On the evening of the day that Brother Nee left, a brother who was a member of my former denomination came to me. He was seeking help from Brother Nee, but Brother Nee had left. He and I had a long fellowship that evening at the seashore, since my home was not far away from the beach. At a certain point he said, "You have to baptize me tonight in the sea." I said that I was not a pastor, an elder, or a deacon. He rebuked me by saying, "You told me that all the disciples of Jesus, who are qualified to preach the gospel, are also qualified to baptize people. You have to baptize me." I asked him to pray with me. Then the word in Acts 8 came to me: "Look, water! What prevents me from being baptized" (v. 36). Then I baptized him. When we came up out of the water, we were both in the heavenlies. He told me that from tomorrow he would never go back to the denominations, but would come to meet with me. I told him that from tomorrow I would stop going to the Brethren meetings and would begin to meet with him. That was really the Lord's move.

His baptism took place on a Tuesday. On Thursday of the same week, another two came to us, asking us to baptize them, and we did. On the Lord's Day, more were baptized. The following Lord's Day, we had eleven brothers taking the Lord's table. That was the beginning of the first local church in north China in my hometown of Chefoo. The news of this reached Brother Nee in Shanghai. By the end of the year, there were about eighty of us meeting together.

At the beginning of the following year, there were about one hundred meeting in Chefoo. In April of that year, Sister Peace Wang came to visit us. She was the one through whom I was saved. By this time in 1933, she had become one of the prevailing co-workers. Then Brother Nee came, and he stayed with us for about ten days. Afterwards, he went to England to visit the Brethren.

During the first three weeks of August 1933, I was struggling with the Lord concerning giving up my job and serving Him full-time. The Lord was calling me inwardly to serve Him in this way. At that time my younger brother and I had the highest paying jobs among those in the church, so many of the church's needs were secretly taken care of by us. The Lord was calling me to give up my job, but I was considering what would happen if I did this. I was helping to meet the church's needs, but if I went full-time, others would have to meet my needs.

Actually, from the first day that I was saved through Sister Wang's preaching, I was called by the Lord to serve Him full-time. I knew that my destiny for my entire life was to serve the Lord in a full way. From August 1 to August 21, 1933, I was struggling with the Lord concerning this matter. On Wednesday, August 21, I fellowshipped with two of the leading ones after the prayer meeting. I explained the situation to them and asked them to pray for me that night. I could not go on another day without a definite decision in this matter. Late that night I had a time with the Lord, and it was so clear that His will was for me to answer His call. The only thing causing me to hesitate was my unbelief. Then the Lord impressed me that if I did not answer His call, He would be through with me as far as His work was concerned. I told the Lord with tears that I would answer His call and take His way.

The next day I resigned from my job. After resigning I went to the post office the following day to pick up a letter there for me from Manchuria. This was the first letter which I received inviting me to come to a place to speak for the Lord. I accepted this invitation and went to the capital of Manchuria to speak for the Lord's interest. While I was there, a letter came to me from my general manager, saying that he did not want me to leave my job. He said he would promote me and increase my monthly pay if I would stay. Usually at the end of the year, the employees of this company received a good bonus. I considered that if I worked for another three months, I would receive this bonus, and then I could drop my job.

When I returned home from Manchuria, there was a letter awaiting me from Brother Nee. It was a short note from him dated August 17. This was within the three-week period of time in which I was struggling with the Lord. This note said, "Brother Witness, concerning your future—I feel that you have to serve the Lord full-time. How do you feel about this? May the Lord lead you." That short note still means so much to me. That annulled the letter from my general manager. I told the Lord that even if my company offered me the whole world, I would not take it. Then I made the decision to go to Shanghai to see Brother Nee.

When I went to Shanghai, I asked Brother Nee why he wrote that note on August 17. He said that at that time his boat was on the Mediterranean while he was returning from Europe to China. When he was in his cabin, he had a burden to pray for the work in China. While he was praying, the Lord said to him within, "You have to write a note to Witness Lee telling him that you feel he should serve the Lord full-time." While Brother Nee was sailing on the Mediterranean, I was struggling with the Lord in China. We were a thousand miles apart, yet he received a burden from the Lord to write me this note at such a critical time. That fully convinced me that he was a real man of God. I realized that I had to work with him for the Lord's move. That was the beginning of our working together.