My name is Sally Han and I was born in Los Angeles, California on February 21st of 1992. In 1998, our family moved to High Point, North Carolina so that my father could attend Seminary school. My father is the Senior Pastor of our church in High Point, called Korean Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, and my mother is a piano teacher in addition to being Pastor's Wife. My whole life I spent going to church and learning about Jesus Christ. By God's merciful grace, I was blessed with wonderful parents who taught me about God's love. Therefore, I loved going to church and I loved being there. To me, church was always like my second physical home. For me, the role of being a Pastor's Kid (PK) was second nature to me. It was almost like a part of my identity. I could not imagine myself not being a PK nor could I imagine my life without God.
Although my father is a Pastor and my mother is Pastor's Wife, I know that my parents' faith cannot insure my salvation. By the grace of God in 2005, when I was in 8th grade, I accepted Jesus Christ into my life. Our youth group went to JAMA (Jesus Awakening Movement for America) Conference in Dallas, Texas and it was there that I met Jesus Christ personally. I knew in my own heart that Jesus Christ was my Personal Savior and Lord of my life. Then in 2007, I was baptized and I confessed in front of the congregation that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord; and I became a born-again Christian. My testimony is not extravagant like some people's. To be honest, I was a good kid who obeyed my parents, who was nice to everyone, who worshipped and prayed to God. I did not have a huge rock-bottom moment that led me back to God. However, now looking back on my life, I believe it is a blessing from God and not by my own deeds that I was able to have a life like mine: having loving parents and a great younger brother whom I love and being able to know Jesus Christ and go to church without being persecuted for my faith. I first heard of this mission trip to Cambodia at VM when they announced it in the fall of 2013. I had just started my senior year at UNC-Chapel Hill. At the time, and it is still true now, my dream was to work for the United Nations and help especially with human trafficking prevention. Cambodia did not stand out to me in particular because I was still in school and I thought afterwards I would go straight into graduate school. However, after leaving VM during my last semester of college to serve at my home church, I was given the opportunity to hear about Cambodia one more time at Graduate Night at VM. When Pastor Jacob was talking about Cambodia, right then in my head I could not help but think, "I wonder if it is too late for me to go..." It was very odd of me to think that all of a sudden because before then I had not even thought about Cambodia, let alone think about going. But God works in amazing ways. As soon as I thought that in my head, Pastor Jacob said, "It's not too late to go." I was pretty shocked. It was like he read my mind. But I know it was God who answered my question. That is the beginning of my long, internal battle with myself. "Should I go to Cambodia? Is this what God is telling me to do? Am I just making this up in my head?" Truthfully, what was really holding me back was my doubt. I doubted my own motives. I knew this was a mission and I knew how serious I should take it. Therefore, I did not want to just go because I did not have a job lined up yet or because of other selfish reasons. So, naturally, in order to avoid my selfishness, I wrote off Cambodia as a "no". However, God kept bringing up Cambodia to me in my thoughts and through close people in my life. -SH
1 Comment
I went to Cambodia for the first time in 2006. At that time, I had no vision for my life. I was only 23 years
old and it was my first mission trip. Afterwards I felt the longing to go back. Many people have that feeling after a mission trip; they miss the kids, the foods, the experience. So they always say “I want to go back next year. I want to go back again”. However most of the time, it’s short-lived. But for me, it was different. The longing to go back was a deeper calling. I went back to Cambodia three times after that, leading a different mission team each time. And I kept feeling a stronger conviction to come back and serve in a bigger way. I realized that 2~3 week short term mission trips didn’t make as big of a difference. I wanted to be used in a bigger way, in a bigger capacity. It was then that God gave me the vision for education. I had been teaching for a long time in many different ways, but I never considered it as a career. However God showed me that He was the one who gave me the gift of teaching and leadership, and that He wanted to use me in the field of education. In order to better prepare myself for this calling, I decided to apply to graduate school. In 2011, through God’s grace, I earned my Master’s degree in International Educational Development from Columbia University. This year, when I heard that our church was preparing to send a small group of missionaries to Cambodia, I thought to myself, “Has my time come? Is this the opportunity I’ve been waiting for?” So I started to pray intentionally (작정기도) for that one thing. I came to church every morning at 8AM for over a month praying specifically for direction. Of course in my heart, I wanted to go right away, but I did not want to go to Cambodia on my own accord. I believed that it is crucial to wait for God’s timing and calling when going on missions. I had waited this long, and I was not about to mess up God’s plan and timing because of my own impatience. But thankfully, I felt the Lord confirming that this was indeed the opportunity I was waiting for. I felt the Holy Spirit giving me peace about this decision. I have no doubt in my mind and am fully confident that God is sending me to Life International School and He will be with me every step of the way. I am very excited to go back to Cambodia. It has been 5 years since I’ve been there; 7 years since I’ve been to Life School. But I still kept in touch with the Cambodian students and friends I had met there. They always asked me when I was coming back to see them and do ministry with them again... and I always had to answer carefully, “When God sends me... if it is His will”. But finally, now I can say, “I will see you soon! God answered our prayers!” Thank you Lord for sending me back to Cambodia. Soli Deo Gloria! -GC It was the beginning of freshman year in college when I lost my connection with God. This relationship that took more than half of my life to build, disintegrated within a couple of months. I could not understand why something so righteous could fall so easily. Once my faith started to weaken, questions started to accumulate. I began doubting His creation, His will, and even His power; but the most shameful thought that came across my mind was questioning His love for me. Over and over again, God speaks of His sovereign love for His people. It is shown through His scripture, and it reflects through His children. Even His voice is engraved within His creation, but because I was so caught up with my worldly views and recycled temptations, I could not witness His presence. I became spiritually dead, and I began to fear for the path that I was starting to follow. I became desperate and scared, so I started to pray. I wasn't aware of how powerful the Holy Spirit was until that day when I was so broken, kneeling before Him. At that point, there was no way I could doubt His existence. That was when I felt God's calling to go to Cambodia. I knew I wasn't the only person who was struggling with my faith. There are so many of His children lost, and so many who have yet to witness His love, but nobody to awaken them. If I hold the knowledge of God's presence and can hold His words in my hands, I want to share them with people who are willing to open their ears and listen to the words He desperately wants them to hear. I look forward to the day of Revelations when we will join together to glorify
God's name in one voice. So I ask, why not start now? -SP My Reason to go to CambodiaEver since I was a high school student, I’ve wanted to go overseas to do missions. Of course, I did not know when or even where that would happen, but I knew I wanted that to be a part of my future. Throughout the many years I’ve attended FKBC, I have seen various groups of missionaries from our church being sent out to China, Philippines, Cambodia, and Mexico. When I watched these people go off to serve in other countries, I started to form a desire to do the same. My heart went out to the people living overseas who did not yet know Christ. The life I live in America is so comfortable and I see the many blessings that God has given me in my day to day life. I live such a privileged life here… and I know that there are people that are across the world who don’t have that kind of life.
Last summer, in July of 2013, I had the opportunity to go on a short term mission trip with a team of 50 people to Yucatan, Mexico. During my time there, I was able to experience a glimpse of the kind of life the native people lived on an everyday basis. The people I encountered lived in homes that were literally made of the forest that they lived around. Their homes consisted of wood, dirt, leaves, and whatever resources they had. I had always seen these kinds of situations through the Internet or tv, but I never was able to see and experience it physically. I was blown away by how different our lives were. And, I was even more blown away by how these people have grown to appreciate the life that they lived. God had blessed these people despite their living situation. I realized that it does not matter where you live and what kind of situation you are going through because through those things, God will bless those who seek after Him and He will be faithful to His people. With that in mind, I knew more than ever that I wanted to go out and serve Him. I realized that this life that I have is not about the “American dream”. It’s not about living comfortably or having a “privileged life”. My main mission is to follow God’s calling - to serve Him, to witness, to go out! All the doors leading to the decision of going to Cambodia opened for me. God allowed me to take this opportunity and I knew in my heart that this was the path to take. Before going to Cambodia, I know I still have much room for spiritual growth and discipline, but I also know that God has placed me into a community of sisters and brothers in Christ who are here to support me and help me in my journey of growth. I’m so thankful for this church and for those who have encouraged me to be bold. I do not know what this year will bring… Maybe I will encounter enormous hardships, but I know that God is greater than anything that could come my way. I trust that I will be fine and that He will be glorified in the end. -EY |