My Answer, Eugenia Tsuei

I grew up in a Christian home, but my Christian life did not begin until I was ten years old. I was in children's meeting class (Sunday school) and one of my teachers was showing us how to praise the Lord. Being a friend of the family, she called me to the front of the classroom to help her demonstrate. I believe, in the course of that exercise, I received the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart. Two years later at a summer youth conference I was baptized. After this I began to have clear feelings within me that I could not participate with my friends in some of their activities. I told them it was because I was a Christian. Although this seemed a little odd to my friends, many of whom were from Christian families, they accepted my reasons, assuming that my parents were just more strict than theirs.

One thing that I noticed as a significant difference between my Christian life and the lives of my Christian friends is the way that our respective churches congregated. A good friend of mine in high school asked me several times if my church was mixed, meaning, did different nationalities go to the same service? I always answered “Yes” while thinking to myself , “Aren't all churches like that?” There was also a question that I felt I couldn't give a satisfactory answer to: “Which church do you go to?” All I knew was that I went to the church in Houston and there was no other name. The reason for this principle did not become clear to me until I was mid-way though my college years.

I went to the University of Texas at Austin for my undergraduate degree. My parents, the youth leaders from the church in Houston, and I were concerned that my Christian life would progress during my college years. I made a conscious effort to make strong connections with some other Christians in the church in Austin. The members of the church there took great care of me, giving me not only spiritual help but also practical help: homework, shopping, stress, and all other things that young college students face. As I grew both humanly and spiritually, I began to find the answers to the questions that I hadn't been able to answer. I'd always been taught that the Church is not merely a physical building but the people, the congregation. Anyone who is a Christian should be received as a member of the Church. Furthermore, a principle we see in the Bible is that the churches didn't take a name other than that of the city in which they were located. The importance of this point hit me when I read in the Bible about the children of Israel. They were ordained to worship in Jerusalem, and only there; outside of Jerusalem there was no blessing. Jerusalem was God's choice. This realization is part of the reason that I continue to meet with the local churches. The blessings I see are the truth that is present in the meetings, the experiences of Christ, and a oneness among the members issuing in the kind of loving care I received while I was in college.

An Open Bible

Having grown up in a Christian home, I loved the Lord Jesus and reading the Bible from a young age. Many times I could not understand what I read, but I thought it was because of my age and I would understand it in the future. However, as I grew older and continued to read the Bible, I realized that understanding the Bible doesn't come with age alone, but also with proper interpretation. That is why I really appreciate the footnotes written by Witness Lee in the Recovery Version of the New Testament. These footnotes open the Word of God to me and keep me focused on Christ and God's eternal plan. Many times I open the Bible hoping there will be some solution to my present hoard of problems and anxieties. My problems aren't necessarily solved and my anxieties don't always disappear, yet I close the Bible filled with joy because with the help of the footnotes I get refocused on Christ and God's eternal plan, the things that really matter.