When I was about to enter middle school, my family’s circumstances got bad suddenly, and I had to leave my family and live with my aunt in America; I had to emigrate out of the blue, leaving my loving family.
Fortunately, the life on the opposite side of the world wasn’t so bad. At school, there were many friends of my age from Korea, and I quickly became a friend of American students. Not long after I moved to America, my grandmother who was worried about me came to America and she left me no room to feel lonely or alienated.
But I still missed Korea. A few years passed and I was more familiar with my life in America than in Korea, but I still had Korea in my heart. If I had continued to stay in America, I could’ve graduated from college and got a job and lived a stable life. Nevertheless, no matter how much I thought about it, the place I should be in was Korea. I think that was when my journey to meet my spiritual Mother in Korea began.
Although nothing was set in Korea for me and I had to start from scratch, I just got on the plane for Korea. I felt like I was finally going back to where I should belong. I wasn’t worried at all. Rather, I felt lighthearted. There were many things I wanted to do in Korea, and I had a dream I wanted to accomplish.
In order to achieve my dream, I had to get ready to enter a university, and I got a place to settle a little far from my parents’ house. I had returned to Korea after many years, but nothing felt difficult probably because I was excited about new experiences I was having or because I knew it was a process for accomplishing my dream. It was also fun to hang out with my new friends.
Then one day while walking in the street, I heard about God the Mother from some members of the Church of God. I had been attending a Protestant church with my grandmother ever since my childhood, but I had never heard about God the Mother. Feeling resistance, I said to them, “I will believe if you show me that God the Mother exists through the Bible.” Then they really showed me verses about God the Mother from the Bible. Very amazed, I studied the Bible a few more times, and started my new life of faith in the Church of God.
The church was far from where I was living at that time, but a brother visited my place regularly to teach me the Bible. My faith gradually grew as he put so much effort for me. As I understood the truth about God and the spiritual world, my vague thoughts became clearer, and the way I thought and acted changed. I stopped all my habits that were bad for my health, and made up my mind to keep God’s law no matter what. Actually, even before receiving the truth, I thought I had faith, but I didn’t really know if I loved God and why I had to attend worship. But now I was changing through the teachings of the Church of God.
Around that time, something unexpected happened. As my father’s health broke down, I had to move to my parents’ house. While filling out the request form for leave of absence from school, I felt heavy-hearted because I was worried about my father and also because I had to put aside my dream temporarily. It seemed that it would be hard to continue to go to church since I didn’t even know the location of the church in the city where my parents lived.
However, to my surprise, the Church of God was right across the street from my parents’ house. I was so thankful, and felt like there was certainly God’s will for me.
While nursing my father, I went to Zion whenever I had time. My life of faith, which continued in an unexpected way, was more energetic than before. I could understand the sermons more easily than before. Even when I studied God’s word by myself, the verses I had read before gave me a new realization.
Among many teachings, what deeply touched my heart was that God is most pleased when His lost children are found. So, I went out to preach with some other members. I thought everybody would receive God the Mother as I did because the teachings of the Bible are clear, but the reality was different. Very few people listened to us, and many had a misunderstanding about our church. It was not easy to preach the gospel.
I couldn’t stop going out to preach though, because finding our lost spiritual family members is my pleasure and the joy of Heavenly Mother who wants all mankind to be saved.
I thought I should preach to my family. I really wanted my mom to be saved. But I hesitated for a while, because my mom was not interested in the church at all and I felt awkward to preach to my family. Even so, I couldn’t hold it in anymore, and I plucked up my courage. My mom was confused at first because it was unfamiliar to her, but she received the truth with joy after studying the Bible for a few days.
Encouraged by my mom, I preached to my relatives, too. The more I preached, the more confidence I gained. My aunts, grandmother, and uncle, who were skeptical about the other churches, received a new life one after another. After some time passed, my father became a child of God, too.
At first, I never imagined that I would receive this great blessing. I had kept thinking that it would be hard to lead my family to the truth and shrank back due to my experience of being rejected. However, God remembered my one act of obedience and opened all doors for me.
In retrospect, everything that has happened to me is amazing and surprising: returning to Korea because of my homesickness, meeting a messenger of love who preached Heavenly Mother, finding Zion right across the street from my parents’ house . . . All these seemingly coincidental experiences had happened according to God’s plan for me.
I feel bad because I haven’t really done anything special for God, especially because I have failed to lead my friends to the truth. The result could have been different if I had displayed God’s glory and preached the gospel to them after gaining their trust through good deeds.
I want to become more mature in my faith and behavior by taking a lesson from the past when I was lacking in many ways. By doing that, I would like to lead many souls into the arms of Mother. In order to do so, I need to do good deeds and become united with my brothers and sisters. I don’t have many preaching experiences, but I know the gospel work is something that cannot be done by myself; for I remember that good results were achieved when all the members of Zion encouraged one another, being united together.
Some say that “preaching is sacrifice,” but I’ve never thought that I’m sacrificing myself while preaching. I’m just thankful that I have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel just as the Bible says.
Now I have a new dream, which is to find all of my heavenly family members. I believe this is why God has brought me here.
Heavenly Mother has 25 hours a day; She has no time to sleep or rest for us. Following the example of Mother, I will also strive for the gospel with healthy faith all the time. I believe it is the starting point for spreading the movement to save the whole world.