I had a New Way to Go on With the Lord
I was born into a family of five. We grew up in a poor, hard, degraded background.
When I was about 8years old, I had not seen my father for about three or four years. Then one weekend he rang and said he was going to bus from where he was living in Christchurch to where my sister and I were living in Napier. We later found out that the main reason for his coming to see us was to share the gospel with me and my sister. My father stayed for one night in Napier and on that night he got me and my sister to receive the Lord. My father left the next day to our great sorrow.
From the time I was first saved I began to pray to the Lord. I was always a pretty quiet kid that had an unhappy childhood. Due to the poor conditions of my upbringing I did not have much hope for my future. Because of this environment I had a strong personal relationship with the Lord. I remember praying to the Lord that He could give me anything and on request I could give it back to Him. In some aspects I was more absolute for God at that age than when I came to the full-time training.
I first got involved with the Pentecostal church at about the age of ten, when a friend of the family said that a new Assembly of God (AOG) church was starting up. After that I would often come to the Lord's table meeting on Sundays. During this time I would attend the meetings but I did not have much of a corporate church life. I would attend the meetings outwardly but my Christian life was primarily individual.
The last few years I got frustrated with the Pentecostal Church. On Sundays we would outwardly touch the Spirit in a strong way but during the week there was not the same hype. I felt that I was up and down in the Spirit but there was no growth. I did not know much about the Bible and it frustrated me that I did not know what Gods purpose with me was.
I got baptized at about 15 years of age in the Pentecostal Church, after the high schoolers had a few classes on baptism. I had a very strong experience of the Lord in my baptism. I really felt that this was a turn in my experience with the Lord. The pastor told me after my baptism that I had been on the outside of the church for a long time and it was now time to come in. A few months after that I went to a meeting and after the meeting I told the pastor that I would follow him and come into the church more. After that night I have never been back a Pentecostal meeting.
During the same week a friend of the family came and talked to my mum about the recovery of the church. My mum is very much against anything to do with God. The brother explained to her about how bad religion was. My mum agreed with a lot of what he said and wanted me to go and talk with this brother.
