News > Asia

March 1, 2013

 

My keyword is Romans 8:32:  “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

 

I am Missionary Mark Hui. I graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with my PhD degree in 2003. In 2005 I was sent to pioneer National Taiwan University. Now I work as a postdoctoral fellow in Academia Sinica in Taiwan.

 

First, meaningless meditation for idol worshiping

I love science. In 1996 I entered the graduate school in physics. Compared with my classmates, I was not very smart. In 2000, I saw a newspaper promoting transcendental meditation, which was similar to worshiping Indian idols. The meditation looked scientific, and was supported by many medical reports. It claimed that it could promote IQ effectively. So, I spent a few hundred US dollars to learn this meditation. I worshiped the Indian idol and meditated on some strange words. I finished the meditation course. But, I did not become any smarter. Sometimes I thought that I had an extraordinary power. At other times, I was conquered by my fear. When I closed my eyes, I was worried some ghosts were following me. At that time, I was also interested in horoscopes, and wondered if I would meet a new girlfriend. So, I attended all my friends’ meeting, and did not miss any chance to meet a new girl.

 

Since I did not concentrate on my studies, I could not publish any paper during my third year of PhD studies. As a result, I became humble to receive God’s help. God loves me, and sent me a shepherdess to invite me to one-to-one Bible study with me. Through writing testimonies, I received John 14:6, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”Transcendental meditation and dating a girlfriend could not give me life. The meditation drove me crazy, while dating made me unable to concentrate on studying. Thanks to Jesus, he died on the cross for my sins of worshiping idols and lustful desires, and gave me a new life in Christ. I believe in Jesus for my salvation. After this, I could concentrate on my research, and did not think about dating. Also, I prayed with our brothers and sisters instead of meaningless meditation. Later, I lived in the brother’s house in the Chinese University of Hong Kong and preached the good news about Jesus.

 

Second, vision as a professor shepherd

In July 2005, I went to the National Taiwan University as a postdoctoral fellow. God gave me a vision to be a professor shepherd to pioneer the NTU campus through one-to-one Bible study. At that time, I did not know how to become a professor. I also did not know how to become a shepherd. But I obeyed the suggestion of my shepherd. I kept on studying the Bible with my shepherd via MSN. Every Sunday I listened to the recording of Sunday service at Hong Kong Chapter and wrote my testimony.

 

In August 2006 God blessed my faith. I married with Missionary Gloria by faith, and rented a small apartment near the campus. In September 2006 my co-worker suggested to me to prepare Sunday message, and we had the first Sunday service at our house-church. When I started to prepare my Sunday message, I always felt sleepy for the first few hours. As I woke up, I could not concentrate on the message, and thought about my research work. However, in the past seven years, God’s words have been planted in my heart. Every day I recite three verses for the Sunday message to plant God’s words. Every Saturday morning, I share testimony for the message and then prepare the message. As I persisted in preparing message and writing a testimony, God’s words woke me up. Now I am still struggling to learn to be a Sunday messenger to deliver the Sunday message in standard Chinese. My spoken Chinese has a Hong Kong accent. But thanks to God, brothers and sisters in our chapter are very patient and listen to my message. (Now, we have 6 stable Sunday worshipers.)

 

Apart from message training, God trained me through material problems. Through this training, God solved the worries in my heart. In July 2007, my first two-year job appointment at NTU would expire.  If I did not find a job, I would not have a visa to stay in Taipei legally. At that time, I was worried about my future security. I thought about leaving the mission field. But, I wrote a testimony and deeply received Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Our God loves me so deeply. He sacrificed has Son for my sins of idol worship and lustful desires. He will give me all things I need for my mission. I believed God’s love. He would provide me a job in the mission field. God helped me to fight against worriesand obey his world mission command. Out of my desire to obey God, I went to the front of the library and preached the gospel. God blessed my decision of faith and I met a precious soul with spiritual desire. He has been studying the Bible till now. Later, two days before the expiration of my job appointment and visa, God moved the heart of a professor at the Academia Sinica to employ me. Even though my employer has changed, my office is still located in the NTU campus. I can go fishing and pray with my co-workers at lunchtime in NTU.

 

In August 2008, my son Paul was born. I worried about the additional expense. God moved the heart of Hong Kong brothers and sisters. They supported the baby-sitter’s fee for one year. In this way, my co-worker and I could concentrate on our mission. After one year, I should support myself. My bank account balance always had nothing left in it. This made me upset and I blamed my co-worker for small things. I also blamed my mission. I always wondered if I should pay one tenth of the full amount. I even asked myself, should I treat the sheep to lunch? However, I held on to Roman 8:32 by faith. I stayed at the mission field and sacrificed all I had for God and His sheep. Then God supplied my needs through a bonus from my research work in February and a tax refund in August. God’s supply never fails. In March 2012, God gave me a graceful daughter, Grace. Her name reminds me that God’s grace is sufficientfor me. Once again, God moved my supervisor to give me a part-time job as a lecturer in my institute. This gave me additional income temporarily and also renewed my vision of becoming a professor shepherd. God also supported me through Hong Kong co-workers. They supported us to rent a bigger apartment for Sunday service. Although my bank account always has nothing left, I always feel free. I have freedom in my heart, like a bird in the sky.

 

To train me as a shepherd, God gave me a stable sheep to serve. In Hong Kong, I did not preach the gospel frequently. I did not have a stable sheep. Sheep come and go. But God has a great hope on me and trains me. Jesus values one sheep and serves him with his own life. So I am learning to serve one sheep and plant one word in his heart. He came to his final year as an engineering student in September, 2007. He had studied Bible nearly every week, however, after graduation he went into the military service for one year and moved to another graduate school far away from Taipei. He seemed to be unwilling to travel a long distance to NTU for Bible study. In fact, his most difficult struggle was his homosexual desire. Due to his sins as in Romans 1:27, he became a spiritually paralytic. However, this sheep was very valuable in Christ. He needed God’s love. So, after my work, I travelled for one and a half hours to his university by shuttle bus, and studied the Bible with him. Through Bible study he received God’s words, “Do you truly love me more than these?” (John 21:15.)  Also, he received “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27b). He is learning to cloth himself with Christ, and to write testimony faithfully to fight against temptation. (Also, we practiced Chinese martial arts to become a good solider of Christ.) Thank God for his love for one soul. God helped him to repent his shameful lust and share his life testimony in our Autumn Bible Conference and Christmas Sunday Worship respectively.

 

From 2005, I have worked as a postdoctoral fellow, and stayed at Taiwan because of my work visa. No job, no visa. Every year, I had to wait for my supervisor’s decision to renew my contract. So, I could continue to stay in Taiwan. In February, 2011, I was 36 years old. God blessed my faith. I could apply for citizenship in the Republic of China without the obligation of military service. God solved my visa problem. Now I can stay in Taiwan permanently as a missionary. This citizenship implies God approves me as a permanent missionary in Taiwan. I passed the first section of missionary training.

 

Finally, God gave me a vision of a professor shepherd. But my research progress has been very slow. And the research is always tedious. My supervisor also says, “Simple research has already been done.” I was always tempted to work on Saturday to save time and save myself. But I insisted to seek the kingdom of God first and God blessed my research. I have published 12 journal papers in Taiwan. (In my PhD study, I only published 3 papers in Hong Kong.) In 2013, I will apply for a research assistant professorship. I pray that I can prepare Sunday message with 5000 Chinese characters, and that I may share testimony every Saturday morning faithfully. Also, I pray that I can raise up Jesus’ disciples through one-to-one Bible study at NTU.

 

Sunday worship and personal Bible study in 2012

We have studied Isaiah and the gospel Luke this year. We have 6 stable Sunday Worship attendants and 9 1to 1 Bible studies each week.

 

Special programs and conferences in 2012 

Prayer Topics for 2013:

 

One word:God loves me and has great hope on me. I love God with all my heart

 

By Mark Hui