Christ and the Church, D.Y.

I was born in Taipei, Taiwan into a Christian family. My grandma always took me to Sunday meetings at the local church in Yung-Ho, Taiwan ever since I was a toddler. When I was almost three years old my whole family moved to Asuncion, Paraguay. At first, it was hard to make a living since my parents did not speak any Spanish, but soon enough living conditions improved and I was able to attend an Italian private school. There were also local churches in Paraguay and the local church my parents met at gathered at our house. One day I sat in a prayer meeting because I wanted to pray for a friend (around my age) who was sick with hepatitis. The Lord was so real when I prayed that night. We lived there for six years then we immigrated to the United States.

We finally settled down in Southern California in Alhambra and there our family also met with the local church. Throughout junior high the Lord had to really run after me, because my contact with Him was not so consistent. But the summer school of truth(a Bible camp for kids in the local church)really helped me turn to the Lord. By high school my family moved again to Irvine. Although it was hard to leave all my school friends, the brothers and sisters from the local church in Irvine really took care of me and loved me. As I made more friends in school I felt really hypocritical as a Christian because who I was at school did not match what I enjoyed and aspired to be as a Christian. But the Lord Jesus never let me go. He never failed to bring me out of my valleys at high school retreats.

At the end of my first year at the University of California at Irvine, I received a fellowship to do biological research with Dr. F. L. Carpenter in the country side of Southern Costa Rica. When I found out there was a local church in the capital, San Jose, I called up a family there who offered to pick me up at the airport and they gave me hospitality. I had never felt so much love and care. They really offered me the best of everything they had. I also felt so at home in the meetings and so supplied by all the portions of Christ everyone shared. I felt the same enjoyment, the one flow of the Spirit even though I could not fully understand the language. It was awesome that I could experience the same flow of the Spirit whether I was in Taiwan, South America, The United States or in Costa Rica. It made me realize that the local churches around the world were really one.

Soon I began my research in the country side where I lived with a coffee-growing family. I really missed the meetings and the supply of the Lord because there was no local church for me to meet with. During those four weeks I really felt dry and longed for fellowship with some brothers or sisters. I began to appreciate more and more the availability and practicality of the church being local and accessible. I realized that to be a Christian required me not only to have an appreciation and vision of Christ but also the church He died for.

[Need Title]

I have really come to appreciate the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. The Lord has used them to open up the Bible to me. In addition, their lives were a fragrant testimony of Christ.

My favorite book by Watchman Nee is the Mystery of Christ. He dearly portrays from the Word the revelation and some practical application of the Body of Christ. I was very much enlightened when he explained how the Lord's supply many times comes to us through the members of His Body. However, we lack the vision that every brother and sister is a member and each is indispensable. Also when we as individuals are practically not in the body life, we're like pebbles that Satan can kick around, but when we run and hide in the Body, the pebbles become a wall.

Witness Lee showed me from the Bible that I have a human spirit and that I can exercise my spirit. Such simple practices as praying, calling on the Lord, pray-reading the Bible, and singing have helped me to exercise my spirit to touch the Lord. Witness Lee has shown from the Bible how many people in the Old Testament and New Testament have practiced calling on the Lord's name. These are very practical ways to receive the Spirit and be refreshed in God's life. Undoubtedly, Witness Lee's books have very much helped me grow in the Lord and go on in my Christian life.