scattered, they create joy. Here is the view to the open-air toilet. Looks quite green, doesn't it?

Lijang was the next stop for the third night. Lijang was one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It was called the city of lights. The city shined at night. We strolled in the city visiting not well known places, avoiding the crowd. The alleys and the lights were quite impressive.

There was an old trade road from Pu'er to Tibet. The people in Pu'er traded their Pu'er tea with the Tibet people who sold their horses. So the trade road was called Cha Ma Goh Doh meaning Tea Horse Old Road.

Lijang still has picture letters in use. They are called Dong Pa Letters. They are the only picture letters still in use, I was told. They were not that difficult to comprehend. Probably, any written language should be that way.

We stayed at one of the apartment hotels that charged us 50 Yuans per person per night. Not bad at all. The facility was nice and comfortable. People rent several condominiums and run them as hotels for short term rental.

The next morning, we had simple breakfast and hit the road. It was still a long journey back to Kunming.

We arrived in Kunming early afternoon and visited Open Alley and Mr. Park. Open Alley is a coffee shop also selling roasted coffee beans, about 4 tons a month. Its clients include Zoo Coffee in the same mall. Mr. Park is an interior designer and the interior of the store exhibited his talent. They have two stores now and are now preparing to open the third store. Mr. Park count not join us for dinner, but the meeting was productive.

I checked into the guest house of Boimaru, a Puer Tea wholesaler and retailer. He has been doing this business for the past 14 years. The guesthouse was simple with uncomfortable bed, but very affordable at 50 RMB or $8 per night.

In Kunming, I spent a day with Mr. Yoo of Boimaru, discussing various issues of mutual interest.

For another day, I met several business people including Michelle and Tammy of Hope International and Achim of Passion to Grow, originally from Germany.

I also met with Mr. Shin who sells honey and Pu'er tea.

I also had a telephone conversation with Tim of Hani Coffee in Pu'er. It was too bad that I could not meet him in person. But I promised to visit him in January 2019.

I had dinner with Mark who teaches English and Family Values at a local university and Dominic who runs Nissi Holiday Hotels in Kunming and Jing Hong. The meeting was productive and I look forward to witnessing what the Lord has in store. I learned that Dominic's wife Angie is from the U.S. and she and her children stayed in Chiang Mai on and off for several weeks for medical treatment. Dominic was considering an expansion by taking over an existing unsuccessful hotel so that he may graduate from running apartment hotel business. We will see how things develop.

There were other places of interest here and there. I found a scenic point of the winding river, but it was not one of the official vista points.

There is a fable story among animals as to who is oldest. Elephant claimed that the peach tree was his height. Monkey claimed that when he was little the tree was at his height. So he claimed to be oldest. A rabbit laughed and explained that he was eating the dew on the leaves of the tree leaves, claiming to be the oldest. The bird laughed at them all and said that he brought the seed and it grew to be the tree, thus claiming that he was the oldest. The end of story.

A monk was walking alone. The scenery looked appropriate to the surrounding.

We saved about 30 minutes because of the 5,180 meter long tunnel built at the height of 4,000 meter.

Throughout our journey, we had to pass through numerous land slides because of heavy rain in the mountains. The Himalayan Mountains were erupted from the ocean and their soils are quite fragile, overall. So they have to face many landslides every year. At some sites, big boulders rolled down onto the roads thus blocking the entire road. We had to pass through the shoulder of the road. I am grateful that we did not have to face the dangerous moments.

Right before we entered into Lijang, we stopped over at a resting place where we could see a lake. The statue of white Yak and the best wish notes written and hung by tourists made a harmony along with the view of the lake in distance.

Overall, my week-long stay was packed with travels and schedules, but very fruitful. I have scheduled to return to Kunming in January to visit with Tim and follow up with several people for further discussion. I felt blessed to get to know a little bit about Yunnan Province. - Jeffrey