It was the beginning of the summer of 2002 and I had just finished my fourth year of college and looking forward to hanging out with friends and finding a temporary job for the summer. It had been a hard beginning of the year with my grandmother passing away. I wasn’t expecting anything special to happen that summer just the usual.
One night two friends and me went to a club to do some dancing and to talk to some girls. After clubbing we came back to my friend’s place. He was living with his mom, we hung out a bit then I left his place around 2 in the morning. When I left his place I remember his mom yelling at my friend for something as I got in my car. The very next day my friend’s mom was murdered by her boyfriend’s father. A friend called me later that week and told me all about it. I couldn’t believe how fast someone could be here one moment then gone the next.
There was a funeral service and the night before the service, someone rang the doorbell at my parent’s home. I answered the door and a young lady offered to give Bible studies, I was kind of suspicious and sort of brushed it off. She was aggressive however and asked me what my name was. I told her my name, which is pretty ethnic, and she said that’s the same name that her uncle has. Weird I thought because I have a pretty uncommon name and it would be weird for an American guy to have my name. Then she told me she was half Asian, and it just shocked me because she looked as white as any girl I had ever seen. We then started talking about the Bible; I couldn’t believe all the things she was saying about the earth and the nature of the world. I thought I had to check out the Bible and find its faults because this girl was sounding unbelievable. We had a good talk nonetheless and her perspective was interesting, she gave me a number to contact her if I wanted a study.
The next day I went to my friend’s mom funeral, it seemed so unreal. During the ceremony it made me think about life and death and I kept thinking about the talk I had last night with the girl Bible worker. I was curious about what the Bible said about death and wanted to learn what the Bible had to say about it. Later that week I called her up nervously and asked for a study.
Later on the girl Bible worker and another Bible worker came by and gave me my first study. It was about the book of Daniel and the prophecies in the book, it was so amazing and unbelievable. I found the study interesting but I still had some doubts about the validity of the Bible like who wrote it and when it was written. But it was such an interesting book I thought.
We kept studying as the weeks passed and one of my sisters saw us studying and let my parents know about what I was doing while they were overseas. When they found out they told me that they weren’t welcome at our home and told me that Christianity was not “our” religion. We had a big family argument and everyone was against me. But I was still curious so we started studying at the library. At this point I was having trouble sleeping, I was tossing and turning every night about what was the truth. I had a Buddhist background and some knowledge of Islam. Which one should I follow, tradition or make my own decision on who to worship? But more importantly which one had the truth? I still had some problem with the Bible with the creation account and the evolutionary theory of the big bang. We kept studying more and more but my mom found out I was still studying and told me not to study with them anymore. I finally decided to honor my parent’s wishes and not to study with them. I thought I would just have to figure out a lot of stuff on my own. The group of Bible workers invited me to lunch later during the week, and I thought I would break them the news after lunch. At this point I had made good friends with a lot of the Bible workers. A lot of them were saddened by my news, especially the girl Bible worker I had talked to in the beginning of the summer, she had been my main teacher the entire summer. Her eyes were shocked when I told her I couldn’t study with them anymore. I decided before we parted to take some pictures of everyone and to get contact information. I thought it would be the last time I would talk to them. Then as I was about to leave the girl Bible worker ran up to my car, I rolled down the window to see her eyes full of tears.
I felt so bad and that it was my fault for causing her all this grief. I couldn’t do or say much and then said goodbye and drove off. As I drove off the sky started to pour rain.
After coming home I tried to study for an exam for graduate school admission but all I could think about was those eyes full tears I saw earlier. At the end of the week I went up to Michigan and came home on Sunday. On the way home I decided that I had to see everyone again and determine what was the truth and what was the truth about Jesus. I didn’t care what my parents would say. I had to find the truth.
So I snuck around again to study with them and watched these videos with one of the other Bible workers. They were videos on creation by Kent Hovind. After watching the videos I came to realize that the theory of evolution was a false teaching and how I had been tricked into believing it my entire life. After I understood that the world was created I could finally realize that the Bible workers were right all along. I understood why we needed Jesus and what his role was. The friendship I had made with the Bible workes showed me what a powerful force Jesus had on their lives. I finally realized how much Jesus loved us that he would lay down his own life for ours and that the Christian Jesus was the correct Jesus and the Muslim Jesus was the misrepresented one. I prayed for my forgiveness and asked Jesus to come into my heart, that night I finally got some decent sleep that I had been deprived of for weeks. It seem like everything would be taken care of after that prayer and I didn’t have to worry like I did before it was so calming.
All this happened over 11 weeks with Bible workers leaving my town at the end of the summer. This has been condensed in story and a lot of emotions but I hope it was a good read to someone.
One night two friends and me went to a club to do some dancing and to talk to some girls. After clubbing we came back to my friend’s place. He was living with his mom, we hung out a bit then I left his place around 2 in the morning. When I left his place I remember his mom yelling at my friend for something as I got in my car. The very next day my friend’s mom was murdered by her boyfriend’s father. A friend called me later that week and told me all about it. I couldn’t believe how fast someone could be here one moment then gone the next.
There was a funeral service and the night before the service, someone rang the doorbell at my parent’s home. I answered the door and a young lady offered to give Bible studies, I was kind of suspicious and sort of brushed it off. She was aggressive however and asked me what my name was. I told her my name, which is pretty ethnic, and she said that’s the same name that her uncle has. Weird I thought because I have a pretty uncommon name and it would be weird for an American guy to have my name. Then she told me she was half Asian, and it just shocked me because she looked as white as any girl I had ever seen. We then started talking about the Bible; I couldn’t believe all the things she was saying about the earth and the nature of the world. I thought I had to check out the Bible and find its faults because this girl was sounding unbelievable. We had a good talk nonetheless and her perspective was interesting, she gave me a number to contact her if I wanted a study.
The next day I went to my friend’s mom funeral, it seemed so unreal. During the ceremony it made me think about life and death and I kept thinking about the talk I had last night with the girl Bible worker. I was curious about what the Bible said about death and wanted to learn what the Bible had to say about it. Later that week I called her up nervously and asked for a study.
Later on the girl Bible worker and another Bible worker came by and gave me my first study. It was about the book of Daniel and the prophecies in the book, it was so amazing and unbelievable. I found the study interesting but I still had some doubts about the validity of the Bible like who wrote it and when it was written. But it was such an interesting book I thought.
We kept studying as the weeks passed and one of my sisters saw us studying and let my parents know about what I was doing while they were overseas. When they found out they told me that they weren’t welcome at our home and told me that Christianity was not “our” religion. We had a big family argument and everyone was against me. But I was still curious so we started studying at the library. At this point I was having trouble sleeping, I was tossing and turning every night about what was the truth. I had a Buddhist background and some knowledge of Islam. Which one should I follow, tradition or make my own decision on who to worship? But more importantly which one had the truth? I still had some problem with the Bible with the creation account and the evolutionary theory of the big bang. We kept studying more and more but my mom found out I was still studying and told me not to study with them anymore. I finally decided to honor my parent’s wishes and not to study with them. I thought I would just have to figure out a lot of stuff on my own. The group of Bible workers invited me to lunch later during the week, and I thought I would break them the news after lunch. At this point I had made good friends with a lot of the Bible workers. A lot of them were saddened by my news, especially the girl Bible worker I had talked to in the beginning of the summer, she had been my main teacher the entire summer. Her eyes were shocked when I told her I couldn’t study with them anymore. I decided before we parted to take some pictures of everyone and to get contact information. I thought it would be the last time I would talk to them. Then as I was about to leave the girl Bible worker ran up to my car, I rolled down the window to see her eyes full of tears.
I felt so bad and that it was my fault for causing her all this grief. I couldn’t do or say much and then said goodbye and drove off. As I drove off the sky started to pour rain.After coming home I tried to study for an exam for graduate school admission but all I could think about was those eyes full tears I saw earlier. At the end of the week I went up to Michigan and came home on Sunday. On the way home I decided that I had to see everyone again and determine what was the truth and what was the truth about Jesus. I didn’t care what my parents would say. I had to find the truth.
So I snuck around again to study with them and watched these videos with one of the other Bible workers. They were videos on creation by Kent Hovind. After watching the videos I came to realize that the theory of evolution was a false teaching and how I had been tricked into believing it my entire life. After I understood that the world was created I could finally realize that the Bible workers were right all along. I understood why we needed Jesus and what his role was. The friendship I had made with the Bible workes showed me what a powerful force Jesus had on their lives. I finally realized how much Jesus loved us that he would lay down his own life for ours and that the Christian Jesus was the correct Jesus and the Muslim Jesus was the misrepresented one. I prayed for my forgiveness and asked Jesus to come into my heart, that night I finally got some decent sleep that I had been deprived of for weeks. It seem like everything would be taken care of after that prayer and I didn’t have to worry like I did before it was so calming.
All this happened over 11 weeks with Bible workers leaving my town at the end of the summer. This has been condensed in story and a lot of emotions but I hope it was a good read to someone.
