Yoon and Family
From Yoon & Won Kim:
Leading Team and Members of FGUC,
Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and blessed season.
It's the beginning of another 100 years of ministry at Fort Garry United Church.
In 1965, we came to Winnipeg. My husband, Won, and I settled in Fort Garry. The late Dr. Rudy Peterson was one of Won's colleagues at the Cereal Research Centre, Agriculture, Canada. He introduced us to FGUC (at the time we were Presbyterian). The late Rev. Dr. Donald Ray visited us in our apartment many evenings and explained many things about the United Church. It gave us a warm feeling of being welcome in the family of Faith.
We found five other Korean families. There was no Korean Church at that time. Even though we experienced an unusually cold winter in 1966, we found that Manitobans were extremely warm and hospitable. Our second son was born during the incredible, history-making snowstorm of March 1966.
We thank you for the special place (FGUC) where we come to feel the strength of God's steadfast love. Our faith grows through worship every Sunday, Bible studies, the special friendship from the United Church Women (formerly called Unit 7), and the fellowship of FGUC.
Won and I were both born in North Korea and met at Seoul National University in South Korea.
During the Korean War from 1950-1953, North Korea attacked South Korea with Russian tanks, supported by their alliance with the Chinese and Soviet Communist forces. Won came to South Korea from North Korea when he was only 16. He was separated from his parents and younger siblings who were unable to escape North Korea with him. I came to South Korea when I was 14.
Going to school was not easy without any family or financial support. We were both able to finish high school and University. After the Korean Civil War ended, we were able to obtain scholarship funding from both the U.S. and Canadian governments to complete our post-graduate PhD training.
UN forces (including Canada) came to Korea and fought for Korean peace, democracy, and future development of their country. We express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the War Veterans for their courage and service in fighting for Korea, a country that was not even their own. We remember you forever.
We initially thought we would return to Korea after completing our advanced education in the United States and Canada in order to teach the next generation of students at Seoul National University. However, we were advised that it would be better to remain in Canada to continue our research here. The research centers in Korea had been completely destroyed due to the Civil War.
Won was doing ground-breaking biotechnology research to help Canadian farmers, investigating cereal diseases like wheat rust that threatened wheat, barley and rye crops. Wheat rust spores had invaded these crops, transported by wind from other areas of the world. His research helped not only famers, but also the Manitoba economy.
In the meantime, he invited Korean scientists to his laboratory to train them. They returned to Korea to build new research centers. Won went to Korea every year to conduct workshops and show them new research ideas.
We made our family life in Winnipeg and have been here now for more than 50 years, more than half a century! Won very much enjoyed being a member of the choir. We thank you for our life at FGUC. We will teach newcomers what we have learned at FGUC.
Congratulations on a century of ministry at FGUC and hope for another 100 years of FGUC. Thank you for God's love at FGUC.
-Yoon Kim and Family