New Acts

Love Is Patience

I’ve been preaching to my family and friends for years, but they didn’t respond. As I had no fruit for a long time, though being a young adult like the dew of the dawn as prophesied in the Bible, I worried that I might become like a fruitless autumn tree. Then one day, I came to realize what’s the most important element in saving a soul. When a preaching festival was in full swing, I met a woman who was taking a walk with her dog. The sister who was with me and I said hello to her, and when we asked her if she had time to listen to our preaching through the Bible, she readily said yes. After…

Noh Min-ah from Anyang, Korea

Talents Borne from Work Mission

It had not been long before I started a new job at a big company after I transferred to New Windsor. I became excited at the thought of starting a new career and being able to move up in a large corporation. The money that I could make, the position I could reach, and the respect I could gain were all thoughts that I had when I started the job. These kinds of worldly thoughts took over my mind as I began to work there. While I knew that preaching is something we should do in our given situations, in reality it was not at the forefront of my mind when I thought about my new job. I was discouraged…

Duane Edward from New Windsor, NY, U.S.

With My Youth and Passion

The Philippines is a country consisting of about 7,000 islands. The major islands are Luzon in the northernmost part, Visayas in the middle, and Mindanao in the southernmost part. Last summer, I went on a short-term mission to Roxas City in Visayas. In Roxas City where I preached for a short-term mission, there were many Catholics. In a square nearby Zion, there was an old Catholic Church; every Sunday evening, there was a crowd of people attending mass. Due to their strong religious sentiment, people in Roxas City were closed-minded. They insisted that God is only one, and strongly denied God the Mother though seeing definite testimonies of the Bible. One day, a middle-aged man who studied the truth asked,…

Kang Tae-wu from Incheon, Korea

A Way to Convey Love

When I was about to go on a short-term mission trip to Mumbai in India, I was half excited and half worried because I felt pressure to learn Hindi. Wondering if I really had to learn Hindi, I asked some members if it would be okay for me to speak only English. However, they all replied that I might have a problem or difficulty if I didn’t understand Hindi. I decided to learn Hindi after all, but I was confused because all letters looked alike to me. Hindi has many difficult grammatical elements to learn, such as masculine nouns, feminine nouns, and singular and plural distinctions. Hindi has a complex grammatical structure; there is a distinction between masculine and feminine…

Choi Hui-won from Namyangju, Korea

God’s Gift to My Dull Heart

Recently, I didn’t have as much time as before to preach the gospel because of many other things. I knew that serving Zion and doing everything else in God would bring us blessings, but I was eager to bear fruit by preaching God's word to others. One day, I was able to make some time to go out preach the truth with a sister. I was excited at the thought that I would sow the seeds of the gospel diligently though we didn’t have much time. However, I felt somewhat hesitant probably because I hadn’t preached for long time. To say nothing of preaching whether they would listen or not, I only looked for someone who seemed to listen to…

Kim Yun-ah from Seongnam, Korea

I Have Engraved You on the Palms of My Hands

I’d like to share a story about a sister who shed many tears during worship on the Sabbath day. One day while preaching God's word with a sister, I met a Vietnamese who was not fluent in Japanese. Since she had been in Japan for only a few months, she could hardly understand what we were saying, but she seemed interested in the Bible. When we showed her Galatians 4:26 that says, “But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother,” she was very surprised to see the word “Jerusalem.” We also showed her a video about God the Mother, translated in Vietnamese. Then she shouted with joy in Japanese, “That's it!” We thought that she…

Matsuno Reiko from Osaka, Japan

Faith Blooming after a Long Wait

One fine day in May, we set up a booth on the street and delivered the news articles about the Church of God, which were featured in newspapers and magazines. Many passersby showed interest in it, and one of them was an old gentleman who worked as a security guard at an apartment complex. He showed interest, saying he had never heard about the Church of God, and asked us to visit him at work. A few days later, we went to see him. However, he wasn’t happy with our visit because he had some misunderstanding about our church after hearing false information from the people around him. It was sad, but we had no choice but to leave. Several…

Kim Mi-ja from Seoul, Korea

Labor Pain Continues Even Today

One day while preaching overseas, I met a young man at a shopping mall and asked him if he had ever heard about God the Mother. He said it was his first time to hear about God the Mother and gave ear to the words of the Bible. He wanted to learn more, but had to leave soon because his friend was waiting for him. We promised to meet again the next day, and I waited for the next day to come. On the following day, we went to meet him. He said he had already arrived forty minutes before our appointment time; he had come straight from work to keep his appointment with us. I felt excited as I…

Park Ji-hye from Seongnam, Korea

One Act of Filial Piety

I grew up in a rich family thanks to my father who was a well-known tax accountant. Many people envied me for my capable father, but as for me, my father was the most difficult and hardest person to be with. It was because I was always weak and incompetent unlike my older sister and older brother who lived up to my father’s expectations. I got fascinated by the saxophone which I got to learn by chance in college and started focusing on music. Then my father was more unsatisfied with me. My sister and brother successfully became experts in their fields, but I had no idea about my future. As time went by, I stayed even further away from…

Lee Hye-gyeong from Seoul, Korea

My Privilege

My husband and I run a small restaurant in Yongin. At first, I was just an assistant for my husband who is a chef, but as time went by, I became more than an assistant. Working in the restaurant from 9 in the morning to 9 at night, I had no time for myself. I wanted to give as much help as possible to my husband who was working so hard, but at the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking, ‘When will I get out of this routine?’ Sometimes, I recalled the good old days when I did the gospel work with the brothers and sisters on the front line of the gospel before moving here, and then I got…

Ju Yeong-mi from Yongin, Korea

Purpose of Preaching

After receiving a position for the gospel in Zion, I wanted to show a good example to the members by bearing good fruits. My hope to bear fruit got stronger after I received the blessing of meeting Heavenly Mother as a member of the 68th Overseas Visiting Group. But I had no fruit even after two years later, which depressed me in spirit. At the beginning of the year, I heard Mother say we must proclaim the Savior of this age by blowing the trumpet of the gospel clearly and loudly. Listening to this teaching of Mother, I thought about what kind of mindset and attitude I should have in preaching the gospel for the year. In the meantime, our…

Ann Marie Moralda from Cebu, Philippines

Fruits around Me

I was moved when I heard that the number of Zions around the world was increasing day after day as the gospel was spreading rapidly. The stories of the Zion members, who held a Bible seminar for colleagues at work in the heat of the gospel, were also exciting. I prayed that I too would have the opportunity to preach the word of God in my workplace. Then a colleague suggested that each of the teacher club members have a presentation during lunch time. It was to increase presentation skills and to share good knowledge and information. For me, it was a great opportunity to share the good news of salvation. I waited for my turn and prepared my presentation.…

Kim In-ju from Sacheon, Korea

A Heavenly Family Member Whom We Never Gave Up Looking for

Many souls were led to Zion through the preaching festival in Brazil. Among them, I would like to share the stories of some brothers and sisters found in the 2nd São Paulo Church. A few days after the preaching festival started, I heard from a sister that she met Sister Simone, who had stopped coming to church a long time ago. Sister Simone received the truth when she was young, but as she got married, we lost contact with her. At that time, the members made every effort to meet her, but they couldn’t get a hold of her. However, Heavenly Father and Mother never gave up on her. The members ran into her on the street. She gave them…

Lee Kang-mi from São Paulo, Brazil

Like the Flower of Dracaena

It was when I went to my friend’s house back in my elementary school days. I was admiring a large variety of well-maintained flowering plants, and my friend pointed to a tall tree and said proudly, “Do you see this flower? It’s a flower of dracaena. It blooms once a decade. It is a very precious flower.” ‘It blooms once a decade?’ I thought if it’s a flowering plant, it should bloom at least once a year to fulfill its duty. So the dracaena was disagreeable to me. Come to think of it now, however, I can imagine how elated the owner must’ve been after taking care of it for a long time. There is a brother who is like…

Shin Gyeong-suk from Guayaquil, Ecuador

Mother Is My Salvation

There is a sister whom I led to Zion. She was my age and very interested in the Bible. Once she started studying the Bible, it usually took a couple of hours. She also installed a Bible app on her smartphone and read it all in just a few days. As her new semester was approaching, she went off to the province where there was her college dormitory. Her place was five hours away from Uijeongbu, and there was no Zion in its vicinity. Even the transportation was inconvenient, and it took a great deal of time to get to the church. After she moved into the dormitory, I was worried about her, so I visited her on Friday as…

Kim Hyeon-dong from Uijeongbu, Korea

With a Sense of Ownership

“The one with a sense of responsibility is the owner, and the one without it is a guest.” In the semester opening worship service, the words of Ahn Chang-ho, a Korean independence activist, echoed in my mind. If I take the initiative in whatever for the gospel with a sense of responsibility, I will get a good result. At the thought, my heart all of a sudden became full of excitement and anticipation; actually, I was half full of worries and half full of excitement before I started my campus life. As the new semester began, I made many close friends, and so I had many opportunities to deliver the truth. Moreover, Zion was right in front of my college,…

Kim Min-tae from Seoul, Korea

The One Who Saves a Soul Saves the World

I met a Mongolian woman named Bolormaa, who came to Korea with her husband and was focusing on parenting as she had a year-old son. She looked very glad to meet us because she was going through a hard time raising her child alone in a foreign land with no relatives. As we were also raising children, we gave her good information on childcare and we got closer to each other. Visiting our church often, she became a child of God. But she liked talking and eating with Zion members more than following God’s word. We were anxious to deliver the words of God to her for the salvation of her soul. So we showed her a short video with…

Heo So-hyeong from Seoul, Korea

First Fruit

‘I just need to keep my faith only!’ My long-lasting belief was broken during the last autumn feasts, which were more meaningful than ever before, because it was the Father’s 100th birth anniversary year. As I was celebrating the feasts, my fervor for preaching replaced my wrong idea. The first person I preached to in my life was my team manager. He was my boss at work, but we were friends outside work. When I was on my way for a business trip, One day, when he was at home, I asked him to accompany me on my way for a business trip, and he said okay. During the five-hour round trip by car, I preached the truth to him…

Sohn Jeong-in from Seosan, Korea

Go and Make Disciples

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Mt 28:19–20 We should not keep the truth of the new covenant only to ourselves, but we should make disciples of all nations and keep it together. In order to accomplish that mission, I made a plan for the gospel whenever a new year came. However, I rarely followed the plan each year. Due to the poor business management at work, I had to look for a new job. I couldn't…

Jo In-woong from Seoul, Korea

Holding My Grandmother’s Hand Tightly

My grandmother is 92 years old. Since I entered elementary school, my grandmother raised me and my younger brother. When I was young and immature, it seemed to me that my grandmother only cared about my brother. So I often rebelled against her rather than helping her, who was struggling with her business and housework. I hated her because I thought there was favoritism, and I went to high school far away from home. The day I was leaving, I packed up and came out of the house, and my grandmother suddenly started to cry. It was different from how I felt about my grandmother, who was strong and tough. My heart too started to ache. After getting married, I…

Lee Joo-mi from Seosan, Korea