Participants: Gary Krause (Host), Anees Abdelnour, Bradley Cacho, Cliff Maberly, Gregory Whitsett, Scott Griswold
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000106A
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00:04 A summer mission program in Jordan.
00:07 The importance of religious liberty. 00:09 East Asian religions and a young doctor 00:12 working in Nepal. 00:13 That and a lot more coming up next, 00:15 right here, on this program. 00:21 Just before He went up to heaven, 00:24 Jesus gave us a command. 00:27 He gave us a mission. 00:29 Jesus said, "Go, go unto all the world, 00:34 telling them of His love." 00:37 This is our mission. This is our global mission. 00:46 Hello, and welcome to the program. 00:47 Coming to you today, 00:49 from Annapolis, Maryland in the United States. 00:51 Here at the waterfront there is this statue of Alex Haley, 00:55 a famous American author who wrote the book "Roots," 00:58 and in this book he goes back through his family history, 01:02 way, way back to a slave ship 01:04 that landed not too far from here. 01:06 And on that ship, was an African man 01:09 who was sold as a slave. 01:11 The themes in that book are of freedom, of family, 01:15 of history, will be explored in today's program 01:18 as we look at the importance of religious liberty. 01:20 As we look at how can we build bridges 01:23 to people of other religious traditions. 01:25 But first up, let's travel to Nepal 01:28 and visit the young Adventist doctor. 01:37 My name is Bradley Cacho. 01:39 I'm a fourth-year medical student 01:41 at Loma Linda University School of Medicine 01:44 and I'm here for a month long rotation in Nepal. 01:52 One of the draws about Loma Linda University 01:55 and one of the reasons why I came there 01:57 for medical school was the possibility to do 01:59 mission work and they have a long list 02:03 of different countries where Loma Linda, 02:06 they have hospitals that they are affiliated with 02:09 all over the world and so two friends and myself, 02:13 we knew we wanted to go on a trip 02:16 before the year had ended, before we graduated, 02:19 so we went through the list and we saw Nepal 02:21 and all I knew was that Nepal was North of India 02:26 and it was where Mount Everest was. 02:30 You can see the religion permeating through 02:33 the culture here in Nepal. 02:36 Where it, it influences the kind of dress 02:38 that the people wear, 02:39 what they put around their eyes, 02:41 they have eyeliners that help ward 02:43 against evil spirits, that sort of thing. 02:44 And there are temples everywhere 02:47 and shrines everywhere of the different Hindu gods. 02:56 Oh, it was definitely a growing experience. 02:59 I feel like every hurdle that we experience on our trip 03:03 and every new experience that we have here, 03:06 it helps me and the rest of my friends to grow, 03:09 not only as a person but as a physician and as a Christian. 03:19 I would say that the best thing that ever happened to me 03:23 on this trip was, we had the opportunity 03:26 to go camping for the weekend with the Pathfinders 03:30 and the couple months leading up to this trip, 03:35 I had been feeling kind of stagnant 03:37 in my Christian walk, you know, I do the lesson study, 03:41 I try to do it diligently but I hadn't really had 03:44 a lot of opportunity to share that so coming to this trip, 03:50 initially it was hard because we were in the medical setting 03:54 and we didn't have a lot evangelistic type 03:58 things going on but when it came 03:59 to the Pathfinder camping trip 04:02 that we had the opportunity to be a part of it, 04:05 it really helped us realize the reasons 04:09 that we come and do missions. 04:11 And you know, part of it is the medical aspect, sure, 04:14 but even more so it's the relationships 04:16 that we make with the people here. 04:18 And you know, they see how Christians, 04:21 how Adventist Christians are in America 04:23 and they really look up to us here. 04:25 The children, they look up to us 04:27 and it's a really big responsibility 04:32 that I am glad that we were able to have 04:37 because it really helped each of us grow as Christians. 04:48 I've seen Jesus in numerous aspects of this trip. 04:53 These people, they rely on prayers so much, 04:56 it's part of their being. 04:58 Here they rely on God so much real-- 04:59 and it just really impressed me to try 05:02 and do the same when I go back home. 05:08 If I had to tell people about Nepal, 05:11 first off, I would say you need to go to Nepal. 05:15 You definitely need to visit Nepal 05:17 because it's one of the most beautiful countries 05:19 I've ever visited and the people are 05:21 some of the nicest people I've ever met. 05:23 I got to meet all sorts of people, 05:26 I got to be immersed in a whole new culture 05:28 that I was previously ignorant of 05:31 so in that regard it was a great experience. 05:36 It's been awesome. 05:40 I would just want the world church 05:42 to pray for the leaders and for the people 05:45 to keep on enduring and to keep the faith, 05:49 and to be able to share what's so great 05:52 about the Gospel with the people of Nepal. 06:10 My guest is my friend and colleague, Anees Abdelnour. 06:13 Anees, thanks for joining us 06:15 and Anees, you work in the Treasury Department 06:18 of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. 06:20 But where are you from originally? 06:22 I come from the country of Jordan 06:25 in the Middle East. 06:26 Jordan, now that's a fabulous country. 06:28 How long have you been away from there? 06:31 I have been away from Jordan for almost 40 years. 06:35 Wow, but Jordan is still, it still has 06:39 a very special place in your heart. 06:41 Jordan, it carries a special place in my heart 06:44 and I would always like to go back and visit. 06:47 Yeah, and recently you did that and you were involved 06:50 in a mission project back in your homeland 06:53 that was actually funded through mission offerings 06:56 given by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 06:58 Tell us about that project. 06:59 Yes, absolutely. 07:01 I connected with elder Homer Trecartin 07:06 from the Middle East Union and he connected me 07:09 with the East Mediterranean field 07:12 and the Walkers, the youth pastor in Jordan 07:16 and we arranged several projects which were focused 07:23 on community service, outreach, and building relationships 07:28 utilizing the youth and the country of Jordan. 07:32 Wonderful, now we don't have 07:34 many Seventh-day Adventist members in Jordan. 07:36 How many would we have? 07:38 I would say about 250 people. 07:41 250 people in a population of? 07:44 Almost six million, if I'm correct. 07:46 Yes, yes and so what you have here 07:49 is a group of Adventist young people involved in service. 07:53 Describe the sort of things that they did. 07:56 What we did, we first distributed food supplies 08:01 in three large cities in Jordan, 08:04 Irbid, Zarqa and Madaba, near Mount Nebo. 08:08 And what we did-- we went door-to-door to, 08:13 in poor neighborhoods and we passed food supplies 08:18 and most of the people we have distributed food to 08:24 were Syrian refugees who live in Jordan. 08:27 Oh, they'd come across the border? 08:29 Yes, exactly, and they absolutely own nothing. 08:33 Some of them sleep on the floor and everything they need, 08:38 they are dependent on others for survival. 08:42 And what sort of response did you get? 08:45 It was highly accepted and very much appreciated. 08:50 As we went to these homes, we prayed with each family, 08:55 and they thanks-- and they knew that 08:59 we came from the Seventh-day Adventist Church 09:02 and, but they accepted it very kindly. 09:05 How did it effect the young people 09:07 who were involved in the project? 09:09 It really has motivated them because, really, 09:12 this is the first mission project of this type 09:17 in the country of Jordan. 09:19 And they said we would love to do it 09:22 and we would love to even do it more 09:24 in the future on an annual basis, 09:27 on a larger scale and also add more features to it. 09:33 So there was going door-to-door helping the Syrian refugees, 09:38 were there any other aspects of the project? 09:40 There were other aspects. 09:43 We visited a center for disabled children. 09:49 And so the youth and some of our children 09:53 of the church in Jordan, joined us 09:56 and we went to the center. 09:58 We distributed blankets and other supplies 10:02 to the children who reside at the center. 10:06 And the Adventist Church leaders in Jordan, 10:10 when they saw what happened with the project, 10:12 how did they respond? 10:14 They really appreciated us very much 10:16 and they said we need this type of outreach in Jordan 10:21 so it will help, you know, have the membership grow 10:26 in Jordan in future years because here 10:29 we are doing things to help the population of Jordan. 10:33 Show me a picture, I think you have some pictures here. 10:35 Yeah, absolutely. 10:36 I'll show you a few pictures what of we did in Jordan. 10:40 Some of the Center children, 10:43 the disabled children that we have helped. 10:46 Now who are the people in the blue shirts? 10:47 Okay, these are the disabled children 10:50 who reside at the center. 10:52 And this is the youth pastor in Jordan 10:55 and his wife and this is me. 10:57 And this is also another person who is not an Adventist, 11:03 who has organization, help donate some blankets. 11:06 Ah, very nice. 11:07 For the church in Jordan to pass to people there. 11:10 Okay. 11:11 And some more of this, and we have other picture 11:17 with the center founder and general manager 11:21 and the reason he founded the center 11:24 because at an early age his child became disabled. 11:29 So it was on his heart to found the center 11:33 and he is the one who invited us to come back, 11:36 for, not only for financial support, 11:39 but for moral support. 11:40 - Wonderful. - Definitely. 11:42 Anees, I know that you traveled over there at your own expense. 11:46 How did it affect you being involved in this project? 11:51 It really impacted me a lot. 11:55 It, you know, I always have interest, 11:59 I always had interest in doing mission work 12:02 because that's how I grew up. 12:04 That's how my mother trained me and my brothers and sisters. 12:07 But you know, another reason that impacted my passion 12:14 to our mission is the Urban Mission Conference 12:19 that was held at the General Conference 12:21 about a year ago, had even motivated me more to go. 12:24 To the point where, I don't mind doing 12:27 this type of mission project every year 12:31 and use my vacation time to be of service 12:36 to humanity and to the Lord. 12:37 Fantastic. 12:39 Anees, thank you so much for sharing with us today. 12:42 And viewers at home, find opportunities 12:45 where you too can get involved just like Anees. 12:48 Don't go away, we'll be right back, 12:50 right after this break. |
Revised 2015-03-26