Florida Catholic | Susanna’s ‘Love Letter’ To God

Susanna’s ‘love letter’ to God

JANET SHELTON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC ST. PETERSBURG BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 07.04.08

JANET SHELTON | FC
“Jesus is what is important in my life. Some people shop. Some people exercise. Some people (care about) makeup. My time is given to him.”

TAMPA | Every night, Susanna George goes to her room, turns on a desk lamp and pulls out her Bibles and notebook.

With Korean text on her left, English words on the right, she says a prayer and dedicates the next 100 minutes to God and a pen.

“Now,” she tells God, “I am writing you my love letter.”

Every night for 10 years, Susanna George has spent her nights copying the Bible by hand — twice — first in Korean, then in English. To understand why a woman would spend a staggering number of hours writing the Bible in two languages, you have to understand something about George.

She grew up in Korea in a close-knit Catholic family. Her father worked for the diocese. She and her eight siblings lived in the building in Taegu that housed the diocese’s headquarters. Her uncle is a monsignor in Korea. Her nephew and a cousin are priests. A sister became a religious sister. George says she just strives to live a Christian life. Everyone else would call her devout.

She said she knows Jesus brought her to the United States 20 years ago. It was part of his plan of love for her.

But living God’s plan isn’t always easy. She has one relative here: her husband, Frank, and everything is so different. She doesn’t have many interests outside her home, so she dedicates much of her time to God.

“I love the United States, (but) it’s hard to live in the United States: the language, the jobs, there are so many different cultures. … So many differences,” she said.

She has a Korean bible. But after coming to the United States, George didn’t just want to read God’s word, she wanted to hear it. When she attended daily Mass with her husband at St. Joseph Parish in Tampa, she longed to be able to understand the readings in the language of her adopted country.

“Every day I go to church but I (didn’t) understand much language,” she said. “I pray to Jesus ‘Jesus, I don’t much English know. I want to know what you say to me. I want to hear what you say in English. I’m living here.’”

So one day, George decided to take something she knew and use it to teach herself something new. She took out a pad of paper and wrote “In the beginning” — first in Korean, then in English.

Then, chapter by chapter, switching back and forth between the languages, she studied the words as she read and wrote them in Korean. As she wrote the same words in English, she would think about their sound and meaning.

At first, the English side of the paper was little more than her copying the “image” of letters. The circles and lines of capital and lower-case letters felt odd as they formed from her hand. Over time, the letters in English came easier, smoother. George began to recognize words and sounds as she made the translation. One day at an English Mass, the priest read something she recognized. One word.

“It made me very happy,” she said.

Her daily pages were bound into notebooks. The colorful stack in her closet grew to about a foot and a half high. Her writing in English grew smoother. She recognized more words at Mass.

On March 13, George wrote, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen,” first in Korean, then in English. She was finished. It came to about 2,700 pages.

Some might want an easier route to learning English. George doesn’t feel other paths would be as fulfilling. Many times, it felt like God used the words to speak directly to her, she said.

Frank George met Susanna while she was caring for his elderly mother, who died two years ago at the age of 102. He has long been impressed by his wife’s dedication to God. Coming from a man who serves daily as an altar server and lector, that’s quite a compliment.

What will she do with those 100 minutes now?

She’s going to start “in the beginning.” Susanna George is writing the Bible all over again. Although she now celebrates Sunday Mass with the Korean mission community at Mary Help of Christians in Tampa, she still attends daily Mass with her husband. When she hears the Scripture in English and translates it into Korean in her head, she misses more than she finds acceptable.

“Jesus is what is important in my life,” she said. “Some people shop. Some people exercise. Some people (care about) makeup.

“My time is given to him.”

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Susanna’s ‘love letter’ to God

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