So who is this Stephanie Chan?
Stephanie was born as Chan Ho Yee (Stephanie) in 1988 in Hong Kong to loving parents and grandparents. Called “Ah Mui” (Little sister/daughter) and “Yee-Lui” (a play on her name) by family members, Stephanie was a shy girl who was much loved and coddled by her relatives.
In 1995, Stephanie, her younger brother, and her parents moved to Richmond, Canada. There, not only did she start a new cultural and social life, but she also started a new spiritual life. A family friend invited Stephanie’s family to church, and her mother, brother, and herself accepted Christ as Saviour.
My family.
When she was around nine or ten, a Sunday School teacher gave her class some books about missionaries. Stephanie read about people such as Hudson Taylor and Dwight Moody and first heard about missionaries, people who devoted their lives to telling others about God. She was interested, but never thought of herself as a missionary. She was surprised when her church started sending out its own missionary teams, and later when a childhood church friend of hers joined a missions trip.
In her later years of high school and throughout university, Stephanie questioned her career path and goals in life. Deep in her heart, she knew that she didn’t just want a stable job, family, and comfortable life for herself – she wanted to be part of God’s Plan to redeem the world back to Him, and she wanted to be part of the Answer to relieve people’s burdens and lighten their suffering. Despite having good job prospects, she kept being drawn, deep in her heart, to being a part of the missions movement.
In 2008, at a Christian conference, Stephanie met a woman who had been on the World Race, a missions trip to 11 countries in 11 months. Astounded, Stephanie pondered the possibility that she could go on such a Race. As she went to school and worked in another city, she kept thinking about that possibility. In January 2011, she confessed her desire to her parents, who (by some miracle!) consented to allow her to go on the trip. With the completion of her undergraduate degree in May 2011, the perfect opportunity opened up for her to go on the World Race, and she happily seized the chance.
Looking back, Stephanie sees God’s Hand in first planting the desire in her heart, then providing the opportunity to go on the World Race through the support of her parents and church family, and providing her with financial support. She knows that He is the true Leader of her trip and is excited at all the amazing things that He will do through her to share His abounding Love to His people.
