The current of the world never reverses its course or flows backward. Similarly, the flow of the gospel brought us from mainland China to Taiwan and then to America. Ever since my youth, our family had been in contact with some American missionaries, so I understood them very well. A hundred years ago, American missionaries who went to China had to travel by boat for six months. Often they got serious motion sickness. Some died right after they reached the land and were buried there. Some remained in China for at least six to seven years before they could return to their country for a visit. I know much about the hardships they experienced in their labor for the gospel.
In 1938 a saint in Beijing sent me a monetary offering which included two checks—one in the amount of sixteen hundred American dollars and the other in the amount of twelve hundred Chinese yuan. The sender enclosed a letter which read, “Brother Lee, I studied in America. After listening to your preaching of the word, I feel it is truly what America needs. Please go to America! The check for sixteen hundred American dollars is for your round-trip tickets by boat and your living expenses in America. The check for twelve hundred Chinese yuan is for your family. I have calculated that they will need at most one hundred yuan each month, so this money is enough to cover a year’s family expenditure.” Immediately after I received the letter, I wrote a reply, saying, “I am sorry, but I do not have the interest or the burden to go to America. What should I do with these two checks?” This saint wrote again and said, “Do not return the checks to me. Please keep them. Put them in the bank. I believe that one day the Lord will take you to America.”
I deposited the money in the bank. Afterward, because of the change of the political situation in China, the currency changed again and again. In the end, that amount of money was worth only a little. In 1948 some churches in Southeast Asia invited me to visit them. I had just received my passport in Nanking and was about to take the trip, but due to the political situation, our whole family migrated to Taiwan. In Taiwan we did not have the slightest thought of going to the United States. During that time I published a magazine called The Ministry of the Word, which contains many messages concerning service. In those messages I often referred to the fact that in bringing us to Taiwan the Lord had put us in a wonderful geographical setting. To the south we could go to Southeast Asia, to the east we could go to Japan and Korea, and at the same time we could take care of mainland China. In Southeast Asia there were a great number of overseas Chinese. As to Japan and Korea, both are very close to the Chinese in culture and writing. In addition, of course, mainland China is a vast land. In those messages I never mentioned anything about the Western world, because I felt that we had no connection with it in terms of culture and language.
Actually, I did not have the intention to labor in Southeast Asia. Since I had been invited, however, I went to the Philippines near the end of 1950. From then on, for about eleven years, I went every year and stayed for at most three or four months each time, mainly in Manila. I did not go to any other places. However, the Lord did not go along with my concept. He stirred up my environment to thrust me to the West. I came to the United States the first time in 1958. That was because of an invitation which I received from England and Denmark. When I went to Europe, first I stayed in England for a month. Then I went to Denmark and stayed there for about ten days. On my return trip I stopped in America for a short while. Two years later I came to America again; at that time I had a deeper impression.
After a year I came to America again, and my impression of it was even deeper. That was twenty-three years ago. There were not many Chinese who went there to study, nor were there many Chinese who immigrated there. At that point I was clear inwardly that I should receive the burden to come and labor in America. Therefore, I applied for immigration. The lawyer told me that America gave the Chinese a quota of only one hundred and five. The Chinese who were already in America had applied for their families to come, and the number of applicants had already exceeded ten thousand. Therefore, if I were to follow the normal procedure, I would have to wait one hundred years for my turn. Fortunately, since I was considered a preacher and because I had written many books, my application was quickly approved.
Soon after that, Kennedy became the president of the United States. He proposed a revision of the immigration law to remove racial discrimination. Every country would be given a quota of 20,000, but the total number of immigrants could not exceed 300,000 yearly. From the Americas 130,000 would be allowed, while from the other four continents 170,000 would be allowed. The applications would be approved on a first-come, first-served basis. In 1966 Congress passed the new immigration law, and in the next year the implementation of the new law began. From that year on, five countries have met their maximum quota every year; these are China, India, South Korea, the Philippines, and Greece or Italy. Some of the countries did not fill up their quotas, so the Chinese were given more opportunity to come. In addition, a great number of Chinese with special qualifications applied under other categories. Therefore, within seventeen years, there were approximately 500,000 new Chinese immigrants. In 1982 when Reagan became the president, he felt that the Chinese immigrants were performing very well in America, so he gave them special treatment with a double portion—20,000 for Taiwan and another 20,000 for mainland China. From that time on, there have been 40,000 new Chinese immigrants in America every year. Right now the Chinese make up the largest number of immigrants coming to America per year.
The Chinese immigrants’ first choice of residence, which may be related to where their relatives live, is Southern California, and their second choice is New York. Among the new immigrants, many are Christians, including the saints who are in the recovery. Because of this, we have received the burden to start a Chinese-speaking work.
Twenty-three years ago when I received the burden to come to the United States, I was very clear within that the Lord did not want me to work among the Chinese immigrants. Rather, He wanted me to bring His recovery to the typical Americans. Therefore, I concentrated my pioneering work among these Americans. The Lord confirmed this and greatly blessed our work. Beginning in 1970, even though it became evident that we definitely needed a Chinese-speaking work, I still did not touch this matter. This is because I knew that once I gave my attention to the Chinese-speaking work, the English-speaking work would suffer loss. Also, in principle, once the number of the Chinese increases in the meetings, more typical Americans are reluctant to come. Therefore, it was not convenient for me to touch the Chinese-speaking work. In this way, we were not keen in our perception, and after six or seven years we lost from five hundred to one thousand saints. Later we began to have the Chinese-speaking meeting, and two years ago we began the Chinese-speaking work. Now the number of the Chinese saints has become stabilized, and new ones are gradually being gained.