I came from a small village in China and never had the chance to hear or learn anything about religion. At home, my family worshiped Ancestors and gods. I never bothered to ask them who or what they were and simply did as I was told. I began to have more contact with different religions after my family moved to the US. Here, people often like to ask about your religious beliefs. When I was asked, I often didn’t know how to respond because I was a kid and had never thought about it. I started to hear more about Christianity about two years ago when my brother met a couple of Christian friends and started attending church with them. At the time I didn’t understand why my brother became so committed to attending church every Sunday. He often asked me to attend church with him to meet some new friends. I never accepted his invite thinking it was going to be awkward not knowing anyone at church.

Towards the end of 2013, I started hanging out with my brother and his friends from church. They were very nice and easy to talk to. As I built a relationship with them, I gradually started attending church and church events with them. The most memorable event happened on May 2014 when we attended a music Gospel event at a Chinese Christian Church in the Bay area. The sermon was presented by Pastor Big Joe from Canada. Pastor Big Joe pointed out a bad trend in today’s society: people’s moral standards are solely driven by self-interest which causes a lot of destruction all over the world. He mentioned if we are willing to change our mindset, we could make a difference in this world. If we are willing to change then God will transform us into a better person living a Godly life. On the night of May 3rd, 2014, Pastor Big Joe said, “Brother and Sisters in Christ please rise and sing to praise our God.” I was unclear of his instructions, but stood with them and sang along until Pastor Big Joe spoke again and said “For those that have not believe in Him yet, if you are willing to accept Christ please rise and sing along.” I realized I stood up too soon so I asked my friends what I should do. They told me to just follow my heart. I thought for a moment and realized it was meant to be. God was calling me and telling me to follow His footstep and let Him change my life. That was the most unforgettable life changing moment when I accepted Christ as my personal Savior. After we returned to Sacramento, brothers and sisters in Christ were very nice and shared many things with me about Christianity. They also started Bible study group with me. Through Bible study group and Baptism class, I understood that we were all sinners which caused our separation from God and the reason we needed to accept Christ. As I was learning about the Gospel, I started to think about my past and realized how God has worked in my life and how blessed I was. For instance, sickness suddenly came upon me when I was in first grade and a surgery had to be performed. Our Lord was with me and blessed me; my surgery went well and I recovered quickly. God also gave me challenges and obstacles at different stage in life.

In my last college semester the unemployment rate was at peak so I started my job search process early. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any offers after job hunting for over half year. I became impatient. I was finally able to find an opening and received an offer through the school’s job search website. Sadly, it was a trap and I fell for it. I had a phone interview with the employer and they said they would give me a chance to try it out. They were a construction company located in different areas and I was supposed to be the middle man helping them collect invoices from customers and transfer the money to them. On my first assignment, God hinted me many times that something was wrong with this job and I shouldn’t go through with it. However, I couldn’t understand or hear the warnings that came from God. I was a sinner and because of that I was blind and couldn’t hear God’s Word. It was too late when I realized the job was a fraudulent position. I was lost and didn’t know what to do. Even though I didn’t believe in any God at the time, I still asked for help when I was lost. God gave me a loving family. My family didn’t blame me for what happen, and they were very supportive. People are weird. When everything is going well we believe in nothing, but when something bad happens then we start to ask for help from God. Thankfully, our God is a loving God. He is our Father in heaven, and He loves us and is willing to accept us as we are. He always watches over us, helps us, and makes us a better person as we stride into eternity with Him. We should follow Him and live more like His only son Jesus Christ. We should follow Christ and carry the cross with Him and become a good servant to the Lord. I have decided to follow him, our God ,our Aba in Heaven.