Grace A. Lee

Grace A. Lee

Preface

This is the excerpt from the publication of the 50th anniversary of UBF held in 2011.

Contents

1. Childhood
2. Marriage
3. Duk Jin Church
4. UBF Ministry
5. Letter writing
6. Daily Bread
7. World Mission
8. Coworking

1. Childhood

I was born on July 24th, 1938 at Yang Me Ri, Moo An Goon, Jeon Nam. I had two brothers. Since I was born on the Sabbath day, my father named me “Sabbath Girl” (An Soon). My grandfather taught Chinese literature to the village children. So my house was called “the teacher’s home”.

My grandmother was healthy and diligent. People called her a lawyer since she was wise and knowledgeable. Ironically, she didn’t know how to read, but she had an aptitude with numbers. I think of her often. I too want to be a good grandmother to my 9 grandchildren, but I feel far behind in that endeavor.

My father happened to hear one American missionary’s sermon in the Mok Po city when he was 19. After the sermon, the missionary told the crowd, “If anyone wants to believe in Jesus, raise your hand.” My father raised his hand. After my father’s conversion, people began to call my house the “Christian - crazy for Christ - home.” They ridiculed and persecuted us often. The village people would not help my family during the farming season because we were Christians. My father never faltered in his faith. Later, he entered the Mok Po seminary and became a pastor. He then led my family and all my relatives to Jesus. He became an ancestor of faith for the ‘Chun’ family.

My father built the church at my hometown and preached. In his sermon, he proclaimed that the Japanese emperor worship was an act of idol worship. On multiple occasions, Japanese police men came and arrested him. Japan had planned to execute all Christians in prison on August 16th. On August 15th, however, Korea was liberated from Japan, and Christians in prison were spared. I was happy that my father could stay with us at home.

My mother was a traditional Korean mother. She was diligent and obedient. She was sacrificial for the family and the church. My mother prayed a lot. Even now, I can hear my mother praying. I hope to be a prayer mother like her.

We later moved to the Kwang Ju city. My father worked at the “Kwang Ju Southern Presbyterian Mission office.” His job was to help American missionaries. He kept this job for 37 years until he retired.

I was a sickly child. During the junior high and high school, I was always absent from school after field trips since I was very weak and was easily tired. Because of my frequent illness, my father became over-protective of me. I also had bad eye sight and had to wear eye glasses from a young age. I hated when my class mates made fun of my eye sight and eye glasses. I was fatalistic about my eye sight. I was sad whenever I had to ask my friend’s help with notes before an exam. Even though I loved to read books, I couldn’t read as much as I wanted to because my eyes would hurt. I felt so useless.

I grew to be rude and ungrateful. I was selfish and stubborn. Dr. Lee suffered much to bear with me after marriage. I liked to collect postcards and loved apples. I have never missed eating one apple a day. Perhaps this is why I am still so pretty.

2. Marriage

You may wonder about my marriage. My father was my match maker. One day, my father came back from a business trip and said, “I met the second son of elder Lee who just graduated from seminary school, and I am convinced that he can be a good husband for you.” He added that the elder Lee’s second son wanted to marry me. I refused and protested. But my family prayed for me instead of pressuring me. One day, my father read John 3:16 and prayed for me. I didn’t understand why he read this verse. ‘What is the relationship between my marriage and John 3:16?’ Strangely, however, my mind was opened and I began to think if there was any reason I should marry the elder Lee’s second son. Then I remembered what I wrote as my future dream when I was in the 7th grade. At that time, I wrote “pastor’s wife” as my future dream. But it was rather an impromptu plan. I simply wrote it because that was what my father always prayed for. He prayed, “Lord, please make my son a pastor and my daughter a pastor’s wife.” Because I heard this prayer everyday for so many years, I concluded that I would be a pastor’s wife. I suddenly remembered what I had dreamt of. I realized that God was answering my parents’ prayer.

I never imagined that I would leave my parents. On the contrary, Dr. Lee was able to decide to marry me even though he had never seen me before and had only met my father one time. Dr. Lee thought he could marry me just by talking to my father. He had the confidence that a man like my father would raise a wonderful daughter. He then decided that he would take care of me well when he heard of my health issues and weak eye sight. He must have had faith in God with his marriage. At the same time, my father believed that Dr. Lee had something special. He considered him a man with unlimited possibilities because of his focused eyes and faith even though he was short and small. Because of my father’s faith, Dr. Lee deeply respected my father. My father also acknowledged the work of God in UBF and supported it.

I was married on March 26th, 1959. Mother Barry attended our wedding with several American missionaries. Jesus obeyed the will of God denying himself and taking up the cross for the glory of God. Marriage is not for our pleasure alone; it is a personal commitment to God and for God’s glory. I learned that marriage cannot be possible without self-sacrifice. I understood the meaning of John 3:16 which my father read for me, and learned the meaning of self-denial and obedience through the marriage.

When I married, my father prayed and advised me in three things.

  1. I must offer tithes. This is both the privilege and obligation of a believer. Not offering a tithe is like stealing from God, and God cannot bless that person (Malachi 3:10). God blesses those who keep his commandments.
  2. A woman must accept her position as a “suitable helper. She must serve her husband and help him before God. The pastor does not lead the ministry alone. Even if the pastor’s sermon is powerful and his church is growing, the ministry cannot stand if his wife does not co-work well with him. A pastor’s wife influences 80% of the ministry.
  3. Build a house to please God. A prudent wife must manage her home well. She should not burden the husband with money matters. Rather than pressing the husband who is tired with outside work, she should prepare a home of rest. She must make the financial plans to manage home.

These teachings were my parents’ prayer topics for me. I didn’t want to place any financial burdens on my poor parents. So all I brought on my wedding day was a pair of blankets and clothes. Because of this, my relatives and neighbors called me the “No dowry bride” behind my back.

My father-in-law studied oriental medicine in Japan. After his second son was born in 1931, he came back to Korea from Osaka. During that time, my mother-in-law passed away. When she was about to die, she requested that her second son, Dr. Lee, be raised as a servant of God. Dr. Lee lost his mother when he was 7 months old and he didn’t remember his mother. He always missed his mother. I thought that he was too sentimental. I didn’t understand him. Ephesians 2:10 was his life key verse. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” He overcame his fatalism through this word and gave his life for God’s will. Even though he never saw his mother’s face, he became a parent to many fatherless and motherless people. One thing what comforted me when Dr. Lee passed away was that he could meet his mother ahead of me. He must have been so happy to see her.

3. Duk Jin Church

A few months after our marriage, Dr. Lee was invited to be a pastor at Duk Jin church. We moved to the pastor’s resident. It was a church with 170 members. We didn’t have much to carry: several bowls, spoons, and chopsticks. But we had big book shelves and lots of books. We didn’t have a dining table. So we ate on a fruit box. But I learned how to live in poverty. I experienced how difficult it was to be a young pastor’s wife when the majority of the congregation was older than us.

A Pastor’s basic duties are 1) early Morning Prayer, 2) visiting people, and 3) feeding the hungry. Dr. Lee began studying Philosophy at Jeon Book University while he was taking care of the church. A pastor not only needs to preach on Sunday, but he also has to ring the church bell at 5:00am, clean up the church, and repair the church building. There was no leisure time. I complained that he worked so hard day and night when no one even asked him to do anything. No church member thanked him, even if he improved the church atmosphere every week. Dr. Lee suggested to study the Bible on Sunday afternoon. They opposed the idea, saying that church was the place to listen to sermons and no additional Bible study was needed. But Dr. Lee carried out Bible studies, even if only one person came. Young people studied the Bible on Saturday night. He taught English to middle and high school students. He asked them to bring their report cards and helped their English and Math at night. But church elders complained because of high electric bills. 2 months later, however, Bible study group was well established. I also studied one to one with an 80 year old grandmother who did not know how to read. She was my first sheep.

Dr. Lee surprised me a few times with his exceptional zeal. I was worried that we would be kicked out from the church. It was not easy to feed hungry people all the time. Though we didn’t have much to feed them with, I was able to feed them when I sought for something like Jesus’ disciple Andrew. I was amazed to see how a young pastor was able to help stubborn and authoritative elders and children to obey. This was not the work of a man. When the church elders saw the unconventional ideas and leadership, they opened their hearts and began to cooperate. Many young people gathered in the church and the ministry was growing. At that time, there was division in the church between two groups. In order not to be involved in the division, Dr. Lee resigned from his position as a pastor. The church members pleaded with him to stay. But he decided to leave. We served the church for 18 months. After we left the church, the church members repented of their division and were united into one. We thank God for His good work.

4. UBF Ministry

After the Korean War, there were nationwide student protests and military coup d'é•tat. Young people wandered. When we were still at the Mok Po city, Dr. Lee asked me one day to prepare to move immediately, because he got a new job at Kwang Ju. He added that we would have to stay at my parents’ house for a while since he couldn’t find a house. He told me that the person he would work with was Sarah Barry. I saw God’s leading when I heard her name.

Mother Barry was an unmarried American missionary and was well known among the Kwang Ju people because of her fluent Korean. She was a daughter of a plantation owner in Mississippi and came to Korea at the age of 25, sent by the Southern Presbyterian church in 1955. She gave up her youth and marriage and gave her heart to help Korean people. She served Korean people in rural areas. Many people became believers through her ministry. She realized that Korean young people needed help. By God’s providence, she and Dr. Lee met.

Both had similar questions in mind. “How can we plant hope in despairing, young Korean people?” “How can we revive their spirits? How can we help them to be future history makers?” So was born UBF. UBF is a student evangelical organization focusing on raising spiritual leaders. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). This is the key verse that helped young people to participate in the Christ’s suffering.

I sometimes wondered why my husband forgot about his wife and children and worked day and night at UBF. I could bear poverty, but loneliness was difficult to bear. Since the place was named, “University Bible Fellowship”, he should simply teach the Bible and no more. But he seemed to do much more than teach the Bible.

As the ministry grew, Dr. Lee ran all over the Kwang-ju city on his motor cycle. One day, he took our organ, our house treasure, and gave it to the center. He also took our house door and gave it away for one pioneering chapter. I had a pink sweater which someone gave to me. I didn’t even wear it because it was so precious. But one day, he gave this sweater to a Seoul National University girl student as her birthday gift. I figured that if he continued like this, there would be nothing left in the house.

But he told me that the work of God is not done by head knowledge. It required heart and self sacrifice. Giving life is not easy. So, it requires practice. He assured me that even if he gave everything to others, he would never give away his wife. He told me that he was a person who never changed his mind when he liked something, and I believed it. I was a narrow minded and earth bound person. But, God disciplined me to grow to be a mother of many nations. Every time God disciplined me, I had to go through a lot of growing pains. We were always poor and moved 22 times (18 times in Korea, 4 times in America). When I lived in a rented house, I was worried about food and fuel. But I gradually learned that being poor is not a shame. Rather it is a privilege to live by faith in God’s blessing. Living with Dr. Lee for 42 years, I tried to imitate his spiritual legacy, but I am far from it. I want to practice Jesus’ shepherd heart and love.

Dr. Lee didn’t properly take care of his health. One time, he was chronically tired and couldn’t digest food. We later found out that he had a stomach ulcer and pneumonia. Doctors recommended that he visit for a regular check up, take medication, eat, and rest well. So we brought a bag of medications. He took medicine for a couple days and then threw them away. He told me that he would not take medicine anymore. I pleaded with him that I didn’t want to be a widow and that he had to take medicine for a family. He didn’t listen to me. One year later, however, x-rays showed that his lung was clean and his stomach became normal. God blessed his faith and healed him. Whenever I asked him to take a day off and rest, he told me that he would rest in heaven.

5. Letter writing

One day, Dr. Lee asked me to write a letter to Missionary Hwa Ja Lee in Germany. I was reluctant because I didn’t know her personally. Hwa Ja Lee, In Kyung Suh, and Dong Ran Sul were the pioneering missionaries. Later, I changed my mind and wrote a nice letter to a missionary. I used very pretty paper, also. Sometime later, a response came back from Germany. But it was not addressed to me, but to Dr. Lee. I was the one who wrote the letter, but why had she responded to Dr. Lee? I felt ignored. So I decided that I would never write a letter again. I also had an inferiority complex about my hand writing.

I took care of church treasury based on 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful”. I had to write a letter whenever I received offerings from other chapters. It was training for me to overcome my bad handwriting and inferiority complex. I sent Sunday message cassette tapes to the missionaries in Germany and in America each week. Even though I recorded messages and sent them, the recipients thanked Dr. Lee. I was not sure whether he noticed this or not, but he always encouraged me to participate in world mission work. I wrote many letters to the missionaries, but only one out of the hundred responded. So I made a decision that when I became a missionary to the US, I would write a letter whenever I received one. It is not difficult to send a gift, but is not easy to write a letter even though we know that receiving a letter is such a comfort and encouragement. I found great joy when I received a letter. But I found greater joy when I sent the letter. I would not exchange the joy of putting the stamp and putting the letter in the post box with anything else.

At first, I sent the letter out of a sense of obligation. But as I remembered each missionary and prayed for them, I grew to be a mother of prayer. Writing letters was my five loaves and two fish to God.

6. Daily Bread

The manger ministry spread from Kwang-ju to the entire country. We pioneered chapters in big cities. Dr. Lee helped students to prepare messages. He also prepared Bible study material and messages. He planned to write daily bread for the spiritual growth of students. He wrote the daily bread for 3 years, covering 66 books of the Bible. Writing daily bread was probably 10 times more difficult than preparing the message. But he wrote daily bread from 1969 to 1977, until he left for the US. He used to say, “Chemistry of the Bible.” We cannot fathom the depth or width of the Bible. It is hard labor to find treasure in the mine. Dr. Lee labored in this in order to provide living water for the sheep. Whenever daily bread was published, he would hold it and sing with tears.

Because of daily bread, I was able to enjoy the word of God and live in thanksgiving. I never wrote love letters. But I wrote a love letter to Jesus every morning. I was able to get out of my fatalism and inferiority complex. I longed to live to be a servant of all (Mark 10:45).

There were not always good things happening while serving UBF ministry. There have been trials and hardships. We often felt lonely. Satan tempted us from every direction. Even our most loved ones betrayed and misunderstood us. We heard many problems from other chapters. Dr. Lee always prayed and encouraged and counseled them with the word of God. He sometimes sent shepherds to help them. Whenever there was a problem, he focused on the word of God even more. The word of God became his shield and gave him victory. God has been with us despite Satan’s mischief. Our struggle is not with flesh and blood. When we equip ourselves with the word of God and prayer, God surely gives us victory. I respect Dr. Lee’s faith in the word of God.

7. World Mission

We finally sent one woman missionary to the Je-Ju Island as our prayer for Bible Korea and Asian mission. But when we studied the Bible, it said, “go into all the world.” This was Jesus’ world mission command. We supported Bangladesh with a relief fund. In 1968, Korea sent nurses to Germany. The Holy Spirit worked among them. We prayed at the seashore for world mission, memorizing the names of capital cities for 120 countries.

In 1971, we had a summer conference at the Soong Sil University. About 1000 people attended the conference. At that time, Dr. Lee gave a prayer topic to have a Niagara summer conference in 10 years with 200 members. In 1981, we held a Niagara conference with 200 missionaries and 220 native students. This became a milestone of God’s faithfulness. We went to the Kim Po airport every week for sending and welcoming missionaries. The desire for world mission spread to the entire nation and there were many missionary candidates. Now we are praying to send missionaries to China, North Korea, and Muslim countries. We are praying to send 100,000 missionaries by years 2041. I believe that God will answer our prayers.

My family came to the US in 1977. In the US, there were nurse missionaries in New York, Washington and Chicago. God sent sewing machine operator missionaries to Canada. From 1980, nurse missionaries in Germany married and their spouses followed them to Germany. God sent missionaries to the US in various ways such as sewing machine operators or chicken killer missionaries. We began to pray to pioneer 561 American campuses.

Russia began to open up the iron curtain through Gorvachev. Dr. Lee and I applied for a tourist visa to Russia. Dr. Lee wrote down his job, a minister, and he was rejected. So the next time, he wrote down his job, “unemployed” and got the visa. When we arrived at the Moscow airport and were about to leave, we couldn’t find Dr. Lee. We searched the airport. About one hour later, Dr. Lee appeared with police men. They found the Bible in his bag and requested him to leave the Bible in the airport and take it back when he returned. He refused to leave his Bible there. He threatened that if they confiscated his Bible, he would immediately go back to the US. He claimed that he would report this incident to the US president. They were puzzled at his claim and searched him even more. Finally they gave his Bible back on the condition that he carried his Bible back with him to the US. Because of this event, all 23 tourists were nervous. Through this event, everybody recognized him as the pastor. He was able to help many people during the tour and he always prayed for the meal.

When we were passing the Moscow State University, Dr. Lee said that he urgently had to go to the bathroom. But the University door was closed since it was Sunday. But, we couldn’t give up since we came all the way there to pray for the Moscow State University. Our guide urged us to come back immediately, but we knelt down on the grass and prayed for the pioneering of Moscow State University and Russia. When we came back to the bus, people applauded and welcomed us.

God heard our prayers and opened the door to Russia in 1989. God sent many heroes of faith to CIS. When we were about to have our first CIS conference, a coup detat broke out in Moscow. Moscow was like a battle field. We couldn’t hold the conference in Moscow. God opened the door in St. Petersburg and we were able to hold the conference with 200 attendants. Dr. Lee attended the summer conference each year.He attended a total 12 times.

Dr. Lee told me that he would go to a third world country as a silver missionary since the US ministry now had a good foundation. He would not tell me which country. He told me, however, that he would go to an unknown country in 2005 and asked me to keep it secret. I told him that if he would not tell me, I would not go with him. He said that he then would go alone. Unfortunately he didn’t keep this promise and went to heaven. But I saw how his prayer has been answered. The Christian Association for Medical Mission (CAMM) visits Pyong-Yang each year for voluntary medical work. Dr. Paul Koh was appointed to be the Midwest chair person in 2004 and he was able to visit Pyong Yang each year. Since 2005, he could have taken his wife. He took me there instead.

I visited Pyong Yang in 2005. In 2006, I visited with Dr. Joseph and Esther Chung. We visited the Kim Il Sung University, Kim Chek Engineering School, Pyong Yang Medical School and prayed there every morning.

God used president Kim Jin Kyung to establish the Yun Byun University of Science and Technology (YUST) in China. Kim Jung Il asked him to build the Pyong Yang University of Science and Technology (PUST). Foreign professors came to PUST and taught the students. I pray for the unification of Korea.

8. Coworking

I thank God for helping Dr. Lee and Mother Barry to cowork each other. It looked impossible for them to cowork since their nationality, race, language, personality, and gender were different. But they were one in their sense of mission for college students. They held on to one common prayer topic and they both loved Jesus, and this enabled them to cowork. Whenever they had different opinions they denied themselves and respected each other. Because of their 40 years of coworking, God blessed UBF ministry.

Dr. Lee told me that his greatest joy was to read the Bible. Every year right after the Christmas worship service, he bought a new Bible and read it day and night until he finished reading the whole Bible before the new year. On his 60th birthday, our son Sam shared his father’s life using the verse Psalm 1:2, “but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” At that time, Dr. Lee was very happy since he was recognized by his son as the servant of God’s word.

God granted me three children: Dr. Paul & Grace Koh, Dr. Sam & Grace Sun Lee, Dr. Charles & Little-Sarah Kim. They are Bible teachers, disciple makers, and full time shepherds. Dr. Paul Koh prays for North Korea and takes care of the Founders Day each year. Dr. Sam’s family serves the University of Illinois campus. He wants to be a “good Bible student, and a good Bible teacher”. Dr. Lee always prayed for his son to be a UBF full time shepherd. God answered his prayer. Dr. Charles & Little-Sarah Kim serves the UIC ministry and works with shepherd Steve Stasinos. They open their home and serve sheep and second generation. My 4 grandchildren are college students. Mary Koh went to YUST last summer as an English teacher. Abraham Kim went to Venezuela for 6 weeks and stayed with brothers there. Sarah Little Kim went to Turkey during Winter break. She has vision for Muslim countries. I have nothing to pass to my children. I only pray that they live as Bible teachers and disciple makers.

At the end of 2001, Dr. Lee gave me a key verse. “Be faithful even to the point of death” (Rev 2:10b). But I told him that I was not ready to be a martyr. One week later, he passed away. So this key verse became his last gift to me. I still don’t have faith to be a martyr, but I hold on to this key verse every year.

I suffered under the power of death due to his sudden departure. But the risen Jesus visited me and wiped my tears and gave me a new hope in the kingdom of God (John 20:15). I know many shepherds are working hard to prepare UBF’s 50th anniversary in 2011. God who has guided us for the last 50 years will guide us in the future. I meditate on 1 Samuel 7:12,“Thus far the LORD has helped us” and want to participate in the work of God with prayer.

One word: Be faithful even to the point of death