Holy Eden Ch

When I was nine, at the height of the Korean War, my family moved south from Cheolwon, Gangwon-do to Gimcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do, where I would spend my youth. There, my father suffered a stroke, and my family spent all of our money trying to cure his illness. When I was in my second year of middle school, Yeom Gye-woong, my senior by two years, told me my father’s illness could be cured at Jeondogwan (the evangelical church). Thus, on April 17, 1958, our whole family went to Gimcheon Jeondogwan where Preacher Park Byeong-gwon worked. Three days after I had attended Jeondogwan, I had a marvelous dream. In this vision, I was on my way to school when darkness suddenly set in. Clouds gathered in the sky, and a glowing light pierced through them like scene out of science fiction. The light hit the students walking on the street and they began screeching and twisting their bodies as they fell to the street and into the ridge between the rice paddies. I was terrified as the radiant light approached me. But coming from within it, I saw what I could only describe at the time as an American-looking person in white clothing. Later, I learned that he was Jesus. After all, back then I did not know who Jesus was, so I considered all foreign-looking people to be Americans. There were two more white-clad people next to him. Because I was trembling with fear, the Jesus said to me, “It's safe. You're safe. Everyone else will fall, but you will be safe.” When I woke up and told my father about my dream, he said, “I think you will become a great man in the future."