HEART AND SEOUL August 7 - 14, 2005

HEART

Dear Family,

Tomorrow August 16, marks the 60th Anniversary of Korea's independance from Japan. It has also been fifty years since the Korean war went over a million people died at the hands of the Communist Invaders. On the other side of the 38th parallel a hugh army of North Korean soildiers stands as a constant threat to their much to be envied countrymen in South Korea. Only the presence of the United State military and the protective opinion of much of the rest of the world holds them in abayence. The very idea of these sweet people being subjected to the kind of wars they have suffered in the past is beyond comprehension.
In a former blogger we mentioned a talk given by Jenny Simpkins who attended our temple preparation class and since receiving her endowments. Tonight, we want to give the text of her talk and even though it may appear long, it is worth the reading. She appears to be a teenager, but like most Koreans age is very hard to discern.

SEOUL

Talk given in church by Jenny Simpkins.
My loving brothers and sisters; my name is Jenny Simpkins. I would like to thank my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to bear my testimony today. From the time I was born until I graduated from high school I lived in North Korea and I know the true situation in North Korea. I would like to take a few minutes to bear my testimony and give you my feelings about my home country. Many people know more today about North Korea and the terrible conditions that people live in there, but because they can never go there in person, they can never see the true way of life there. Many things are seen thru television, but because most people will never have a chance to personally see or speak to a North Korean, they will never feel close to the North Korean people and will think of the problem as far away from their lives. There are many North Korean defectors living here in South Korea now, but many of them will not reveal the fact that they are from North Korea and even avoid acknowledging their home country in order to avoid persecution or discrimination in the South. I always try to tell the truth about where I came from, but mostly when I tell people that I am from North Korea, I can see the fear in their eyes. So, I hope that my testimony can bring you to have interest in North Korea defectors and I can help change your feelings.
I would like to take a moment to tell you about myself. I am the youngest of six children and up until I was ten years old, we lived well. My father is a Dr. and we received distribution until then. My sisters had good jobs and we were a happy, peaceful family. But, from 1991 the distribution of food stopped and food became scarce. We were always careful with our food and we had to grow more and sell things in order to buy food on the black market. But, with my fathers salary, we were only able to buy two kilos of rice a month. So, it was impossible to feed eight mouths on the small amount every month. My father bought a piece of land outside the city, built our family a house and we moved there so we could grow more food on our own. I remember that springtime was the hardest. A season that for most people brings joy and happiness brings hunger and death to North Koreans. My memories of spring was always of hunger and hard work. In spring we ate grass, roots and the bark from trees to survive. Even though we were hungary, we still were a happy family together.
After I escaped the North and was hiding in China, because the Chinese security forces hunt for North Korean's, I would hide and remember like a movie in my mind the memories of my home. I was unable to see, hear or talk to my loving parents. And even worse, unable to help them. This is what gave me the worse pain. Because my father was born in China, I have relatives there. My grandfather was a soldier in the Chinese army and my grandmother was a nurse in the army. All when China fought to help North Korea in the Korean War, now my husbands father fought in the war on the South's side. Now, we are together as one family living happily. Who could have made such a road possible, only our Heavenly Father. I want more than anything to feel the same happiness and love as I remember back home in my family here.
But back in North Korea my family is not the same happy family as before. It has been torn apart by a war. Not a war that you can see or hear, but by a silent war that has erupted. This war has killed millions of people and torn apart so many happy families. I lost my brother in China and have not heard from him. He was the brother that helped me escape from the North. And now I have learned that my third sister has left home and not been heard from for several years. As there were separated families in the Korean war, there is a second generation of separated families in this silent war. Today in China there are over three hundred thousand defectors hiding. Many of the women are being sold to Chinese men as slaves and wives. In South Korea you pay $200. for a pet dog but, in China, North Korean women are sold as wives for $100. Sold to men they can't even understand because of language. And North Korean men are forced to work like animals and if caught defecting are sent back for years of torture and possible death. To me, China was a land of horror.
In North Korea there is no religion. Kim II Sungs was a devout Christian but now Kim II Sungs and Kim Jon II have erected images of themselves everywhere. They are now the gods in North Korea and are worshiped in a god-like way.
Brothers and Sisters, I have had the opportunity to find the only true God, to know the true love that that God has for us and to know the truth of the gospel. And I thank him for this. I bear my testimony that our Heavenly Father loves us and guides us everyday and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and our brother. I know that God will save the people in North Korea. I know that he loves them and has a plan for them. I hope that I can help them in that plan and I pray every day for my people. I pray that their suffering will be over soon and that the gospel of Jesus Christ can be taught to them. I say these things in Jesus name, Amen.