Testimony

Have you ever knew a man who was at a point where he suffered a learning disability and had trouble with education and social life, but God changed him into a new person? Have you ever known a man who went through trials of depress moments, but by the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus controlled his life and healed his wounds? Have you ever known a man where his family had gone through a devastating bankruptcy where he almost lost everything, but still had faith in God? That man was me. Those were the three points that led me to know God personally.

I was born in Hong Kong and raised in a non-Christian family. I have three older brothers and one little brother. I immigrated in Canada when I was around five years old. I believed there was a God or something supernatural in this world before I went to church. I went to Oakridge Baptist Church when I was in grade 8, which was the year of 03/04. There were many excuses to why I went to church. It was either my little brother who went to church before I did or my mother thought I had no social life. But by God’s grace, it was He who elected me to be His son (John1:12); He had demonstrated His existence in front of me and changed my life.

Volume 1Before I finished grade three, my teacher told me to change school and go to a special class program, where students have trouble learning or have a learning disability. I was in that special program for five years, and I finally got out of that program after grade nine (reminder, I went to church during that time). After grade nine, I started to hate my education life because my counselor believed it would be best if I repeated all my main courses (Math, Social Study, Science, and English) for one year. So I had to do MATH 9, SS 9, SC 9, and ENG 9 during grade 10. I asked God that I don’t want this because people were putting me to shame, and thought I was a failure. God didn’t respond to my request, which made me hated my life and God. I was sad that no one was there for me, but the youth in the church were the only people who comforted me, supported me and cared for me. As time flew by, I tried working hard to catch up with my grades, but many personal issues caused me not to persevere in my education (Read the next paragraph). I was happy with what God had done to strengthen me. It wasn’t so bad to repeat my classes because God loved me and He didn’t want me to fail. After I had graduated from High School, I began to study at Main Street Education Centre (an adult high school) to upgrade my marks because I didn’t do my best in high school. I knew that the marks I had won’t get me into University, so I began to try to work hard. I finished my first year in Adult School, and I was happy with my marks because I got accepted into Simon Fraser University. It showed me that God has changed me when I put my trust and my faith in Him.

Volume 2 Let’s take a step back during my middle of high school. I’ve gone through depressing moments. I wanted the things that suited my needs the most. For example, I asked God to put all courses back to my standard grade. I wanted to get into a relationship all throughout high school. Seeing that my friends had a boyfriend or girlfriend, I became jealous. I always thought that by having a girlfriend, I would be a happy person. My heartfelt empty without any love. Therefore, I asked a girl in my church to date me because I like her, but I got rejected. I felt sorrowful and depress, and started to skip church for few months because I was ashamed to see her. I hid in the darkness. During one night, I remember my Sunday school teacher taught the students about letting God control your life and receiving Jesus Christ; I prayed and opened the door for Jesus and asked Him to come into my life. I felt an adamant presence that went inside me. After few days later, Masao, my Sunday school teacher, and youth leader invited me to a missions’ fest. I accepted his invitation, and I went there. I was filled with the spirit by songs and messages, and I decided to go back to church. A year later, I still liked the same girl. I thought that I became a better “Christian,” so I asked her to date me. Initially, she said, “Yeah, I kind of like you, but I need time to think about it.” I became excited and put hopes up. A week or two later, she sent me a text message, which says, “I am not ready yet.” I accepted the fact that she rejected me, but I became bitter next few days later. I was deeply depressed when she rejected me two times in a row. I felt very deceived by her personality and her appearance. I was so angry at her, and I didn’t want to see her again by not going to church. Additionally, I was mad at God for not giving me what I desire for, which was intimacy. That is when God revealed himself again. I was thankful that Michelle, a church leader and my mother in Christ (well I felt she was like a mother to me) or sister in Christ, was there for me and comforted me when I needed someone to talk to. It was hard for me to get back up on my knees at that moment; I almost cried in front of Masao, my youth leader, when I took my mom to a dinner event at church, and then I rushed out the door. During a Bible Study, I shared my situation with a group of men, and they’ve prayed for me. I listened carefully to their prayers, and I decided to repent and run back to God’s arm and confess that I have sinned against Him. The girl went to Ontario during the summer of 2007, and I went back to church knowing that I don’t have to see her. Read the Extended Version to see how I came to know Jesus during that same summer. After summer, I was still attracted to her. However, the attraction that I have been having wasn’t very healthy, and I didn’t want it. I prayed for a long time that God would take this appeal away from me and guard my heart. I didn’t know what to do with it, but God answered my prayer. Another man came into her life. When I saw them together, I felt a bit sad that I wasn’t able to be with her; however, at the same time, I felt joy and set free from this attraction! Till this day, I am jubilant to see both of them together. God was always at work in my life to change me into a person who He wants me to be. Personally, it was good to experience these kinds of pain because God has strengthened me so I will be prepared to face it again in the future.
Volume 3 Let’s take another step back to my 8th grade. I was raised in a wealthy family. My dad owned a company, and three of my brothers worked for him. Around grade eight till nine, my father’s company went bankrupt. When I was grade nine, my dad lost his business, and our family went through a devastating bankruptcy. My mom cried every day. I was curious about what was happening in the family because I never saw her cry so much. Our family was separated. My dad ran away and did not take any responsibility to support the family and him, especially, hated all my brothers for not earning a university degree. My third brother hated everyone one in the family besides my mom, Jimmy and I. It was only my mom, Jimmy and me that were living together for three years until grade twelve. We moved to smaller places to even smaller places. My mom had to work every day to support and raise Jimmy and me. My mom was about to give up and run away just like what my father did to the family, but she didn’t. Thinking back to that situation where she was about to give up, I thank God that I have an excellent mother who loves her family. I am thankful to God that He gave me a mother who is committed to supporting the family. Right now, my family condition is going up and down in different seasons. My oldest brother got married, and my family members went back to Hong Kong for the wedding. My second brother and I didn’t go. My dad went to the wedding, and I was happy to see him again in the wedding photos. Everything turned up. My dad and my third brother don’t have any hatred at all towards my family. Right now, there are still ups and downs in my family. I prayed that God would give me the wisdom to share my faith with my family and use me to lead them to Christ. I still don’t know everything that happened in my family. If my mom ever becomes a believer, I would be looking forward to hearing her whole story of what occurred in the family. Please pray for her.

Extended Version – Knowing Jesus
From 2004-2006, I wasn’t too focused on the message of God; I went to church and played and just have fun with my church friends. If you know I mean, I was a typical Sunday Christian just like a majority of the people who goes to church and claim to be Christians. In fact, it is not just about going to church; it is about being the church. As a Christian, my spiritual growth improved a lot in the year of 2007 and 2008. John Homenuke, the person who disciple me, taught me how to know God and Jesus personally. He was the one who showed me the gospel where I’ve never heard about in Sunday school. When I found out about it, I was deeply amazed by what God had done for the world. He created everyone to know Him and love Him because He first loved us. Because of our sin, we’re separated forever into an eternal death (Roman 6:23). Because of His love, He sent Jesus Christ to die for our sin (John 3:16) and resurrected from the dead so that we can know the Father personally by receiving Jesus into our life as our Lord and Savior (John 14:6). Furthermore, I went to Winter Conference, hosted by Power to Change, and God used it to help me understand what it means to be a Christian and strengthen my growth in my Christian walk. This conference contains training in evangelism and discipleship. I interacted with other brothers and sisters and learned a lot from them. I learned to give back fully what I have to God in that conference; this was one of my best Winter Breaks ever in my whole life.

I prayed to God for my family, my education and my conditions. In Ephesians 2:8, Paul tells us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” I love what God had done in my life because He saved me. It was by God’s love and grace that I can stand before you here to share my testimony and get baptized (March 23, 2008). I wanted to study Criminology at Simon Fraser University on September 2008, but after the 1st semester of University, I didn’t do too well on the subject even though I worked hard on it. I wanted to have some adjustment for the upcoming semester. I thought about changing to the Faculty of Science and majoring in Mathematics. In my heart, there were three questions that I asked myself, “What is your interest? What do you enjoy? What are you gifted at?” Sure, Math is an interesting thing to study, but I wasn’t fully satisfied when I studied it, yet I still enjoy a little bit of it. I went to Waterloo Project, a Campus for Christ summer missions, in Summer 2009. God has shown me what I was capable of doing. Waterloo Project was a project that helps accelerate the expansion of God’s kingdom, which means we design and innovate new tools and resources to impact the students of the world. I worked in the video production to create video promotions for Power to Change. From there, I was very skillful at editing videos and discovering and learning new programs in Adobe. After coming back from Project, I decided to pursue a program called Interactive Arts & Technology, which is offered in SFU Surrey Campus, and concentrate on Media Arts. I prayed that God will guide me to wherever He wants me to go, and I believe He is leading me to Pastoral Ministry. My desire is to serve God each day by fulfilling the Great Commission in Matthew 28;18-20, and obeying His greatest commandment – Mark 12:30-31.