Today we interviewed Sarah, the former Vision School Coordinator, via Skype:

Hi Sarah.  So you recently stepped down from the VS Coordinator position; can you tell us why?

There are two reasons. 1) my term for VS coordinator was 2 years but I served for 2 ½. And 2) I felt the need to pass it on to someone else because I’m going out to the field soon. And on a personal level, I had to step down because since last semester, it became too comfortable and familiar.  It wasn’t necessarily a position that I had to really carry my cross, and I thought that was a dangerous place for me to be in.

What do you plan on doing with your time now?

It’s similar to David’s response, but I came up with it first haha.  I have a burden, as a bilingual person in the ministry, to develop material for the corporate body.  I have a heart for creating resources and making those resources available.  KM headquarter has a lot of material to train their staff, but because we never had anything like that, the EM body lacked InterCP culture and color.  And so that’s what I have a heart for:  developing as much resources as possible in English.  I want to be more involved in education training.

Vision School is one of the most extensive departments we have as far as work goes; how did you handle all the work? Was there ever a time you wanted to quit?

I don’t think there was ever a time I wanted to quit… just because it’s such a huge part of our ministry that I couldn’t dare quit haha. VS coordinating was a really big learning curve for me, too.  In the first year, there was no doubt I was putting in 10+ hours a day for 1-2 months straight—and it was hard.  I remember praying for supernatural productivity haha. Sometimes it felt irresponsible to just stop the work to pray and worship, but when you do that, God carries the whole ministry.  And VS dept work is manageable because there’s a team of ppl serving in the department. It wouldnt be possible without all the people who do all the tidious excel work, flight purchases, finance reports, and countless conference calls and emails. They get no glory but they serve with a heart for the nations and for this generation.

We heard from David that you guys are getting married soon – do you have any pre-wedding jitters?

No, not really.  We’ve been so busy that we haven’t been able to do much preparation.  But one interesting thing is that we’ve doing marriage counseling.  I had my reservations in doing it with a 1st generation Korean pastor, but it’s been really good and interesting.

What do you do for fun?

My guilty pleasure for the last couple months has been watching Kpop star.  I don’t usually watch TV, but Kpop star is the only show I watch.  I also like to meet with friends but I’m more of a homebody.  There’s a sister from my branch and we love to get together to watch World Mission haha.  But yeah, other than that, when I need time to think or time to myself, I bake.

Ever since you committed to being a full-time ministry leader, what has been the most challenging?

I think the most challenging thing – and this sounds really cliche – but it really has been dying to myself.  And what that means is not seeking approval, not wanting myself to be acknowledged, or not taking credit for things and just being completely selfless.  That’s the most challenging thing because as humans, we want to be acknowledged and be praised from people.  But if I don’t die to myself, and if I am not completely selfless, no matter how good I am at what I do, if I can’t get that part down first, I will be of no benefit to the body.

Do you have a favorite place to go to?  It could be a nostalgic place, a favorite restaurant, etc.

[after thinking for awhile....]  My fav place to go to is [still thinking.....]  I’m not sentimental like that haha.  I don’t think I have one!  Wow, okay, let’s skip that.

What is your favorite city to visit?

You asked this on purpose! haha (no I didn’t!).  Well my favorite city is Chicago BUT since visiting requires it to be somewhere else, I have to admit, I like Seattle.  (You’re really not obligated to say that haha).  No, no I’m not.  I actually used to say San Francisco or Seattle would be the place I would live if I didn’t live in Chicago.  But I’ve only been to SF once, but it was more of a fantasy.  I really like Seattle.

What do not a lot of people know about you?

I would say, I’m not as Korean as people think I am.  I prefer bread over rice any day.  I rarely go out to eat Korean food unless its a meat BBQ.  And when I was an SM in Syria, I never made kimchi, and I can live without it for the rest of my life.  But I can’t live without cheese.  My choice of snacks are bread and cheese or cheese and crackers.

If you could have a luncheon with any 3 people, dead or alive, who would it be? 

1) Ruby Kendrick – she was a volunteer missionary to Korea.  Her tombstone says, “if I had a thousand lives to give, korea should have them all.”

2) Apostle Paul.

3) (giggle) Martha Stewart.  I want to meet her.  But I would have her cook for the luncheon haha.