‘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 as much as I knew. He had never been to church, but he asked me a lot of questions. Showing great interest in the Bible, he installed an app on his phone.
The next day, I called him to ask how he was doing.
“Weren’t you tired from a long trip?”
I felt sorry when he said he was really tired. But the reason he felt tired was contrary to my expectation.
“I couldn’t go to bed last night while reading the Bible verses you showed me.”
I just smiled, not knowing what to say, but then I was surprised even more when he said, “I’ve become even more curious about the Bible. Can you take me to your church when you go there to study the Bible?”
I wanted to do so right away, but I couldn’t contact him for three days; I ached all over for two days, probably because I had been so tensed up due to the my business trip and my first time experience in preaching.
Unable to know what was going on with me, he called me and asked why I wasn’t teaching him the Bible. Right then, I was about to leave the office. So I picked him up and took him straight to the church.
On arriving, he began to study the Bible in earnest. When he learned about the Passover in detail, he was eager to keep it as soon as possible. So he received the blessing of the forgiveness of sins immediately. Deeply moved, he said he felt all his sins were washed away. On our way back home, he surprised me constantly by asking many questions like how to pray to God. My heart throbbed with joy. Father and Mother gave me a precious fruit like a jewel.
The next day, before the Third Day service began, he looked up at the ceiling and said in a voice full of emotion, “I think I’m going to cry.”
I had known him for eight years, but it was my first time to see him like that. After he saw other members during worship, he began preparing things for the next Sabbath day, like the Bible, a bag, and a suit to worship God in a respectful way. I was deeply moved again.
His pure faith made me reflect on my faith which was like the old yeast. God had prepared this precious fruit right beside me, but I hadn’t even tried to preach to him; I felt sorry that I had made God and the brother wait for eight years.
Now, the brother asks me to go to Zion with him every day to study the Bible. Thanks to him, I too am studying the Bible seriously, which I have put off with various excuses. I’ve also set a new goal to find jewel-like fruits around me that God has prepared since the creation of the world and to lead them into the arms of God. I truly give thanks to Heavenly Father and Mother for waking up my sleeping soul. I earnestly ask God to help me fulfill my gospel goal.