Seeing the Body, Seeing the Church, M.C.

I was baptized at age 13 during a visit to my two aunts' who both live in Anaheim, CA. At that time, all I knew was that I wanted to give myself to the Lord. But this was all. Before getting baptized, and even afterwards, I had not seen the church in the Bible or the need to be with other believers day by day. I had always thought that as long as I read the Bible every day, I was living a Christian life.

The Lord wanted to change my life. He wanted me to see and live in the church. My parents moved to South America and Aunt Ruth and her family moved to Georgia to take care of my brother and I. They started bringing me to the local church meetings. During my teenage years, I didn't like these meetings very much. Apart from singing and eating dessert after the meetings, most of the time I would be falling asleep.

Then I went to college, which was about an hour away from my aunt's house and the meeting hall. Many believers and friends thought they would never see me again, except probably once a month. But the Lord gave me a very dependent personality. I liked to be home with my aunt and the family, so every Friday afternoon, I would drive back to Atlanta, and I did this throughout all four years of college.

While I was at college, some college-age believers contacted me and asked me to meet with them. I thought it would be nice to meet with other college believers too, because I am the only one from the local church in my city that goes to the school, so during weekdays, I really can't meet with anyone. I started going to the Friday night college meeting regularly from the beginning of my freshman year.

The Lord then wanted me to live a life with other believers day by day. Because of my dependency toward my aunt, I wasn't in touch with any believers in the church. Apart from attending the college meeting and the Lord's Table meeting (1Corinthians 10:21), I really didn't fellowship with other believers very much. During the beginning of my junior year, my aunt's family moved back to Anaheim. There were two reasons for this move: One was for my cousin to attend Acaciawood school, and the other was so that I could move into a Christian sister's house. My aunt knew that as long as she was with me, I would never open up to other Christians. So I moved into the sisters' house. Still, every Friday, I would drive back from my college town, and on the weekends, I would live with other sisters in Christ. My time with the sisters was very sweet. The Lord also provided me with an older sister in Christ, who had been through a Christian Bible School and was a full-time Christian worker, to take care of me on the weekends.

Besides the sisters I lived with, the other believers also started taking care of me. They were all like my moms and dads. They saw me growing up, going through different stages, and I could sense that they really cared about me and my future (I knew that they had a kind of hope for me to attend the Full Time Training in Anaheim). During my last two years in college, I truly saw the need to surround myself with other Christians who love the Lord.

Praise the Lord that He arranged all kinds of situations to bring me to this point. I am now at the Full-Time Training. Looking back at the twenty-two years of my life, it was clearly the Lord's mercy and grace for me to have gone through so many different changes in my life. I have consecrated myself to the Lord and have laid my future in His hands. He has been with me for twenty-two years; I have the assurance that He will be with me for eternity. Praise the Lord that He is the faithful One in this universe.