Tricked into a job at a fast-food chain. But a series of miraculous encounters changed his life
By
Janice Tai
, 18 December 2023
Lured to Singapore by a crooked agent, Yan Fei would discover a far greater treasure here. All photos courtesy of Yan Fei.
The employment agent who contacted him dangled an enticing carrot: Come to Singapore. We have a job in a Fortune 500 company waiting for you.
Yan Fei, then 25, did not probe further about the promised job, knowing that agents had confidentiality clauses with companies.
Besides, what Fortune 500 job could be worse than his current one?
He was already disillusioned with his job as a customs officer. He also did not get on with his parents and was also keen to move out of his family home in East Asia.
Rude awakening
But when Yan Fei arrived in Singapore in 2014, he was in for a rude shock: The advertised Fortune 500 job was for a general worker role in a fast-food restaurant.
“Technically, the agent didn’t lie. The fast-food chain was among the Fortune 500 companies,” Yan Fei said in Mandarin.
“I was angry and felt cheated, but I had no choice.”
Yan Fei contemplated flying home to look for a white-collar job. After all, he had a degree in petroleum engineering.
His friends, however, convinced him to stay on and work in Singapore for at least a few months. He had incurred costs coming to Singapore and it was embarrassing to return home without a job.
“I was angry and felt cheated, but I had no choice. I knew this was a common tactic used by agents and it was also my fault for the miscommunication,” Yan Fei, now 34, recalled.
Yan Fei (in grey t-shirt) in his early days in Singapore.
The foreign worker was put on the hardest and most unpopular shift – the overnight shift. Working the night shift six days a week was not easy. He also had to adjust to the humid weather, the food and culture in Singapore, and soon fell sick.
Yan Fei developed several skin problems, including rashes, from the dishwashing duties at work.
Yan Fei (extreme right) with colleagues at the fast food chain.
“In my first few years in Singapore, I felt very lost. I kept to myself but often quarrelled with my colleagues and threw things around the kitchen,” he admitted.
“I felt there was no hope in my life as I didn’t know what I wanted to do in the future. I had no direction.”
Seeing in the supernatural
Things that gave him comfort included familiar food – like steamed buns (mantou), dumplings and stir-fried dishes – in Singapore’s Chinatown.
Another anchor was the eastern religion Yan Fei was so involved in that devotees sought him for online consultations on religious and philosophical questions.
“I have been able to see things that other people can’t usually see. But it felt dark and oppressive.”
Not many knew that he also had an unusual ability.
“Since young, I have been able to see things that other people can’t usually see,” said Yan Fei.
But it felt “dark and oppressive”.
“Fearful, I would always sleep with my back to the wall,” he said.
Yan Fei (centre) trying out Singapore food in his early days here.
Yan Fei had similar supernatural encounters in Singapore.
Once, he saw a human-like shadow in a dark corner of a friend’s home.
He walked up to it, intending to greet the person, but then realised that he was seeing a spirit. In the physical realm, the corner was occupied by an altar.
“I was filled with dread. I knew that in the next few nights, the spirit would come to look for me,” he said.
“I was filled with dread. I knew that the spirit would come to look for me.”
To cope, he went jogging at night.
“That way, I would tire myself out and could sleep better without being disturbed by the unclean spirits,” he explained.
As he ran around his Sengkang neighbourhood, he sometimes paused and knelt down to pray.
One night, as he prayed, he sensed God speaking to him.
“It was the first time I heard God speaking to me so clearly. I had always longed for direction and spiritual guidance,” said Yan Fei.
“He told me that tomorrow I would meet the person who would set me on the right path.”
A miraculous meeting
Shortly after 2pm the following day – a Friday in April 2017 – Yan Fei was behind the fast-food counter.
His shift was ending, and he was handing over his duties to a colleague, when he saw a man striding towards the restaurant.
“I saw a light glowing around him and knew that this was the person that I needed to meet.”
“I saw a light glowing around him and knew that this was the person that I needed to meet that day,” he said.
Yan Fei recognised the man as the swim coach from the pool next door. He had often approached Yan Fei to order food or coffee – or often just to ask for iced water.
“I liked him as he was always friendly and cheerful,” said Yan Fei.
This time, however, the coach told him: “We are having a party for young people tomorrow. It’s organised by my church. Would you like to come?” the swim coach asked Yan Fei.
Yan Fei (right) with Steven, the swim coach.
“I had no doubt that he was the ‘right’ person that God had sent my way.
“But why was a church involved?” Yan Fei wondered.
Despite his question, he found himself replying: “Yes.”
“I couldn’t tell he was a pastor … his hair was dyed blond like he was from a Japanese secret society.”
When Yan Fei stepped into River Community Church in Macpherson, he was introduced to this pastor.
“I couldn’t tell he was the pastor,” said Yan Fei.
“I thought a pastor would be dressed in a tie and in a western suit, but his hair was dyed blond like he was from a Japanese secret society.”
Yan Fei celebrating Christmas at the home of Senior Pastor Samuel Phun and his wife, Pastor Evelyn.
Yan Fei felt the warmth and love of the church members who came to greet him. Even the children made it a point to make eye contact with him. All this made him feel welcome.
As the pastor delivered his sermon in English, a young man seated next to Yan Fei translated the message into Mandarin for him.
Then, the young man asked him: “Do you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?”
“Though I didn’t really understand, all I knew was that this was a good and right thing. Therefore I wanted it. I said, ‘Yes, I accept’,” said Yan Fei.
They prayed, and the young man and the people around him excitedly congratulated him.
The most important decision
“I was embarrassed by the attention. I thought I was just giving this a try!” admitted Yan Fei.
“But I thank God that, even though I didn’t really understand what was happening, I had made the most important decision of my life.
“It saved me and brought me into freedom,” said Yan Fei, who teared as he recalled the moment.
“I didn’t get the concept of worship and thought people were just singing songs like in a party.”
But he still had doubts and questions.
“I didn’t get the concept of worship and thought people were just singing songs like in a party, having no true reverence for God.
“I also didn’t understand why people kept saying Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with God,” said Yan Fei.
“Only now do I understand that it’s really between us and God. And if I did not experience Him, it would have been impossible for me to become a Christian.”
His new church mates also made time to hang out with him.
“They knew when it was my day off and would rearrange their schedules to suit mine.
“We ate together and walked together, and that was how I experienced God’s love,” said Yan Fei, who started studying the Bible and attending one-on-one classes in church to find out more about Jesus.
Yan Fei (third from right) at a Chinese New Year gathering with his small group from church.
Shortly afterwards, he also saw how God answers prayers – even those that were not spoken.
For example, foreign workers like Yan Fei were often scheduled for the peak weekend shifts. Which meant he could not attend the 6pm Saturday service at his church.
“I wanted to go to church and hoped that perhaps I could get a new job or something,” he said.
“He also saw how God answers prayers – even those that were not spoken.”
“But I did not pray about this because I didn’t yet really know how to.”
But God knew the desire in his heart.
To his surprise, his manager came to him with a special request on the following Monday.
“Against all odds, he wanted me to swap my late shift to the morning shift going forward. He felt that the elderly uncles and aunties needed some help in the morning.
“He even thought I would be reluctant to do so since I get a special allowance for the night shift,” said Yan Fei, grinning.
This arrangement allowed him to attend church on Saturdays for a full year.
The tumour is gone
When he went back to his hometown and told his mother that he had become a Christian, she became agitated.
“She was in the midst of cooking when I told her, and she began chopping the ingredients violently,” he recalled.
“She berated me for not going to Singapore to work hard and earn money but instead engaging in such ‘useless’ pursuits.”
“When she was wheeled in for surgery, the doctors opened her up and could not find any tumour.”
Yan Fei prayed for his parents to come to know Jesus’s love like he did.
It seemed impossible.
A few years later, he received a call informing him that his mother had been hospitalised for gas poisoning. She had been preparing food for customers in an enclosed space in winter.
When doctors conducted checks on his mother, they found a 5cm tumour on her liver that needed to be operated on.
Yan Fei leading a prayer at church.
Yan Fei called his mother every day to pray for her. To his surprise, she would end the prayer with “Amen”.
“When she was wheeled in for surgery, the doctors opened her up and could not find any tumour.
“It was a miracle,” said Yan Fei in wonder.
His parents became Christians. And, one by one, his sister and relatives also embraced the faith.
A new way
After a few years of working in the fast-food chain, Yan Fei left the job and become an employment agent.
By then, he had forgiven the crooked agent who had brought him to Singapore. He also did not wish for others to go through what he had experienced.
“I got my agent licence and knew I needed to be righteous. Yet my boss kept pressuring me to deceive and cheat other foreign workers. His priority was money-making but I didn’t want to follow the tactics he was using,” Yan Fei said.
His work pass would be suspended unless he could get another job.
Instead, Yan Fei spelled out things out clearly to the foreign workers and reminded them that they could quit and find another job if the arrangement did not suit them.
Annoyed that he was not making money fast enough for the company, his boss fired him.
Angry and troubled, Yan Fei approached his pastor for advice. His work pass would be suspended unless he could get another job.
One option was for Yan Fei to poach his past employer’s customers who were willing to support him.
His pastor, however, suggested that God’s way of doing things were different.
Fellow foreign workers
“My pastor urged me to hand over the customers to my colleagues instead of bringing them over to the next company,” said Yan Fei.
“He not only encouraged me not to chase my former boss for the money he owed me, but to also prepare a gift and a card for him when I left the company.
He was able to honour – instead of taking revenge on – the person who had wronged him.
“It was something really hard for me to understand and obey, but I wanted to do things God’s way.
“When I did so, I had a spiritual breakthrough,” he said, referring to how with God’s help, he was able to honour – instead of taking revenge on – the person who had wronged him.
Yan Fei currently works in a coffee factory.
Inspired by the swim coach who brought him to Christ, Yan Fei also volunteers as one.
When the opportunity arises, Yan Fei is able to have faith conversations with the children he meets.
Yan Fei has also been befriending Bangladeshi and Indian foreign workers. He invites them to his home for meals or to church outings.
The workers are often either cleaners in his neighbourhood or general workers around his industrial workplace.
Last year, Yan Fei reached out to more than 80 fellow migrant workers.
“Some become believers and it’s a bit tiring and sad when they leave us to go back to their own countries,” he said.
“But I remind myself that they will continue to influence others back home. And God’s work continues there.
“What I need to do is just to pray for one person – the next person – who comes my way.”
This is an excerpt of an article that first appeared in Salt&Light.
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