“Learning about Jesus is better than gold.” These are the words that Mrs. Oh uses to describe her time learning about God in Underground Technology (UT) so far. Before Mrs. Oh became a UT student, we visited her in her home. She shared with us that she and her whole family were underground Christians in North Korea for over sixty years, including her father and grandfather. After the death of her grandfather, the government desecrated his grave when they discovered that his tombstone was in the shape of a cross. Mrs. Oh shared the following testimony of God’s faithfulness with us,
Before the Korean war, my family was living in South Korea. I was five years old. One day, my parents were kidnapped into North Korea because of my father’s work. The government wanted to use his talent for themselves. I cried so much that someone finally took me and my brother into North Korea where we found my parents. My older brother stayed in South Korea. However, just a few years later, after the start of the war, both of my parents were killed in a bomb explosion when I was 9. My younger brother and I were left as orphans once again. There was no one to help us, so we wandered around looking for a place to sleep and food to eat. Many times we came close to death, but somehow God always provided a way of rescue for us. For instance, one time my younger brother fell into the river and could not swim. All of the men were off fighting in the war, but somehow, out of nowhere, two men appeared and helped to save my brother. That was the first miracle that I experienced. Then, there were times when we only had grass to eat. Some of the grass we ate was poison and both my brother and I almost died. However, in a vision, two angels came to us and put healing ointment on our red, swollen skin. When I woke up, by body was healed.
As a result of the bomb explosion that killed my parents, there was no grave that could be identified or confirmed, so the government suspected that my father had escaped and that my brother was a spy. Because of this, our family was blacklisted. When I was 23 years old, I was interrogated by the Communist Party because of my family background and because my grandfather was a Christian. I could have been imprisoned or hurt badly, but I was not hurt or held.
There were many times during the famine in the 90’s when I was starving. I would pray to God and he would always help me find something to eat. One day unexpectedly, I was able to make contact with my older brother, who was living in the U.S., and he sent U.S. dollars that I was able to use to buy food. However, as I saw the other people starving around me, I felt God telling me to share the food with them so instead of using all of the money to buy a nice meal for myself, I cooked porridge and was able to share it with many people.
Mrs. Oh knows without a doubt that it is only by God’s faithfulness that she survived those years of death and famine. She gives him thanks for protecting her and guiding her in the most difficult times of her life. Now that she is in South Korea, she is hungry to learn more about the One who guided and protected her, as she joins our UT program.
Even though Mrs. Oh knew God, she only ever had just glimpses of his word, the Bible. Now, after every class, she expresses her thankfulness to us for giving her a chance to learn more about the Bible!
