Welcome back to the program.
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Coming to you
today from Mumbai, India.
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Next up we're going to
travel not to far from here,
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to one of the
most populated regions
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of the world, Bangladesh.
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And Pastor Doug Venn
is talking to Dr. Lee.
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Thanks Gary, I'm
right now here in Bangladesh
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with my good
friend Dr. Myun Ju Lee.
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And, Dr. Lee, good to
have you on the show today.
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Yeah, Good to be with you.
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Where are we here in Bangladesh?
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Now we are in
Gowalbathan Kaliakoir, Gazipur
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where our
Bangladesh Adventist Seminary
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and College are located.
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Okay, well, that's
quite a mouthful to say that
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you know, the village
name and the province name.
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Yes.
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Here in Bangladesh,
how many people are there?
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160 million people
live in this small country.
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Wow, wow, that's great.
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Now I know that
God has called you
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and your family to
serve as missionaries.
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But what's that story?
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To make this short story short,
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actually I was
converted from Methodist
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when I was 17 years old.
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At that time, I decided
to be a worldwide missionary.
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God fulfilled my dream.
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First I went to
Argentina as a missionary,
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for six years I served
the church membership there.
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Then I was
dreaming to go to Africa
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but God called me
to be in Bangladesh.
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But I'm very happy to
serve the people who are here.
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Very good.
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How long has you
and your family have
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you served here in Bangladesh?
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I came here in
2005, almost nine years,
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more nine years already.
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Wow, that's great.
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And in those nine years,
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what have been
some of the lessons
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that you have learned?
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Here, I have learned
how to love the people.
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Because these people,
even though they are very poor,
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they are very lovable people.
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God has given me the chance
to love and serve the people.
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I like and I love
to serve the people
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who are in Bangladesh.
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That's great, Dr. Lee,
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that you're
following Christ's method alone
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to then care for the
people and have that impact
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with the love of God to serve.
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Can you tell of one
story of how you've seen
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God work in maybe a
life of a student or someone?
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For example, when I was serving
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in Bangladesh
Seminary and College,
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I was called, I
saw many students,
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they came from
different backgrounds,
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even from different religions
but really, God is so great
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He changed their
lives in the college,
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now they are serving as leaders,
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as servants in our denomination.
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Wow, that's great.
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That's great to see
how you've been able
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to see through education
how lives have been improved.
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As well as in how
the country has been able
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to be improved
through their service.
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Yes.
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So, what are
some of the challenges
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and opportunities
that you face here?
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Because you're serving
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as the Union
president here in Bangladesh.
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So what are those
some of those challenges
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and opportunities
that you're facing?
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Last seven years, seven months
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I was serving as
college president
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but now I am serving the
people as Union president.
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Actually, there
is opportunity here
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to reach the people
through education system.
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Since this other
religion country,
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dominates the country,
on reaching the people,
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education is the best
way to reach the people,
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when they are young.
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Our children are
young, this is an opportunity
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to educate them, to
make the people of God.
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Right. yeah.
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But there is a great challenge
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because financially it is
very poor in this country,
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so we need to develop
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a lot of things
through education system.
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Like, I know you
were sharing with me,
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as we've been
visiting here, in the country,
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that your goal
and vision is to have
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each of the
schools around the nation
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to become
self-supporting financially
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and to have work study programs.
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Why is that so important?
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Actually we have
seven boarding schools
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but financially
it's very difficult,
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so we want to teach them
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how to go to
self-supporting institutions.
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That's why we need to develop
several types of projects.
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When we teach them that types
of income generating project,
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our students will be studying
in a self-supportive system.
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That is my conviction.
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That's great.
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Can you share for our viewers
what are some of the examples
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of having this work study
or income generating projects.
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Practically, what
are some of the schools
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doing now that's working?
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Thank you.
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Specially, if we would make
some pure water drinking system
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it would be good to
generate income for the school.
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Also we can give that
water for the community service.
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Another way, in Bangladesh,
there are 30,000 NGOs.
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Many people travel
to the local villages.
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If we would build some
guest house in our school,
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it would be also
income generating.
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Another is a goat
project, that animal.
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It's very good to
grow in Bangladesh.
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For example, if we would
go to East Bangladesh Mission,
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whole year there is food
on the hillside and mountains.
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When we really reach this idea
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I think and believe we
can earn a lot of funds
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so that we can
support for each school.
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That is my conviction.
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That's great,
that God has planted
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this vision to
have a water bottle
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and filtration plant
at one of the schools
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as well as even
to have goat ministry
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where people can
raise these animals
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and then either sell
the milk or sell the animals
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and that way the school
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and students are able to
earn their tuition payments.
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Dr. Lee, it's been great
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but I want to
ask Mrs. Lee to come.
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Gary, it's been great
to be here with the Lee's
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and here in this
beautiful place in Bangladesh.
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So reporting live
from this village,
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I can't say the
name, it's very long.
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But back to you Gary.
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For many
Adventists, their first view
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of world mission came through
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the Mission
Spotlight presentations
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that were shown
in Sabbath Schools
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all around the world
for many, many years.
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Produced by the Heinrich family,
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these presentations
just opened up new vistas
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for people to see
what was happening
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in mission around the world.
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Well, I'm
delighted to tell you that
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Mission Spotlight is back.
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And the Adventist
Mission DVD that we produce
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and that's sent to
churches all around the world
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is now going to be
called Mission Spotlight.
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It will still
contain the stories that
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you've come to love.
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Every quarter there will
be three major presentations
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that can be shown once
a month or if you prefer,
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they'll be a new story
that can be shown every week.
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Next up, we're
going to see a story
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from the Mission Spotlight DVD.
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A center of influence
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that's making a
difference in Korea.
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Centers of
Influence are transforming
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how we do ministry in
certain parts of the world.
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A center of
influence serves the needs
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of the communities
in a number of ways.
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This can be an
opportunity to minister
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to people in creative, new ways.
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We find centers of influence
dotted across the globe.
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In Korea, this concept has
been in place for years now.
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They are serving
their communities
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in practical ways.
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Kwon John Haeng
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is a
Seventh-day Adventist pastor
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who is heavily
involved in coordinating
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centers of influence
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throughout the
Northern Asia-Pacific region,
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around the world.
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There are 110
centers of influence in Korea
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and today we visit a restaurant
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which is run by the
Seoul Central Church.
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The Seoul
Central Church is located
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in the very center of
the Seoul metropolitan area.
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The church is
located in a very busy
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and expensive area,
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but the church
only opened once a week.
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The church decided 12 years ago,
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to open their
cafeteria to the public
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to provide good vegetarian food.
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In the business area,
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there are not many
vegetarian restaurants.
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You know, across the
street there is the Jogye,
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that is the
headquarters of Korean Buddhism.
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And they are all
vegetarian people.
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As we started we
didn't have much customers
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but these days
we are entertaining
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180 to 200 people every day.
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Most of them--
almost all of them
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are non-Adventist members.
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But they really love our
Adventist style healthy food.
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In the beginning,
the church invested
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a lot of money to
renovate the cafeteria.
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But today, the
restaurant makes a good income
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and provides jobs for
six Adventist members.
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With the income,
they make donations
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to the local government.
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In that area the
church has a good reputation.
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The church decided
to provide a scholarship
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for needy students.
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So regardlessof their
religion or background,
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any middle school
student and high school student
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can come to this church
and get the full scholarship.
00:10:01.70\00:10:05.24
As a result some of them
have majored in theology.
00:10:05.27\00:10:10.23
And one of them is serving
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as the choir
conductor of the church.
00:10:11.64\00:10:16.02
And then still they
do have more income.
00:10:16.05\00:10:18.81
Therefore they began
to help elderly citizens.
00:10:18.84\00:10:23.32
As we visit the
church every Sabbath morning,
00:10:23.35\00:10:25.98
the church entertains
more than 200 senor citizens
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and the church provides them
00:10:29.44\00:10:31.12
not only spiritual
food but physical food also.
00:10:31.15\00:10:34.33
You know, twice a month
00:10:34.36\00:10:36.39
they providing their
round trip bus fare also.
00:10:36.42\00:10:41.14
As a result, the
church baptizes about
00:10:41.17\00:10:43.86
60 people every
year from that ministry.
00:10:43.89\00:10:47.30
As they support the
senior citizen ministry.
00:10:47.33\00:10:50.66
This center of
influence in the heart of Seoul
00:10:50.69\00:10:54.03
has been a
light to the community
00:10:54.06\00:10:55.72
for more than twelve years.
00:10:55.75\00:10:58.33
Please pray as
it continues to grow
00:10:58.36\00:11:00.70
and serve the community.
00:11:00.73\00:11:05.76
Well, I hope
you've been inspired
00:11:05.79\00:11:07.02
and challenged by
today's 360 degree view
00:11:07.05\00:11:09.87
of mission around the world.
00:11:09.90\00:11:11.76
From the teaming metropolis
of Mumbai to Mongolia,
00:11:11.79\00:11:15.78
to education in Bangladesh,
to centers of influence
00:11:15.81\00:11:20.10
in South Korea
people are sharing the light
00:11:20.13\00:11:22.72
of God's love in
many different ways,
00:11:22.75\00:11:24.72
many creative ways.
00:11:24.75\00:11:26.70
Please continue to pray
for mission around the world.
00:11:26.73\00:11:29.28
Pray for
frontline mission workers,
00:11:29.31\00:11:31.27
it can be challenging,
it can be discouraging,
00:11:31.30\00:11:33.57
and it's very
encouraging for them to know
00:11:33.60\00:11:35.93
that there is a world
church praying for them.
00:11:35.96\00:11:38.56
Before we go I'd like
to offer you a free gift
00:11:38.59\00:11:40.92
that's just a small thank you
00:11:40.95\00:11:42.15
for your continuing
support for mission.
00:11:42.18\00:11:44.39
The book is
called "True Believer"
00:11:44.42\00:11:46.14
and if you live in North America
00:11:46.17\00:11:47.93
we'd love to
send you a free copy.
00:11:47.96\00:11:49.45
It's an exciting
story written by Gina Wahlen
00:11:49.48\00:11:52.41
who writes the mission
stories for Adventist Mission.
00:11:52.44\00:11:55.72
It's a story of a young man
00:11:55.75\00:11:56.99
who in his early
20s in communist Russia,
00:11:57.02\00:12:00.52
discovered the
love of Jesus Christ.
00:12:00.55\00:12:03.11
Well, that's it
for today's program.
00:12:03.14\00:12:05.06
Thanks so much for joining us
00:12:05.09\00:12:06.28
and I hope you can
join me next time right here
00:12:06.31\00:12:08.76
on Global Mission Snap Shots.
00:12:08.79\00:12:10.76