[00:00:25] Speaker A: Worthy revelation twelve, verse eleven. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by, by, by, by, by, by the word of their testimony, their lives to the death. Welcome to by the word of their testimony. And here is your host, Rod but LA.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Hello, listeners. Welcome to our program and thank you for tuning in. It's delightful to have your company.
With me in the Morissette studio is a very interesting young lady, Lena Yoon. Welcome, Lena.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Elena is from South Korea but has been resident in Australia since 2009. And we are going to hear her remarkable testimony of the twists and turns that took her a long way from God and the providential events that led her back to faith. Lena, I'm looking forward to hearing your testimony, but before we start, we're going to pray.
Gracious Father, we thank you and praise you for your leading in our lives and the opportunity to give our testimonies.
May the Holy Spirit bless our discussion, and may Lena's testimony be a witness of your love and grace. To our listeners, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Lena, now you have a favorite text you'd like to share with us?
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Actually, I have two texts that I would like to share with you.
The first verse is from Romans 828, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are called according to his purpose.
Initially, I didn't really like this text to the point where hating it, because every time I go through hardships or difficult times, people would quote this text. And to me, Lena, eventually all things would work together for good. But I didn't really understand the true meaning of this verse till I looked back on my life, how God has led me and my life.
Initially, God has allowed all these things, even including bad things and good things, to happen to me so that I would be trained and I would be refined in terms of my character and also the other traits that God wanted me to develop. And the second verses that I've got for you is from Proverbs, chapter three, verses five and six.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy parts.
Just in relation to Romans 828.
It ties really well together with that verse. Quite oftentimes we question God for whatever is happening to us in our life, especially some of the things that are not so desirable or pleasant in our eyes. But all we need to do trust in the Lord with all our hearts, not trusting on ourselves. Then eventually God will guide our path.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Okay, well, Lena, thank you for that. Now, you were born in South Korea.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: South Korea being a highly developed and wealthy country. I have a few facts about South Korea I'd just like to share with our listeners. Firstly, the population today is around about 52 million.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Wow. Okay.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: And it's the third highest life expectancy of all current countries in the world.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: And it's behind Japan and Singapore. Australia, by the way, comes in fifth behind Norway.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: And by comparison, the UK is 20 eigth and America's 54th.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: So obviously the South Koreans take the health message very seriously.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: And another interesting statistic is a mix of religion. According to the 2015 census, more than half the population, or 56%, have no religion.
And here's the interesting part. 27.6% are Christian. But of that 27.6%, there are twice as many Protestants as Catholics, 19.7% Protestants versus 7.9% Catholics, and there are 15.5% Korean Buddhists. Lena, tell us where your family fitted into that religious mix.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: Well, my grandparents on both sides, I think they had their own religion, so like pretty much pantheistic sort of religion. My grandfather on my mother's side and my dad's family, I think some of them were Buddhist and also they.
Or some sort of shamanism, not quite sure. And that was my background and my mom in the midst of that, when we were very little, and she started going to 7th day Adventist church when she was staying with my grandparents. And while my dad was away overseas.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Were there many 7th day Adventists in South Korea when your mum joined the church?
[00:05:52] Speaker A: No, I think at that time, even still now I believe it was a lot worse back then, Seven day Adventism was considered a cult, so I'm sure the prejudice or whatever, and people had probably my mom through my mom, it was really hard for her to cope with. Yeah.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: So what about your education, Lena? Did you go to a church school or a public school?
[00:06:24] Speaker A: I didn't go to church school, I just went to public school.
Yeah. Growing up, like with my mom, I went to church from now and then.
I think back then, sometimes I had to go to a school on the Sabbath as well. And I was quite ashamed of the fact that my mom was a semi administrator also. I was involved in that because I didn't want to tell my friends about my church and my religion. And so, yeah, I just kept it a secret.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: So you're ashamed that you're a 7th day Venice because people considered it a cult. But did you believe in God? What was your relationship with God as a young person?
[00:07:06] Speaker A: I didn't know much about God to begin with.
I don't know about my mom or other Seven day Adventists back then in Korea, but to like, it was no different. For example, my grandmother would bow down to whatever statue and my grandpa went to a Shuran in his own place.
Like I thought probably in my mind, okay, my mom goes to church. It's another sort of different religion. I didn't see personal God, and just for me more, it was like a ritual, just like any other religious people do and perform.
And I didn't really know God on a personal level. And it's just, I followed my mom and just almost like, it's like a social thing. I went to church and played with the kids, other kids, and I loved to go to summer school because we had special activities and things like that.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: So how did it resolve itself? Did you ever come to terms with loving the church even though other people thought it was a cult?
[00:08:19] Speaker A: It. I'm not sure. I don't think I really loved a church, but because my mom went. So I just thought that I had to go with my brother. And as I said, we just loved church friends there and that sort of fellowship and our friendship that I loved.
But again, during those activities, we were able to learn some of the verses and about some of the theories and they still stick to our mind. I believe my brother also, he still has a good memory at the time, but that was about it. Nothing much more than that.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Okay.
And what happened? Did you stay with the church all through school?
[00:09:11] Speaker A: No, I didn't.
When I was twelve years old, one of my best friends challenged me with a question.
So she abruptly asked me about my religion, Seven day Adventism. Why do you go to church on the Sabbath? I think she was at the time a Presbyterian, so her argument was, Sunday is the Lord's day, so we'll all go to church on Sunday. But you go to church on Sabbath, on what basis do you believe? And you go to church on Sabbath.
Then I try to find some answers for not only that question, the other questions that she brought.
And I went to my mother's church members and even went to minister's wife. And I was searching, and in my mind nobody really was able to answer my friend's questions.
And so therefore I just decided, okay, not to go to church anymore. Maybe that's it, because I was trying to find the answers, but God didn't give me anything. So that's it. So now I'm just going to stop going to church and do my own thing. So I left God.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: So you left God. When you say you left God, did you have any faith at all?
[00:10:46] Speaker A: No, I didn't have any faith, no, I didn't have.
[00:10:50] Speaker B: So what did you do, Lena?
[00:10:52] Speaker A: Basically I went to church and I was more into the worldly know, just like many other kids when know growing.
So I was more into my education, my future, and looking at those things.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: Now, I was going to talk about education, because in South Korea it's a highly educated society.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: And education has a very high priority for South Korean families.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Success in education is a source of family pride and prestige for career opportunities.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: So a lot of pressure is put on children to do well at school and university. Competition for jobs is high and nearly all teenagers go to university. So what did you do?
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Well, interestingly, I think God has a sense of humor and somehow I think when I was growing up and I was in high school, and I also loved to go out with my friends and so I pretended to study really well, but I didn't really put my effort 100%. So to make things worse and things happened and I didn't really do well on my college entrance exam, so it wasn't up because I didn't know things happened. Anyways, so it's a long story.
So I ended up going to Adventist university.
So I was so ashamed of the fact that I became a student in the Adventist university. Anyways.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: This is a person who didn't like the church. And yes, God does have a sense of humor.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Yes, pretty much. Again, my focus was okay, right. I was studying English language and literature and also education at the same time.
But I really didn't like the reputation of my university in terms of the secular point of view. So my focus was into transferring to another secular university, more well known.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: But anyways, okay, so you were at the Adventist university. Now, Adventist institutions don't hide their spiritual and religious direction. Was there any pressure on you, Lena, to come back to church? Did people invite you back to church?
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Many people tried at that time. I think when I was in the Adventist university, I believe that near me there are so many spiritual people who are also very godly and very spiritual and very conservative as well.
But I was not interested at all and I thought, they're just bothering me, why just go away? I don't want to have anything with religion. I want to leave my life, I want to have a successful career.
So that was my attitude.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Now Linda, you did end up getting baptized.
Tell us about the events that led to your baptism.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's an interesting story, but again, a bit of a shameful story too, because although many spiritual juniors or seniors were around me and who were trying to influence me in a better way, but I didn't actually see their motive because my mind was so worldly minded.
But near me, I saw many of my friends getting baptized. I thought, what's going on? And maybe just because of pressure or whatever. And also I was asked many times. Initially I refused, but I thought, okay, maybe a good thing, even for me, to please my parents. Not only that, please other professors, maybe would help me to actually cope better, even in university. So I decided to get baptized and I got baptized.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: So you got baptized for reasons that would help your career.
Was there any aspect of your baptism that was because of your faith in God?
[00:15:34] Speaker A: No, not at all.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: So that's pretty amazing. Did you do studies?
[00:15:41] Speaker A: I can't remember. Maybe a little bit. But I knew all these things because those basic things, obviously, I knew everything when I was a kid in church, I learned all those things.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: So you got baptized because it was trendy to get baptized and you would be part of the in crowd and it could help you with your university?
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Okay.
That's terrible.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: It is terrible, yes.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: So you're exploiting the church for the purpose of getting ahead.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Okay, well, I appreciate your honesty. So you're now baptized? You're a baptized seven day Venice. Tell us what happened after baptism.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: After baptism.
Then I just wanted to explore more life and different countries because I always wanted to be a citizen of the world rather than staying in one place.
I thought, okay, just staying in one place. One country is not ambitious enough. So I went to the Philippines first, and I traveled and studied a little bit here and there. And then after that, I actually didn't like the life of the Philippines. It's a lot slower and, well, it's a completely different country. It's a Third world.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Sorry, Linda, were you traveling because you were looking for a place to stay long term or are you just sort of traveling to do for.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: Okay. Initially I just wanted to find a place to study, but I thought in terms of the language, they have their own language.
I was told that normally they speak English, but that was not true. They have their own language called Tagalog or whatever. And so because of that, I just gave up on studying there. Okay. Then I just traveled and I did my own thing and then came back.
I went back to Korea, and then I just wanted to go to another country and I was considering, of course, United States and Canada and Australia. But when I was, I think, I don't know, in college or in high school, I read a book about backpackers called Woofers. So I just wanted to try Australia, the wildlife. Okay. Then I came to Australia, and unlike my expectations, I didn't really enjoy living in Australia. It was different in terms of. The first thing was because of my American accent that I always spoke American English. So I just didn't want to hear, are you from the States? Are you from. And also the language. And I was studying the language and I didn't want to contaminate my accent with the other accent. And I end up with something else because I was pursuing to become a professor in English linguistics. Do you know what I mean?
[00:18:43] Speaker B: You had a Bachelor of Arts with.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: A major in English, English language and literature.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Okay. And you thought the Australian accent would pollute your pristine American accent. That's priceless, Lena.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: Anyway, yeah.
So. And also the other thing was Australia was interestingly not big enough for my big ambition. So I thought, okay, I need to go to a bigger country.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: When you say Australia, which capital city were staying in, where were you?
[00:19:13] Speaker A: I was in Bondi beach in Sydney mainly. I went to the city as well, quite often. But to me, is that the City of Australia?
[00:19:24] Speaker B: So, Lena, let me get this straight. The accent would pollute your accent? Sydney's too small for you.
I mean, you should have been in New York City or somewhere.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, but.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: Okay, so what happened? You left Australia, obviously didn't like Australia. Where did you go? What happened?
[00:19:45] Speaker A: With some sort of certificate in teaching. And I went. And so with that qualification again, God, with his great sense of humor, he put me into the 7th day Adventist Language Institute in Korea as an English missionary teacher.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: Okay, so you're back in the same organization that was a cult you were ashamed of this time working?
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: This is amazing.
So you're now working for the SDA Church, the Language Institute. Tell us what happened. What did you do and how did that go?
[00:20:24] Speaker A: Okay, so primarily my job was teaching English and many adult students and teaching religion about our belief. Right. So on the weekdays we would teach English, but on the weekend we would have Vaspers on Friday nights and also on the Sabbath we had to run different clubs and programs in the morning and invite students over to church.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: That was what, a full time job? That was what, 40 hours a week was it?
[00:20:59] Speaker A: It was pretty much close to full time for me, I think. I think I was teaching on the weekdays, like 6 hours like in the morning a couple of hours and in the afternoon maybe 4 hours.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: And were you continuing your studies as well?
[00:21:11] Speaker A: I was doing masters at the time in English teaching, but I didn't finish it. But because I just didn't want to waste my time before I would go to the States. Right. So I just was enrolled in there.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: So once again, you're using the organization as a stepping stone for your career. Yes. Okay. Now, Lena, while you were at the 7th day Venice Ish Language Institute, you met someone. Tell us about that.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Yeah, so met my boyfriend there and I was madly in love with him. And because I didn't have any faith, zero faith still in God. I didn't know anything about God. I didn't want to do have anything with God either. But when I looked at him and obviously he was very popular, I was very popular as well. So that was not a great blessing for me because I should have actually served the Lord. But at that time I was considered as a princess. I was so popular, I had a group of fans around me and he was pretty much the same as well, right? Very.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: We had the prince and the princess going out together.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: Now was he a Seven day dentist? And how was he, how would you describe, was he a spiritual young man?
[00:22:35] Speaker A: As I said, he was a bit more mature than me. I was in my early twenty s. But anyways, to me, because I didn't have any basis, no faith at all in God.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: But you were baptized.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's right. It's a bit of a shame, but yeah, I didn't believe in God still. But when I looked at him and the person that I really like and has a very strong faith in God, I just started questioning Lord, what's going on? And I really wanted to know more about God because of him, because how come a person can have such a faith in somebody or like being. And so I just wanted to know more about God.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: So did you think you would get.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Married at some point? Yes.
I don't know. But with my little faith, actually I was getting to know more about God.
But we are not perfect. Not everybody's perfect. And I started seeing something from him that is not so desirable as even Christian. And I was in a lot of dilemma and I didn't know what to do about that relationship.
And it lasted for a while, several years, and I left it in God's hands. Even with my little faith. I asked God, if you really want us to be together and let that happen. Otherwise, close it.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: Okay, Lynn, I'm seeing an application of Romans 828. Here. God's putting you in a crunch.
He's making you think. He's knocking on the door, getting your attention.
And what little faith you have, you're exercising because you're now talking to God.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: That's right, yeah.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Did your boyfriend want to keep it going? Did he want to break up? What was the situation on his side?
[00:24:27] Speaker A: His problem was that he didn't want to really commit himself to any sort of woman, I think very. He had a great responsibility to take care of his family back home because his family situation, financially was not great. So he was pretty much.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: So where was back home for your boyfriend?
[00:24:56] Speaker A: South Africa.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: So he was South African?
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
But for me, my background definitely was completely different. I had pretty much everything that I wanted as a child.
The major problem for him was his commitment issues.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: So did you think then that the job of the SDA Language Institute would be a long term prospect or this was just a stepping stone, as you said?
[00:25:29] Speaker A: As I said.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: So how long were you there for?
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Well, initially I wanted to be there for about maximum six months. Then I wanted to head off to the US. That was my plan. But because of this relationship, it was dragged a bit more.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: So how long were you there for?
[00:25:46] Speaker A: I think, yeah, for several years. Six years.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: Okay. And what made you leave and where did you go?
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Okay.
Then, as I said, this time definitely I would go to other states. Right. So I was thinking about what to study. So I wanted to do dentistry, and then in the US, the cost would be.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: Can I stop you there? Yeah, I'm just trying to get the connection between language bas and.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Okay, okay, right. So while I was in the SDA Language Institute, one of the ladies who also was a missionary at the time, she took me to Dr. Seng Lee's seminar somewhere in Korea. So Dr. Seng Lee, many, many years ago, he used to be the president of Wima Institute in California. Now Dr. Natalie is the president. So anyways, I went there. I was dragged there as well. I didn't want to go. Right. And then I was exposed to this healthy lifestyle and all of that. I really hated it being there, and I couldn't drink the coffee and I didn't have any nice dishes. Anyways, I was so impressed because of his genuine kindness and love for his patience and looking at him, and I think he was in his late 60s, close to 70s, how young he looked. That impressed me. And I was able to see, obviously, Christ in him. So I thought, wow. Yes. Before I wanted to make a lot of money and then I wanted to do huge donation. Right. Give a lot of money to God. That was my plan. Right. But as an important person. But he changed my life. So, okay, now, yeah, I want to do something that may be more useful. Right. So maybe either I want to be a doctor or a dentist, but I thought, okay, dentist, just four years, maybe that's good enough. And they make a whole lot of money too. So I decided to become a dentist.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: You have a very fundamental way of looking at careers.
[00:28:18] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:28:19] Speaker B: Okay, so you've been impressed by this man's life and by the health message, and your focus has gone momentarily off yourself into what you can do to help others.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Okay, so tell us how that you've now decided to go to do dentistry.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So I looked at all the other Adventist colleges, know many other Loma Linda and others as well. And also the other thing happened that was in that SDL Language Institute. We had a nurse, a Korean nurse, who actually studied in Australia. So she went to high school there, and she went to Evondale University. So she came over and to become a missionary.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Was she an Australian?
[00:29:13] Speaker A: She came, so she just for holidays, and she did teaching. So she told me about the nursing course in Evandale.
So I did some digging and did a bit of research about Evondale University, and I really quite liked the fact that in Australia, the nursing course was three years instead of four, and then also could have a license. I thought that was a great idea, rather than okay, going to state straight away, because in the States the cost is a lot more, and also to be able to have whatever, even permanent residency. I think that we're better off coming in Australia. So I prayed seriously about my plan, and God opened the door to Australia and not to the States.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: So you came back to Australia?
[00:30:10] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: Okay, so dentistry is out the window, and nursing has come in the front door.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: Yes. Again, stepping stone. Right. Not to become a nurse, but to be able to get into the dentistry.
I didn't want to do dentistry straight away because you need to sit for the Gamsat exam.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: So where did you do nursing?
[00:30:34] Speaker A: At Evandale University.
[00:30:36] Speaker B: Right, okay, and what about your clinical placement?
[00:30:40] Speaker A: Your practice, where was practice was mainly in Sydney.
Sydney Adventist Hospital, and also roan Oyshore hospitals in Sydney. Mainly, yeah.
[00:30:52] Speaker B: Okay, so you're back in Australia. What year was this? This is now.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: That was 2009.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: So you're Back in Australia 2009.
Tell us, where, at this point were you with your relationship with God?
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Oh, okay, good question. I consider myself Seven day Adventist but only I went to church on the cyber. That was it.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: So you're doing nursing at an SDA university? Clinical placement at SDA Hospital. It's nice to know you considered yourself an SDA.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: But where was it beyond that? Were you walking in faith with God every day? Was there prayer? Was there Bible study? Tell us.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: No, not at all. As I said, I was just a church goer and I believed in God, right. But didn't have any relationship with him still. So I just went to church on the Sabbath. And on the other days I did my own things.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: Was there any communication with your ex boyfriend at the stage? What was the situation there? Were you feeling homesick at any stage?
[00:31:55] Speaker A: I didn't feel homesick, but we broke up right before I came to Australia and then we came back together. But we actually physically we didn't meet, but anyways, so still was keeping the relationship.
And then we had a lot of problems. Right. So break up and would come back together and that sort of thing sort of was repeated, which was not a good thing.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: Now, when you were finishing your course, there were things happening in your private life. There were supernatural things. Tell us about that.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: Yeah. In college I was staying in the nurses quarters whole time.
And we had a lady who came from Hong Kong. She was a nurse, as we're registered nurse.
She was, I think, middle aged at the time. She was in her early fifty s. And she would tell me about her story, how she got diagnosed with schizophrenia. But when I heard a story, I realized that she didn't have schizophrenia. She had something else going because she would tell me that she was able to see demons and some beings there and she was so terrified. And then she had to be taken to the emergency at the sand. And over there she was diagnosed with the schizophrenia. So I thought in my mind, this is not just mental illness. Something's going on. And ever Since I heard that story, I started feeling very fearful, especially at night, if I had to go to the shower in one particular shower on the top level where I was staying. And I just didn't like that because in my life I was never afraid of anything and even of the dark. I felt so weak. Why am I feeling this? What's going on here? And I just always would feel like some present or some presence or being was there in the shower. So I didn't like that, but I didn't know what to do. That actually lasted three years. And after I finished my course, just right before I started my new graduate work and I prayed about this really seriously. And God sent me my friend who was willing to help me with this journey. I believe that was a spiritual warfare, which I really wanted to know what was going on, what would be the causes of this that I was going through. And apparently I was taught that there would be some of the things that would actually give access to this sort of thing. So I learned that also could be something that was related to my family situation, like generational scene. Like, as I talked to you guys about my parents belief systems and their religions, and they were into all these occultisms, and completely that they were against God's law and his principles. And also, not only that, I was heavily involved in fashion, too. And I would go especially with contemporary designers. The first thing that I had to do to be able to pray together with my friend, and I had to chuck my precious designer bag that I had recently purchased at the time, and also the other bag, too. So not only the bags, but sunglasses and clothes and everything. And not only that. And my books that I was reading, like, of course, they were considered classic books, like Jane Eyre, whatever, but the watering heights, all these books that are considered so good for our souls and for improving our intelligence. But apparently a set of books that I was involved was detective novels by Sherlock Holmes. And definitely it was all about the story of murder and death. And I strongly remember that when I was trying to take the books out of my wardrobe and the COVID became almost like real, that almost like in three D or four D picture that. It's like some of the other forces would scare me. How dare you want to throw this bogue out sort of thing, giving that sort of message. So I did that. And also the music that I used to listen to, pop or rock, heavy metal, and also the movies that I used to watch and all these things that I got involved, I didn't know that these things would also would be involved in this spiritual warfare. So I had to learn a whole lot of different things to change my life and get rid of these forces.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: Linda, just on that you've mentioned spiritual warfare. I just would like to read Ephesians, chapter six, verses eleven to 13, because this is a very important point, what you're touching on here, that this is very important. It says from verse eleven, put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And verse 13, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. So the Bible is very clear that we are in a war and the forces that oppress us are unseen. And you've just told us that there were things in your life which were giving these forces access to you and they were putting fear in you.
So, Elena, as you learned about how to deal with this, with the help of your friend, what was happening to your relationship with God? How was that changing?
[00:38:19] Speaker A: A very good.
Had to. I immediately realized that God was real at that point. God exists, definitely.
[00:38:30] Speaker B: So all the theory was out the window. And now this Prac has cemented home that God is real. Amen to that.
[00:38:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: Okay, so God is real. You've now come to that conclusion. What happened then? How did you continue your walk with God?
[00:38:47] Speaker A: Yeah, so I realized that God is real and also Jesus Christ. Also he is real, and he came to this earth to save us. So for the first time that I believed in Trinity and Father God, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. So all I had to do, cling to God and believe in the power of Christ so that I could overcome that I was going through.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: So, Lena, in this time, did you redo Bible studies? Did you work with any pastors? How did you actually develop your faith further?
[00:39:34] Speaker A: I didn't have a Bible study and such. But my friend initially, who was helping me and she was helping me through.
Ever since this happened, even till now, she's my good friend, almost like a family. And whenever, even at that time, very much so. Whenever I had questions, whenever I needed to pray about some certain things and even this spiritual battle related stuff, definitely I would call her and she would pray for me and I would pray with her.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: Okay. And at this stage, did you reconsider getting re baptized? Did you throw yourself into church life? What was happening? How were you sort of manifesting your faith, practically?
[00:40:20] Speaker A: Yeah. I was very ashamed that I was baptized for a wrong motive.
And God showed me through the Holy Spirit that how sinful I was. So I had to make a lot of corrections in my life when I had to forgive many people that I used to hate and all the other bits and pieces. And when it comes to rebap baptism, definitely I was considering it very seriously and I was looking for a minister who could baptize me.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And how long did that take to find that minister?
[00:41:05] Speaker A: That took a decade. Can you believe it?
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Sorry, how long?
[00:41:08] Speaker A: Ten years.
[00:41:09] Speaker B: It took ten years to find a minister.
Can you put a bit of clarification on that? Lena, what were you looking for in the minister?
[00:41:16] Speaker A: In the minister, because I wanted a minister who would be really faithful and dedicated, completely, 100% committed to the Lord.
I don't know. That was my expectations for the minister who would have baptized me.
[00:41:33] Speaker B: Do you feel that you were overcompensating for the fact that the first time you got baptized for the wrong reasons and therefore this time you wanted to make sure that everything was exactly how God would want it?
[00:41:45] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:41:46] Speaker B: Your heart was right.
[00:41:47] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: The minister had to be right.
[00:41:49] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:41:49] Speaker B: Everything had to be right.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: Everything had to be right. Exactly.
[00:41:52] Speaker B: You had a standard of perfection applied to your re baptism and it took you ten years.
[00:41:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:41:59] Speaker B: Okay, so tell us about your baptism. Your re baptism.
[00:42:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
Initially I was thinking about a different minister who was a bit elderly, but COVID prohibited for some reason.
And I went to medical school, so I just sort of like, not completely forgot about it. It was there. But I thought, oh yeah, I'll get back to it at some point. But because of my study, I couldn't do.
And probably one night God said, didn't you say to me that you would get re baptized? What are you doing, Lena? Right. So I thought, oh, Lord, I'm sorry, I really need to get back to then.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: But in that time, while you were before God spoke to, you were active in the church, weren't you?
[00:42:53] Speaker A: I was active in church, yes.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: Tell us some of the things you were doing in the church.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: In the church. Like, I ended up in the northern beaches, so I went to Vale Church.
[00:43:04] Speaker B: Oh, that's in Sydney.
[00:43:05] Speaker A: In Sydney. And now it's called, I think, Peepwater Church. So there. I would run health seminars there. Although even at that point, I moved to Kurembong. So yeah, I ran health seminars over there. And then after that I went to Memorial Church. And up until I got baptized. Then after I got baptized, and I also got involved in health ministry, I would run health seminars in there as well.
[00:43:35] Speaker B: Okay, and you were baptized when?
[00:43:39] Speaker A: I got baptized on the 27 February 2021.
[00:43:43] Speaker B: Oh, fantastic. Fantastic. Now, Leonard, just going back to your first baptism. You told us earlier that your first baptism was really just a stepping stone to help you get to where you wanted to go in a worldly sense.
But this time your baptism was under completely different circumstances. You had that spiritual warfare. You learn about God. Tell us how your relationship with God developed leading up to your re baptism and what it's like now. After your re baptism.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: It was a great relief for me. Because I made a thing right eventually. And the moment I actually got so excited about getting to know Christ was when I met my friend, when I was going through this spiritual warfare.
And that's when I was really on fire in God and his work. And then gradually I was sort of, because I was questioning God, what's happening to me? What is your plan for me? And I haven't really heard. And I was thinking that I was going into the right direction and all that. And eventually the baptism happened when God actually showed me and actually he put me into the medical school. So again, it was sort of reassurance of my faith too. And again, once again, the relationship with God was strengthened after the baptism.
[00:45:19] Speaker B: Okay, Lenny, you mentioned medical school.
Tell us how you've gone from being a registered nurse to now you're in medical school. What's the transition there? How did that come about?
[00:45:35] Speaker A: As I said earlier, just being a nurse was just a stepping stone to become a dentist initially. Then from my experience at hospitals as a student, I really got into medicine. So I just wanted to help people and save their lives. So my plan was changed again from dentistry to medicine. So I had that always in my mind. But again, I prayed about my plan. I left completely it in God's hands. If you want me to become a minister, whoever, or even doctor or dentist, I would happy to become. And I thought I had answers and I thought I completely understood the fact that God wanted me to become a nurse practitioner because nurse practitioners can be a bit more independent than just normal registered nurses. And then I was pursuing that for quite a while, but that didn't happen. And every door was closed. Every time I tried, I didn't know where God's will would be at that time. Then eventually in 2020, and God opened the door to the medical school. That's how I became a medical student. So at that point, I knew that God wanted me to become a doctor.
[00:46:53] Speaker B: Okay, Lena, hold that thought right there. We're going to take a short break right now from Lena's testimony, and we will give you the contact details of us here at Three ABN Australia Radio. We would love to hear from you.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: Thank you for joining us on by the word of their testimony. If you would like more information about today's program, or if you have any questions, please contact three ABN Australia Radio by phoning zero two four nine seven three three four five six. Or you can send an email to
[email protected] au. You can also contact us on our three ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We look forward to hearing from you.
[00:47:38] Speaker B: Welcome back to our program. By, by, by, by, by, by the word of their testimony, testimony of Lena Yoon, who was telling us about the events that led her to enroll in medicine. She'd just been rebaptised and she's enrolled in medicine. So, Lena, welcome back.
You're now doing medicine. You're a med student and you're recommitted to Christ.
Tell us what you're doing in church and how you're balancing pretty heavy duty medical studies with life in the church. Working in the church.
[00:48:10] Speaker A: I am involved in doing quite different roles in church.
But again, I decided to put God's work first because I've always been feeling guilty of the fact that I cannot dedicate my whole time into God's work. So even doing the duties in church, to me it is nothing. And so I've been involved in doing teaching, that's Sabbath school lessons, being in the Sabbath school team and doing prelims. And also I would run health seminars.
And also, more recently, I am involved in doing the outreach program. Your door knocking in the community. So that's what I've been doing. And again, balancing out with my study.
It has been okay because God has given me strength to do all of these.
[00:49:15] Speaker B: Lenny, New South Wales. As we know, in 2020, New South Wales had lockdowns. And then when the vaccines came out in 2021, there were mandates. Now you are working As a registered nurse while you're studying, you're using your qualifications as a registered nurse to do some shift work to pay the bills. But in New South Wales, health workers were the first people to be mandated.
Tell us the impact of that, how that affected what you were doing with your studies and with also working.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: It has had a great impact on me financially.
So I used to work as a registered nurse, probably one shift or one every fortnight on a casual pool in the hospital.
But the mandate for COVID vaccine came on the 30 September 2021. So I was permanently terminated by the hospital. So I couldn't work anymore.
[00:50:24] Speaker B: Selena, just on that. If. If you were terminated as a registered nurse and you couldn't do shift work in a hospital, tell us how that impacted your studies. Because you're studying to be a doctor. Doctors work in hospitals for personal reasons. You didn't want to take the vaccine. Tell us the impact that had on your studies.
[00:50:49] Speaker A: Very good question. Because of my position in regards to COVID vaccination, it caused a lot of problems in my university because I'm the only one who's refusing to get COVID vaccinated. So at the moment I am having a break. Not because I wanted to have a break but my university stance is that a person who's not vaccinated is not going to be put in the hospital for them to do any clinical practices.
[00:51:29] Speaker B: So with your studies you've done all the practical theoretical part and now you're in your clinical placement part of your course, working in a hospital and because of your situation not taking the vaccine, you can't get a placement.
[00:51:46] Speaker A: That's right, I can't get a placement anywhere. So in Australia people even tell me that, oh, there's no more mandates. But the thing is that hospital themselves, they decide to keep the mandates, the COVID vaccine. So I can't do my clinical placement anywhere in Australia because of that reason.
[00:52:07] Speaker B: So this doing medicine was clearly a passion of yours?
[00:52:12] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:52:13] Speaker B: How has this affected your faith in God?
[00:52:17] Speaker A: Well, I've been praying about this ever since COVID came in and I asked everything, asked God to be in charge, whether or not I should continue with my studies or stop.
But God just told me to keep going. That's how I've come like this far. But from this on, I don't know where God will lead me.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: Lena, when we look back on your life and from your testimony today, it's clear God's led you in many directions. You wandered off one direction, he kept bringing you back to the church and now here you are. God's answered your prayer to do medicine, but you've now hit a closed door, a roadblock.
What advice would you give to someone who is also passionate about doing something for God that they believe God had answered their prayers but they've hit a roadblock. What advice would you give to those people?
[00:53:20] Speaker A: It's a very difficult question to answer and I had to pray a lot. I had to spend a lot of time in my prayers because of this, because as you said, medicine, becoming a doctor has been my dream and has been my passion all my life. And God eventually opened the door to it that now I've hit a major roadblock in my life and I couldn't get my head around initially. And then really I had to give whatever feelings, whatever negative emotions, whatever anxiety, whatever the emotion that I was going through to give that to Jesus because he's the one who could give me the peace and all I know as I shared the verses from Proverbs three, five and six and Romans 828, no matter how difficult times you're going through and unexpected things that may be happening to you right now or even that happened in the past. So we need to trust in the Lord with our heart that God will direct our path eventually. Because God allowed all these things to happen to us for reasons my friend always tells me. Lena, there is a reason for this thing to happen to you. So just keep going and have a complete trust in God and he will get you through. So as long as we believe in these things and acknowledge God's work in all our ways, then eventually all things work together for good to you that love God, and also to you who are called according to his purpose.
[00:55:06] Speaker B: Well, thank you, Lena, for sharing your testimony with us today.
[00:55:10] Speaker A: You're welcome.
[00:55:11] Speaker B: I've been blessed hearing it, and I'm sure too, so have our listeners.
And when we follow God, despite the things that happen to us that seem to overwhelm us and the doors that seem to get closed in our face with the things we want to do, we can claim the promise. You mentioned Romans 828, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. So God can even bless the bad things that happen according to that verse, and we can have faith in God that he's in control.
So thank you again, and listeners do join us again next time for by the word of their testimony. And God bless Jenning to a production of three ABN Australia Radio.
