VI.  DR. KIM, HO-JIK
 
           After the defeat of Japan in 1945, a young man in Korea was assisting in the revival of the Christian church there.  He was affiliated with the popular Presbyterian church of Korea.  While studying at the Seoul National University, and advanced studies in Japan, he spent all his spare time helping establish congregations of Christian people in the cities in South Korea.  He served in many Lay positions in the leadership of this new religious movement.

           The newly established Korean government, under the leadership of Sigmund Rhee, recognized Dr. Kim as a brilliant biologist and sent him to Columbia University in the United States for further graduate studies in nutrition and plant science.  It was his mission to help develop the agriculture and food capacity for this new country.  He specialized in the development of soy bean protein and new strains of rice which could be adapted to the harsh climate of Korea.

         While at  Cornell University,  he observed the conduct of the students there.  Most of them were young graduate students with whom he had little in common.  During their break times, and when they gathered in study rooms, he noticed that many of them used very vulgar language and engaged in telling vulgar jokes.  He also observed that most of them smoked cigarettes
and also drank beer frequently.  This conduct irritated Dr. Kim.  He felt that the students were not taking their opportunity to study seriously.  To him it was an opportunity of a lifetime and he was disappointed in the conduct of the American students.

       During this time he also noticed that one student did not participate in the dirty jokes and did not use vulgar language.  He would remain by himself during study time and at social activities he was usually absent.  When he did attend social events, Dr. Kim noticed that he did not drink alcoholic beverages and also did not smoke tobacco. This was the same kind of behavior that Dr. Kim practiced.

       One day  he had an opportunity to introduce himself to this young man.  His name was Don Wood, and he was doing graduate studies in Micro-biology. During the next few weeks, these two had the opportunity to talk together.  One day, Dr. Kim asked Don Wood why he conducted himself the way he did.  He wanted to know it had anything to do with his religious training.  Don Wood told Dr. Kim that he was a Mormon and had been taught by his mother not to use foul language, tell vulgar jokes, use tobacco or drink alcohol. Dr. Kim had never met a Mormon.  He had heard the usual negative things about this strange people, but he had never seen one.

       Within three months, Dr. Kim was convinced that the Book of Mormon was true. He understood the need of a restoration of the Gospel because of apostasy from the original faith. He studied and prayed and very quickly was ready to be baptized.

        Before he finished his studies at the university, he went with Don Wood  and others at the Branch at the university to the Sesquehanna river, where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized, and was baptized into the Church and ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.

        In 1951, Dr. Kim completed his studies and returned to Korea. The Korean was in progress and there were a large number of Mormon servicemen serving in Korea.  Dr. Kim became acquainted with them and attended Church
services with them.  Soon his wife and children were baptized.  They were the first Koreans to be baptized in Korea.

      I first met Dr. Kim in February 1953.  He had been appointed Secretary of Education and Secretary of Agriculture in Sigmund Rhee's cabinet.  He was living in Pusan, because the city of Seoul had been completely destroyed by
the war. Because of my work in Military Intelligence, I had a great deal of freedom to come and go when and where I wanted to.  A jeep was assigned to me for my use.  I spent a lot of time at Dr. Kim's home. We had many very good
gospel discussions.  He had great hope that the gospel would be accepted by the Korean people.

       When the truce was signed in Korea, Dr. Kim moved his office to Seoul.  I was stationed a few miles out of Seoul at the time and so continued to visit with Dr. Kim.  He asked me if I would accompany him to speak to some Christian
congregations he had helped to organize several years earlier.  Several times I went with him to towns near Seoul and met with these groups.  Dr. Kim was respected by them and welcomed into their churches to explain why he had
joined the Mormon Church.  He told them of his conversion to the Book of Mormon and his testimony that Joseph Smith was a Latter-day prophet.  Each time I went with him I was reminded of Samuel the Lamanite in the Book of
Mormon trying to convince his people of Christ.

          I left Korea in May of 1954 and returned home.  Later in 1955, when we were going to Hongkong with President Smith, we visited Korea and I had the chance to visit with Dr. Kim again.

          In 1958, Dr. Kim visited me in Hongkong.  He had been attending a World Health and Nutrition conference in India.  He had an unusual feeling come to him, so he left the conference to return to Korea. When he came to
Hongkong, he said he could spend several days with us, but after only one day he asked if I could help him get a plane ticket back to Korea.  He wanted to return as soon as possible.  The ticket was arranged and he returned to his
home.  Just a few days after returning home, he suddenly passed away.

         In the example of Dr. Kim, Dr. Don Wood was the five-cent spring that functioned.  Because of his conduct, he opened the door to the gospel for Dr. Kim.  This resulted in the Church being established in Korea and the conversion of thousands of people.  Dr. Wood did not know he was being used by the Lord.  He did not do anything unusual.  He just acted the way his mother had taught him.  The result was great progress in the work of the Lord.

Excerpted with permission from  The Latter-day Testimony of H. Grant Heaton.