Frankfurt, Germany
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is full of beautiful
parks and busy streets.
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Lots of people,
ancient buildings
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and post-mortem skyscrapers.
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It's home to the
world's largest book fair
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and the world's
largest auto show.
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The sites and
sounds of Frankfurt
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and mission around
the world coming up next.
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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 today's program,
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coming to you from
the city of Frankfurt
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in Germany.
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Frankfurt is one of
Europe's financial centers.
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It's a wealthy city.
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But apparently, things
weren't always that, why?
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Because back in 1868,
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the citizens
wanted to have a bridge
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that would
connect the city centre
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to the southern districts.
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But the government said,
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as so many
governments have said since,
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"Sorry, we
don't have the money."
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So, the good
citizens took the matter
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into their own hands.
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They raised their own funds,
and they built this bridge.
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And today, it is still
used, linking across the river.
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It's a reminder to us
of the power of the people.
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When people don't let
decisions made at a distance
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govern their lives,
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but they take things
into their own hands,
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with their own initiative
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and take their
own responsibility.
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And we see this
happened in the history
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of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church,
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when lay people have
taken their own initiative
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under the guidance of God
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to take mission
into their own hands.
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To take those steps of faith
that have made a difference
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to start new
congregations in new areas,
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to take the gospel message
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to different
places around the world.
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First upon today's program,
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we're gonna travel to
the Amazon region of Brazil.
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We will see
highly trained people
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built bridges to
the people of that area.
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Leo and Jessie Hallowell
renounced family, friends,
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and the comforts of home.
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They traveled to a distant land
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to serve the people
along the Amazon River.
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Throughout their
30 years of work,
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it's estimated that
250,000 people were served.
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And their legacy lives on.
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For 85 years, the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
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has sponsored workers
to operate Luzeiro boats
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in the Amazon River
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to bring hope, health,
and healing to the people.
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The Amazon River system includes
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an estimated 38,000 miles
of waterways and passages.
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When Leo and
Jessie first arrived here,
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they found
poverty, superstition,
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and sickness along the banks.
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So in 1931, Leo
designed and built a boat
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that he named
Luzeiro, or the Light Bear.
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This was an
efficient way for them
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to begin a medical missionary
program in the Amazon region.
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The Luzeiro boat today is
still the most efficient way
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for serving the people.
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Through the years,
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many Luzeiro boats
have come and gone,
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transporting medical
missionaries and supplies.
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The fleet has now expanded
to Luzeiro's XXVI and XXVII.
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Two launches in
the original size
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with sleeping rooms for
doctors to stay overnight.
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There are also two
smaller and faster boats
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used during
emergency situations.
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They are called
Jessie and Luzeiro Express.
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Currently, Adventist
Development and Relief Agency
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or ADRA oversees the
boats and teams of volunteers
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who come to offer
free health treatments,
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dentistry, and education.
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The project continues,
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still today
there are needs here.
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You'll find a
lot of needy people
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and a lot of volunteers
who come away from the city
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to find happiness and joy
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in serving these
remote communities.
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They do their best.
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They want to make a difference
and change the lives of people.
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So, through this project,
through the Luzeiro boats,
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health comes to the community.
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It comes to their front door.
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We come with
qualified doctors and nurses.
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And after a visit,
we can see the progress,
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the
development, the satisfaction
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where this
assistance is most needed.
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So, it's a joy for
me to see a project
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that is 85 years
old continuing on.
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It's our desire
to see more boats,
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reaching more communities,
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so this project can transform
and assist even more people.
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The goodwill of the
people involved is remarkable.
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Highly trained
health professionals
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come on a regular basis,
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offering their
time, expertise, and love.
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They also bring tools, medicine,
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and a Christ like attitude
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that is remembered
well after they leave.
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Leo and Jessie
Hallowell made quite an impact
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in the Amazon jungle.
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A small medical
clinic they established
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is today's largest
Seventh-day Adventist hospital
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in the country of Brazil.
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There are other Adventist owned
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and operated
hospitals in the region,
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schools and universities.
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Their dedicated works
stretched from Manaus to Belem,
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approximately 2,000 miles away.
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But it's only in
heaven that we'll know
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the true extents of
their boat ministry.
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Thank you for your
prayerful support of mission.
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My guest is
Pastor Simret Mahary,
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who is a pastor
here in Frankfurt.
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And I met Simret
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perhaps two or
three years ago, I think.
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And at that time, you
shared with me a dream,
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a vision for starting a
center here in Frankfurt
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that would connect
with the community.
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And I'm sitting even now.
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Describe what
this center is please?
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Basically, this
center is there for people
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from Frankfurt to
come here and participate
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or initiate
different cultural activities
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like cooking
and eating together,
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art exhibition,
looking at good film
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and discussing about it
or having literature nights.
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And we use these
different cultural activities
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to get people together
and engage in conversation
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and in good community.
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It's a wonderful idea.
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And, so you're,
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to set the
contexture on a busy road here,
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there is a
pedestrian crossing right here.
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And so, this is a fairly
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densely populated
neighborhood around here.
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It is, it is definitely.
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It is a very diverse
community here in Frankfurt,
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and especially in the
section where we are as well,
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with people coming
from over 100 nations.
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So, what we try to do
is reach out to people
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coming from different cultural
and religious backgrounds
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by making it possible
for them to get together here
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and share what they have.
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So, one of the things
which we do is, for example,
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in this cooking
and eating experiences,
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we go to different countries.
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Now, we've been to
Ethiopia, we went to Peru,
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and soon we are going to Mexico.
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So, we did
actually invite people
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from those countries
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and have them cook with us
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and invite the
neighborhood for that,
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and then we cook and we eat.
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And that way, we
engage a good conversations,
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but we also get to know people
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coming from
different backgrounds.
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And also have a chance,
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in the course of our encounters
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to speak about the things
that matter to us in life.
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What a wonderful thing,
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so, to me, what
you are doing here is
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you are mingling with people,
you are building friendships
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with people who you may
never ever have an opportunity
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to do that with otherwise.
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Absolutely, absolutely.
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And we are, you know,
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living in a very
secular society here.
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And as people come here,
and especially get the chance
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to participate and
express themselves,
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they do connect.
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And notice, this is a
place where we can belong,
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where what we have to share
is respected and cherished.
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And that makes it
possible for us to meet
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actually,
different kinds of people
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who come here to the
Presence KulturLounge.
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Because if you
put a sign up here,
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instead, "We are going
to have Bible meetings,
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please come,"
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the people who have been coming
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would never come
to those meetings,
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because of their background
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and what they
think of Christianity.
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I would suppose,
of course, for many.
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Yeah.
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And what we are noticing
here is that many people
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are very skeptical
towards organized religions,
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and they are
skeptical towards institutions.
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But at the same
time, they hunger for more,
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or they want to
have good encounters.
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They seek
answers for the questions
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that they may have,
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or they want other people
with whom they can discuss
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about the things
that matter to them.
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And, what in fact,
culture does in many ways
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is to make that possible.
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And culture, by saying culture,
I mean, in a very basic way
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like cooking and
eating, you know, arts, music,
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and good films as well.
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They thematize different
things that matter to us,
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or make set up a
context for people
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to engage and counter each other
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and that is
actually very well received.
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Fantastic.
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Now, you got some
terrific photos on the wall.
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What's the story with these?
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What are the plans
with these pictures?
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Yeah, that's quite
a story for itself.
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You know, when
we were setting up
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Presence Kulturlounge
preparing to open up,
00:10:55.32\00:10:58.25
a person from the neighborhood
living right across the street
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saw that we are
starting something here.
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That person, her name is
Marina and she is a art curator,
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that means she
works with artists
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to do exhibitions.
00:11:12.37\00:11:14.04
So when she saw that we
are opening up a kulturlounge,
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she wrote us an email and asks
whether we can work together,
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and whether she can do
an art exhibition here.
00:11:21.88\00:11:24.81
And I said "Okay,
let's talk about that."
00:11:24.85\00:11:27.68
And I offered her to
do an art exhibition,
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which we just
don't do classically,
00:11:32.19\00:11:34.29
so that people can
look at the pictures.
00:11:34.32\00:11:37.29
But we said,
"Let's take those pictures
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to speak about life
and engage in discussions."
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So, she said, "Yes."
00:11:42.53\00:11:43.87
And that's how the art
exhibition story started here,
00:11:43.90\00:11:47.34
and this is the
second round of exhibition
00:11:47.37\00:11:50.17
that's we are having right now.
00:11:50.21\00:11:51.71
And at the end
of the exhibition,
00:11:51.74\00:11:53.34
we take free pictures,
00:11:53.38\00:11:55.11
and engage about the things
that happened in the pictures
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and the life
topics that come up there,
00:11:58.38\00:12:01.55
and we would
engage in discussion.
00:12:01.58\00:12:03.32
And the nice part
of the story is that
00:12:03.35\00:12:05.95
Marina did not just organize
00:12:05.99\00:12:08.29
or does not just
organize art exhibitions,
00:12:08.32\00:12:11.69
she is actually part
00:12:11.73\00:12:13.09
of the Presence
Kulturlounge team.
00:12:13.13\00:12:15.20
And we plan the
different activities
00:12:15.23\00:12:17.70
that we do here together.
00:12:17.73\00:12:19.07
Fantastic.
00:12:19.10\00:12:20.44
So, you are not doing something
just for the community,
00:12:20.47\00:12:22.87
you're doing it
with the community,
00:12:22.90\00:12:24.24
which is an
important distinction.
00:12:24.27\00:12:25.61
Exactly.
00:12:25.64\00:12:26.98
And that's perhaps one
of the most important things
00:12:27.01\00:12:30.31
about it all that we
just not offer things,
00:12:30.35\00:12:33.28
we engage people so that
this place can be a place
00:12:33.31\00:12:37.29
where they can
share what they have.
00:12:37.32\00:12:39.59
And as they do, they gain trust
and friendship takes place.
00:12:39.62\00:12:44.03
And it becomes a
channel to give and take,
00:12:44.06\00:12:47.16
and to speak about
things that matter in life.
00:12:47.20\00:12:51.23
So participation is the
core of what we do here.
00:12:51.27\00:12:54.30
That's fantastic.
00:12:54.34\00:12:55.94
Well, thank you so
much for sharing with us.
00:12:55.97\00:12:58.31
And it's a pleasure to
see this coming into fruition.
00:12:58.34\00:13:01.01
You're welcome.
00:13:01.04\00:13:02.38
It's very good to have you here.
00:13:02.41\00:13:03.75
Thank you.
00:13:03.78\00:13:05.15
More than a hundred years
ago, Ellen White talked about
00:13:05.18\00:13:08.02
a concept called
centers of influence.
00:13:08.05\00:13:11.32
And I think what we see
here is a 21st century version
00:13:11.35\00:13:16.22
that is adapted to the needs
00:13:16.26\00:13:17.79
and interests of
this particular community.
00:13:17.83\00:13:20.20
And of course, we see
00:13:20.23\00:13:21.56
hundreds of
different centers of influence
00:13:21.60\00:13:23.50
around the world
00:13:23.53\00:13:24.87
meeting different
needs in different ways.
00:13:24.90\00:13:26.90
Don't go away,
00:13:26.94\00:13:28.27
we will be right
back after this break.
00:13:28.30\00:13:29.64