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My name is David Y., and I was born on December 1, 1994. I have six siblings, and by the grace of God, my parents are still with us. My father was a strong Buddhist missionary. He built Buddhist temples, and he adored some Buddhist monks at his house. He traveled to several places that are important and famous for Buddhists. He spent almost his income every year on Buddhist missions. Only my mother worked hard. During those days, my family was a great family because of my grandfather, who was a physician, and my father was a strong Buddhist missionary. My father used to try to persecute Christian missionaries who came to our village; sometimes, my father declared that Christian missionaries are foolish guys.

The year 2002 was a remarkable year for our family. My father visited his Christian friend called him to attend a Christian Salvation Camp, but he refused. However, they called him again, and he decided to attend. He sat and listened for three days to collect the information to attack Christians, but on the last day, he realized that whatever he had done as good works were gone into vain. On that day, he received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. When he came back home, mom was so surprised about it and cried for that, and all the villagers came to our house to blame my dad and oppose him. Even though my dad became a Christian, my mom did not follow him. My dad alone was Christian for more than a year. After one year, my mom also became a Christian and took water baptism. Later, we all became Christians. The villagers hated us very much, and all the villagers ignored us.

Even though I became a Christian, namely because of my parents, I did not have the assurance of salvation in my inner life. I still had a belief in Buddhism, and I had a plan to become a Buddhist missionary. Buddhism influenced me. I wanted to be a famous Buddhist monk. On the other hand, I was an atheist. I was a very selfish man, but in the year 2010, an evangelist came to our town and conducted a salvation camp for three days. I attended it and listened to his teaching very carefully. On the last day of the camp, I came to see that Jesus is God, and He is the only way of salvation. He died and rose from the dead; through His blood, my sins were washed. Jesus had paid the penalty for my sin. Then I received Him as my personal Savior and Lord.

I was filled with joy because of the great salvation that I received freely. I was totally changed. And I decided to join a Bible School and serve my Lord throughout my life. In 2011, I entered seminary and completed my Bachelor of Theology. After that, I worked in the ministry for one year, and then I went to India and earned a Master of Divinity. I completed my M.Div in April 2017. Afterward, I came back to my home town, and the goal is to reach our own Uppu people with the gospel and plant churches.