I was Asked to Make a Video to Introduce Myself as Hyerim's Mentor and my goal

Hi, everyone!   

My name is Ha Na Park.  I am originally from South Korea, and came to Canada 13 years ago. I have been living in Winnipeg for the past 6 years. I started my theological training right after I immigrated to BC,  at the Vancouver School of Theology, and  was ordained  in 2014. I am now ministry  personnel at Immanuel United Church, in the East Kildonan area. It is a joy to virtually tell you "a little" about my role as Hyerim’s mentor.

Early this year the Centre for Christian Studies invited me to be Hyerim’s mentor.  She is in her first year of study  on her journey  to becoming a diaconal minister in the United Church of Canada. Being an ordained minister, when I was asked to accompany a student who is on the track of the diaconal path as their mentor, I was surprised and yet excited! I accepted it as a rare opportunity to learn equally and mutually with someone who came from the same country as  I did and who shares many overlapping life experiences! I found her to be a very passionate person who wants to make a difference in her life, and is committed to working for a more equitable and just society for all. 

My goal  in being her mentor is to assist her to find her connection  with intercultural ministry in the United Church of Canada--the wealth of wisdom in the past, as if it is the letter from the future! When I first came to Canada, and was learning about   the United Church , my first impression of the United Church of Canada was through the voices and hearts and hopes of passionate, justice-driven, brilliant women of colour. (at that time we referred to ourselves as ethnic women, or “racialized women”) who declared: “Let us be ourselves together. Let us share our struggles and joys in the safe spaces we can create ourselves. Let us name the important issues that matter to us, and raise the awareness of anti-racism in the United Church. We can transform the way we are and become a church, with everyone fully participating in the process. Let us make the ‘sound of the bamboo’  together!” That was the name of the conference I attended: Sounding the Bamboo, in 2007, which helped me build my identity. The Bamboo sound  made by the racialized women in the United Church immediately became my lens to see/understand how we become a church together — blowing our breath in and out with and from our whole self! The beauty, the struggle, the power, the creativity and courage! 

In this sense, my goal for being a mentor for Hyerim is to share with her that she stands strong in the ground of the Creator and the history/ or the story of the United Church which has a deeper and older stream that goes back to Ethnic ministries and Sounding the Bamboo. In BC, before my family moved to Winnipeg, we enjoyed intercultural fellowship and there were  many frequent and regular intercultural meetings among different linguistic groups. We shared struggles and joys. I believe rebuilding these memories can give us a perspective. From this perspective, I am deeply grateful and thrilled that Hyerim started her first field placement here with you, Knox United Church, because your place, your community, is thriving with intercultural dreams and work in the present, and right here, in Winnipeg. I hope my goal as Hyerim’s mentor contributes to her future learnings at Knox United Church. May God’s blessings be abundant as you build a social ministry of friendship together in this place.