Letter from Overseas
HyeRan and David Kim-Cragg write from Korea

Letter #9 May & June, 2006

Report for May and June 2006

We are sending this on the eve of our departure on a Mission trip to Canada. Between June 23 and July 2 we will be traveling with a group of HanShin University students to Ontario, visiting 7 churches in 10 days. At each church we will be leading a worship service celebrating the history of the relationship between the United Church of Canada and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea. In turn our host churches are feeding us, giving us a place to sleep and supporting us by means of a honorarium or free offering. The students are excited and have already started to form a strong group. HyeRan and David are grateful for their enthusiasm and for the hospitality of their church friends in Canada. God is promising to bless us.

Following the Mission trip the Kim-Craggs will be spending three weeks in Canada, catching up with family and friends, getting their teeth checked and doing other odd jobs. Hannah and Noah are looking forward to seeing Canada again. They will have a new proficiency in the Korean language to show off as well as a few inches to their stature.

May and June have not been dull. Worship leadership, class lectures, test marking and getting ready for our trip have kept us busy. Campus life has been slowly returning to normal after the shock of the accident. The students and faculty spent a month in shock and there were some fights and high tensions but that has started to dissipate. HyeRan and David had a chance to visit the young man who had been paralyzed from the accident. We are happy to report that he is recovering well and is in good spirits. His major injuries include a fracture pelvic bone which is still being held together with a pin. But this summer he hopes to try to walk again. He said he wants to be in class next semester and to come to Canada with us on our next mission trip!

After years of work, and months of dotting “i”s, crossing “t”s and biting nails HyeRan finally received her Th.D from the University of Toronto on May 11. (David likes to say he earned his Ph.T (Putting her Through).) It is now Dr. HyeRan! Her family is really proud of her and she is excited to put her new degree to work as she gets ready for a number of courses next year in Feminist Theology and Religious Education & Worship.

Korea World Cup soccer hopes are consuming the attention of the nation these days. The team has done really well and has a good chance at getting into the play offs. We look forward to catching some of the action in Toronto.

Love to all,

The Kim-Craggs