Often times we move to a new place in hopes our situation will change for the better. It gives us a chance to walk away from the things that weigh us down and enter into new opportunities and relationships that will lift our spirits. Sometimes we walk away worse off, unchanged, or if we’re fortunate like our friend, Warren, we end up better than when we started the journey.
Intro from WitnessLA.org
My name is Warren Yip and I was born and raised in San Francisco. I grew up going to a Catholic middle school and Christian church every Sunday. My sister was baptized at an early age and I did not understand why. I recited the Lord’s Prayer daily at school but never once broke the words down to understand what it means. Most of the time I was slurring over my words, sometimes not even completing the prayer. After middle school, I went through a phase of Buddhism then eventually stuck between the two religions. I went on through college and my late 20s not thinking about both at all.
A couple years ago, I encountered God again. I was going through tough times in my life with finance, relationship, and career. I started to attend fellowship, pray, and focused on starting up my journey to the Lord again. Someone had said, ‘God loves you and has a plan for you.” That verse stuck with me for a long time and I slowly started to see signs of miracles. It was still difficult for me as I was still trying to understand why my life was taking this drastic turn.
I decided to relocate to Los Angeles about a year ago with no job and no place to live. It was one of those situations where I knew everything was going to work out on its own. Luckily, with the support of my friends and family, it did. Leaving San Francisco was not easy because it was a place full of happy but at times painful memories for me. I decided it was time to make a move and I never looked back. At first, LA to me was the same as it was for a lot people. Big dreams, parties every weekend, and fake friends. But I did not want to have any of that. My main purpose was to work and to find my next destination in life.
As I sat in the Plan C office a month later for work, I ran into Jaeson Ma again. I met him in San Jose a couple months prior for an event. He was leaving the conference room and I kindly asked him to come back before he leaves. He took one step out, came back in and asked me out of nowhere if I had a bible study that I go to. It took me a second to answer him because I was in shock. I was going to ask him the same question when he came back in. It was almost like he read my mind. A couple days later, I was at GBS Sunday where it all started for me.
GBS Sunday was my go to bible study for a couple months then I switched to Tuesday prayer meetings. Tuesdays was not as popular then and I had more one on one time with the handful of people that were there. I met countless wonderful and helpful people through GBS. I was getting excited because I knew I was getting closer to God and also having all my questions answered.
Through GBS, I heard about LTG. I asked my wonderful sister Christina Chou about it and she connected me with Ed Huang. That was the turning point of my life in LA and my ticket to getting closer to the Lord. Ed and I met once a week outside of GBS and I would have plenty of questions for him. Slowly he asked about getting baptized and slowly I was thinking about it. For a couple weeks, I kept telling him that I was still missing something before I felt complete for baptism.
One night at Tuesday prayer meeting, I was telling Daniel Ra about my story and he said that I was there already. That I was not missing anything else and I was complete and ready for baptism as long as I believed Jesus Christ is my Savior. And I do. The following week on August 3, 2010, I was baptized by Ed at Jaeson’s house. Most of the people that I wanted to be there happened to show up that night and it was epic. I have not felt so much love in awhile and it has not stopped.
As I leave the City of Angels to get ready for Asia, I feel spiritually aligned. My head is clear, faith in position, and LOVE is strong for God. I believe God is miraculous and only HE can perform miracles. I want to take this time to thank everyone in LA, PCA, and GBS who made my year memorable, full of happiness, and special thanks the ones who took time out to listen to my heart. If there is one thing I take away from this experience, it is LOVE. LOVE yourself, LOVE all, and LOVE God.
Amen…
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