A summer mission
program in Jordan.
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The importance of
religious liberty.
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East Asian
religions and a young doctor
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working in Nepal.
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That and a lot
more coming up next,
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right here, on this program.
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Just before He
went up to heaven,
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Jesus gave us a command.
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He gave us a mission.
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Jesus said, "Go,
go unto all the world,
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telling them of His love."
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This is our mission.
This is our global mission.
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Hello, and
welcome to the program.
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Coming to you today,
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from Annapolis,
Maryland in the United States.
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Here at the waterfront there
is this statue of Alex Haley,
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a famous American author
who wrote the book "Roots,"
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and in this book he goes
back through his family history,
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way, way back to a slave ship
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that landed not
too far from here.
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And on that ship,
was an African man
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who was sold as a slave.
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The themes in that book
are of freedom, of family,
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of history, will be
explored in today's program
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as we look at the
importance of religious liberty.
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As we look at how
can we build bridges
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to people of other
religious traditions.
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But first up,
let's travel to Nepal
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and visit the
young Adventist doctor.
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My name is Bradley Cacho.
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I'm a
fourth-year medical student
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at Loma Linda
University School of Medicine
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and I'm here for a
month long rotation in Nepal.
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One of the draws
about Loma Linda University
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and one of the
reasons why I came there
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for medical school
was the possibility to do
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mission work and
they have a long list
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of different
countries where Loma Linda,
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they have hospitals
that they are affiliated with
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all over the world and
so two friends and myself,
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we knew we
wanted to go on a trip
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before the year had
ended, before we graduated,
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so we went through
the list and we saw Nepal
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and all I knew was that
Nepal was North of India
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and it was where
Mount Everest was.
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You can see the
religion permeating through
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the culture here in Nepal.
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Where it, it
influences the kind of dress
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that the people wear,
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what they put around their eyes,
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they have
eyeliners that help ward
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against evil
spirits, that sort of thing.
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And there are temples everywhere
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and shrines everywhere
of the different Hindu gods.
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Oh, it was
definitely a growing experience.
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I feel like every hurdle
that we experience on our trip
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and every new
experience that we have here,
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it helps me and the
rest of my friends to grow,
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not only as a person but as
a physician and as a Christian.
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I would say that the best
thing that ever happened to me
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on this trip was,
we had the opportunity
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to go camping for the
weekend with the Pathfinders
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and the couple months
leading up to this trip,
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I had been
feeling kind of stagnant
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in my Christian walk, you
know, I do the lesson study,
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I try to do it diligently
but I hadn't really had
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a lot of opportunity to share
that so coming to this trip,
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initially it was hard because
we were in the medical setting
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and we didn't have a
lot evangelistic type
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things going on but when it came
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to the Pathfinder camping trip
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that we had the
opportunity to be a part of it,
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it really helped
us realize the reasons
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that we come and do missions.
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And you know, part of it
is the medical aspect, sure,
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but even more so
it's the relationships
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that we make
with the people here.
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And you know, they
see how Christians,
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how Adventist
Christians are in America
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and they really
look up to us here.
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The children, they look up to us
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and it's a really
big responsibility
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that I am glad that
we were able to have
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because it really helped
each of us grow as Christians.
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I've seen Jesus in
numerous aspects of this trip.
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These people, they
rely on prayers so much,
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it's part of their being.
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Here they rely on
God so much real--
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and it just really
impressed me to try
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and do the same
when I go back home.
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If I had to tell
people about Nepal,
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first off, I would say
you need to go to Nepal.
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You definitely
need to visit Nepal
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because it's one of the
most beautiful countries
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I've ever visited
and the people are
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some of the nicest
people I've ever met.
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I got to meet
all sorts of people,
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I got to be immersed
in a whole new culture
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that I was
previously ignorant of
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so in that regard it
was a great experience.
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It's been awesome.
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I would just
want the world church
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to pray for the
leaders and for the people
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to keep on enduring
and to keep the faith,
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and to be able to
share what's so great
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about the Gospel
with the people of Nepal.
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My guest is my friend and
colleague, Anees Abdelnour.
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Anees, thanks for joining us
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and Anees, you work in
the Treasury Department
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of the General Conference
of Seventh-day Adventists.
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But where are
you from originally?
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I come from the
country of Jordan
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in the Middle East.
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Jordan, now that's
a fabulous country.
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How long have you
been away from there?
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I have been away from
Jordan for almost 40 years.
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Wow, but Jordan is
still, it still has
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a very special
place in your heart.
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Jordan, it carries a
special place in my heart
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and I would always
like to go back and visit.
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Yeah, and recently you
did that and you were involved
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in a mission project
back in your homeland
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that was actually funded
through mission offerings
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given by the
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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Tell us about that project.
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Yes, absolutely.
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I connected with
elder Homer Trecartin
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from the Middle East
Union and he connected me
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with the East
Mediterranean field
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and the Walkers, the
youth pastor in Jordan
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and we arranged several
projects which were focused
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on community service, outreach,
and building relationships
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utilizing the youth
and the country of Jordan.
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Wonderful, now we don't have
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many Seventh-day
Adventist members in Jordan.
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How many would we have?
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I would say about 250 people.
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250 people in a population of?
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Almost six
million, if I'm correct.
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Yes, yes and so
what you have here
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is a group of Adventist young
people involved in service.
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Describe the sort of
things that they did.
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What we did, we first
distributed food supplies
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in three large cities in Jordan,
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Irbid, Zarqa and
Madaba, near Mount Nebo.
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And what we did-- we
went door-to-door to,
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in poor neighborhoods
and we passed food supplies
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and most of the people
we have distributed food to
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were Syrian
refugees who live in Jordan.
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Oh, they'd come
across the border?
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Yes, exactly, and they
absolutely own nothing.
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Some of them sleep on the
floor and everything they need,
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they are dependent
on others for survival.
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And what sort of
response did you get?
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It was highly accepted
and very much appreciated.
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As we went to these homes,
we prayed with each family,
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and they thanks--
and they knew that
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we came from the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
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and, but they
accepted it very kindly.
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How did it
effect the young people
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who were
involved in the project?
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It really has
motivated them because, really,
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this is the first
mission project of this type
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in the country of Jordan.
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And they said we
would love to do it
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and we would love
to even do it more
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in the future
on an annual basis,
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on a larger scale and
also add more features to it.
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So there was going door-to-door
helping the Syrian refugees,
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were there any other
aspects of the project?
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There were other aspects.
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We visited a center
for disabled children.
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And so the youth
and some of our children
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of the church in
Jordan, joined us
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and we went to the center.
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We distributed
blankets and other supplies
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to the children who
reside at the center.
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And the Adventist
Church leaders in Jordan,
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when they saw what
happened with the project,
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how did they respond?
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They really
appreciated us very much
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and they said we need
this type of outreach in Jordan
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so it will help, you
know, have the membership grow
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in Jordan in
future years because here
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we are doing things to
help the population of Jordan.
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Show me a picture, I think
you have some pictures here.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I'll show you a few pictures
what of we did in Jordan.
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Some of the Center children,
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the disabled
children that we have helped.
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Now who are the
people in the blue shirts?
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Okay, these are
the disabled children
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who reside at the center.
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And this is the
youth pastor in Jordan
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and his wife and this is me.
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And this is also another
person who is not an Adventist,
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who has organization,
help donate some blankets.
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Ah, very nice.
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For the church in
Jordan to pass to people there.
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Okay.
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And some more of this,
and we have other picture
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with the center
founder and general manager
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and the reason he
founded the center
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because at an early age
his child became disabled.
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So it was on his
heart to found the center
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and he is the one who
invited us to come back,
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for, not only for
financial support,
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but for moral support.
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- Wonderful. - Definitely.
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Anees, I know that you traveled
over there at your own expense.
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How did it affect you
being involved in this project?
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It really impacted me a lot.
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It, you know, I
always have interest,
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I always had
interest in doing mission work
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because that's how I grew up.
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That's how my mother trained
me and my brothers and sisters.
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But you know, another
reason that impacted my passion
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to our mission is the
Urban Mission Conference
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that was held at
the General Conference
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about a year ago, had
even motivated me more to go.
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To the point
where, I don't mind doing
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this type of
mission project every year
00:12:27.91\00:12:31.57
and use my vacation
time to be of service
00:12:31.60\00:12:36.17
to humanity and to the Lord.
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Fantastic.
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Anees, thank you so much
for sharing with us today.
00:12:39.50\00:12:42.38
And viewers at
home, find opportunities
00:12:42.41\00:12:45.63
where you too can get
involved just like Anees.
00:12:45.66\00:12:48.72
Don't go away,
we'll be right back,
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right after this break.
00:12:50.35\00:12:51.46