Participants:
Series Code: 12ASIC
Program Code: 12ASIC000004
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00:25 And can it be that
00:28 I should gain 00:32 An interest in the Savior's blood? 00:39 Died he for me, 00:42 who caused his pain? 00:46 For me who escorted 00:50 his perfect love 00:54 Amazing love, 00:57 how can it be 01:00 That you my God 01:04 would die for me? 01:07 Amazing love, 01:10 how can it be 01:14 That you my God 01:17 would die for me? 01:21 When you left your 01:23 Fathers throne above 01:27 So free, so infinite your grace 01:34 Emptied yourself 01:37 of all but love 01:40 And bled for Adam's 01:44 helpless race 01:47 Amazing love, 01:50 how can it be 01:54 That you my God 01:57 would die for me? 02:00 Amazing love, 02:04 how can it be 02:07 That you my God 02:11 would die for me? 02:16 Amazing love 02:20 How can it be 02:25 Amazing love 02:30 How can it be 02:35 Boldly I come 02:38 Before your throne 02:41 to claim your mercy 02:45 Immense and free 02:48 No greater love 02:51 will ever be known 02:54 For oh, My God 02:57 it found out me 03:00 Amazing love, 03:03 how can it be 03:06 That you my God 03:10 would die for me? 03:13 Amazing love, 03:16 how can it be 03:19 That you my God 03:23 would die for me? 03:26 That you my God 03:30 would die for me 03:33 That you my God 03:37 would die for me 03:44 Amazing love 03:53 Amazing love 04:03 Amen. Good evening ASI. 04:08 Have you had a good time so far? 04:12 I don't know if you really have or not? 04:15 All right. I have with me Dan Whatley. 04:18 Dan, where are you from? 04:20 I'm from Palmer, Alaska. 04:21 All right. So how long have you lived in Palmer, Alaska? 04:26 Born and raised there, lived my whole life in Alaska. 04:29 Native Alaskan. I guess so. 04:31 All right, so tell me a little bit 04:34 of what you do in Alaska? 04:36 Well, that would be a long story but the short version 04:38 is I have been a bush pilot, guide, lodge owner, contractor, 04:46 literature evangelist publishing director, 04:48 mission pilot and now I'm working, 04:51 I've got-I've retired, I sold my business. 04:53 I don't like to use the word retired, I sold my business. 04:56 This guy is not retired. I'm no longer 04:58 under the tyranny of the urgent, 05:00 that mean that's a different thing. 05:01 And so, but I can't sit around, 05:03 so I got involved in another company right away 05:05 start up company called the tele paper and so I'm here 05:08 our booth is at number 744 and I just brought out a sample 05:13 of what we are doing, one of the things we are doing. 05:16 And tele paper is about making paper intelligent 05:19 and this is a Bible course enrollment card 05:23 from Voice of Prophecy and on the bottom of this card, 05:26 is till tear off strip, and that tear off strip has a paper 05:31 or printed on thumb drive so on that thumb drive 05:34 you can stick it in your USB port and it will give you 05:38 lesson number one you fill that out 05:40 and it will connect you directly to Voice of Prophecy 05:42 and you can take the course online. 05:44 So that's the-- that's one of the samples 05:46 of the things that we are doing. 05:47 Now folks, this is a piece of paper that's amazing technology 05:51 that is been developed right here 05:54 from a Seventh-day Adventist group. 05:55 Yes. So, beyond the paper you saw 06:00 a special need in your area and tell me a little bit 06:03 about that, how you and especially for men? 06:07 Okay. Well, we were, you know, 06:09 we always have the annual men's retreat. 06:11 We have been doing that for years in Alaska. 06:14 But you know we live in the most beautiful state 06:16 in union, my opinion, sorry. 06:18 It is beautiful. 06:20 You will be coming soon, so we'll win you over too. 06:23 But, we--one of the men's retreat I think around 2004 06:27 we got to talking, few of us started talking, 06:29 said, why are we doing this in a building on a road system 06:33 in a hotel or church camp, somewhere on the road system. 06:36 Why don't we get back out into the wilderness? 06:38 And so, the next year we started doing the men's retreat 06:41 in the wilderness of Alaska, not the easiest place to get to, 06:46 but that's part of the attraction, 06:49 it's not only an event. 06:50 It's a destination because you can either fly to it and land 06:54 on a short airstrip with bad approaches on each end, 06:57 that appeals to bush pilots or you can take your four wheeler 07:01 and four wheel in, or you can mountain bike in or hike in. 07:04 And if you go to booth 222, the Alaskan Conference booth, 07:09 you will see a friend of mine there Ryan Wooller, 07:11 he can tell you about hiking in this year. 07:13 So, it's doable for many different, you know, 07:16 modes of transportation but that's part of the excitement 07:18 and that's what guys really get into is getting out 07:21 in the wilderness and you know 07:23 being challenged with something. 07:25 Now, in the photos that you have had there on the screen, 07:28 we saw some familiar faces. 07:30 So, this is not only a ministry for your local people 07:34 but some more of the more well-known Adventist speakers 07:37 as a retreat for them to get away from stress 07:41 and get out in nature, talk a little bit about that. 07:44 Well, there is no cell phone coverage out there, 07:46 so we can throw those things away, amen. 07:49 What a treat, no cell phones. 07:52 So, I can't check my email and all that stuff. 07:53 No, and I'm not going to loan you my sat phone 07:55 to do that, you know that's for emergencies only. 07:57 Okay. So it appeals to just about 08:00 everybody to disconnect from their electronics, 08:04 get out there, get away from all that, 08:06 start fellowshipping with each other and just leave 08:09 all that behind and so we started, 08:11 I started coming to ASI in 2005. 08:13 When we started the retreat 08:14 and started recruiting here at ASI. 08:16 This is a great place to do it. 08:18 And so, we've had Doug Batchelor come. 08:20 Jeff Rich, you who will be interviewing in a little while, 08:22 he is been there. 08:23 David Gates, Herb Larson, let's see who have-oh, 08:27 Shawn Boonstra of course he is been there, 08:29 he was there in 2009 and he is coming back next year, 08:32 in fact he is going to be in my house for two weeks, 08:33 he can't get enough of Alaska. 08:36 But, you know, I don't want to, I don't want to tell you this, 08:39 you know, that you know, we're bunch of macho guys up 08:41 there because in the 1980's Alaska was know as the place 08:46 where men were men but women won the Iditarod. 08:49 You know, and finally men started to win it again 08:51 but you know there was, 08:53 there is some tough competition out there. 08:55 In fact there is a lot of women 08:56 that would love to come to our retreat. 08:58 Sorry, we need to do a separate retreat for you. 09:00 You know, my wife is not happy about that. 09:02 She is into the outdoors and she says, 09:04 no, you can't go up there, if you are going, I am going. 09:08 And so, we got to work on that. 09:12 Now, you have another ministry in your community, 09:14 there is a lot of commercial pilots in Alaska, 09:16 I think everybody in Alaska is a pretty much a pilot, right. 09:19 Well, that true. 09:20 So tell me about what you are doing 09:22 as an outreach to your pilot friends. 09:25 Well, you know I was thinking last year when I came to ASI, 09:28 I really need to do something with all these guys 09:30 I know that are pilots they are not Adventist yet. 09:34 Dwight Nelson told me don't call them non-Adventist, 09:36 call them pre-Adventist, because he was here last year. 09:39 In fact if you want to watch some sermons about Alaska 09:43 and its retreat, go to life lessons 09:46 from Alaska on pmchruch.tv. 09:48 He has a couple of sermons there. 09:50 But any way what was I saying. 09:54 You are talking about your outreach for the pilots. 09:56 Oh, yeah, the outreach for the men. 09:58 We-I came here and I met up with Tony Morgan, 10:02 I said, you know that, that new series he has tracing 10:05 the footsteps to Jesus would be an excellent little series 10:10 to do a small group with. 10:12 So I started contacting all my pilot friends 10:15 or so some of them and we started a small group 10:17 using his tracing the footsteps to Jesus 10:19 which is an excellent series by the way, 10:21 I highly recommend it. 10:22 And it's been very well received by both the Adventists 10:25 that are coming and the non-Adventists. 10:27 We have bush pilot, some airline pilots, 10:29 air taxi operators all kinds of flavor of pilots 10:33 coming to this Bible study and it's really great, 10:36 we are having a great time. 10:38 Now, this is what ASI is all about sharing Christ 10:40 in your market place and that's what Dan is doing in Alaska 10:45 and it hasn't been without fruit. 10:48 He's actually had people in the like 10:50 in the men's retreat that have come back 10:53 to the Seventh-day Adventist Church 10:54 or actively studying to be members. 10:57 And if you want to talk to Dan he is, 11:02 if you are here at the convention you can find him 11:03 at booth 744 and also they have a website, 11:08 if you can get online its intellipaper.info. 11:13 Dan, thank you very much. Thank you. 11:18 Now we are going to shift gears a little bit 11:20 and now we are going to go south...to New York. 11:28 Okay, that's north to most of us and I have 11:31 the Rosenberger family with me. 11:33 So why don't you tell me your names and kind of what you do? 11:39 I'm Jolene. And I'm John Roosenberger 11:44 and this my daughter Jocelyn, my son John, 11:48 my other son Evan and my youngest daughter Juval. 11:52 And you are from Albany in New York and you found 11:55 a very special need in your community for a refugee group 12:02 and how many of you have actually 12:05 ever heard of Eric B. Hare. 12:07 Is that name ring a bell. 12:09 I think every hand in the house just went up. 12:11 You remember those stories. 12:14 We all grew up on the stories, right? 12:16 And if you haven't read them, you need to go and find them, 12:18 they are amazing stories. 12:19 But the people group that you work with are from Burma, right? 12:24 Correct. So, how are they come in here? 12:26 Tell me a little bit about what's going on in Albany? 12:29 It was about five or six years ago 12:31 and we realized or learned that refugees 12:36 are brought by the government to the Untied States 12:40 and are resettled in cities throughout America 12:43 in the inner cities and our kids were in school 12:48 and our youngest was still, 12:49 Juval was about two years old then. 12:52 And I prayed to God, I said true, 12:56 I was a stay home mom, I'm a stay home mom 12:58 and I said that you must have something more 13:00 for me to do volunteer work other than make brownies 13:03 and volunteer at the school now, 13:04 I mean that's very important 13:06 but I was looking for something more. 13:08 And we have always attended ASI and I've been very inspired 13:11 by the mission and when I learned 13:14 that refugees are in Albany, it was very exciting 13:17 and we contacted them and we realized, 13:20 we learned that the cities throughout America 13:23 are desperate for volunteers. 13:25 And so we signed up as volunteers 13:27 and we met our first family and we were excited 13:31 that the kids could be exposed to somebody 13:33 from another culture, and little did we know that God 13:37 had opened the flood gates. 13:39 And from there we just-- our lives changed dramatically 13:42 because we became very, very involved 13:45 in that and the mission of reaching out to immigrants 13:49 and refuges in our inner cities. 13:52 And in Albany it is the current, this is from Burma 13:56 and they are the largest group that's been resettled 13:59 right now and it's been just a wonderful joy to us. 14:04 And as they, as they settle in America, 14:09 what kind of things are you doing with and for them, 14:14 to make their experience better here in Untied States. 14:17 Well, that's the beauty of volunteering, 14:19 you can be as involved or uninvolved 14:21 as you want because you are volunteering, 14:23 no one can fire you. 14:24 And so we--it was every thing from opening their mail 14:30 and helping them figure out because when they arrived 14:32 what we quickly realized they are the poorest of the poor, 14:35 you can't get poorer than them, they show up at the airport 14:38 with nothing more than a bag and with the whole family 14:41 with just a little bag and then our government supports, 14:47 will help them find an apartment and gives them 14:49 about three months of rent. 14:51 And immediately they are given work authorization permit 14:55 after that it sink or swim. 14:57 And so they are in desperate need of help 15:00 and so it's everything from helping the kids 15:03 get enrolled in school, to helping them 15:05 with doctors appointments, to helping them with their mail, 15:08 to helping them and in the course of all that, 15:10 you just become friends and you really 15:12 develop a connection with them. 15:14 And the kids developed friendships 15:16 with the refugee children and they became 15:21 my close friends and these woman, 15:23 I mean we laugh together, we cry together 15:26 and they come over to our home and we go to their home 15:29 and what's been so rewarding is that we watch them 15:33 a lot of the little kids you know like five years ago 15:36 and now they are ten years old and they have grown up 15:38 and so we go to their functions, birthdays and it's like 15:46 our family has extended and we have a big extended family now. 15:51 And so we just praise God though, 15:52 we have been given this privilege. 15:54 On top of helping them with the day to day needs, 15:57 you are also, there is a spiritual element 15:59 to what you are doing? 16:01 And there is a ministry here at ASI 16:04 that we've probably all heard of, 16:06 what is that and tell us that going with the spiritual side? 16:10 As we got more involved, I quickly realized 16:12 that there is a piece of this that's way over our heads 16:16 and we are not pastors, my husband is a PhD chemist 16:20 and I'm a mom and I've a psyche background 16:24 but while we can do the mail and we can help them 16:28 find the local Asian grocery store 16:30 and we can be friends, we can't pray with them 16:33 in their own language and we saw that that's like 16:36 the most important thing that you can do. 16:39 And so we reached out 16:41 to Adventist Southeast Asia Projects and we knew that ASI 16:46 has a slew of ministries 16:48 and Adventist Southeast Asia Projects supports Asians 16:52 and refuges and these are refuges from Burma, 16:55 so we said please, please help us find 16:57 an ethnic pastor that can help us 17:01 and can reach out to these people. 17:04 So it took a little while but they did respond finally 17:08 in about two years ago, they provided us small stipend 17:13 for our current pastor to come and help, 17:19 reach these people and he settled in our area 17:22 and it was just a blessing. 17:25 I mean to this day we praise God for Pastor Satoo 17:28 that's his name and his family who helped. 17:31 And he immediately began a church 17:34 and what's the beauty because I thank you to Eric B. Hare 17:38 so many of the Karen are Christians. 17:40 And so he started a service in his home on Sabbath 17:45 and we had been attending a very comfortable church 17:48 and we just decided about two years ago, 17:52 or a year and half ago that, you know, 17:54 what we'll just decide, we will just make this 17:56 our own mission trip for a year, we'll stop attending our church 18:00 and we will go to this home church. 18:02 And so every Sabbath we wear Karen clothing like 18:05 this and we go sit on the floor and we worship together 18:09 and even though it's in another language, 18:13 the songs are the same and we are all praising God 18:15 and singing and worshiping. 18:18 Now, you've had quite a few people attending 18:21 now and actually there has been baptisms involvement. 18:24 Yeah. Now, this is something 18:26 we are out of time unfortunately but this is something 18:29 that people can do pretty much anywhere, 18:31 these people are everywhere in the Untied States and so? 18:36 Well, that's why we're up here because, 18:38 we just--every city, large city in America has refugees 18:44 and your city does too. 18:46 The city, the large city that's nearest to you 18:49 and in these cities there is a refugee agency 18:52 that you can contact and get involved and become a volunteer 18:57 and it's so rewarding and we have been so humbled 19:01 and we feel so privileged that God has given this ministry 19:05 to us and it's enriched our lives dramatically. 19:08 Our family has increased them, everyone has joined our family 19:12 and I mean we could go on and on. 19:14 But, Adventist Southeast Asia has been--ASAP projects 19:19 have been critical in this piece as well as the local church, 19:22 the Northeastern Conference Pastor Cook is the pastor 19:27 who reached out in his church warmly embraced 19:31 these people and our group 19:33 and so it's God is blessing every way. 19:37 And I would encourage you and I hope 19:40 that if you feel on your heart that you would like 19:45 to be involved in a ministry that--like ASI 19:49 has a lot of ministries but there is nothing like actually 19:52 being involved and doing that yourself and it really 19:55 is a mission on our doorstep. 19:56 Thank you very much. Thank you. 19:58 Now, if you want to stop 19:59 by their booth, they will be there on Sabbath. 20:02 Their booth number is 419 20:04 and website is asapministries.org. 20:09 Now moving on furtherdown south, way down south. 20:17 Jose, how do you say your last name? 20:19 Suazo. Suazo. All right, 20:22 now, you have a ministry called Vida international. 20:26 That's right. Tell me what you do? 20:28 Well, we have a wonderful a ministry in Honduras 20:32 and I had to tell you, you might disagree 20:34 with me but I had to tell you that I believe that Honduras 20:37 is the most beautiful country in the world. 20:39 And we have this ministry over there, 20:41 we have, we do a medical missionary training program. 20:44 We do--we have a bilingual elementary school. 20:47 We do lots of life style work and the Lord is richly blessing. 20:50 Now, you have a special school there, 20:52 an educational facility, tell me about that? 20:54 So, we have a Bible school called 20:56 the Instituto Biblico Centroamericano 20:58 and we have there, we train basically 21:00 people from all over Central America. 21:03 This year we have 13 students, some are from Salvador, 21:06 some are from Honduras, some are from Brazil, 21:08 some are from the States and we get them through 21:12 this program in 10 months. 21:13 They have an evangelism program, 21:15 they will go out in the community, 21:16 they knock on doors, they receive 21:18 the health training, massage, hydrotherapy 21:21 and they do a leadership training, 21:22 so that they are able to have to put together all these tools 21:25 and be able to be effective witnesses for the Lord 21:27 over there in the communities in Latin America. 21:30 Now, there are some special outreach programs 21:32 that those students do right in the local villages. 21:37 Tell me about that? 21:38 Yes, actually this year we had a couple of our students 21:41 who saw a wonderful need in the village 21:43 where they were working, right, and they were receiving 21:45 their training and they saw that there were in the community 21:48 some people that had disabilities. 21:50 And these people with disabilities, 21:51 they were not, they were not reached by anybody. 21:53 They wouldn't go to school, 21:55 they were just basically stay in their houses. 21:57 And two of the students, one of them had training 21:59 in special education and she decided as part of her 22:02 outreach program, as part of her 22:03 evangelism training that she would minister to these people. 22:06 And she went out into the village and found these kids 22:09 with disability, some of them cannot speak, 22:10 some of them had a hard time walking and doing 22:13 some of the basic things in life. 22:14 And she would take the time together 22:16 with her classmate and minister to them 22:19 and the impact that this has had--has had 22:21 in these-in these people who are forsaken 22:23 by the community and also 22:25 in the family members is just impressive. 22:27 And to see that that was the initiative of students 22:30 who are receiving this evangelistic training. 22:33 Now, you have a-- for younger students 22:36 you have a bilingual school, okay. 22:38 So what are the age groups that are, 22:40 that are in the bilingual school? 22:42 Okay, we have-- we just started our bilingual school, 22:44 you have to understand that in Latin America, 22:46 the bilingual school system is exclusively 22:49 for people who are wealthy. 22:50 And we're working in a village and this village 22:53 their education system is very poor. 22:55 And so and in this village 50 new kids are born every year. 22:59 So we decided, okay, we're doing lots of evangelism, 23:01 we're doing lots of outreach for the older people 23:03 but what can we do with this 23:04 new generation that is coming up? 23:05 And so we decided to establish a bilingual school 23:08 that would be available to this people in this community 23:11 who would never otherwise have a chance to receive 23:13 this prime education and we have decided to start 23:16 with a kindergarten and this year we already have 23:20 first grade and we are already looking forward 23:22 for second grade next year when this school year ends. 23:25 And it has been a powerful impact in the community. 23:27 The first year, we had the amazing 23:29 number of two students. 23:31 Can somebody say amen to two students? 23:33 And this year our classes are almost completely packed full 23:36 and the impact that these two kids 23:38 had in the community is really impressive. 23:40 They go out there and the rest of the community 23:43 saw what was taking place and saw 23:44 that they were speaking English, saw the impact in the community 23:46 and they decided to more people 23:48 started deciding to come and send their kids. 23:50 Actually we had a parent meeting, 23:52 parent meeting in the campus and one of the parents 23:56 is been dragged by one of the kids 23:58 and I'm working in the garden right at the entrance. 24:00 She opens, they open the gate and I think to myself 24:03 what's going on and the lady looks kind of distressed 24:06 and she is carrying a younger baby and she is been dragged 24:08 by one our students into the campus 24:10 and it's a Sunday for these parent meetings. 24:12 And she tells me you know I have a problem 24:14 and I thought to myself, oh, man what happened. 24:16 And she tells me, you know, my kid on Sunday, 24:20 she got early in the morning set her uniform up because 24:23 she wants to go to school and there is no classes 24:25 on Sunday and she was just pestering her mom 24:28 because she is, mom, can we go now, mom, 24:29 can we go now, I want to go to school. 24:31 So, it has had a wonderful impact 24:32 over there in the community 24:33 and the Lord is reaching not just these kids that seem seen 24:37 that the kids are dragging their parents, 24:39 that's happening also in church. 24:41 These kids-- some of the parents 24:42 are actually coming to our church. 24:45 Praise God. Now, Jose you have 24:47 a story-let me just back up, you do lifestyle training 24:53 in the community there as well and other surroundings villages 24:57 and there is a special story you have about 24:59 the wheelbarrow, tell me that story? 25:00 Yes, we actually one day, we started 25:02 this lifestyle program and one day through 25:06 the gates of our property comes a lady called Doniato Massita 25:09 and Doniato Massa is being brought by her children 25:12 on a wheelbarrow, right. 25:14 She is a diabetic, she is really ill 25:16 and they came over for this lifestyle session 25:19 because she really needed help and our nurse 25:21 started taking her blood pressure and taking 25:25 her sugar and she looks at me and she tell me, 25:27 Jose this lady is a walking corpse, right. 25:31 She actually took insulin and her blood sugar 25:33 is over the skies and something needs to happen. 25:36 She stayed there for a ten day program 25:39 and through the simple natural remedies 25:42 and the lifestyle change and the exercise, 25:44 an amazing thing starts taking place by the time she leaves. 25:48 She calls her children and she says, 25:49 I won't need the wheelbarrow anymore. 25:51 I can walk all the way to the village by myself. 25:54 And I go jogging during the morning and guess 25:57 who I find there in the morning, Doniato Massita 25:59 is walking with her grandchildren and I asked, 26:01 Doniato Massita, what are you doing here? 26:03 And she tells me the same thing you are, 26:04 taking care of my body like you guys taught me. 26:08 Praise God. Wow, so if someone wants 26:13 to be involved in your ministry, you have a website, right, 26:16 that they can get hold of you. 26:17 Yes, our website is vida-internacional.org. 26:26 Please come to Honduras, please come to Honduras, 26:29 come to Honduras. 26:30 Thank you very much, Jose. 26:32 You are welcome. Let's see who we have here. 26:36 Could you please tell us who you are 26:39 and where you are coming from? 26:42 I'm Sandra Ruperz from Guatemala. 26:45 He is my husband, Wang Carlos. 26:48 Wang Carlos Depess. 26:50 Manuel Alva from Chicago. 26:52 Okay, very good, okay Dr. Alva, 26:56 can you tell us what is, how you share Christ 27:00 into your market place? 27:02 Well, I think we have been here in the past with my wife. 27:05 We have a practice gastroenterology practice 27:09 in Chicago and we see patients with many problems, 27:12 many Latino patients with overweight, 27:15 obesity, fatty livers, colon cancer. 27:19 And we provide them with medical education. 27:24 My family is there active in providing them 27:28 with two to three hours, sometimes 27:29 in nutritional counseling and better life. 27:33 They had the opportunity of receiving literature, 27:36 Steps to Christ in different shapes and different titles 27:40 and take those home and they invite us sometime 27:42 they manifest an interest in spiritual things. 27:44 They are invited to attend our small church plant in Oak Park. 27:49 We have a vegetarian potluck. 27:53 We have a health class every Sabbath besides studying 27:56 the Sabbath school lesson and hearing the message 27:59 and we decided to do that about, about four years ago. 28:02 The Lord just called us during one of these ASI meetings. 28:05 We saw some of our colleagues here saying 28:08 we are going to do a church plant in our offices, 28:10 so we thought may be that's the Lord 28:13 is calling us to do that. 28:14 So we started a small church plant in the lobby 28:18 of the hospital where we work. 28:21 That lobby is a common property of many other practices 28:24 and we were supposed to give health classes. 28:28 Pretty soon those health classes ended up being 28:31 Bible studies and we met every Sabbath. 28:34 They gave us permission to use that on Saturday, 28:37 because there were no clinics open. 28:41 But very soon, they started asking us 28:43 are you a church or you a health class 28:46 or what are you doing there? 28:47 We have a close circuit TV and we see that you know, 28:50 kneel down and you sing and you bring musicians 28:53 sometimes and they say, you won't be able 28:55 to do this any more, other churches are going 28:59 to come to us for the use of the space, 29:02 so we were forced to look for another place 29:04 and we got a car wash. 29:06 A long behold this, this young man 29:08 that you see here, three and half years ago, Wang Carlos. 29:11 But wait a minute, so you had a car wash 29:13 where you met, I mean, 29:14 explain that, tell me? We used to meet 29:16 in a car wash. Okay. 29:17 It lasted for six months enough for God 29:20 to bring this young man there and then God moves us down 29:23 were in another church we have a rented space 29:26 in another church that we meet every Sabbath. 29:29 Okay, so you get your patients and you invite them 29:34 to have classes so how they can learn, 29:38 new lifestyle, but you meet with them 29:41 and you share with them about the Bible, about Christ. 29:44 Yes, yeah and I say, as I was mentioning 29:48 three and half years ago, Wang Carlos was in Guatemala. 29:51 Okay. And he had lost his vision about 10 years 29:55 before that in an auto accident. 29:57 He used to drink and one of those days 29:59 that he was drinking he had this accident. 30:00 He was expelled through the windshield and pieces 30:03 of the crystal were imbedded in his eyes. 30:06 Since he was drunk he just rub them 30:07 and lost his vision that way. 30:10 He was in our Rehabilitation Hospital, 30:12 they tried to save one of his eyes and he can see 30:15 a little pinhole out of the left eye enough 30:19 to probably see light its night or day. 30:22 But about 10 years after this accident 30:25 he was trying to make a living in Guatemala, 30:27 he used to drive with that little vision. 30:29 Wow. And he was guided 30:31 by the little white lines on one side and the red lights in front 30:34 that he will break if he see the red lights coming on 30:37 and on two occasions rain came suddenly 30:40 and he was out in the country driving 30:43 and he just couldn't see, he told me that he felt 30:48 the hand taking control of the wheel. 30:50 And he started thinking that there is somebody 30:52 that has control over these things. 30:54 He started thinking about the God that was doing that 30:58 and on the second occasion that happened, 31:00 Wang Carlos told me. 31:01 He just said, okay, Lord if you want to drive, take the wheel. 31:05 And he arrived after a few minutes of driving, 31:08 he arrived safely home. 31:10 Amen. So, that's something. 31:12 Some one tells to Carlos in Guatemala, 31:14 you probably should travel to the States. 31:15 Okay, how you met him 31:17 and what you did when you met him? 31:20 Well, actually the Lord knew this 31:22 and he brought Wang Carlos to the car wash. 31:25 He-Wang Carlos came to Chicago hoping 31:28 for an ophthalmological reatment 31:30 that wasn't available for him anyway. 31:31 They told him the injury is too old, 31:34 so he had a dream in which he is looking for a job 31:39 and he saw a car wash in the dream. 31:41 So he thought the next morning I approached 31:43 to go and get a job, you know, 31:45 looking different stores to see 31:47 if they need help with that little vision. 31:49 And he saw the car wash that he dreamt and he was, 31:53 you know, dubious about going or not and finally he went in. 31:58 And that's where he met you guys 32:00 and you started studying the Bible with him. 32:03 He was offered Bible studies. 32:06 My mother like give him Bible studies. 32:08 He couldn't have just one Bible study 32:10 or two or three, he want to finish 32:13 this booklet for just, you know, one night if it was possible. 32:17 But at the end of the studies there was only a couple of weeks 32:20 or three weeks, he wanted to be baptized. 32:22 Oh, praise the Lord, so he got baptized? 32:25 He was baptized and I think there were some slides, 32:28 I don't know if they are there. Some pictures, 32:29 okay, they are right there. 32:30 They put an inflatable pool of the car wash 32:32 and Wang Carlos was the first fruit of that church, 32:35 that's the pastor baptizing him there. 32:38 But, that wasn't enough for Wang Carlos. 32:41 He went back to Guatemala. 32:44 He gave the message to his family, they were baptized. 32:46 And he went to your school after that, 32:50 because after he was baptized, 32:53 the Lord gave him sustenance for the rest of his life. 32:57 A telephone company decided to rent the roof of his house 33:00 in Guatemala and they paid him a lease. 33:03 So he said now I'm free, I can serve God. 33:06 He wanted to go to a school to be prepared so, 33:08 your school Galeana, Nuevo Leon in Mexico, 33:13 was the one that took this young man. 33:15 Well, you asked me if we can take a blind person 33:18 as a student, and we say yes. 33:21 And he came and what he did was outstanding. 33:23 He did very well and we just praise the Lord 33:27 for how he was so enthusiastic about getting these training 33:31 and he is in fire for the Lord and now that he got 33:34 his training, what happened? 33:36 Well, a few days later this young lady, 33:38 you see this brochure about a school in Galeana. 33:41 She is visiting with her family in another town in Mexico. 33:45 And what do you think Sandra? 33:46 What do you think about this? 33:48 This is the place where I want to be, 33:52 I want to go here. 33:56 She just read it in English. 33:58 And she went there. 34:01 Both of them met as TMS in our school in Mexico and boy, 34:07 they fall in love and they got married. 34:11 You know that happen quite often in our school. 34:14 You know, we have people there, 34:16 we have seen so many marriage coming out of there, 34:18 that is amazing but, this is a real blessing. 34:22 And so what is the plans for the future with Wang? 34:26 Well, they were married four years ago. 34:28 Your plans are-- 34:31 [speaking in foreign language] 34:40 I'm about three years with having spiritual vision now, 34:43 I'm not blind any more. 34:47 [Speaking in foreign language] 34:59 God has great plans for us. 35:00 We have a group of disable people, 35:02 he met some disable people 35:03 when he was in rehabilitation back some years ago. 35:06 They are still his friends and they are in the process 35:09 of helping them with enterprises. 35:12 Amen. So, with his limitation, here he is starting 35:16 his own ministry in Guatemala to help the people like him 35:21 and with all limitation and if somebody with his limitations 35:26 are willing is doing this, how about 35:31 what can you tell Dr. Alva to other people 35:34 that we like to embrace in the God's work. 35:37 What would you tell them in closing? 35:39 Well, he has been so efficient, 35:41 he is puts us to shame, he goes back to our little church 35:43 plant and he has memorized portions of the scriptures, 35:48 he's memorized portions of the Spirit of Prophecy. 35:50 He can give a health talk and he will say like 35:53 the Ministry of Healing says page 126 blah blah 35:56 it's amazing, it puts us to shame. 35:58 It tells us that we need to get up and get moving 36:01 where the Lord wants us to do. 36:02 We need to get about our father's business. 36:04 Amen, amen. Thank you very much. 36:06 If you want to know more information, 36:07 they will be available to you. 36:09 If you see them around greet him, 36:11 they have this brochures about their organization in Guatemala. 36:14 Also, these brochures are going to be in the LCI booth 36:17 if you would like to get more information about this ministry, 36:20 please stop by the LCI booth and get more information. 36:23 Thank you. Good evening. 36:27 Good to be here with you this evening. 36:29 I have Marc Coleman here from Adventist Frontier Missions. 36:32 We know Adventist Frontier Missions as AFM. 36:36 And you told me you are the Regional Director 36:38 from Africa for AFM. 36:40 And when you told me that I was like, 36:42 Regional Director from Africa, just like more like 36:45 the continental director, right. 36:48 So tell us a little bit about AFM. 36:49 Well, as you know Adventist Frontier Missions 36:53 goes to reach the unreached. 36:55 That is people who haven't yet heard the gospel, 36:57 where the church is still very small or nonexistent. 37:00 We send missionaries and not just missionaries 37:03 from North America by the way but missionaries 37:05 from around the world, go to plant a church. 37:08 And, yes, it's true that I'm the Africa field director, 37:13 but right now AFM is in a time of growth just opened 37:18 an affiliate office in South Africa 37:21 and there are other parts, other offices opening 37:23 in other parts of the world. 37:24 So they will probably be more of me very soon. 37:26 You know in my travels, 37:27 I've had an opportunity to bump into AFM missionary 37:30 so I had a first hand opportunity 37:32 from the outside looking in and seeing 37:33 some of the projects and terrific work. 37:36 My hats off to people who go overseas and work. 37:38 You were telling me where you raised Adventist like? 37:40 I was raised Seventh-day Adventist. 37:42 You were raised Seventh-day Adventist 37:43 and you became missionary? That's right. 37:45 How did that happen? 37:46 Well, right just after my conversion in high school, 37:50 I was looking at, it was in the mid 80's 37:52 and I was watching television. 37:54 You had a conversion experience in high school? 37:56 I did. I wish I could have 37:57 and explain that one to me, okay. 37:59 And I was watching television and saw 38:04 the large of displaced, large groups of displaced persons 38:08 in East Africa especially Ethiopia. 38:10 And it was like the Lord was speaking to me and I said 38:12 you know what, that's what I want to do, 38:14 and that's where I want to be. 38:16 And years later I was a Bible worker 38:18 after finishing college in Seattle, 38:19 and as I went door to door working with people. 38:22 I ran across a lot of refuges from Southeast Asia 38:25 and I prayed Lord help me to do something. 38:28 I see that there is a lot of people that are coming here, 38:30 they are not receiving any help and be careful 38:33 what you pray for it. 38:34 I ended up as a missionary in Southeast Asia 38:36 working with refugees. 38:37 You're now serious, Africa. 38:38 Yeah, in fact you spent-- you went 38:40 over there in 1999, right? Yes. 38:42 And my hats off to some of these people, 38:44 you know, it's one thing to go on a mission trip 38:46 for like six weeks or two weeks or something like that. 38:49 But when you go for one year or two years 38:52 and the case with you 10 years, right? 38:54 Right. And he was working 38:55 with Susu people in Guinea, Africa. 38:58 I mean, that must-- tell us something about that, 38:59 that must have been- that must have been. 39:02 Well, my wife and I when we got married, 39:04 we went five years to Southeast Asia, 39:07 we came back and pastored in this States for about five years 39:10 and then ten years in Africa and we worked 39:14 in the country of Guinea, French Guinea 39:16 and they were probably 5 or 600 members 39:19 in the church and work with the Susu, 39:21 and among the Susu speaking people to plant 39:25 the church and a large school there as well. 39:26 And this is a predominantly Muslim area, right? 39:29 This is a, here the predominant religion 39:31 95% Muslim and animists and Christian make up the rest. 39:35 Do you have some really big challenges 39:36 during that in the 10 years over there? 39:38 Yeah, there were lot of big challenges, 39:39 a lot of scary experiences but most of that had 39:44 to do with political unrest in the country 39:46 and danger from that respect, 39:49 military uprisings but God kept us through it all and glad 39:53 to say that He helped to accomplish 39:55 what He sent us there for. 39:57 I think he is being very modest about 39:59 some of the things that he has gone through 40:01 while he was over there. 40:02 You said one time you were evacuated 40:04 because of-you're surrounded by countries 40:06 that are all totally unstable in that area, 40:08 so I mean it was affecting the country right there. 40:09 Well over 10, 12 years because the project continues 40:13 under people that we train. 40:16 We've had four or five evacuations 40:18 for usually for political reasons 40:20 and just the last evacuation, 40:23 our missionaries got out just a little bit late 40:25 and we were set up on by an angry mob 40:26 and almost burnt to death in their car, 40:28 but praise God they made it out. 40:29 And you said while you were there, 40:30 you helped raise up a school. 40:32 Now tell us a little bit about the school? 40:33 Well, the school was four young people, 40:36 you know as missionaries when we raise up a work, 40:38 we are just creating sometimes more needs. 40:41 There are young people that come into the church 40:43 and Sabbath was a big problem for them 40:46 as it is in many places in the world. 40:48 So we started a school to help the young people, 40:51 many of whom were coming to church 40:53 and skipping school on Sabbath even years 40:56 before their baptism. 40:57 And so we started a school for that reason 40:59 and we started with 12 students, 41:01 it now has I believe over 300 students. 41:04 Wow, praise God. 41:05 You said something about, there was one student 41:07 particularly that you had an experience with Margarita? 41:09 Margarita, yeah, she is typical, 41:11 she was a young lady that, she is typical 41:13 of many young people who convert to the church. 41:15 She was coming to the school, she started when she was 41:18 just in six or seventh grade. 41:20 She ended up graduating but she because of her faithfulness 41:24 to the Sabbath for three years before she was baptized, 41:27 actually could not dropped out of the national school system 41:32 and she couldn't go on to college 41:35 because she would not take the national exam 41:37 on Sabbath and we struggled with what to do for her, 41:40 she almost in her senior year almost gave up because 41:43 she said there is no hope. 41:44 But, God gave us an idea to create a test, 41:46 we presented it to the government a test model 41:49 after the ACT-SAT here only in the French language based 41:54 on the curricular of that country. 41:57 And when the government official saw, 41:58 he said why don't you make 41:59 this available to the whole country? 42:01 She has now finished university. 42:04 She's-I just had the privilege of marrying her 42:07 to her high school guy about a month ago. 42:09 And she is a teacher in the school 42:11 where she was trained. 42:12 Wow, that's what it's all about, isn't it? 42:14 It's true. So, if people want 42:15 to get involved with AFM you have a booth here? 42:17 Yes, booth number 439. 42:19 Please we need missionaries 42:20 and www.afmonline.org is our website. 42:25 Are you looking for missionaries right now? 42:26 We need them. We have more calls in missionaries. 42:28 Yeah. Praise God, Marc. 42:29 Thank you so much. God bless you. 42:33 Our next couple, I like to call them victim, 42:35 so next couple of victims coming up front here. 42:39 This is Kent and Joel and they are from 42:43 International Children's Care. 42:45 Have you heard of that before ICC? 42:47 Now, I am going to just really give a quick blurb 42:50 because ICC has been an organization 42:52 that I had a real partiality before for years, 42:55 I have known the founder of the organization, 42:58 great organization and of course when people think of ICC, 43:01 they think of orphanages, right? 43:04 But when you-- I was talking to you, 43:06 I started saying the word orphanages you said no, 43:07 you used a different term. 43:09 What's going on with that, how many children's projects 43:13 do you have going on right now? 43:14 Well, when they come to ICC which we call ourselves ICC, 43:18 International Children's Care. 43:19 We don't think of them as orphans anymore 43:23 because they have homes and families with ICC. 43:26 And right now we are in 16 43:28 different countries around the world. 43:31 Sixteen different countries, I use the term orphanages, 43:34 I said how many orphanages 43:35 you said you had children's projects. 43:37 Can you explain a little bit about that, 43:38 I mean, what's a difference between 43:40 a children's project and an orphanage? 43:42 Okay, well children's projects are all the worldwide projects 43:47 that we have that would involve orphan children. 43:49 But our model, the ICC model is all about children's villages 43:56 and so we have some slides here 43:58 that I would like to share with you. 44:00 While they are playing those, explain a little bit about that, 44:01 what do you mean exactly? 44:03 Well, a child like this is perhaps homeless, 44:06 he's lost his parents, no one to take care of him 44:10 and so Alcyon Fleck in the next slide, who is our founder. 44:16 A great lady too, I know her and her son, 44:19 they are really wonderful people. 44:20 35 years ago she came up with a model of care 44:23 for children, that involved taking children off the streets 44:27 or they were given to us by government organizations 44:31 or institutions and Alcyon believed that the best place 44:35 for a child was in a home rather than 44:38 a dormitory style institution. 44:41 And so she created a model which was a children's home village 44:46 where we have several homes and 10 to 12 children per home 44:51 and about 10 to 12 children's homes on a campus 44:56 and that becomes the place where they lived their lives 45:00 and are able to become productive citizens. 45:03 Praise God. Now you were telling me that, 45:07 how did-you've been with ICC for about 15 years you said. 45:10 15 years. How long have you been with ICC? 45:12 For six years. Six years. 45:14 Now, how did-- how on the world 45:15 did you get involved with ICC really quickly? 45:17 I was a sponsor first. 45:18 You were donor, actually donning to ICC. 45:21 I was, yes. Okay, that's interesting. 45:23 And I contacted ICC and I offered them to serve 45:27 as a volunteer if they needed anything, 45:29 I thought I'm gonna do. 45:30 You're like, where you thinking of two weeks or something? 45:32 Yes, they called me and they had a proposition 45:35 for an administrator in the project of El Salvador, 45:39 I offered them one year, I stayed for four. 45:42 Espanol? Si. 45:43 Oh, good, yeah and so you were--you were also saying that, 45:51 when we are talking about orphanage you said well really 45:53 this is about evangelism, can you explain that real fast? 45:56 You know, this is evangelism at its roots, 45:58 a story though nothing to do. 46:02 You know what people think orphanages, 46:04 they don't think evangelism, 46:05 they think taking care of children, 46:06 you know, street children-- 46:08 We talk about the power of the blood. 46:10 I tell you story about that, that power of the blood. 46:12 There was a Hugo, Hugo came to our children's village 46:17 with that purpose in mind and that was to grow up 46:20 very fast so he could go kill the man 46:23 who have killed his father. 46:25 And he had the hate in his heart. 46:28 He grew up with that hate but people loved him there. 46:31 One day we had a week of prayer at the children's village 46:36 in the Dominican Republic. 46:37 Excuse me for a second. 46:39 Now, this boy, his father was murdered or something? 46:42 He was murdered. What happened to his mother? 46:43 His mother had to be put in a mental institution 46:50 because she couldn't-- 46:52 So this boy was on his own. 46:53 She lost it all after the murder of her husband. 46:58 And so Hugo and the servant were just bouncing 47:00 around from institutions. 47:02 And this kid, this kid is eight years old. 47:03 He was about four when his father died, 47:05 he was about eight when he came to us, 47:07 and he had this hate thing in his heart. 47:10 He was going to kill the man who killed his father 47:12 and he grew up that way. 47:15 We have the week of prayer 47:16 and he will gives his heart to the Lord. 47:19 Then he goes on, he grows up, 47:21 he goes on to attend college at the Adventist University 47:24 in the Dominican Republic finds a young lady 47:26 from New York city marries her lives in New York. 47:28 He is in New York has three children and that thought, 47:32 of that man who had killed his father was still there. 47:36 And one day he purchased a ticket 47:38 and he flies to Dominican Republic, 47:41 to find the man and through a coincidences he finds the man. 47:46 And is he going to kill him? 47:48 He knocks at the door, the man comes out, 47:51 Hugo is 300 pound big guy, he introduces himself 47:57 to the man who says I'm Hugo you don't remember me? 48:01 You killed my father when I was four. 48:03 He tells him the story how he suffered 48:06 and was bouncing around from place to place 48:07 and he said I had a plan of how I was going to kill you 48:13 and the man shakes. 48:15 He said don't worry, I did not come to kill you. 48:19 In that place Jesus came to me and with his blood 48:25 he cleansed me and took away all the hate 48:29 I had in my heart and today I'm coming to tell you 48:32 that I'm forgiving you. 48:34 But not only that, I want to tell you 48:38 that you need to go to this Jesus who cleanse me 48:43 so that He may forgive you too and give you eternal life. 48:47 Wow, wow. We praise the Lord 48:49 for kids like Hugo and for the opportunity that you have. 48:53 Where is Hugo today? 48:54 He is in New York City. 48:55 He works for the school district, 48:58 one of the school district there in New York 49:01 and he lives there with his wife. 49:02 He is Pathfinder director at the Prospect Church in Bronx. 49:07 So, that's evangelism. 49:09 That's evangelism. 49:10 Really quickly, how can people get involved 49:12 with ICC as our time is up. 49:14 Well, Do you have a booth here? 49:15 We do have a booth it's 1000 aisle and we are depend 49:20 on child sponsors to get involved 49:24 in the lives of children like Hugo and come by our booth 49:28 or call our office and we have children that needs sponsoring. 49:32 And we have pictures of children 49:33 who need sponsors right our booth come, come see us. 49:36 Thank you. Thank you too. 49:57 There is a fountain 50:04 filled with blood 50:07 Drawn from 50:10 Emmanuel's veins 50:17 And sinners plunged 50:21 beneath that flood 50:25 Lose all their 50:28 guilty stains 50:33 Lose all their guilty stains 50:41 Lose all their guilty stains 50:49 And sinners plunged 50:53 beneath that flood 50:57 Lose all their guilty stains 51:08 The dying thief 51:12 rejoiced to see 51:17 That fountain in his day 51:24 And there may I, 51:28 though vile as he 51:32 Wash all my sins away 51:40 Wash all my sins away 51:47 Wash all my sins away 51:55 And there may I, 51:59 though vile as he 52:03 Wash all my sins away 52:22 Then in a nobler, 52:27 sweeter song 52:31 I'll tell thy power to save 52:38 When this poor lisping, 52:43 stammering tongue 52:46 He's resting from the grave 52:53 He's resting from the grave |
Revised 2014-12-17