Missionary Trip To Europe

If You Receive Grace of God

Missionary Hun-duk Lee


Trust in God which Raiseth the Dead

Belarus is not a famous country located between Russia and Poland. The area is about 1.5
times the size of South Korea. There are 10 million people, and 2 million people live at the
capital, Minsk. Because there were many great battles here between Russia and Germany
during World War II, many buildings were destroyed and many people died. I didn`t even
know there was a country named Belarus. But God remembered the souls here through the
church and the servants. The communist regime fell apart and folded away, but still there are
many marks of communism in the actual daily lives. Foreigners are often inspected and if
they do not provide a passport, they can be taken to a detention center.
I was dispatched to Minsk October of last year. But in order to get used to the language, I
first dwelled at Kiev for a while then went to Minsk. We got in our car in Germany and
headed for Kiev and it took more time than expected to cross the Ukraine border. We had to
pass through a mountain range while it was getting dark, and we were undecided whether
we should switch off driving and drive through the night or sleep a night. Right before the
mountain range we saw a village so we decided to rest there. The inn keeper was to watch
our car so we just kept our luggage in the car and slept the night. When we got up to leave
in the morning, we could not see our car. It had been stolen. Inside of this car that our
mission provided, there were many things that the pastors` wives had prepared. We had lost
all of those.
At first I felt complaintful about the circumstance but I had the heart, `Why is God allowing
these things?` I was able to see that the center of my heart was not before the grace of
God. I said I was leaving for mission depending on God, but in my heart was the heart, `I
can giver sermons, I can lead spirits into the
Gospel.` I had the heart that I would be able to bear mission through what I`ve seen and
experienced. Losing the car and the goods in it did not happen through just some arrogance.
God showed my own image of the root of my heart having left the mercy of God.
That was how we started the first step of the mission and God taught me that fact in all
aspects. It was so when we went to get a room in Minsk. It was in the middle of the
Europe area ministers meeting so I went with Missionary Kwon Oh Son, Woo Jong Ki, Shim
Dong Soo, and Choi Seung Chul. I felt confident because I went with people who were good
at Russian, German, and English. But Missionary Shim Dong Soo had a problem with his
passport so he was caught at the border. The car he was in was his car so it could not
cross the border as well. We had no choice but to seek the mercy of God. A couple hours
later, it was able to cross the border through the grace of God. I often tried to rely on good
circumstances or experiences, but each time God blocked the way so that I would only
depend on Him.
Now it has been nine months since coming to Minks with a student visa. During that time
God has endlessly done same works upon me. God wants us to preach in this country the
Gospel freely, but God first must break the things of my heart that keeps me from doing
that.
"*that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead."(2Cor. 1:9)
I had heard and known about living trusting in God, but my own humanly ways and
thoughts constantly popped in my actual life.

At the set time which god had spoken

After school I went to a nearby neighborhood with my wife and witnessed. The people here
have little to eat and are dirty, but the culture of their minds is very developed. It is a part
of their everyday life to stroll in the park with their suckling, or go watch ballets. I spoke to
the women who were strolling at the park. They would first be happy when we told them
we are from Korea, but when we asked them, "Do you have sin? You will go to hell if you
have sin," with the little Russian we knew, they disliked it very much. After about a week,
there were no more women coming to the park. So we would go out to witness but come
home without having met anyone.
I got to deeply think that even preaching the Gospel to them could only be done through
receiving grace. One day we went out witnessing and did not meet anyone so we were on
our way home when a lady about 50 years old asked, "Are you a pastor?" She had heard
about us because there are no Koreans in that area. I said yes and she told me that there is
a sick young man so go and do laying of hands prayer for him. I went to the place where
the young man was, and he was not especially sick. He was a student in the first year of
college, and I thought, `Is there a mental problem?` He said to go to his house so we went
to his house and I preached the word. From that day we had Bible study at his house for a
week. Of course he did not get saved, bit I was able to know that if He gives us grace, I
could preach the word.
Early August, I was barely able to have an organized Russian vocabulary list next to and
open the Russian Bible and fellowship. Around that time the brothers from Moscow came and
we went witnessing together and met a young woman named Lenah. Her father and her
brother had died so her mother remarried. But she did not get along with her new father so
she was living with her aunt when she met us. She just got laid off from her work and
came to the park and met us. She came to us with an open heart had Bible study for a
week.
It was the tenth day of having Bible study with Lenah. The words, "For Sarah conceived,
and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to
him,"(Gen. 21:2) reached my heart. Aged Abraham could not have a son, but during `the set
time of which God had spoken,` his old age was not a problem at all. I had the heart, `If the
set time of God is now, then that young woman can be saved!`
That day that young woman did not want to come but she said that her footsteps were
moved to our house. This was the first time preaching the Gospel in Russian and she
received salvation. Back them my Russian was so weak that, it was like, "Jesus washed all
your sins 2000 years ago." But she heard those words and received salvation. Like the aged
Abraham, It was not my Russian skill that saved Lenah, but it was the love of God that
wanted to save Lenah. After receiving salvation, Lenah`s heart was set on the side of the
church and continued to come to church.
More time I spend here, I learn that I cannot live without the grace of God. The grace of
God greatens because I discover that I don`t have the way, ability, road, and the heart to
love the Gospel. The more pitiful I am the power and the promises of God appear to be
bigger.

Revival Preparation

In the middle of last October, there was a retreat and a revival in the Russia area. We had
to have revival at Minsk for the first time. There were many hindrances. There are not
many reformed churches in this area, so few that all the churches could be marked on the
map. Of course that also means that the government is deeply involved as well. It appeared
that there was no revival ever done in those churches.
To do a revival, we first had to get a place. But it was illegal to do a revival when the
church was not even registered, and having only a student visa. We had to advertise with
posters and flyers, but that was illegal as well. But I had the heart, `God planned this revival
so God will achieve it.` Then one day, the words of Acts chapter came into my heart
"But ye shall receive power after that the Holy ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be
witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth." (Acts. 1:8)
It says that if the Holy Ghost is upon us, the Gospel would be preached to Judea, Samaria,
and the uttermost part of the earth. Would there not be so many problems and barriers if the
Gospel were to be preached to the uttermost part of the earth? But if the Holy Ghost works,
that will be done. Even having the revival at Minsk is included in the promise of the Gospel
being witnessed to the uttermost parts of the earth. All things work when `the Holy Ghost is
come upon you` but that sounded to me like, `when you receive the grace of god.`
`If we receive the grace of God, the Gospel will be preached, overcoming all barriers. Even
though we don`t know anyone, insufficient in the language, and the revival is illegal, if we
receive the grace of God, then we will get a place for the revival..`
>From then on we searched for a place, but there was no place suitable. One day we went to
a school, there was no class because the black board was broken. So I asked the teacher that
teaches us, "There are no classes, would you go look for a place with us for three hours?"
The teacher agreed to do so. Because my heart was delivered to him completely, there was
no need for me to speak when we went to go get a place. He spoke everything for me. It
was so comfortable. We searched continuously, but we could not find a place.
Eventually the teacher went back. We also were on our way home, God said to my heart,
`You go. You can`t speak? I`ll help you so go with the faith to believe in me.` So I went
again to find a place. I went to a place one bus stop away from my house, and the teacher
had said that there are no places there. But at that place we found a restaurant suitable for
our revival. I met the land lord lady and she laughed so much as I explained to her that I
wanted to borrow the place to do a revival. This fat lady laughed for a while then told us
that she would lend us the place. So that day we made reservations. To do a religious
activity, you must have a permit and prove your validity to get a place, but she lent us the
place without any of those.
The next step was to print the fliers. The Good News Publishing House did not have
Russian printing ready so we had to make them. Because it was burdensome for me to talk,
I went with sister Lenah. But we could not do it because there were so many documents
necessary to print ten thousand fliers. That place introduced us to another place and they
asked for 565 dollars(70 thousand wons). We returned home because it was too expensive.
The sister went home and I was on my home by myself, and I got the heart to want to go
out depending on God.
The next day, we went to the restaurant that we had reserved to explain more precisely
about the revival. There was a very good telephone book there, and that telephone book is a
book even the police department cannot obtain. When I talked to the lady about the telephone
book, she said she would give us that telephone book as a gift. We even have to pay for
wraps here but she was saying that she would give us this expensive telephone book for
free. This was a book that is very hard to obtain. That book had all the phone numbers of
the national engineering systems. It also had phone numbers for printing presses, so we went
to a small print shop. They said that they would make us ten thousand fliers for 98 dollars
so we made nice fliers. God led us in making the fliers in this way.
During the revival preparation, I had the heart, `Rather than spirits just coming and listening
to the word and leaving, it would be good to give them a sermon tape in Russian.` I had the
sermon tapes of the words that Pastor Park preached at the Russian retreat which were
translated into Russian, and some other sermon tapes. I went to look buy blank tapes to copy
those tapes and give them away. But there was no place that sold tapes. Fortunately I saw
that the post office had tapes so I went to the central post office. The lady who sold the
tapes asked me how many I needed and I told her 50. She looked at me with a surprised
face and then pulled out a book. She said, "The law says that a person can only buy five
tapes." So I had to buy only five tapes. It was pretty cheap, three tapes for 1 dollar.
`God, I thought I would be able to buy tapes if I had money, but I can`t buy tapes even if I
have money. Then how can I buy the tapes?`
That day was raining and cold, and I said as I walked home with the five tapes, "God, even
in the part of buying tapes, you need to pour us your grace." There was a small
neighborhood post office that was vending tapes so I went there. The lady asked me how
many I needed, I was going to answer "five", as I remember the law, but I said, "Actually, I
need ten." Without saying anything, she gave me ten tapes. Then I said, "Actually I need ten
more" and she brought me ten more tapes. I scratched my head and said once again,
"Actually I need ten more* Can you give them to me?" The lady made an angry expression
and brought them to me. When I finally said, "Actually, I need fifty" she got angry and
asked why I did no say that from the beginning, as if I was training her. It became fifty
tapes including the ones on the shelf. `The law is supposed to apply equally, yet when I tried
to buy them with money, the law is applied, and when I try to buy them with grace, the law
disappears!` This thought crossed my mind and was very thankful in my heart.
I started to witness with fliers. A week after the Kiev Retreat was the revival. Because I
had to attend that retreat, I had pass out all the fliers by ten days before the revival.
However, I could only put the fliers in the residential mailboxes because passing out fliers
was illegal. Ten thousand fliers disappeared in moments. There were so may places to
announce the revival, I thought, `I will post rest of the fliers on the entrance of the
apartment. I went to pass out the fliers with may wife and sister Lenah, but I went to post
the fliers by myself. I posted for a while before the police spotted and caught me. He opened
the law book and said that I broke the law and asked for my passport. That day was
Saturday and he told me to come on Monday to get the passport back. Because I had to go
to Kiev on Tuesday, I had the heart to seek to God. With that heart, I said to police: "I am
a pastor from Korea; this flier is not for a business advertisement but for a conference
revival. If this is illegal, I will receive the penalty, but tell me exactly where to go to get the
passport back, because I do not know. I don`t know the directions around Minsk, and I don`t
speak the language very well." Then the police suddenly changed his mind, called a fellow
policeman, and gave me my passport back after had me sign a note he wrote. He told me
not to post the fliers any more and let me go. Afterwards, I could not post the fliers
anymore. Then, some other police called me and asked, `who are you and how did you rent
the rook? I got to meet your landlord.` When I got that phone call, I got nervous. However,
there also were several phone calls from people who got the fliers and received grace in their
hearts. They asked questions: "Where are you from? How did you get here? Details of
`Secrets of Forgiveness of Sins` really touches my heart; what do I receive if I go there? Do
we have to pay to attend?" The circumstances were burdensome, but as thought about those
new spirits, my heart was being pulled towards seeking out to God. I still had uneasiness in
my heart, yet it was the day I could decide my heart towards God.
There was a phone call in the morning of the day before the Kiev Retreat. A person named
Constantin said he was a minister and asked, "Is your church registered?" I replied, "Not yet,
but it will be registered soon." He said that our church name, `Ark Church` is as same as
his church name. In Russia, people think of Baptist Church very negatively therefore used
`Ark` for its name, so a person who attends `Ark Church` saw our flier and informed that
minister. The minister said that it is impossible for a unregistered church to have a revival
especially with a rented place. He told me to stop it immediately. He said, "I won`t tell the
police now, in the day of revival, police will find you and you will face difficulties." When I
got that phone call, a part of my heart felt uneasy. However the other part of my heart
rather felt, `God will work even greater in this revival!` I thought about the revival as I was
going to Kiev, which was 12-hour train ride. The peace from God placed in my heart. I had
the heart that God will work.
"And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help,
whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest
on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not
man prevail against thee (2Chronicles 14:11)."
As I meditated this word in the train, I prayed to God.
`Lord, when I look at my image, there are many carnal aspects. However Lord, don`t look at
that image of mine, but rather just remember those spirits who asked questions about the
revival. They are waiting for this revival, so please think of them and open the road for
them.

Minsk Revival

I returned to Minsk after the Kiev Retreat. The seven-hour revival was planned from
Saturday afternoon till Tuesday afternoon. The first day of revival started at 5PM. I was
waiting with anxious heart and crowds of people, with fliers in their hands, started to arrive
at the restaurant which was the revival place. I was shocked. I just put those fliers in their
mailboxes, but over thirty new spirits showed up with the fliers. The main speaker, Pastor
Yang Jung-Hak, was also excited that his face turned red and white, back and forth. I was
the host, and I sweat so much. The sermon started and they listened to the word very well.
The word was preached through translation, therefore need much time, but still for those long
hours, they listened so well. I thought, `I didn`t know before, but because of these spirits,
God remembered Minsk."
The word was being preached so gracefully, then around 6:15 PM, the police in charge of
religion came in wearing full uniform. "What are you all doing?" they yelled as they entered.
But at that moment, Pastor Yang Jung-Hak was preaching very loudly. The police`s voice
was covered by the pastor`s voice, so the spirits were listening to the word without knowing
that police was there. If they heard the police then they could also be disadvantaged,
therefore probably couldn`t have continued listening to the word. Kiev Pastor Ryu Eui-Gyu
and I pulled the police to outside and asked them to be quiet. The police opened the law
book and said that we broke five laws and took our passports and visas. I said, "Okay. Just
wait till the sermon is over, please." We didn`t know at that time, but one male and one
female police were already attending the revival in their plain clothes. Pastor Yang said that
there was one lady who listened to the word in detail with total focus; she was the police.
The police in uniform was a higher ranking police who sent the lower ranking policemen to
the revival place, ahead of time. Fortunately, God changed heart of the uniformed police, he
decided to take care of the matter after the revival. But then, after a while, the police
returned to the revival place. My heart got nervous, but he asked, "Can I listen to the
word?"
After the revival, we had gospel class as part II. We preached the word from five thirty until
ten thirty. We preached for that log, but no one left in the middle of it. After the revival the
police formed a deposition on record. However, the police`s mind was already changed. He
came to arrest us, but when the revival was over, his heart was not like that. He taught us
in detail how to from the record that will cause no problems. Problem of the day was taken
care of like that, but the remaining days of revival was even a bigger problem. So we asked
him if we could have revival tomorrow. The uniformed police thought for a long time and
answered, "You can, but take off the placard." The revival progressed gracefully on the next
day, and about 20 people continually attended the revival till the last day. And, many people
received salvation.
On the last day, I went to the police station. Even if I have visa, I had to report it to the
police station in order for us to stay longer than three days. We waited for long time, then
an unfamiliar policeman came out. However pastors` wives were glad to see him and said
`hello` in our language. It was the guy who came to the revival. He did not know how to
react and asked, `did you wait for me?` So we said, `didn`t you tell us to come?` He said
that we don`t have to come, but just got to complete the revival and leave Minsk. I had the
heart that God really did this. We had the revival beautifully in the midst of God`s grace.
I do not have faith, I can`t speak the language, I don`t even have the heart to love gospel,
yet if I receive grace from God, there is nothing that cannot be solved to preach the gospel
to utter most parts of the earth. If one receives God`s grace, laws of the world have no
affect, and experiences are meaningless. Through the revival, God led many spirits who were
searching for the gospel for a long time.
Dadeus, a man in his mid thirties, had a rough countenance. He said he has been to prison.
After he received salvation on the third day, he brought his brother and the wife and they
received salvation as well.
The day after the end of the revival, we went to Moscow to attend the retreat. Even that
day many saved people came and we had a Bible study. Dadeus, his brother and his wife,
and sister Lenah got time off from work and attended the retreat. At the retreat, they learned
things they could not under the short tongued myself for a year. The Gospel was plated
securely as well. When pastor was leaving after the Moscow retreat, I said, "Pastor, when
will you return? Shouldn`t you hurry and come here?"
"And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty."(Ex.
28:2)
If God said this, God must have thought deeply about these things, and even must have
thought about the ways. Then he had spoken. God was thinking such thoughts for Aaron.
But Aaron later made a golden calf. There were those things inside of Aaron. That Aaron is
me. God has the plan to lead me to salvation, church, and into the blessed life and He
accomplishes them. But I have the ambition for myself and my name. As I saw God
glorifying Aaron who is like that, I was able to see my heart being moved to the grace, love
of God.