Tehya Anz's Story

Tehya Johns (now Anz) joined Homestead Heritage in 2021, trading the hustle of Los Angeles for the rural landscape of Central Texas—but her journey began in the state of Georgia.

Tehya’s maternal grandfather escaped North Korea before the parallel was drawn and raised a family in South Korea. After his death, her grandmother immigrated to America with her six children, one of them a young girl who became Tehya’s mother. Tehya’s dad is an American.

During Tehya’s early years, her parents’ marriage was turbulent and finally ended in divorce. Tehya lived with her mother, and her only brother with their dad. After the divorce Tehya’s mother began to attend a Korean Methodist church, where Tehya joined her.

After finishing middle and high school at a Fine Arts school, Tehya seriously pursued ballet and set her sights on becoming a professional ballerina.

She was influenced by the culture of ballet and her friends at school, but she was also impacted by the youth ministry at the church she attended with her mother. The truth she heard in the Bible studies felt like living water to her thirsty, confused soul.

At 17, Tehya found herself at a crossroad as she attempted to decide what college to apply for. Should she attend a Bible college, the path suggested by the pastors she had grown to respect at her church?

Tehya recalls, “I could have sought acceptance and love in the right place, but instead, I chased recognition. I set out to make a name for myself, which led me to a liberal arts university in Philadelphia as a dance major.”

“The next season of my life would be best described as a downward spiral of ever-increasing darkness and chaos. I tried to quench my thirsty soul with fame, the wrong kind of attention, a myriad of vices, relationships, and money. But no matter how much I chased fame and how many boundaries I crossed, I could never fill the void.”

One night Tehya had a dream. She saw a heart monitor beep a few times, and then it flatlined.

“Immediately, I felt myself being lifted—like I was soaring into heavenly realms. Everything around me was bright, and for a moment, I felt this overwhelming relief. I was going to heaven.

“But then—as sudden as a snap of the fingers—I plummeted. Darkness swallowed everything. And then, cutting through the void, I heard a voice call my name: ‘Tehya!’”

She felt that God had called her by name and warned her that she was on a path leading to an eternity separated from Him.

The dream terrified her, but it served as a catalyst toward a journey out of darkness and into a relationship with God.

By this time Tehya was pursuing a career in the acting industry in Hollywood. She hosted the newly launched pop-culture and gaming network, Venn. She was becoming a successful gaming personality and was also featured in a variety of music videos, commercials, voice overs for gaming content and youtube comedic shorts.

But Tehya says, “By most standards, I was successful. But the 'shininess' of the world—the things I had chased—started to lose their glow. It all felt empty. So I began searching, listening to sermon after sermon on YouTube, visiting different churches, groping to hear God's voice.”

On May 12, 2021, Tehya made the following journal entry:

“Where am I real, Lord? Am I truly Your child? I feel like I just recognize the sin and filth without the transformation. What do I do? Where do I go?

“Please, transform my heart. I want to love You. I want to know You.”

Only a few days later, a friend invited Tehya to attend a church conference that would be held at Homestead Heritage in Waco, Texas. She knew nothing about the community or the event, but she decided she would go if she could find accommodation. The next day, a family offered to host her in their home.

Tehya writes,

“From the very first moment at the Waco conference, I knew something was different. It wasn’t just the atmosphere—it was a tangible, almost electric sense of God’s presence.

“In a small prayer meeting, a woman I had never met looked me in the eyes and told me to cry out to Jesus, just like the blind man in the Gospels. I had never even heard that story before, but something in me stirred. So I did—I cried out to Jesus with everything in me. And as I did, these women, these complete strangers, surrounded me in prayer, lifting me up like sisters who had known me forever.

“What I didn’t realize until that moment was how much darkness had wrapped itself around me. It had such a grip on me that I had mistaken it for normal. But as we kept praying, as we kept calling on Jesus, something broke. The darkness fled. I was completely, supernaturally delivered.

“The next day, during worship, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I can still remember the exact moment—it was as if God Himself had extended His right hand to me, pulling me into His embrace. His mercy, His love—it was overwhelming. Just days before, I had poured my heart out in my journal, aching for something more. And here He was, pouring out His living water, answering the deepest cries of my heart in ways I never imagined.”

That same week, Tehya’s agent offered her an audition for one HBO’s most popular shows. She was also approached with a job opportunity from a top gaming news source.

She recognized that she was facing another crossroads.

“God, in His mercy, gave me a second chance—a chance to choose differently. I had already tasted the fruit of going my own way—anxiety, isolation, the suffocating weight of sin. I had lived in that darkness for too long.

“But then, everything changed. I encountered a real God—not just an idea, not just a story, but a living, loving Father who had a plan for me, a plan far better than anything I had ever tried to create for myself. And for the first time, I realized that He wasn’t just asking me to trust Him. He was showing me why I could.”

She turned down the offers.

Tehya was baptized and found a home with a community family. She began to share her testimony and her infectious gratitude with everyone she encountered—from young people facing their own crossroads to first-time visitors. She worked at Homestead Heritage’s Cafe Homestead as a waitress.

In 2022, Tehya married.

She says, “God has surrounded me with so much love. He’s given me a wonderful husband, nieces and nephews who keep me laughing, spiritual mothers and fathers who have poured wisdom into me, and friends I know will walk with me for a lifetime.

“My husband and I love opening our home to those who come to the Homestead Heritage community searching for more—just like I once was. I know what it’s like to be thirsty for something real, and my greatest hope is to share the love I’ve received, to remind every searching soul that there truly is Living Water—water that satisfies, that fills, that never runs dry.”