私が、初めてグローバルに来たのは、クリスマスの少し前の２００８年でした。

First time that I came to Global was in 2008 just before Chrismas.

その時、私はニュージーランドに友達がだれもいませんでした。

I do not have any friends in New Zealand at that time.

しかし、私は教会で多くの人たちと出会って、彼らと三ヶ月の間、楽しい時間を過ごしました。

But I met many people in church and have had a good time for three months with them.

その時に突然、私は家族のことで、日本へ戻ることになりました。

Then, suddenly I had a trouble with my family and needed to go back to Japan.

私の母は癌を患い、死に向かっていました。

My mother had cancer and she was dying.

母は、私にとってとても大切な存在でした。

My mother was very important for me.

私は、高校生の時にうつ病と摂食障害を患いました。

I had a depression and suffered from eating disorders when I was a high school student.

しかし、家族、特に母が私をサポートしてくれ、私は回復することができました。

But, my family, especially my mother supported me a lot and I could overcome it.

そのようなわけで、私は他の娘よりも母を心配させてしまい、そのことで自分を責めていました。

For that reason, I condemn myself that I worried her more than other daughters.

母は死ぬ前に、私に死ぬことがとても怖いと言っていました。しかしながら、私は母に何もできませんでしたし、イエス・キリストをまだ受け入れていなかったわたしにはイエス・キリストのことを伝えることもできませんでした。

Before she died, she told me that she feared death very much; however I could not do anything for her and could not tell her about Jesus because I did not also understand him yet.

母の死後、私はフィリピンのマニラで働きました。　

After she passed away, I worked in Manila in the Philippine.

それは、私にとってとてもつらい時期でした。

It was a very difficult time for me.

私にはマニラに友達もいませんし、マニラの気候や生活習慣は日本とは全く違っていました。その上、日本語教師として初めての仕事でした。

I had no friends and the weather and lifestyle in Manila was totally different from Japan, moreover it was the first time to work as a Japanese language teacher.

私は、グローバルの人にマニラの日本人教会を紹介してくれるように頼みました。

I asked the person from Global to introduce Japanese church in Manila to me.

そして、私は毎週日曜に教会へ行き始めました。

And I started to go to church every Sunday.

教会で過ごす時間だけが、私には平和で平安な心になることができました。

When I was in church, I could only feel secure and peace.

 

マニラで、教会のある方に癌が見つかり、彼女も私の母のように死に向かっていました。

In Manila, One of church people got cancer and she was dying like my mother was.

彼女と私の母の違いは、彼女はクリスチャンであり、母はクリスチャンではなかったということでした。

The difference between them was she was a Christian, but my mother was not. She had also a daughter who was a Christian.

彼女は亡くなる前に、教会の人たちに「私は天国へ行き、天国でまたで会えるのだから、今は泣く時じゃないのよ。」と言いました。

Before she passed away she told everyone that it was not the time to cry because she was going to heaven and we could meet in heaven again.

彼女は、とても穏やかで平安に包まれていました。

She was very calm and peaceful.

私は、彼女と母の違いにショックを受けました。

I was shocked that how different she and my mother were.

その時、神様が彼女に与えらた大きな恵みを強く感じました。

Then I strongly felt the power of God what he have done for her.

それ以来、私は前にも増して、イエス・キリストのことを知りたい、祈りたいと思いました。なぜなら、

From that time, I was willing to know Jesus and asked him more than before, because

マタイ7:7　求めなさい。そうすれば与えられます。捜しなさい。そうすれば、見つかります。たたきなさい。そうすれば開かれます。

Matthew7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; Seek and you will find; Knock, and it will be opened to you.”

 

マニラでの仕事がもう少しで終わろうとしていたころ、私は、マニラ在住の他の日本人の方たちと話すことがありました。

When I was about to finish my work in Manila, I had an opportunity to talk with other Japanese people who lived in Manila.

彼らは、私が外国人にとってとても危険な地域に住み、働いていたことに非常に驚き、私がどうやってそのような困難な状況を生き残ってきたか想像できないようでした。

They were very surprised to hear my life in Manila because I lived and worked in the dangerous area for foreigners, so they could not imagine how I survived such a tough situation.

私は、その時まで神様が私をどれだけ守ってくださっていたかということに気づきませんでした。

I did not realize that God protected me so much until that time.

私は、神様の存在と偉大さを確信しました。

I was convinced of his presence and mercy.

  

神様を信じる前の私は、いつも自分は何もできないと自分を責めて、落ち込んでいました。

Before I believed in God, I always blamed myself that I was not enough to do anything and discouraged myself.

しかし、今の私は神様がいつも私と居てくださり、導いてくださるので、自分の居所がわかり、自信が持てます。

But now, I feel more confident and comfortable because God is always with me and guides me.

神様は私が間違いを犯しても、私を見捨てることはありません。

Even though I do something wrong, he never leave me.

神様は 私を希望をもった、毎日すべてのことに感謝する人間に新たに変えてくださいました。

He changed me to a new person who has hope and thanks everything and everyone every day.

私はイエス・キリストに従っていれば、どんな時でも平安な心でいられると信じます。

I believe that I will be peaceful whenever I follow Jesus.

今、私は自らを犠牲にして、私たちを罪から救いだしてくださったイエス・キリストに感謝せずにはいられません。

Now, I cannot stop to say thank you to Jesus who sacrificed for us and saved us from our sins.

そして、私がひとつだけ伝えたいことは、もしあなたがイエス・キリストにあなたの元へ来てくださいと尋ねれば、彼は決してあなたを一人にしません。

And I just want to say to you that if you ask him to come to you, He will never let you alone.

 

First of all I want to thank to all the people in the Global who made a special impact on my life with their love and actions in Christ. I’m also grateful for this opportunity to share my testimony which brought me to put my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Saviour.

I was born in Warangal (India) in a Hindu family, and then moved to Hyderabad at the age of 12 with my parents for my studies and better life. I have two younger brothers. I have seen several up’s and down’s in our family lives with my parents. I was always encouraged by my parents for Hindu Idol worshipping; I have participated in idol worshipping with my parents very seriously.

I remember when I was studying Engineering (age 21) I started to think of who is God? And is he in the form of Hindu Idols. This interest dragged me to the church with my friend on one Sunday evening service at a Baptist church. God spoke to me several times through that evening message. I was surprised how come a pastor is aware of my personal things; again I thought it was a coincidence. Again next Sunday I alone went to the church to check whether this time God will speak to me or not. This time God spoke to me very strongly and from that day I never stopped going to church.

I have started putting my faith in Jesus Christ in 2004, When I looked back my life at that point I realised that I have encountered Jesus Christ several times, I heard about Jesus Christ many times and saved by him in several situations and received several gifts but I didn’t knew it was Jesus Christ.

Since I have accepted Jesus Christ there was a complete transformation in my life. I was an introvert, coward person and used to hide in bed room when some guest’s visit my home. I was so aggressive and used to hit my younger brothers and friends, I used to do several sinful things like getting drunk, dating girls, stealing, abusing, defaming others and fighting with people for no reason.  But after attending regular church service LORD worked amazingly in my life.

There was a complete transformation, Jesus changed my life slowly step by step, now I am a very free man, No more sinning or doing any wrong things. I wouldn’t have changed on my own, with my strengths; it became possible only with Jesus Christ. My Faith and Trust in Jesus has grown stronger and stronger and I have received several rewards in career and personal life, my parents, family members and friends were very happy after seeing such transformation in me.

As I belong to a strong Hindu background family, my parents, family members and friends were against to me for following Christ. They have spoke badly about me on my back, humiliated me and started avoiding me too. I always shared word of God with my cousins and friends, how God is amazing? I used to take few of my cousins and friends to the church with me for praying. Jesus touched their lives too and they have experienced the love of God and have become believers of Jesus Christ. But no one had guts to say publicly that we follow Jesus including me because we will be avoided by our own families.

I do not have any idea why I have choose to come to New Zealand but I have made a decision and worked very hard to accumulate enough funds from banks and families to study and settle here, extra ordinary things have happened in my life during this process, Jesus Christ has helped me very much.

After I came to New Zealand I only used to go to the church on Sunday’s and I have no idea how to study Bible too,  so for me spiritual life is limited only Sunday’s but I used to pray in the day times in my flat.

 I began to read bible since August 2010 and God was speaking to me every time I studied the bible and I have felt his presence in every moment of my life. God continuously strengthened me in studying bible and I felt that God wants me to come closer to him, I have decided to get baptised and lead a complete Christian life.

 During this period of decision making, which was about 3months, God touched my life by the Holy Spirit in a special way in my bible study like this. This was, for me the literal fulfilment of Jesus’ promise, “Seek and you will find” (Matthew 7:7). Without any other thought I have confessed my sin before God and accepted Jesus as my Saviour, thanking him for paying for my sin and saving my soul when he gave his blood on the cross, I acknowledge and thank my Christian friends faithfully prayed for my salvation, and for the amazing witness and support of members and pastors at this church. Today I am very peaceful man from my heart and mind, I am very confident because my father Jesus Christ is there to protect me and take care of me for the rest of my  life.

Few of Bible verses have influenced me very much towards Jesus Christ they are:

“I am the way, the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)

 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
(2 Corinthians 12:9)

These two verses I came across on yearly calendar’s presented by my friends, which I carried all the time,  and developed interest in Christianity gradually after reading them many times.

Today Jesus Christ has given me the courage and braveness to declare publicly that I believe in him and follow him for rest of my life, He is my personal saviour and Lord, I believe this Life belongs to him and I would dedicate my life to serve him. I would like to share this verse from (1Cor 6: 19-20)

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.

As I got baptised on 26^th November 2010, I willingly follow the example of Jesus. I do this in obedience to his command and identify with his death and resurrection, putting to death the old self, and rising as a new creation in him, and I rejoice in it. 

I come from a secular family background. I am the youngest in the family. My parents never pressured me in studies, even though my sister used to get 95% in exams. I was kind of an average-to-bright student during my high school days.

When I was 13 years old I started praying to God regularly. As a child I believed in a One God with many different names. I had a very peaceful and calm life during my high school days, going to school every morning, enjoying playful time in the evening with friends and studying at night, and before going to bed praying to God to help me in day to day life.

After I graduated from High School, temptation started taking over me, mainly because of the circle of my friends I was involved in. Whenever they called me for a party I used to go immediately, leaving my studies behind.

And as the temptation gripped me I started moving away from God. Even though I prayed, my prayers were hardly answered. I struggled to pass my papers. I had troubled relationship with the people in my life. Most of my friends were there with me only because I was the only one who paid the bill in the restaurant or helped them to do shopping or their college homework.  They’d desert me when I was in trouble. I felt lonely and didn’t know what to do. I never felt peace in my heart.

In 2007, when I came to NZ, my life changed completely.  Being away from parents I had more independence. When I walked on Queen’s Street, I was attracted by an extraordinary building, Baptist Tabernacle and this Scripture verse written on the board,

“Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”  John 14:6

It made me think, “What does it mean?”

Due to my earlier troubled relationship with my friends I decided to stay in an apartment instead of moving into a hostel. My life was not as easy as I had imagined. In Jan 2008 I moved to Central Hostel. It was at this time that the hostel manager Sherman introduced me to the booklet, Steps to Peace with God.  I was not open at the time and I felt a bit scared. Then he told me to go for the Alpha course in Baptist Tabernacle. I said, “OK.” And after that whenever I came to the church, I felt very different and peaceful. I felt I was coming closer to God. But I still had some questions.

During the time of this course, Ritsu introduced me to Global. And then my life was beginning to take a new turn. I started praying to God and felt he was replying me. I have been going through difficult phases during that time, and I felt there were some certain things I was not able to do. One night, I told God about this problem. I told Him it was really impossible for me to do it. He appeared to me and He said, “Nothing is impossible through me.”

I later found that these words of Jesus was from the bible,

Jesus . . . said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Mathew 19:26

These words gave me confidence that Jesus is always there with us in all our problems no matter how big the problems are, everything through him is possible. I know He will always be there with me, guide me and help me to make wise decisions in my life and right choices. Today he is helping to get better control of my life.

Three weeks ago, my boss Stephen was very angry at me because I was late. He almost dragged me out of the shop and told me never to come back. I was very sad. I tried my best to be my calm. When I went back home I asked Jesus to restore my relationship with him. Next day to my surprise when I went to the shop he said, he was sorry that he was mad at me and he treated me with pizza J J J

I trust Jesus more and more. I want to be obedient and follow him with all my heart. That’s why today I want to be baptised.

 

How did I come to believe in God? People who know me knows that I'm a logical thinker. Is believing in God a logical thing to do?

I was in primary school when I picked up my first science book. I still remember being amazed at how the world operates like a finely-tuned machine. Everything has an explanation. So naturally, I majored in science in school. And it is from there I firmly turned into an atheist.

In my school days I worked pretty hard, like any typical Taiwanese kid. I had built my self-worth solely on my grades and my achievements.

After many year of hard work, I got into one of the top schools in Taiwan. But being first time away from home and letting go of all disciplines, I did terribly in my first year and failed many subjects.I guess for most people this would just be an embarrassment, but to me it was devastating. It was like being told I wasn't worth anything.

My sister had gone to church at this stage. She learned from her friends about prayers. She suggested that I try praying to God about guidance. I took note but I was sure that it was just a wishful thinking.

One particular evening, things got really bad for me. The feeling of failure & isolation was crashing down on me. i was unable to sleep,because I couldn't stop my tears and chest pain (from crying so long). I was hurting all over.

With little strength, I "prayed" this prayer with little enthusiasm : "God, IF you are there, help me!". Suddenly, my chest pain was gone, my tears had stopped. i checked and checked (there's still a scientist in me!), but they were gone. It was so sudden, so I couldn't have just "think" myself into stopping either.

I guess yes maybe many things can be explained. A God who made heaven & earth could made them beautiful and logical. But there are things we can't see either but they sure do exist - as real as physical objects!

After I became a Christian, I found much acceptance and love. I realised that I have an intrinsic value, separate from my achievements and contributions. I left the dark place where it told me I was useless & a failure and come to much hope & joy in God. I'm still learning to find that identity in God, everyday. I guess the love and the grace of God is too wonderful for human to comprehend - I guess it will take a lifetime to learn.

What Should I Lived For

Hello,everybody. My name is Ethan. I come from China. I would like to testify of God’s love for me through my story.

“Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”
-Bertrand Russell

When I was in middle high school, I read this passage written by Russell and asked my self what I should lived for. With this question in my mind, I steped into university life when I was 18 years old. At that time, I was determined to pursue love and knowledge as the goal of my life. But my four years of undergraduate study disproved me.

Should I live to pursue wisdom and knowledge? Maybe yes. But when I went a little bit further, which field should I commit myself into? What was my favourite subject? What kind of job would be suitable for me? The first year of my study denied my fancy for the first discipline I chose. Therefore I changed my major. But before long, I came to realised that this was not my favourite neither. I became indecisive and and overcautious to take any action. How much of my youth should pay for the wrong decisions? Who can tell me where my destination is? The greatest sufferings of life is not falling over on the way, but having no idea of where to go at all. I was just like a little boat shivering in an endless tempest with a broken mast.

I was also chasing love. My life goal was once set to live for and bring happiness to my beloved. However, that also proved not to be true. After graduation, I abandoned the opportunity to go to the US for a Master’s degree, and went back to my little hometown to prepare for the graduate entrance examination. Faced with another brand new field and severe competition for the top university in China, the only faith supporting me to go through the the  tough study for half a year is my beloved one in that university. However, the harsh reality deprived me of all the meanings of my life. Not only did I failed in the exam, but I lost my love soon. At that moment, my world collapsed. Insomnia, depression and autism tortured me. locking myself in my room, I refused to meet friends and filled my daily life with computer games like drugs allowing me to escape from the miserable reality for a while. At that moment, I came to realise how superficial my so-called knowledge and wisdom was and how fragile my love was. What should I live for?

I happened to come across an American guy studying in China, who was a christian. Initially, for the purpose of improving my oral English, I decided to talk with him weekly. I still remembered my first visit to a church, while I was singing a worship song, I could not help sheding tears. When I began to read the Bible and pray, peace came into my heart. I gave all my burdens and my future into God’s. After opening my heart to Jesus, everything became clear, Trust in the LORD with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. He taught me what love is, and how to give and receive it. Most importantly, he let me forgive those who had ever hurt me and even pray for them. Since then amazing things happened. Six month ago, I came to Auckland, soon, I acquired an opportunity to study in the University of Auckland, and what’s more, the major I am studying is fascinating to me. Our LORD is faithful, and my prayers have never failed. He led me to the church, provided a place to stay, from which I am able to walk to the campus within 15 minutes and the church in 10 minutes. He blessed me in terms of grade A+ in my paper. Most importantly, in this church, I have experienced great joy and warmth from my brothers and sisters.

Today I resolved to commit myself to the LORD, and spend the rest of my life following him and praising him alone. I live for him alone.