She thought he was cute, then she found out he was a former drug addict, and worse, a Christian

It was love at first sight.

Jolene Kunju, then in her early 20s and pursuing her Honours degree in Marketing, spotted him across a crowd at the nightclub, Ministry of Sound.

He was in a big group of guys, and looked far too young for her, even in his rimless glasses and polo shirt with tattoos peeking from underneath.

“If he’s an NS boy, I got no chance,” Jolene thought to herself.

Jolene (left) was with former colleagues on the night she saw Francis at the Ministry of Sound.

Little did she know that the man she had just noticed would reveal something far more shocking than dropping out of school when he was 14.

“My friend thinks you are cute”

Jolene was sure that the guy at the nightclub had noticed her too.

Before leaving, she sent her friend over with a message: “My friend thinks you are cute.”

It was the first time anyone had called Francis How that. “Hao lian (proud), yes. Garang (fierce), yes. But not ‘cute’. I think she didn’t wear her specs that night.”

Jolene’s friend returned to her with his mobile number. Jolene texted him that night. They chatted into the morning, and a few hours later, met up for a movie and lunch.

During their dating days.

She found out that Francis wasn’t too young for her after all – he was 33, and she was 25.

But she was in for a shock. Actually, a few shocks.

He told her that he was a former drug addict, recruited into a gang at age 12 when had his first taste of cannabis. He had spent most of his youth in and out of prison, and had just been released from prison the year before. (Read Francis’ story here.)

“But strangely, his upfront honesty made me feel secure,” said Jolene who is now 43.

Then came another surprise: Francis had become a Christian during his fourth and last time in prison.

Jolene’s reaction was instant.

“I went: ‘Oh @$%! Why is the guy I like a Christian?’”

“So as not to waste anyone’s time”

Francis decided to be honest about his past right from the start, “so as not to waste anyone’s time”.

“If the relationship is meant for me, then it’s meant for me,” he reasoned.

Just a week after they met, he told Jolene over the phone: “I’ve shared with you my past. Now you decide whether you want to start a relationship with me.”

To his surprise, she said “yes” on the spot.

Jolene’s family did not object to their relationship or to Francis being a Christian. They got married in 2009, two years after their meeting.

Reflecting on that moment, Francis said: “God promised to bless me and my future generations. Surely He wouldn’t bless me by giving me someone I have to visit in prison or who smokes heroin. That wouldn’t make sense.”

He added: “If a decent girl didn’t run away from someone like me, that’s already a miracle. At that time, I was nothing, and was totally empty.”

By “empty” he meant there were no trappings of success, no business to his name, and no reputation for doing good.

“And yet this woman didn’t run away. I wanted to treasure her and not let her go.”

“Church? No, thank you”

As she got to know Francis, Jolene was amazed by how patient, forgiving, thoughtful and generous he was.

At the end of his work day, he would drive through peak-hour traffic from Jurong to Yishun just to have dinner with her. He cooked simple meals for her, and drove her to and from her classes. He also initiated shopping and movie outings with Jolene’s mother so that the three of them could spend time together.

Francis also diligently read the Bible every day and every night, whether or not things were going well.

“I thought, ‘Wah! This God can change a gangster to someone who wants a new life,” Jolene related.

Now parents of four, Francis and Jolene are focused on raising their children in a loving, values-driven home, where character matters more than grades.

Jolene’s own experience with Christians had not been pleasant.

“When I was 10, two women came knocking at my door. They opened the Bible and warned me, ‘You must believe in Jesus or you’ll go to hell’,” Jolene recounted.

“I kept hearing the words ‘death, death, death’ and they went on for half an hour non-stop, like 不要放过我 (just wouldn’t let me go).

“I didn’t know how to turn them away, so I just stood there and listened.”

She was so frightened that she told her sister to tell the women that she wasn’t home when they came back the next time. Jolene hid under a table when they returned a third time.

By the time Jolene met Francis, her impressions of Christians had softened. She had felt an unusual joy and peace when attending a church wedding. She had also noticed how her boss and colleague – both Christians – showed extreme patience and kindness, even when others were nasty to them.

Still, her first reaction was “no, thank you” when Francis invited her to church.

He did not force her to go. Instead, he gently persuaded her to try it once.

She thought to herself: “I like you. So because you want me to go to church, I will go with you.”

A quiet miracle

Jolene found herself returning with Francis week after week to Lighthouse Evangelism in Woodlands. 

At one healing service, Francis suggested she go up to be prayed for. Jolene had been suffering from back pain for some time.

“While being prayed for, I felt a new sensation in my leg – like it was lengthening.”

At the weekly Miracle Service at Lighthouse Evangelism where prayer warriors pray with the sick for a healing breakthrough. These are held onsite the first Saturday of every month 7pm (and online every Saturday).

But she didn’t tell Francis. “I was afraid he would say, ‘It is God, so you must become a Christian’.”

Still, it marked a turning point. It kept her going back to church.

Francis was a steady support to Jolene in everything – from her studies and work to getting her driver’s licence.

Jolene graduated with an Honours degree in Marketing.

He also gave her a Bible and encouraged her to read it and pray.

She tried. But after reading the first four books in the New Testament, she put it aside – she couldn’t understand what it was trying to say.

During her exams, when she studied through the night and felt very stressed, Francis pointed her to Psalm 23.

Over the phone, he explained it to her, line by line.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters” (‭‭Psalm‬ ‭23‬:‭2‬‬) particularly stood out for her.

“I was thinking: God can give me the peace and calmness I needed during the exam period, so whenever I was feeling stressed while studying for exams, I would read Psalm 23 to calm myself down,” she said.

“He also encouraged me to pray before entering the exam hall. I did what he said – and I felt a sense of peace and courage. I felt God was there, helping me.

“Surprisingly, I could keep writing and writing until the time was up. I thank God I graduated with Second Class Honours.”

Said Francis: “I didn’t try to convert her. I just helped her to experience God, and trusted God to touch her. That’s His Spirit’s job – not mine.”

Seeing to believe

Even after they got married and were reading the Bible and praying together, Jolene still struggled with belief.

“I believe there is a God. But this part about Jesus dying on the cross, rising again, and all the miracles – it’s too hard to believe.” 

Expecting their first child.

Then they read John 20:29: “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen but believed.”

She told God: “Two thousand years ago, people got to see the miracles that Jesus did. Now in our era, we don’t get to see this ‘magic’. God, can you let me see something so I can believe?”

Shortly after, in February 2019, Jolene gave birth to their third child.

On her first night home from hospital, she took off her compression socks and started scratching her legs. A circle started to form, then an outline of a person with a crown appeared – on both legs.

She was very scared and prayed, but the images remained on her legs.

The outline of the person with a crown that appeared on each of Jolene’s legs.

The confinement nanny and even their zone Pastor thought it could be something evil, but Francis did not think so. He believed that if Satan wanted to do something, it would be worse than just drawing a picture.

About a month later, they saw the same image in a video shown at a class for new believers. (Watch a similar video here.) 

Two years later, they saw it again, in the booklet at a class preparing them for church membership. It was from the “Two Ways to Live” tool for explaining Christianity.

The outline on Jolene’s legs matched the diagram in the book they used in their church membership class.

Looking back, Jolene believes that that unique experience was God was saying: “I’ve already shown you, don’t you believe Me?”

Jolene took this as confirmation to stop wavering, and to fully believe in God.

“God, You really hear me,” she said.

Her desire to “see more” would be answered again and again.

God continued to reaffirm the truth about Jesus’ resurrection to Jolene.

During a time of silence and solitude in 2023, Jolene walked near the Changi jetty and noticed that the masts of the boats parked there looked like crosses.

She thought of Jesus hanging on the cross between two robbers. At the same time, the open doors of the boats reminded her of the open entrance to Jesus’ empty tomb three days after his death.

The mast of the boats that Jolene saw during a time of silence and solitude as part of a three-month course at Tung Ling Bible School.

“I began to think of all those times when Jesus has been there in my life. Then it struck me, ‘Jesus is alive!”

“I went to look up the Two Ways to Live video again, and it all made sense.” Jolene said.

“Don’t run away”

Once, Jolene felt extremely down while at a church camp. 

She silently prayed: “God, are You there? Do You really hear me?”

To her great surprise, the camp speaker Pastor Alex Larsen said to her, “God knows your struggles, don’t run away.”

During a three-month course at Tung Ling Bible School in 2023, Jolene silently prayed for the ability to sense the needs of others so she could encourage them. To her amazement, the person praying for her voiced that exact request.

“God, You really hear me – even when I don’t whisper it!” Jolene said in awe.

Since then, Jolene has found herself dreaming of specific people or having their names come to mind. Each time, she reaches out to them.

Once, she dreamt of a friend walking with luggage. When she messaged her, the friend replied – she was on her way to the airport for a holiday.

Other friends she’s reached out to were going through difficult seasons and needed support.

“I was like, ‘Wow, God. You are so real. You really know what I’m going through and how I feel,’” Jolene said.

Supporter and encourager

Some 12 years after they met, Francis would start serving in Prison Fellowship Singapore and halfway houses. He points his fellow ex-offenders to his loving Father God who is the true miracle worker that broke the bondage he was powerless to break.

Friends who knew Francis before he became a Christian told Jolene that he was a totally different person from his youth.

Francis shares his experience with the young, youths-at-risk and former drug addicts in the battle to stay drug-free and out of gangs.

When the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) approached Francis to be an anti-drug advocate, Jolene encouraged him to take up the role, believing that God will use Francis as a witness to give hope to many.

As a staunch advocate of the anti-drug and anti-gang programmes organised by the CNB and the Secret Societies Branch (SSB), Francis has given talks to youths, counsellors, teachers, volunteers and those sent to the Reformative Training Centre.

Francis was lauded in Parliament in May 2024 for being one of the success stories of Singapore’s strict drug control policy.

He is often invited to preach locally and abroad.

Although Jolene isn’t directly involved in Francis’s ministry work, he always seeks her thoughts before taking on a new assignment. 

Reflecting on her journey, Jolene added: “God orchestrated everything – from meeting Francis to marrying him. I strongly believe it was all part of His plan to bring me to Him, and to be Francis’ supporter and encourager.”

This story first appeared on storiesofhope.sg.

Read Francis’ story here:

“I took drugs like I was taking giam sng di”: Mixed up in gangs and drugs since 12, things changed when he read a devotional in prison

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