A letter from Art and Sue Kinsler in Korea
August 13, 2009
God’s surprises
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
- James 1:27
Dear Friends everywhere,
During a year when the doors to helping the needy in North Korea seemed to be swinging shut, on August 3, 2009, the Unification Department of the South Korean government put out a news release that, after spending some months denying permission for even humanitarian aid shipments to North Korea and then begrudgingly allowing just food aid to be sent, it was now releasing more than $ 2,800,000 in grant aid to ten NGOs who were among 47 who had submitted North Korean aid projects for 2009. Our Lighthouse Foundation was mentioned first because it was receiving the largest grant—almost $500,000, and was probably given priority because of its focus on providing food for young children and help for people with disabilities while maintaining a record for effective accounting and aid monitoring. Also, Sue’s visits have built unusual relationships in North Korea without making compromises. The swing of public opinion in South Korea towards more openness to the North is probably a factor in this change of policy by the South Korean government.
Sue and Kim Moon-Cheol, international director of the organization for the disabled, check the rolls baked at the Moonheung Bakery/Soymilk Plant where hearing-impaired girls bake bread for 3,000 persons with disabilities and hospital patients.
Sue feels that this is God’s confirmation of her work, which started from her 1998 visit to Pyongyang where in the face of the terrible hunger situation she heard God’s call that she should do something about it. Her visits became more frequent and the help for the North more organized when Sue began the Lighthouse Foundation in 2004. The grant from the Unification Department is a kind of matching fund, so we believe that the Lighthouse’s share of administrative expenses and 50 percent of the cost of material aid will be met by the offerings and mission funds of South Korean and U.S. Christians because God is showing us miracles these days. We have been surprised to get word of gifts that are on the way—ones we didn’t expect from the human point of view. But we were trusting that God, who loves the starving, underprivileged people in North Korea, would work in this most difficult situation.
Sue visited Pyongyang at the end of July to check on the distribution plan for three 20-foot containers of food sent to the North from the the port of Incheon in the South in mid-July. In May she had visited the northeast tip of North Korea and saw the devastating consequences of the food shortage in rural areas, as she took in some food supplies from China. In the process of visiting the three Lighthouse-related orphanages and three bakery/soymilk plants in Pyongyang and Sariwon, Sue saw many North Koreans working in the fields, including government officials who were recruited to leave their desks for months because of the urgent need for food. But poor soil and the lack of fertilizer and other things needed to raise good crops means, as one man said, “A good crop by our standards still means we’ll go hungry.” Barriers to importing grain from China and the cut-off of food aid by nations and organizations trying to force the North give up its nuclear program are making the present food crisis severe.
Children at the North Hwanghae Baby Orphanage welcome Sue with song and motion as if they know that more food is on the way.
Sue says, “Now people working in our bakeries and orphanages are like my family members as we display God’s love in practice.” The orphans sing a welcome for Sue at her visits, even if they are only 3 to 5 years old, and they know of the bread, soy milk, and clothing that friends abroad have been sending. So that children from the United States could learn of this work, Art wrote the copy for the Outreach Foundation could feature our Lighthouse ministry in its mission materials for vacation Bible schools.
Beginning June 20, we went back in the United States for a month and saw our daughter Elaine, who was more alert and doing well because the doctors had allowed her group home to reduce the number of medicines she takes for seizures. We also attended the National Korean Presbyterian Council’s annual conference, which was held in Baltimore and where we met Korean American church leaders from all over the United States. We made a presentation of our Lighthouse work. It was a joy to meet many present and potential supporters for our work in the Southern California area, which was our base for the month.
Yours in the work of sharing bread and light in the name of One who says, “I AM.”
Art and Sue Kinsler
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 120
