Dry Bones into a Vast Army

Key Verse: “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army” (Ezekiel 37:10).

I thank Almighty God for blessing his mission in Czech in the year 2009. I thank God for his grace in 2009 and I pray that in 2010 we can be successful in our ministry with his given vision and direction.

1. 2009 Mission Report

1. The work of the Word

When I look back on the year 2009, I especially give thanks to God. Ales Maca was raised as an Abraham of faith. He`s my first fruit since my husband M. Isaac Shin passed away and I took over his responsibility. For 2 and a half years I`ve been serving one person, Ales Maca, regularly with 1:1 Bible study. While serving Ales, I`ve learned how much time and heart it takes to raise one Abraham of faith. When I didn`t know God`s heart and didn`t take care of one sheep preciously, but wanted to serve many sheep, I didn`t have any fruit and I didn`t grow in faith. I prayed for Ales when serving and accepting him as a spiritual son. And God planted his word in Ales so that he accepted Jesus as Christ and decided to become a campus shepherd, a source of blessing to Czech students. In 2009, I served our ministry with the Word from John and Acts. From Acts, I learned from Paul that even in the time of persecution, he didn`t give up, but preached the Word of God with his pure life of faith and desire. So I repented of my inactive attitude in preaching the gospel. I worked hard till Friday and gave little time to my Sunday message. In June 2009, I slipped, broke my right ankle, and got surgery. For 3 months I had my leg in a cast, and for 5 months, I couldn`t walk. After this accident, God gave my tired body time to rest. While I was resting, I meditated on God`s Words and had a personal relationship with God. And through this accident, God helped me to take care of myself more and exercise.

2. The work of the conference

From May 29-31, we had our Spring conference on Immanuel. The preachers were Ales Maca on “Unless he is born again,“ (John 3), Stefan Elsholz from Bonn, Germany on “It is finished“ (John 19), and M. Hannah Shin on “Jesus the bread of life.“ (John 6). In order to serve the upcoming International European conference, almost all the missionaries and second generation missionaries from Central Europe attended our conference to practice our dance. Ministries from all 6 countries of Czech, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, and Slovakia have usually only one or two missionary families, but we gave our time, money, and heart to Jesus. Dr. Peter Chang came to our conference. He encouraged and supported us by coming, though he was very busy preparing for the ESBC. M. Josef and Maria Bae from Croatia drove 10 hours and attended our conference to serve the ESBC. And from Poland, M. Elijah Park came as he comes every time when we have a conference to serve us with a message full of grace. M. James Han from Austria came with six second generation missionaries and served the conference with Bible study. M. Esra and Hannah Yoon from Ostrava, M. Rebeka Ahn from Hungary, and M. Henrik Lee from Krakow all joined our dance. We wanted to dance a central European dance, but we didn´t have a teacher and nobody knew how to dance ballet. But God blessed our fellowship and sent us a ballet teacher, Kristina. She studied ballet at the art academy and worked in the State opera house as a ballet dancer. She new we were amateurs, but when she saw our faith and that we were practicing hard, she taught us more diligently.

We prayed that through 1000 times of prayer more than 1000 attendants could come to our ESBC. I thank God that he accepted our prayers. From Aug. 13-16, 2009, blessed our ESBC in Germany Eringerfeld. Through this ESBC, I realized God´s hope for Europe. Forty years ago, God sent 3 nurse missionaries and through their 5 loaves for mission, God blessed Europe. I realized that missionaries, second gen missionaries, and native shepherds are the hope of God. I could see that all of them gave their hearts and strength for this ESBC so that this conference was the best prepared starting from messages, videos, presentations, orchestra to dancing. Ales Maca shared a testimony on “Jesus is my Mesiah“ in the evening of the European mission night. When M. Joshua Kang and I went to the dormitory and met brother Ales, he didn`t hesitate, but said that he will come to our Sunday worship service. I invited him, but I didn`t believe that he would come. He apologized that he wouldn’t be able to attend this week, but that he would the week after. And so he came and through regular 1:1 Bible study with him, he learned about Jesus and accepted him as Christ and decided to live as a shepherd for Czech souls. And at the central European morning devotion time, second generation missionary David Shin preached on Ezekiel 37, “Dry bones into a vast army.“ M. David Shin served the Central European dance and the Czech mission by faith and with all his heart, though he had to prepare for his university entrance exam. God blessed him and he entered the most popular economic school in Czech. After his father passed away, he was rebellious toward God and lived a party life with his friends. He stole his mother`s money and followed the pleasures of this world and lived as a dry bone. But the Holy Spirit worked in him while he was at the Yonhee center in Korea. At the conference in Yonhe center, he was born again through the message of Jesus` cross. I praise God that he led him to live as a vast army preaching the Word of God in the economic university. God also blessed sister Eva and Michael to join our ESBC and receive the word of God. After, ESBC mission journey teams from US, Canada, and Korea, and the orchestra, New Jersey, and Hanjang team and other families came as servants of prayers to Prague. We served about 155 people and were full of joy.

From Nov. 13-15, 2009, we had an Autumn Bible conference. Ales Maca was baptised and we had a sacramental ceremony. Dr. Peter Chang and Stefan Elsholz joined our conference and served our shepherd establishing and sacramental ceremony. Also from Bern, M. Johannes and Susana Kim from Slovakia and M. Esther Chang attended our conference. It was the first time for us in Czech UBF to have a last supper and sacramental ceremony. Ales and second generations Moses Kang, Somang Kang, and Joan Yoon all wrote good testimonies and shared them before they were baptized. M. Esra Yoon from Ostrava served the opening message based on Mark 9, “Everything is possible for him who believes.“ He repented of his lack of faith through his message. He realized that he prayed only in the good times of hope, but when he didn`t have hope, he fell into deep depression. Therefore, he repented of his unbelief. He prayed to raise one ancestor of faith in Ostrava like Abraham. M. Hannah Yoon prayed to live as a profesor shepherd. Both prayed for their two daughters, Joan Yoon and Yeun Yoon, that God may raise them in his best way. While Msn. Esra Yoon was preparing his message, he received the Word himself and was happy. Through this Autumn Bible conference, we studied Romans 16. From the house church of Priscilla and Aquila, we learned the importance of the work of the house church in the ministry.

On Dec. 20, 2009 in Czech UBF, we had a Christmas worship service. We invited our sheep and employees that we were in contact with. In total, 21 people attended our Christmas worship service. With much grace, Ales served a message based on Luke 2, “Christ is born for you.“ He moved hearts through sharing how he accepted Christ. M. Joshua Kang and M. David Shin sang Christmas praises with much grace. Moreover, sister Hana and brother Pavel came and we shared our joy with each other.

2. Co-work and self-support report

M. Joshua and Maria Kang co-worked with me with their whole hearts in the year 2009. M. Joshua Kang especially served Czech UBF humbly, loyally, and sacrificially. M. Maria Kang joyfully served our guests with good food. They are the most precious in the Czech ministry.

The year 2009 was the year of the world crisis. Many companies went bankrupt, but I was very busy all the time in taking up my five crosses. For 5 months, my leg hurt and I couldn`t walk. I had to delay everything. I prayed for God`s compassion and left the work to others. God has blessed us and has increased our harvest by 30%. I worked hard with my 10 employees like we were one family. With only a small amount of money, it wasn`t easy to succeed, but with God`s help and the diligent work of my employees, it was possible.

From the Chunan chapter in Korea, Samuel Park is waiting for a visa. We pray that God may allow him to study from February at the Charle`s university in Czech and work at Arirang and serve with us at Czech UBF. We pray that his wife Somang Park may get a cohabitation visa.

I thank God for allowing us self-supporting fellowship in Europe. Through this fellowship, we shared many opinions and prayed to serve the European mission. M. Johanes Kim from Bern, M. David Suk from Kingston, UK, M. Johan Ju from Sweden, M. Barnabas Kang from Macedonia, and I pray to co-work well and serve this work with grace. May God help all of us missionaries from Central Europe to serve and support each other. I also pray to support and co-work well with Dr. Peter Chang who serves the whole Europe mission.

1. 2010 Vision strategy

Prague Chapter

2010 Key Verse: “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army“ (Ezekiel 37:10).

I pray that God`s breath may work in all the dry bones of our co-workers in Czech UBF so that we may come to life to become God`s vast army and bring many Czech students to God.

Prayer topics:

1. M. Hannah Shin to prepare messages well from Genesis and Romans
2. Raise 12 apostles and 12 Marys of faith from UK, CVUT, CZU, and VSE campuses by 2015
3. Thirty 1:1 Bible studies, 30 Sunday worship service attendees
4. Ales Maca and M. David Shin to become messengers

Ostrava Chapter

2010 Key Verse: “As for me, I will certainly not sin against the LORD by ending my prayers for you. And I will continue to teach you what is good and right“ (Samuel 12:23).

Prayer topics:

1. Through prayer at dawn, be used as a prayer home
2. One 1:1 Bible student from Ostrava Technology University
3. Raise Joan and Je eun as second generation missionaries
4. Conquer the language and work at the company
5. Rescue brothers and sisters from heresy