(MANDARIN SERVICE)
I grew up in a Buddhist family. Whenever I fell ill or sat for school examinations, my family would head to the temple to pray and bring some talismans home: either to burn and drink the ashes with water, or to carry with me as protection. One day, my friend invited me to church. I thought, “There’s nothing disadvantageous for me to go; perhaps I should take a look and see if church is what i imagine it to be.” I was sorely disappointed because the service was held in a junior college auditorium, the airconditioning was uncomfortably cold and the whole service was in English. I could not understand a word. I would have left earlier if not for the worship songs that sounded quite attractive to me. A few weeks later, my friend invited me to church again. I rejected his invitation but changed my mind after he told me that there would be chinese translation headsets provided. From then on, I began attending church more regularly.
One night, I had a dream. A huge Buddhist idol appeared before me. Suddenly, a beam of light appeared and covered the idol. Then a man in white clothing appeared. I was curious and started to walk towards him; but he walked away from me. The faster I moved towards him, the faster he moved away from me. He kept matching my pace and I could not catch up with him. At this point, I woke up from the dream. Amazingly, 3 days later, I had the same dream again. I saw the man in white and I tried but could not catch up with him. This time, he vanished. A hand appeared and handed me a book before I woke up.
On Sunday morning, I bumped into a neighbouring sister from the English congregation and she invited me to attend service that morning. I do not know why i agreed even though I had already arranged to go to work. When i got to work the next day, my colleague exclaimed, “You must thank your Lord Jesus!”. The truck that I used for work had met with an accident the day before, and all passengers had been injured with some even being thrown out of the truck! I was thankful that if God had not sent ‘an angel’ who brought me to church, I would have ended up in the accident as well.
One day, I noticed an announcement in the church bulletin. There was a baptism scheduled on 25th July. This intrigued me because that date fell on my birthday. It seemed like God wanted me to be baptised, even though I was reluctant and had refused earlier opportunities. I struggled to make a decision. When that day arrived, I made up my mind and headed for baptism. Immediately after getting out of the water, I slipped and fell onto the changing room floor. I knew in my heart why that had happened. I remembered that before my baptism, I was still carrying a Buddhist amulet. Knowing that it was no longer right to possess an amulet, yet not knowing what to do with it, I had thoughtlessly thrown it onto a grassy patch nearby. Now it seemed, to me, that the devil was getting back at me for throwing the amulet away. Nonetheless, i thank God for His protection because i was not hurt from the fall.
When I was growing up, I often suffered from sore throat and nose bleeds. Customarily, no matter walking, sitting, standing or sleeping, a bloody handkerchief was never far from me. Yet ever since my baptism, I have felt different. I have not had a nose bleed since! I believe that Jesus has taken on all my weaknesses and infirmities. If not for my friend, and the neighbouring sister, who boldly invited me, I would never have stepped into church. I have been newly created - the old has past and the new has come! Thank You, Jesus! All glory to God!
我生长在一个拜佛的家庭，若生病或学校考试，家人都会往庙里求神拜佛，拿一些符回家，有些会烧了冲水喝、有些会放在身上保平安。有一天，我的朋友邀请我到教堂。我想，“去也没有损失啊，看看教堂跟我想像中一样吗？”当我来到教堂，真令我失望，因为是一所初级学院的礼堂，冷气又冷，而且又是个英语聚会，我一个字都没听进去。除了被诗歌的旋律所吸引以外，我只想要早点离开。几个星期后，我的朋友又再邀请我去教堂，我一口就拒绝了。但是他说有华语用耳机翻译，过后我就断断续续的去。
有一个晚上，我在梦中看到了一尊好大的偶像在我眼前出现。接着，有一道闪光出现，将那偶像遮盖掉。这时，又有一位白衣人影出现了。我很稀奇地走向他，他却跟着走远。我走快他也走快，我走慢他也走慢，没办法追上他，我就醒过来了。奇妙的是，第三天晚上，又梦见那白衣人影。我们俩就像上次一样，一直追，但追不上，然后就消失了。这时，有一只手伸出来，手里拿着一本书，我就醒过来了。
隔年的复活节那天，我已经安排好要去上班了，但是遇到了一位英文部的姐妹，住在我邻座的组屋。她邀请我一同去当天早上的联合聚会。不知为何，我就答应和她一起去。隔天星期一，我回到了公司，我的同事对我说：“你要感谢你的主耶稣啊”。 原来，我平常坐的那辆货车，在教堂附近发生意外，车上的人都受伤了，有些人还被抛出车外。感谢主若不是神安排一位天使出现，我也是其中的一位伤者。
过后，我在周报上看到了一则洗礼通告：洗礼日期是7月25日，地点在乌节路一家酒店的游泳池。这对我来说很奇妙，因为那天是我的生日。这好像是神想尽办法一定要我洗礼。虽然我已经拒绝了很多次，我还是猶豫不決，一直挣扎。接近洗礼日期时，我下定决心去报名。那天洗礼后，我进去厕所洗澡换衣，不小心就滑倒在地上，四脚朝天。我心中明白为什么会跌倒——我来洗礼之前，发现身上拿着一个佛牌。我不知道要怎么样处理，就把它丢在草地上去洗礼了。 因为这样，魔鬼不想放过我，以牙还牙。感谢主的保守，我都没有受伤。
从小到大，我都会经常喉咙痛或流鼻血。不管站着、坐着、走着或睡觉，都有一条手巾是染血的。但是当受洗过后，我感觉我的身体跟以前不一样了。从洗礼到今天，我都没有流过鼻血，因为我相信耶稣担当了我一切的软弱。要不是当年的朋友，和住在邻里的姐妹把我邀请到教会，我根本都不会来。今天我是一个新造的人，旧事已过，都变成新的了。感谢主，归荣耀给我的阿爸天父！
This article first appeared in Issue 19, April 2019 CHORUS Magazine.