TRUE STORY/ Finding Something Better Than Glamour -AS TOLD BY MINA HUNG GODENZI

SOMETHING BETTER THAN GLAMOUR

In 1997, my husband and I moved to Hollywood, California, U.S.A. There I became more involve in helping people to benefit from the wisdom of God's Word. Teaching the Bible has given me more satisfaction  than all the glamour of acting and starring in movies.  For example, in 2002, I met up with Cheri, an old acquaintance from Hong Kong. In many ways our experiences in life had been similar. She had been Miss Hong Kong the year before I was. In fact, when I won the title, she was the one who crowned me. She also became a movie actor and later a producer, working with famous directors. She too moved to Hollywood.

My heart went out to Cheri when I learned that she had lost her fiancee to a sudden heart attack.  She could find no consolation from her Buddhist religion. Like  me, she had achieved a glamours life that others envy, yet she was sad and unable to trust anyone. I began sharing with her what I had learned from the Bible, but her Buddhist background made it difficult for you to appreciate it. 

One day in 2003, Cheri called me from Vancouver, Canada, where she was making a film. Excitedly, she told me that she had been driving and admiring the countryside when suddenly  she started to pray out loud:  "Tell me, Who is the true God? What is your  name?" At that moment, she drove by a Kingdom Hall and saw the name Jehovah.  That, she felt, was a reply from God, and she wanted to meet with Jehovah's Witnesses as soon as possible.  I made arrangements,and within a few days, she was at the meeting of a Chinese language  congregation in Vancouver.  

"These people are genuinely interested in me," Cheri told me later. "I can tell them how I feel." I was very pleased to hear that, because Cheri was in the movie business, she never made friends.  Cheri continued attending the meetings.  But in 2005, she signed a contract to product two epic films in China,making it necessary for her to return to Hong Kong. Happily in 2006, Cheri dedicated her life to Jehovah and was baptized  at a Witness assembly in Hong Kong. Although she wanted to serve Jehovah more fully, her work in the movie business made things very difficult for her, and she was very unhappy. 

Next time: TRUE STORY/Finding Something Better Than Glamour - AS TOLD BY MINA HUNG GODENZI - THE JOY OF HELPING OTHERS

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015