SAMUEL KIM

Up until my senior year, I had made excuse after excuse to not go on missions. It wasn’t because I hated missions or that I was scared; I actually had gone many times when I was in youth group to Mexico and the American Indian Reservations in Arizona. It was because I thought I could be doing other things that would be more beneficial for my future career. I couldn’t be further from the truth. In my senior year, however, I felt a little tug on my heart for the mission field. For the various countries and people groups around the world: from the people that hadn’t heard the Gospel at all to the people that did hear but were in need of encouragement and help. After some prayer and thought, I felt that God was calling me to obey and so I signed up for short term summer missions (STSM) with Kristos Campus Missions (KCM). 

My team and I embarked on a 28 day trip to India with most of our ministry done in a city called Bangalore. And it was here where I learned what it truly meant to live with gratitude. Our missionary contacts were a doctor by the name of Missionary Chung and his son, Missionary Abraham. Missionary Chung is someone to be respected and revered. While my initial impression of him was a kind Korean grandpa wearing a fedora and a clean button up with a nice vest, the manner in which he lived for the Lord was something I haven’t seen before. He would accompany us on the bus rides to the schools where we were going to do ministry and at the end of every 15 minute ride, he would say ‘Let us give thanks to the Lord’. Then he would take off his hat and we would all start praying in gratitude to God. But it wasn’t just after bus rides. After a VBS session, before a meal, if there was reason to thank the Lord, then we did so. In the beginning I thought this was something he just did. But it was more than that. It was a lifestyle that he adapted. Because the Lord is good and worthy to be praised. We don’t deserve anything and yet he continues to bless us and pour out on us. And our response should then be to praise him and thank him. It was this mindset that was imprinted onto me and I vowed to do this for my entire life. So when we went on 30 hour bus rides with no meals, when it was so humid that stepping outside drenched my shirt into a different color, when the endless honking of the cars drove me nuts, I gave thanks to God for providing us with snacks and water to sustain us, for the air conditioning inside the rooms, and for an opportunity for my patience to be tested and grow. In everything, I learned to give thanks to The Most High.

After I returned, some memories faded and I forgot some names, but His goodness was constant in my life no matter where I was. And so I praise Him. I thank God. For He is truly good. And anything that I could have done that summer for my career would never have compared to this invaluable lesson that will stick with me until I die. Thank you Lord!