In January, 2007, I left for Hyderabad, India. While on the plane, my heart fl uttered in anticipation. However, what was awaiting me there was hot weather, strangers and a language barrier. Despite that, I did not worry much about those things, but rather I thought about what I should do to find our heavenly family here.

The gospel work did not go as smooth as I expected. I went through many trials and errors, and sometimes I forgot what I had in mind at first. Whenever this happened, I was able to overcome myself to start again because Mother was with me. Still now I go through many hardships, but I continue to walk the path given to me with joy and gratitude because I believe that Mother always opens the way of blessing.

I feel that every blessing comes from Mother and Her constant prayers for us. Mother, You are truly our strength.

Following the guidance of Mother

When I arrived in Hyderabad, there were some self-supporting volunteers from Mumbai, India, as well as from Nepal and Korea. To cultivate the gospel wasteland together, we needed to urgently find a place for Zion. However, there was no one who would rent a building to us, foreigners.

ⓒ 2011 WATV

While traveling here and there to look for a church building, we met a local man who had experienced many foreign countries. He helped us find a building for Zion, saying he likes Korean people. Then he carefully showed us an empty house which belonged to him. It was the best place for Zion.

It seemed like a coincidence, but there was nothing coincidental to us. Everything was being fulfilled exactly as God had planned. The gospel in Hyderabad started in earnest at the nest provided by God.

India is almost 33 times larger than South Korea. The official languages of India are Hindi and English, but there are so many dialects that vary from region to region.

Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh State with a population of 70 million, mainly Telugu-speaking. Since India is a vast land, there are many different languages, climates, cultures and religions in the country. So, even the members from Mumbai feel as if they are in a foreign country.

Especially, Hyderabad is famous for being an important center of Muslim culture.

Today’s city is an amalgamation of two cities?Hyderabad and Secunderabad, but it was originally the capital of the kingdom of Hyderabad, founded by an Islamic tribe.

For this reason, Hyderabad has more Muslims than any other city in India. On the contrary, Secunderabad, the modern administrative city founded by the British, has many Christians. Our Zion is located in the Secunderabad region.

Fortunately, we were able to preach the New Covenant without any major problems, and people would kindly listen to us. We went out joyfully to preach everyday, giving thanks to God.

In less than a year, Zion became too small for us. We needed to move to a bigger place, but it was hard to find a proper place because of the characteristics of building structures in India. Just at the right time, the owner of the building (Zion) came and said that he had another building and that he would remodel it any way we wanted. Then he earnestly asked us to use his building, which was much larger than the previous building and was located in the downtown area where there was good public transportation.

That was the best place for Zion! It seemed like a coincidence again, but that was not coincidental to us at all; for it was really excellent timing!

In this way, the gospel in Hyderabad was being accomplished fully in accordance with the guidance of Mother.

Finding good fruit, though few

Since we were given a big and beautiful sanctuary, we expected that the gospel in Hyderabad would grow even more. However, it showed no progress.

There were continuously souls who received the truth after hearing the good news about Heavenly Mother, but they did not distinguish the truth from falsehood, so they could not break away from their religious customs. Many of them came to Zion just out of curiosity about Korea, Korean people, and Mother in Korea.

It is a common occurrence for people here to show up a couple of hours late for the appointment or to break their promises. Their habit applies to their church life as well. So, many Protestant churches here hold their worship services one hour later than scheduled.

The problem is that this unfavorable habit continues even in Zion.
‘Gospel’ is accomplished through a promise between God and us, and a promise between brothers and sisters. However, many of the members did not know the importance of keeping the promise, and even though we let them know its importance, they refused to accept it, saying, “It’s not our custom.” This troubled me for quite a long time.

I didn’t know when, but I came to have fixed ideas and prejudices about people here.
The prejudices caused us to lose trust in each other, and we all became downcast.

Just then, Mother comforted us, knowing our troubled hearts, and She gave us wisdom to repent and correct our faults. Truly, Mother is God of love.
I thought about why Mother had sent me here. It was because there were our loving heavenly family members in Hyderabad whom I should find without fail?our brothers and sisters who truly revere God, even if it is just one out of every ten million people.

I got rid of my foolishness that caused me to keep complaining about my situation while losing my purpose of coming here. I also removed my weaknesses which made me depend on the local members because I was not good at speaking the foreign language. Then I made every effort to deliver the love of Mother that I had personally seen and felt in Korea, by actively trying to do it myself even though I could not make myself fully understood in the local language. As I broke my prejudices and approached each member with a sincere heart, we were able to restore our trust and have a closer and more loving relationship, treating each other with sincerity.

Soon, good fruits were gathered into Zion one after another. They were our heavenly family members who came to Zion with their single-hearted yearning for God, being carried away by the fragrance of truth.

Coming closer to Mother, toward the core of faith

In India, all the members of a family are deeply rooted in the same faith. So it is a great matter for them to change churches. Moving to another church means changing their life itself. However, God’s sheep distinguish between truth and falsehood and receive Mother, the core of truth.

In this city, there is a church that has the same name as our church and observes the feasts including the Sabbath in a similar manner. One day, we met a young man; he seemed to understand the truth well and came to Zion often, but he kept hesitating to become a child of God. Meanwhile, he heard the truth about Heavenly Mother. Only then did he say, “Surely this is the true church.” We found out later that his whole family and friends had been all attending the church with the same name as our church.

Ultimately, however, he knelt down before the truth about “God the Mother” which he had never heard of before. Starting with the brother, his family and friends also became great gospel workers for Zion, being amazed by the truth about Heavenly Mother.

Definitely, Mother is the center of the faith of the members. Although they are quiet and rarely express their feelings, they are all delighted when they hear of “Mother.”

I wanted them to come closer to Mother. However, since they could not see Mother directly as the members in Korea do, I thought of a good way to help them, and Father gave me wisdom; it was a letter!

There is a letter box at the back of the worship hall. The recipient is Mother. At the beginning we planned to write a letter once a month, before the first worship service of the month, but now I usually see many brothers and sisters write letters here and there in Zion.

They ask Mother to grant their wishes through prayers and letters, and they greatly rejoice when their wishes are answered. Inspired by them, other members also participate in writing letters to Mother. Now everyone writes what is on their mind sincerely to Mother. They repent even for a small mistake or fault by writing a letter.

Since they always put Mother at the center of their hearts, they live in good conscience before God every day and participate actively in the gospel work by putting aside their childish faith. Even the new members, who have just learned the truth about Mother, naturally write letters to Mother. As they get closer to Mother, their faith grows faster.

I can feel how much they all love Mother. I earnestly hope that the day will come quickly when the members, whose hearts are completely directed toward Mother, will see Mother in Korea face to face and feel the abundance of Mother’s love.

Dreaming for the gospel in India, being in unity

ⓒ 2011 WATV

In Hyderabad, midsummer temperatures go up to 45 degrees Celsius. It is so hot that we can hardly meet people during the daytime, but we never stop preaching the gospel.

I believe that the members’ love towards Mother enables them to focus only on the gospel.

Because of the influence of Muslim culture, women are restricted in their outdoor activities. So the female adult members of Zion make efforts to preach the gospel to their neighbors, while the young adult members go out preaching after studying the Bible in Zion after work.

Everyone opens the Bible as soon as they arrive at Zion. They prefer to share God’s grace through the Word rather than to talk about meaningless things of the world. Zion is always filled with those members who love God’s word, and the voices of preaching the Bible never cease. I believe that this is truly the culture of heaven which God is pleased with.

There are three cities in Hyderabad where we have preached the gospel. The cities are very far away from Hyderabad. So, we did not actually take good care of the members there. Just at the right time, a short-term mission team came from Korea, and we joined them in helping the members in those cities.

Since then, the members of the Hyderabad Zion have been absorbed in the joy of cultivating gospel fields in an unfamiliar region together with other brothers and sisters in one mind. Now they go in turns on a short-term mission to another region, saying that they should preach the gospel in other regions as well. They probably feel tired when they return from their mission trip, but they never stop preaching the gospel. With this burning fervor for the gospel, many of the members have already accomplished the Ten Talent Mission, and some have gained dozens more talents.

For the past one year, the gospel had spread so rapidly. Before, I often felt that I was taking care of Zion alone. Now, however, the members participate in the gospel voluntarily and systematically, so the branch Churches as well as the Hyderabad Church are growing rapidly. I deeply realize that the gospel can be accomplished when we become united with one another by the help of God, not by an individual.

When we carry out the gospel work, we get completely different results according to whether we follow our own thoughts and ways or we understand and follow the will and mind of God. I think that God bestows overwhelming blessings upon the Hyderabad Zion since all the members repent and follow God, starting with me. I truly give thanks to God.

India is a vast continent with a population of 1.2 billion people. Alone in Hyderabad, there are still so many regions where the gospel has not been preached yet. In this new year, I wish the Hyderabad Church to produce many more workers of the new covenant, who will carry out the mission of prophets to preach the gospel throughout the vast land of India.

Mother, we believe that You are with us forever as You’ve always been with us until now. By relying on You, we will fulfill the gospel mission in India, which You have entrusted to us. With our single-hearted devotion and love towards You, we send our New Year’s greetings to You.

“Thank You, Mother, and we love You!”