Inside Story for Friday 19th of December 2025
Kim Sun is associate director of the 1000 Missionary Movement, whose headquarters in Silang, Philippines, were constructed with the help of a 1996 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. Read the rest of the story next week.
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The woman didn’t want any help when Kim Sun arrived at her house at the regularly scheduled time.
“Why?” asked Sun, a South Korean serving as a missionary in her remote town in the Philippines. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, no,” the woman replied. “I want you to take a break. You’ll have more people to help around the neighborhood this afternoon. Here, have some cookies and relax.”
Image © Pacific Press
Sun was touched by the woman’s concern. He had been helping people free of charge since arriving in the town three months earlier. Rather than tell people that he was a missionary, Sun had sought to be their friend and show God’s love. For three months, the townspeople had accepted his help without any thought about him. But now, this woman was expressing care for his well-being. He realized that he had made a first real friend.
But she wasn’t the last. Around the same time, many townspeople began to view Sun as their friend, and they piled him with questions.
“Why are you helping us for free?” said one.
“Where are you from?” said another.
Sun replied that he came from the 1000 Missionary Movement.
“I’m a missionary,” he said. “I want you to know Jesus Christ, so I have been serving you.”
The townspeople were astonished to hear that Sun was a missionary and said, “If you are a missionary, then why don’t you tell us about the Bible?”
“Do you want to study the Bible?” Sun said.
“Yes! Yes!” they replied.
Before long, no one wanted Sun’s help anymore. Everyone was studying the Bible with Sun. A few people didn’t request Bible studies, but they agreed when Sun invited them. After three months of free labor, how could they refuse?
Sun remembered the mistake he made with his parents. As a new Adventist, he had sought to convince his parents to embrace his beliefs for five years and failed miserably. Now, he presented each Bible truth as an expression of God’s love.
He shared the Genesis story of creation. “This is God’s love for you,” he said. He read the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. “This is God’s love for you,” he said. He spoke about Jesus dying on the cross. “This is God’s love for you,” he said.
