Miya Wang came to New Zealand from China in 2017 to study as an international student. She shares with Kim Shaw (Wellington Staff) her story of how she came to know and love Jesus, and how she is living for Jesus as an independent filmmaker living in back home in China.
Miya featured in Victoria University of Wellington’s prospectus for the Miramar Creative Centre.
Photo belongs to Victoria University of Wellington
“Before I came to New Zealand, I had already been working as a creative director in the advertising industry in China for six years. In 2016, I decided to study abroad.
When I worked in China, I was young, successful and proud. But when I came here, my English was not good, and I felt so frustrated by the language barrier. One day, Max (former TSCF Staff worker) gave the English Proficiency Programme students an introduction to Newswatch. I wanted to practice my speaking at that time, so I went and I found the people in this group were very supportive. At Newswatch we watch and discuss the current news, to help develop language skills and an understanding of New Zealand culture.
One day, I asked if there were any other opportunities, and they invited me to the TSCF group. I was not a Christian, but I was welcomed in. A small group was made for international students and one of the leaders told us lots of stories from Bible. I felt very interested but, I didn’t think I would become a Christian. I had lots of questions, which Kim Shaw encouraged me to keep asking. After about a year I became a Christian.
Before I became a Christian, I was proud. I thought people can do anything, as long as they worked hard, but I learnt this is not true. When I needed help, those who were willing to help were Christians. And they are so patient. I can recognize some people pretend they have patience, but the Christians are different, I could see Jesus in them.
I think that God sent me to an English-speaking country and then gave me a big lesson about being humble. The success I had in China was nothing. It made me think, “Who am I?” God broke me down and then rebuilt me. When I went back to China after graduation, lots of my old friends told me they found me humble, and more caring, so I changed a lot.
My values have changed, as well as my character, I think the biggest change would be how I define success. In the past, and like many young people now, I thought success meant having a good job and earning a lot of money. But I became an independent filmmaker. I just own one little studio and this gives me the freedom to choose what I work on because God wants us to be the salt on the earth.
Being an independent filmmaker has allowed to glorify God in my work in several ways. Firstly, I have the freedom to choose what I work on, I can say ‘no’ to projects that are not honoring to him. The Chinese name of my studio called is SALT. And there’s a little cross on the logo, because I want to remind myself of this all the time. Secondly, I can share beliefs and my values through the projects I work on. I also share a lot about my beliefs on social media and because I work independently no-one will tell me I can’t do this.
Finally, because of my background, I have had the freedom to go on mission trips to restricted access countries. It’s not easy for us to go to these places because it takes a lot of time to travel to the rural areas. And most of the people in our church have daily work, so they have to ask for leave, and not many people can do that.”