When I am weak

 

Yami Asai Shimray (India) recently graduated with an MDiv in Christian Ministry and also received the EAST Spiritual Multiplier Award. She served as part of the pastoral team at New Horizon Church. She was recently married to Mathingmi Hongchui in a beautiful wedding service at Grace Baptist Church. Both of them are deeply committed to build up the Church in India and beyond. Yami will leave for her DMin studies in Family Ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, joining her husband who is reading a PhD (Christian Education in Family and Generational Studies) at the same seminary.  

Growing up in Manipur, India, ‘fear’ was not in Yami Shimray’s dictionary.

At six, she fell into a river during a riot but climbed back up “to everyone’s amazement”; at seven Dad passed away and she became Mummy’s helper at home while she worked; all through university and Masters degree in Tourism Management, she worked to support herself.

Yami’s foray into full-time ministry started with a four-month child evangelism training in New Zealand. Upon returning home, she travelled to different villages for three years to conduct children’s ministry training and camps. Even when her savings were depleted, she did not give up.

It was around then that EAST Alumnus Vashum Vareingam encouraged her to come to EAST. “From day one, I enjoyed everything – the classes, community, even the assignments,” says Yami.

Then, in early 2020, Covid-19 knocked on her doors. “My room-mate fell very ill,” recalls Yami. “And for the first time in my life, I felt intense fear.” This fear escalated when Delta devastated India by December 2020. “Back home, many among my youth group, church leaders, family and friends were struck by Covid-19; some died from it. It paralysed me.”

In her darkest hour, Yami’s church in Singapore and the EAST community rallied around her. “My faculty mentor Amy Lau took me aside and prayed over me for one hour,” she shares. “Another teacher raised funds to buy food, medicine, and protective garments for healthcare volunteers.”

And just as things started to feel ‘normal’ again in March 2022, Yami tested positive for Covid-19. “I was down with body aches and cough for a month,” she adds. But God poured out His great love on her “through His Word, and through my dormmate and teachers who took care of me. One professor prayed over me at the gate.”

“My instinct of dealing with crises was to climb out of the river by myself,” says Yami. “But God showed me that courage is also waiting for His rescue. I learned that I don’t need to always be strong or brave to serve God; but I must acknowledge my weaknesses every day and draw on His strength.”

“Yami, I am so proud of you! Not only for your academic achievement, but for who you are! Praise God for bringing you all the way from Nagaland to bless us. May you be a vessel fit for the Master’s use to impact lives.”

– Pastor Lawrence Koo, New Horizon Church

The above article was written by Dr Lau Ying Kheng and published in EAST 28th Commencement Magazine.

Graphic design by Blessed Ong.