Reaching Students for Christ he akonga ki nga akonga hei ara whakawhiti mo te Karaiti

Christina's Story

My name is Christina and I was born in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous district in China and I identify myself as a pure Mongolian, who grew up with that language and the culture.

Although our culture tells us that there is something more powerful and overruling above human power and wisdom, to me, they all sounded like legends or fairytale stories. My grandparents always took us to burn fake money, and food to worship our ancestors for our own blessing, yet I never believed that they would really hear me and give me what I want. It was only a ritual or an obligation for me. Most of the time I believed in my parents, my teachers and later on at High school, I even learnt to believe in myself.

I was a very ambitious person, and I always wanted to be a famous politician or a successful business women and own lots of property and money-yes, those were my primary goals. I studied hard, went to a good school and was active in all kinds of school activities, and managed to earn a fair amount of respect and favour from fellow students and my teachers.

When everything seemed to lead to a good University in China , there arose an opportunity for me to study overseas in Malaysia . Malaysia -a country of tourism and many cultures, really attracted me. At that time, I was only from a little town, and I had no idea or experience about going overseas and as an agency advertised aggressively about the chance to go there, I managed to convince my parents and got the student visa at the beginning of my last school term.

However, when I arrived at the Malaysian language school and heard about the real situation from senior Chinese students there, I realized that I had been somewhat cheated by the agency. "Oh, no. What can I do now? I cannot go back, because it's too embarrassing; but will I get what I really want from this little private school? Where is my future?" I was lost and confused, and was angry at everyone at the same time. I felt that I could not do anything about it, and I did not want to give up. So I took courage and studied despite the conditions and my emotions. When life dragged on day by day, I became even more pessimistic. Some bad experiences made me think about finding help from a god or gods.

I talked to my Catholic teacher about this and she gave me a prayer book, and another English teacher invited me to their Bible Study at home for international students. At first, I had a very contradictory attitude. On one hand I was an atheist and I wanted to ask as many hard questions as I could to win over them; and on the other hand, I hoped that the God they believed was true and therefore could protect me. Even one of my Muslim friends heard about my experience, and suggested I buy a Bible and put it beside my pillow to keep those spirits away. I managed to wrestle with myself and these people for several months, and guess what conclusion I came to at the end? I decided to become a real Christian, who truly believes in Jesus and His salvation and let Him become Lord of my life. I saw the difference in the lives of those Christian people, especially the couple that took care of me so much and I wanted to be like them - a life with joy, peace, and most importantly, an unchanging, unfailing, unfading HOPE, that cannot be destroyed by circumstances, and devil. After four months going to Bible studies and church, I finally got baptised during a family camp and became a Christian. Wow! So is that the end? Oh, no. Not at all. As many other Christians would say, that was only the beginning of my journey with God.

In 2001 I decided to come to New Zealand to pursue further education. It was a difficult transition for me in the first year and I struggled to relate to people and to connect with God. I was introduced to an Alpha course at Massey and there were this group of Kiwis and a Chinese who were helping students with their English. My life changed significantly from then, and starting from 2002, I never stopped experiencing Jesus, and His wonderful miracles. You might ask, oh, what sorts of miracles were they? My answer may disappoint you, but it was certainly the greatest miracle that I have seen from God, that is God has changed me into a new person. I am too embarrassed to mention who I had been, but I love one word in a song: "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me...".

Since then God has taught me what it means to be a follower, a disciple of Jesus, and changed me day by day into a better person. But let me clarify one thing. This Journey was not a smooth, easy, and all happy road, but rather, it is a hard, suffering road, yet with tremendous joy and blessings that far outweighs the cost. Jesus is the only one who has given me hope and real life and that is more than anything that the world can give me - big house can't, million dollars can't, fame can't.