Episode 20: Zoe Yu, Christian Hater to Jesus Follower, OneWay Young Adults Show (Taiwan)

Born and raised in Taiwan, Zoe Yu grew a deep disdain for Christians and thought the stories in the Bible were mere fairytales. But in her desire to learn English, Zoe signed up for a one-year Bible college. Coming in as a rebel-rouser, Zoe actually learned the truth of the Bible and was encountered by loving Christians. A desperate plea to God was the first prayer she ever prayed. It was miraculously answered with a new heart to embrace the truth of Jesus and a new life for Him. 

Zoe is a video intern with OneWay Young Adults. Today’s show is brought to you by OneWay Young Adults, including Andrew Neal as host, Kate Sperry as producer, Erin Foster with the sendoff, and the episode features interns behind-the-scenes. 

OneWay Interns:
https://www.owm.org/activate
https://www.owm.org/intern
OneWay Young Adults on Instagram

Other helpful links:
Liberty University Film School
Christian Mental Health Help for Teens
Word of Life Bible Institute, Korea
SYME English Training, Taiwan

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Transcript

One80 Podcast, Episode 20

Zoe Yu: Christian Hater to Jesus Follower

This is a transcript of the audio of One80 Podcast. It may slightly veer from the audio as we wanted to transcribe this document into Mandarin for Zoe’s friends. 

Andrew Neal: Zoe Yu thought the Bible was fairy tales, just stories to keep little kids entertained and Christians just awkward people who judge others, but when she needed a way out of a deep dark hole she was digging further into Zoe's simple prayer to God was answered  and the fairytale of all fairy tales came true.

 Redemption. Hear her story today on 180. 

Hey friends, this is Andrew Neal. OneWay guest host. Today's show is brought to you by OneWay young adults, including our guest, Zoe and our producer, Kate Sperry. We thought it'd be super fun to have a 180 show with all OneWay young adults. So they're behind the scenes in the making of today's show, too.

Thanks for joining us, Zoe. Welcome to the show. Thanks for being on 180.

Zoe Yu: You're welcome.

Andrew Neal: Hi, Zoe. So good to see you. We like to start the show with a random question. So I'm just gonna pick one from our random generator of questions here. Okay. If you had the chance to copy a thought and put it into 1 million fortune cookies, what would you say?

Zoe Yu: I think I will put, I'm glad you're still alive and you read this note.

congratulations!

Andrew Neal: Alright,

Zoe Yu: . Congratulations.

Andrew Neal: Congratulations.

Zoe Yu: Yes. Yes.

Andrew Neal: you're still alive.

Zoe Yu: Yes. Life is beautiful.

Andrew Neal: Yes. We all need a good reminder here now and then that life is a gift. I love that. We're gonna just dive into your story a little bit. Can you tell us what it was like to grow up in Taiwan?

Zoe Yu: In Taiwan, we have very heavy education cause we've been to school like almost 12 hours a day.

Andrew Neal: Wow.

Zoe Yu: Yeah. And it's not fun at all. Because in the classroom you are with 40 other kids and teachers not care about you. But you had to have a good score or you will be a failure. That's our social value.

Andrew Neal: Wow.

Zoe Yu: Yeah.

Andrew Neal: What was your family like in Taiwan? Did they also feel the same pressure with school? 

Zoe Yu: Luckily, my family didn’t really care about my score. I’m an only child. So when I go home, I can just be myself and that is the happiest moment in my day. Like I'm free. I can go anywhere. Yeah.

Andrew Neal: Would you say you were a good kid?

Zoe Yu: No, I was a bad, bad kid.

Andrew Neal: What was the best part of being in your family?

Zoe Yu: We all love movies, so almost every day we will just hang out in my home and then watch a good movie together or a bad movie. And then complain about how bad the movie was.

Andrew Neal: Did you go see the movies a lot? 

Zoe Yu: Yes.

Andrew Neal: And you said earlier you were a bad kid. Could you give maybe an example of something you did?

Zoe Yu: Like I bullied my classmates. I made fun of them. And then I cheated on my test.

Andrew Neal: Were there any tear shed, like any crying?

Zoe Yu: Oh, you mean my classmates? Yes. And one student, actually, his parent was our kindergarten teacher, so the teacher approached my teacher and I got into some trouble when I was young, like 10 years old.

Andrew Neal: When you were causing all this trouble with your classmates would you say somewhere in there you had faith growing up?Like at a young age?

Zoe Yu: Which kind of faith? 

Andrew Neal: Faith in Jesus.

Zoe Yu: No, not at all. Like, I don't know Jesus I have no moral standing.Yeah.

Andrew Neal: So, you were talking about how you were bullying your classmates and, I asked you if back in those days, if you had any kind of faith growing up in Jesus and you said no. Yeah. Did you believe in any other religion at the time?

Zoe Yu: I followed my parents’ Taiwan traditional religion, I didn’t believe it, but I just followed them. And I don't think, I believed anything when I was in that period. 

Andrew Neal: What is the Taiwan, religion? What are the customs like?

Zoe Yu: It is idol worship. We worship ancestors like our grandpa, grandma, and mountains, everything.

Andrew Neal: Wow. So like with faith in Jesus, you go to church every Sunday. Are there any kind of customs like that, weekly things you would do in that religion?

Zoe Yu: There was a temple just across a street from my house. And it's a temple in Taiwan.Every time when we pass by temple, we need to do bow, showing respect to the garden in the temple.

Andrew Neal: How did you practice this faith as a family altogether? 

Zoe Yu: We did something like the lunar calendar, which every first day and the 15 day, we have put the food on the table and then bring respect, like feed the food for the idols. 

Andrew Neal: And then something changed in your family. Can you explain what that was? 

Zoe Yu: So my parents, they was Buddhist, very strong in Buddhism. Almost every weekend we would drive to like 80 miles to a teacher's house, like a Buddhism master and then do something like keep repeating the Buddhism book. But one day my father's phase four Buddhism teacher became a Christian. My parents were very curious, so they came to visit that friend and that friend shared his faith to my family.

Zoe Yu: Then they just decided to go to church with him.

Andrew Neal: That's great.

Zoe Yu: Yeah.

Andrew Neal: And then did any of your parents become Christians?

Zoe Yu: Yeah, my mom decided to get baptized when I was 10.

Andrew Neal: Wow.

Zoe Yu: And then she asked me, did you wanna get baptized too?

And I didn’t know what getting baptized meant? And my mom just said you will be a Christian if you get baptized, so I agreed.

Andrew Neal: . And then how did your dad respond to your mom changing and you getting baptized?

Zoe Yu: My father just followed everything. He didn’t disagree with my mom. He did not really have any strong beliefs. So he just went to church with us.

Andrew Neal: Would you say your family changed?

Zoe Yu: Really, the only thing that changed at that time was their religion from the temple to church, but there was not really a change in my family. They were still fighting a lot. And my father sort of went berserk at this point, he started fighting with my mom, and then he just ran away from my home. I didn't feel a lot of change after my mom became Christian.

Andrew Neal: Did they start going to church at all?

Zoe Yu: Yeah, my mom. Yeah.

Andrew Neal: And did you said that you got baptized when you were 10?

Zoe Yu: Yes 

Andrew Neal: After that, did you start going to church more yourself or did you have any sort of faith changes for yourself?

Zoe Yu: So usually I would follow my mom, go to the church and go to Sunday school. I thought that was fun. And I got to hear some stories, but that didn’t really mean anything for me.

Andrew Neal: How would you compare going to church versus going to the temple?

Zoe Yu: In my personal opinion, the Taiwan temple seemed creepy and they have very scary pictures in the temple like a scary comic book in the temple.

For instance, it would depict that if you lie, you will go to hell and your tongue would be pulled out. That’s very creepy. And then the idols look like a horror movie, but church is different. Church is beautiful in my opinion. 

Andrew Neal: You were kind of talking about the stories you would hear at church versus the temple. So after you were going to church for a while, and you're hearing different kinds of stories, did that affect how, your faith was changing?

Zoe Yu: Not really.

Andrew Neal: No?

Zoe Yu: Because I didn't believe it at all. For me, it was just a good story. And it was interesting, but I didn't believe was real, because I believed in science, I believed in evolution.

Andrew Neal: Okay. So left Christianity for a little bit?

Zoe Yu: Yeah. I, I would say I had never been to Christianity. I just went there but did nothing.

Andrew Neal: Mm. So what happened when you sort of started doing your own thing?

Zoe Yu: When I was in high school, I left my family. I went to other city, so I was just hanging out with my friends, never going to church and doing whatever I wanted to do.

Andrew Neal: And how did you and your friends feel about Christians during that time?

Zoe Yu: In that time, most of my friends, they are strong Taiwanese traditional believers. So they would make fun of the Jesus people who are sharing gospel, because a lot of missionaries, they came from America. So my friends would like copy their accent, speak Chinese, make fun of them.

So most of my friend were anti-Christian. So I got influenced by them. 

Andrew Neal: When all of this was happening how would you say you were feeling at the time?

Zoe Yu: In my life?

Andrew Neal: Yeah, just in general.

Zoe Yu: Yeah, just in general. I was very depressed when I was in high school. This was not a regular stress thing, like pressure, but I just felt life is meaningless and then that's too much hurt or like depression painful in my heart. There was so much hurt in my heart, but it didn’t show up from the outside, just looking at me.

But I would like almost like hurting my body to show the pain on the outside. And then when I see like a knife cut, I will feel more safe or peaceful. 

Andrew Neal: Wow. yeah. Were there any types of things you would try to do to distract yourself?

Zoe Yu: Yeah. I like to went to nightclub drinking karaoke or mess with guys, it was fun, but nothing was meaningful for me. So I read a lot of philosophy, Kant, Camus and others to try to find the answer in my life, but I didn't find anything.

Andrew Neal: What, what would you say made you feel like everything was meaningless?

Zoe Yu: I felt like everything will die. And when we die there is nothing left. I want to leave something like leave some legacy, in this world, maybe that's why I want to make movies. Because video can keep longer, like when everything else is gone.

Andrew Neal: Wow. So you, you were feeling like life was meaningless and it was all gonna die.

And that kind of inspired your inspiration for movies?

Zoe Yu: Yes.

Andrew Neal: Okay. Could you maybe explain a little bit of the more of the depression you were going through at the time?

Zoe Yu: The more depressed I was, the more comfortable I felt, like the depression is dark black and the cold. Like when you go to the ocean and then you're going deeper, it's warmer. So it's like a, a huge black hole. And then you try to fill something in, you throw a lot of stuff in there, but it's still empty, but empty is beautiful and warm. It made me feel safe, even while it’s hurtful, but I got used to it that kind of hurt, so I would rather just stay there and put myself into that black hole.

Andrew Neal: Wow. Wow. So you've said that, Being in the state of depression made you feel really comfortable?

Zoe Yu: Yes. 

Andrew Neal: How bad did that get?

Zoe Yu: It's like, the books I read were talking about the only question in our life is just suicide or not, because we simply exist or do not exist. So at the time I graduated from high school, I decided to try to kill myself. Then I took a lot of pills but it didn’t work. So I was sent to the hospital. Then the doctor came out. They rescued me.

Zoe Yu: Yeah. And I was feeling all these emotions.

Andrew Neal: Were you still glad to have your life?

Zoe Yu: Right now? Yes, of course.

So my mom naturally got scared about what I did to myself. She decided maybe it was best to change the environment, that would be a good thing for me. And it would help me to learn English. Even you don't like school, but you have to learn English. She decided to put me in English camp, S Y M E, and I didn’t have any other thing to do. So I followed what she said.

Andrew Neal: And this was right before college? Had you moved to the states at this point or were you still in Taiwan?

Zoe Yu: It is in Taiwan, the campus was in Taiwan.

Andrew Neal: Gotcha. Would you say what you learned there, helped you get prepared for college?

Zoe Yu: Not really. Not really about college, but it was fun. And now with a lot of different people and then the foreigner, it was my first time heard what the gospel was. But like before when I was in church, I feel like I had never have people said why God needed to die, why Jesus needed to die.

And, and I see how seriously are I feel. That's very interesting cuz I don't believe that I was not.

Andrew Neal: Yeah. So would you say that it helped you spiritually?

Zoe Yu: From now looking back? Yeah, but in that time, I don't know that help. Yeah.

After that I went to a college in Taiwan.

Andrew Neal: What happened? 

Zoe Yu: At college I did nothing. I just stayed in a dorm and then played video games, and watched TV shows, that's it. That's all year long, I just played video games and I still very bad about video game. Oh.

Andrew Neal: Wow. Okay, so you go to college. All you do did was play video games. Did you skip a lot of class?

Zoe Yu: Yes.

Andrew Neal: Gotcha. Was there anything that helped things get better for you?

Zoe Yu: Playing video games? It was fun.

Andrew Neal: Okay. And then you transferred to a different school?

Zoe Yu: Yes, it's a nice school.

Andrew Neal: Did things get better there?

Zoe Yu: So at that time I was in Taipei and before that, I need to find a place to live so. My friends from SYME suggested I live with her. Then my mom asked me about an apartment and we found out it was by the church and cheaper. So we decide that I would live there. Hm.

Andrew Neal: How did you feel about living with them?

Zoe Yu: I didn't talk to them a lot, but I found out my roommate was an SYME missionary.

Andrew Neal: Wow.

Zoe Yu: That was fun. Like talking with them with my broken English, trying to debate with the Christians about science.

Yeah. It was fun.

Andrew Neal: At this point when you were debating them, were you trying to argue?

Zoe Yu: I was trying to prove Christianity is stupid and wrong and doesn't make any sense. But I found out I cannot win in this debate. 

Andrew Neal: How did you find out you couldn't win?

Zoe Yu: Because I cannot prove science is real. Like a lot of stuff is just theory, even science. And then, so it's like the same thing. We cannot go back to time to see what happened. So I cannot prove, and she cannot prove at the same time, but she had a Bible where she used a lot of scripture to me and I didn't read any Bible, so I cannot debate it back. So I like started, looking back to Bible and trying to find the error from the Bible.

Hmm. Yeah.

Andrew Neal: Okay. So how long did you live with those people?

Zoe Yu: Six months. I didn't go to school either. And yeah.

It was,

Andrew Neal: What was that like?what did you do with all that time?

Zoe Yu: I hung out with a lot of different people that I meet from internet, go to a nightclub again, smoke some weed, and I had some LSD. That was very miserable.

Andrew Neal: Wow.

Zoe Yu: One day I just thought either I should die or just get my stuff together.

Andrew Neal: Okay.

Zoe Yu: Yeah. So I called my mom and said, I think I'm done with this kind of life. And I wanna learn more about movies, like go to another country. And I don't know what my mom was thinking in that moment, but she say yes, like she, let me just do whatever I want, for one year and a half.

And I don't think that makes any sense. None of our parents will so spoil their kids. Yeah.

Andrew Neal: Yeah. Okay, so it sounds like things are about to change, but in the moment how, how were you feeling about Christians at that time?

Zoe Yu: Mm, I still don't believe it, so I tried to prove they are wrong.

So I started looking deeply into the Bible. Looking at internet videos about how ridiculous Christianity is. But somehow deep in my heart it was like, it cannot prove Christianity is wrong. It's not strong enough to prove they are wrong.

Andrew Neal: Okay.

Zoe Yu: Yeah.

Andrew Neal: What happened when you said you need to get your stuff together?

Zoe Yu: After I talked to my mom, my mom agreed that I should go to another country to study movie.

But before that I need to learn English well to go there. So we both agreed to go back toy SYME again and learn English. So I stayed there six months. Okay.

Andrew Neal: Okay. So you went back to SYME?

Zoe Yu: Back to SYME, yes. After one year and a half.

Andrew Neal: Gotcha. And then how did you treat the Christians there?

Zoe Yu: I respect them. Like, I won't curse them. I think they are good friend, but we just have a different worldview. I don't like Christianity, but they are very nice to me.

Andrew Neal: me. Right. So even though you don't agree with them, you want to still go to a Bible college?

Zoe Yu: Yeah, so we found out if I go to a Bible college named Word of Life Bible Institute and stay there for a year and transfer to America's college, that would be the best way for my education.

 Okay.

Andrew Neal: And to continue to learn English.

Zoe Yu: Yes.

So after SYME I was thinking, I want to just go to Canada and then the movie studies, that will be faster, but my mom felt that is not a complete degree, of that Canada education.

So we kind of have lot of debating and then we both agree. I should go to a Bible college, but if I wanna go to Bible college, I need to have a letter from my friends, like Christian friends and the church.

Andrew Neal: Okay.

Zoe Yu: And in that time, they all know I'm not like Christian, but my teacher still was helping me to do that, to help me to learn English in the Bible school.

So I went to the Bible school. I tried to follow the rules, but I just can't. I just think, oh, if no one found me doing this bad thing, it will be okay. But apparently they found out everything. What I have done. Like, they say you cannot drink. You cannot like touch like different gender people, or you cannot smoke, like all the Christian rules.

And I break all of them, especially when we have the trip to other country that was very messed up. And the teacher found out he have a conversation with me, very serious conversation. And in that moment, I believe they will kick me out of the school. Yeah.

Andrew Neal: So did they kick you outta the school

Zoe Yu: Almost.

Andrew Neal: almost.

Zoe Yu: Yeah.

Andrew Neal: How did they take your attitude and all the things that were happening?

Zoe Yu: They talked a lot to me. They are not really talking about God, actually, they are talking about, they see the value on me because they already taught me a lot of theology and I just didn't take it. Even in that moment.

Andrew Neal: Wow.

Zoe Yu: I feel they already prove how real Bible is, but I just don't want to believe. And so they are talking to me. About the things I didn't see in myself. I never felt I have any value or I never felt I was worthy to stay anywhere.

Andrew Neal: Okay.

Zoe Yu: So they just keep trying to talk to me and they pray for me. Yeah.

Andrew Neal: How did the threat of potentially being kicked out make you feel?

Zoe Yu: I was in school in the Bible school, a lot of friend they are asking people about a trip we had and then they are asking people about drinking and smoking. And some other people already confessed what they have done and I know they know what I did all the time. And then in that moment, when I heard this, I was just thinking it's okay. I don't know. I just not try to make myself not care at all.

Zoe Yu: But deep depend inside me. I know if I get kicked out of here, I have no place to go. So in that very moment, I decide, try to pray to God. Like take Him seriously. Be honest to God. And then like something I don't think is belief. But I believe, I prayed to God, like, okay, I think I gonna be kicked off here, I prayed to God and said, okay, I know maybe that's it. I believe the Bible is real. But if I stay here, I will follow the 10 commandments.

Andrew Neal: Wow.

Zoe Yu: Then, after this prayer, I stood up and then the first thing I did is find this girl. I treated her so mean before. I went to her and then apologized. And then she told me what happened to her. And then I just found out we have a lot of things similar.

Andrew Neal: Yeah. What, what happened with you and your friend? So,

Zoe Yu: So I was hating her so much because I feel she's a hypocrite, but God showed me how beautiful she is.

Zoe Yu: And that is something I never noticed in my whole life. Because before that I just thought about myself. It's my first time to notice all the people are alive.

Andrew Neal: Hmm. Wow. What other things would you say changed as well?

Zoe Yu: I followed what the Bible says. I try to love other people.

Andrew Neal: Okay.

Zoe Yu: I apologized to almost everyone, because I know I, I was a very bad influence for everyone. 

Andrew Neal: Mm. What was that apology process like?

Zoe Yu: I told my friend, Hey, so I'm very sorry what I did to you before. And I just wanna let you know, I think, I believe in God right now, so I have to apologize to what I have done to you now.

Andrew Neal: After you made all these apologies, did the school let you stay or did they kick you out? 

Zoe Yu: After my prayer to God, one week later, my professor came back to me again. And he told me he thought he might change. And after they had a meeting and discussion, they decided to let me stay and that's maybe what would be the best for me. 

Andrew Neal: Wow. Wow. So they let you stay!

Zoe Yu: Yeah, I was very surprised and I just feel oh shoot. God is real. Oh my gosh. He let me stay. So now I need to believe him all my life, cuz yeah.

Andrew Neal: Yes. So they let you stay, hooray! And what did you do about that? 

Zoe Yu: So for my job in the school, I was making video and before I just focused on, oh, if this video is so cool, then it means I'm so cool.

But after I choose to believe, God is real. It's more about him, but not about myself. And every time when I feel more about him and less on myself, and I feel peaceful, like less focused on myself and other people are so beautiful and lovely. And I just wanna shoot film and and then show everyone how beautiful they are as my feeling to a video.

And also for my, schoolwork, I was one point something GPA before, so I cannot be graduated if I'm that low score. And there's a teacher, professor, an intern, actually an intern help me about my schoolwork. So I graduated in 2.06. That's good. Yeah. that's amazing. Cuz yeah, if I blow that, I don't think I can go to America. Yeah. Yeah. 

Andrew Neal: What other things would you say changed? 

Zoe Yu: I read the Bible more. And that is very amazing, cuz it's a totally different feeling from before you don't believe the Bible. And then if you believe the Bible is real, that is like miracle that shows on your face.

How great God is, how good God it is, but not something madet up. And I don't think Bible can be, made it up because Bible is 1500 years that talks about one story about how God used three pages to describe how God created this world and the whole rest of the Bible to tell how God saved this world. That is crazy.

And then let most beautiful part is about how God saved people by his sacrifice. None of the other religions are talking about this, because I tried a lot of other religions before and in none of this did God use himself to save our sinful life. And it's almost like supernatural and nature combined together in experience and science.

Andrew Neal: So good. Wow. Did others start to notice a change in you?

Zoe Yu: Yeah. So a lot of my classmates in Bible school, they thought I'm fake because I'm a totally different person. And then, as the time passed by, they just, they realize I changed. Totally a different person. And when I went back to Taiwan, my mom like cannot really tell I'm her daughter, because I didn't talk to her most of the time when I was in Taiwan, but I shared what I had been through.

And also of course I apologized to her about how rebellious I was. And then yeah, it's a change in my eyes. You can tell, you can tell by the eyes I was a totally different person.

Andrew Neal: What were some of the ways you changed?

Zoe Yu: Before I liked the hurting people feeling. But when I changed, I want to build others up and my mom said it is her first time to feel love from me.

Andrew Neal: Wow. Did you notice a change in yourself personally? 

Zoe Yu: Of course. Yeah. 

Andrew Neal: What were those changes?

Zoe Yu: My heart never felt peaceful before. Before I got sick, the only peaceful moment is when I was playing video again with angry, angry, and peaceful playing video game. Because I don't need to think about myself. But it is not living peace until I believe in Jesus.

Of course I still have some moments like struggling and wrestling with God, but by the grace, I will always know he will get my back. I will never fall too low, because he's with me.

Andrew Neal: How was this peace different from the peace you found with detachment playing with video games?

Zoe Yu: So the peace I have been through before it just I numbed myself.

I numb myself to feeling or thinking that depression life is hard. I have to be successful or people will hate me, but now I just need to please God and I know how to make God feel happy. Just obey him and. Yeah, I will be happy. Even obeying him is hard. I'm still learning.

Andrew Neal: Mm-hmm what happened after Bible college?

Zoe Yu: Oh, I came back to Taiwan and I tried to share my theology to , my parents cuz my mom not really know about theology, but she just try God, she didn't really understand Bible. So I was almost like, try to fix her, which I shouldn't do that. Cuz that's God's job. I take God's job. So I think that's my that's what I think is like, God almost like need me to broke to grow.

Andrew Neal: Okay.

Zoe Yu: If I didn’t get broken, I cannot grow. So when I was in Taiwan, my family was very messing up. I try as much, I fail and, cuz my father was doing drugs all the time. So I feeling so, so painful and weak and I feel, God didn't answer me.

Even, I believe in him. I know he is exist, but I don't know why he don't help me. But yeah, after I left Taiwan, God just held my family. Like he's showing me I don't have to do anything. He would just help me. I don't need to be strong or smart. He would just lead my life and my father get a chance to live with a Christian community. And then he’s clean now, and now he lives with a pastor and I believe he's trying to put his ego away and follow Jesus.

Andrew Neal: wow, so good. So, Tell us about your quiet time with God.

Zoe Yu: Oh, I really don't know how other people are doing the quiet time, but for me, I'm more like conversation. Like if I read a Bible, I'm just, oh, that is very interesting. And then talking to God, what I thought about this passage, and then I will get like quieted for like 10 minutes.

Andrew Neal: Okay.

Zoe Yu: Just feeling the peaceful and the scripture and how great God is to exist in this scripture.

Andrew Neal: How would you describe that moment?

Zoe Yu: Yeah, it was like a honeymoon and I love God so much and I can tell he loves me so much.

Andrew Neal: Wow.

Zoe Yu: I almost like forgot other people exist. I love them. I feel they are beautiful, but it’s just, me and God, and I just enjoy it. So I feel God wants me to love him, like love others, so yeah. I don't know how to describe it.

Andrew Neal: Oh, gotcha. So, just tell us about how you got to Liberty.

Zoe Yu:  When I was in Bible school, I was wondering where should I go? Which college was my, like. My passion the movie, then my professor told me, Liberty has a good movie project, cinema traditional. So I thought, oh, I think that's it. That's the one. So I applied it and I got in. So I go there. Yeah. I spend a year to apply the school because I'm not sure how to do it. I'm lazy. So it take me a year to get in there.

Andrew Neal: Gotcha. 

Zoe Yu: Yeah, so I decide to go to Liberty. Then I become a film major student at Liberty university.

Andrew Neal: What do you love about the film program at Liberty?

Zoe Yu: I love that all the teachers are Christian, so it's like a Christ centered education. And I am amazed at how rich they have the passion to Christ. Yeah. And I learned a lot from their behavior, how they’ve been, how like being a cinema maker and then the Christian the same time.

Andrew Neal: Yeah. And Zoe, where's the dark hole now?

Zoe Yu: It's gone. It's like, I don't know where it went. Sometimes I still can see it, but I know I will never see myself in there.

Andrew Neal: Praise God!

Zoe Yu: Yes.

Andrew Neal: Zoe, for our last question, if Zoe today could go back to freshman year of college in Taiwan, what advice would you give to your younger self?

Zoe Yu: Okay. Eat some vegetables and do some exercise. You are beautiful, got it?

Andrew Neal: Well, Zoe, thank you. Wow. Thanks Zoe. What a powerful story. Thanks for being on the show. 

Andrew Neal: Thank you.

Friends, thanks for tuning in today to learn more about OneWay young adults and the team who helped put the show together. Check out our show notes by pressing the I button in apple podcast, Or the, see more button on Spotify and hit that plus mark to follow us while you're there. You made it to the send off. And now I like to introduce Aaron Foster, another OneWay young adult who is sending us off with a haiku inspired by Zoe's story.

Zoe Yu: Thanks, Andrew.