Yonnie Cheng is a missionary in Taiwan who works with the rich and the poor.  She is currently pioneering bases for Iris Ministries in Taiwan and Thailand, as well as starting an Iris international relief organization.  Born in Taiwan, she immigrated to New Jersey with her family at the age of six.  She has a masters in science, and worked as a physician assistant for two years before going on her first missions trip to Africa.  Yonnie loves Asian food and snowboarding, and she is a painter and documentary artist.

Who has been a key role model for you?

One of the most influential people in my life is Heidi Baker.  During my 2^nd year of missions with her, I started getting really burnt out. I had started a medical clinic at the orphanage but I just couldn’t do it anymore.  I was really scared to tell her that I wanted to quit and when I gave her the news, I was gearing up for her to be upset at me.  But the reaction I got was so different.  She just looked me in the eye and said, “Yonnie, I love you for who you are and not what you do for me.”  At that time, I was the only medical missionary; if I left, there’d be no medical care for the kids or for our missionaries.   When she said that, I was so touched.  Since then, I’ve really learned the spirit of adoption – that I am a daughter of God, first and foremost.  What I do for God is an outpouring of my heart, but my identity in God is most important.

What has been the greatest challenge in your faith journey thus far and how has it shaped you?

Four years ago, I lost my brother to depression-related suicide. Right before he took his life, he wrote on a sheet of paper, over and over, “I am a child of God” five times over.  My brother’s struggle with his identity really struck me.  Obviously he knew he was a child of God in his mind but not in his heart.  From that time, I’ve learned that in this world, if you don’t know who you are, someone else will tell you who you are. I’ve realized that no matter what you do —  if you’re married, in ministry, Asian or Caucasian — if you don’t know who you are, that’s probably the saddest thing ever.  So that’s always been my personal challenge: to get to know who I am in God.

What are specific challenges for you (in your vocation, spiritual growth, etc.) as an Asian American woman?

At times, it’s been hard for me as a missionary in Taiwan because I represent everything opposite of what is deemed important according to Asian hierarchical and societal values: I am an Asian, young-looking, single female.  I also didn’t go through the typical seminary route that everyone here expected me to have gone through.  But even if I don’t have that diploma, it’s still God’s vocation for me and I have to be obedient in it.  Once you are obedient and you step into your destiny, God will really open doors for you.  So the challenge is not to bank on anything that the world banks on – criteria or requirements — but to only bank on the truth that God knows where I should be.

Interviewed by Joy Wong