Conversion
My conversion experience was not dramatic like some others. It was a simple and personal realization of my sinful nature, an encounter with Christ and understanding the price He paid for my sins.
I accepted Christ as my personal saviour in my late teens. A friend invited me to Faith Methodist church and I joint the Sunday School class there. The teacher was teaching from the book of Revelations. She explained about the Rapture, the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ and Judgement. She also explained about the salvation for those who believed and accepted Jesus into their lives, so that their sins would be forgiven and they will receive eternal life. I was convicted and accepted Christ through her teaching. That was 40+ years ago and I have been attending Faith ever since then.
Growth in church life
I continued attending the Sunday School for several years. I had good teachers and I enjoyed Sunday School where we learnt from both the Old and New Testaments on God’s continued desire to have an intimate relationship with His creation and how over and over again we failed Him.
Part of growing in Christ was also in the area of service. Back then, door-door evangelism was still permitted in Singapore. So every Friday we would go knocking on doors in our neighborhood to share the gospel. I continued to be active in ministry, taught in Sunday Schools for several years, served in the church’s Evangelism Committee, Church Camp project committee and eventually left my secular job to work full time in Faith.
Missions in Japan
As a youth I was interested in the Japanese language. I studied the language for a short period of time but I did not have any opportunities to use it so I never became proficient in it. So I was very interested when I heard that Campus Crusade (now called CRU)c was organising a short term mission trip to Japan. That was in 1998. We did tracting and 1-1 sharing to the students at Hitotsubashi University. I came home with renewed interest in the language and went back to study Japanese but work and motherhood took its toll and I stopped after 1 year.
However, my interest in the language did not die, it was just put on hold. In 2014, Larry (knowing my interest in the language) suddenly asked if I had the opportunity to resume studying the language in Japan, would I be interested. Of course. Larry obtained approval from his company to allow him to work remotely from Japan and in 2015, we stayed in Japan for two 3-month periods, (3 months in Kyoto and 3 in Sapporo). I attended Japanese classes while Larry worked from the apartment.
That 6-month period opened our eyes and minds to the great need of the gospel in Japan. We began to pray and seek God’s plans for us in the area on missions in Japan. Which eventually led us to undertake a 1.5 months vision trip in 2017 where we visited 3 missionary organizations, of which WEC was one. We met many missionaries, saw the ministries that they are involved in, gained a deeper understanding of the needs in Japan.
We shared our feelings with our close friends and asked them to pray for us and that God will reveal His will to us. We met with the WEC Singapore Branch leadership, began the application process, was accepted and underwent the Candidate Orientation. We applied with our church for their endorsement and support. They gave us their approval.
There were obstacles along the way but God helped us to overcome them one by one. As each door was opened, we stepped through and worked towards the next. One hurdle after another until now we are here in Japan serving with WEC. I believe that the entire process was also a preparation for us to prep us for our time and ministry in Japan. We are very glad to be part of this ministry with WEC Japan. We thank you WEC Japan for accepting us and for making us part of the family.