The country of India,
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the first official
Seventh-day Adventist missionary
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and mission on the mightiest
river system in the world,
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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.
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This is our Global Mission.
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Hello, and welcome to
Global Mission Snapshots.
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Coming today from
the city of Manaus.
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I'm Gary Krause.
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Manaus is a large city
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and it's the
gateway to the Amazon.
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But when you're in
the middle of the city
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surrounded by tall buildings,
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you don't realize that
how isolated this city is.
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It's surrounded by jungle.
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In fact, the
only way to get here
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is either by plane or by boat
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or if you're
adventurous by four wheel drive.
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This is actually the Negro river
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and bit further up river,
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it joins with
the Solimoes river,
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and those convergence of
waters are very photographed,
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because you see the actual
colors change in the water
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and then they
become the Amazon river,
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the mighty Amazon river.
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And on today's program,
we will look at the first,
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or one of the first
pioneer missionaries
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who braved the
water of the Amazon.
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But first up,
we're going to meet
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the first Seventh-day
Adventist missionary ever send
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and it was to the
country of Switzerland.
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William Ambrose Spicer wasn't
born Seventh-day Adventist,
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but he converted
around 14 years old
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after attending
revival meetings and reading
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The Great Controversy.
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When he was only 16,
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he had to dropout of high school
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to care for his father,
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who had recently
endured a stroke.
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Spicer needed a job
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and he found one at the
Battle Creek Sanitarium.
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Young William worked all day
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and took
secretarial courses by night.
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At 22, he moved to England
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when former conference president
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Stephen Haskell
offered him a job.
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Haskell was a
missionary to England,
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but interestingly
England was sending navies,
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merchants, scientists
and others to the far reaches
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of Africa and India.
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Around the world,
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Western
colonialism was spreading.
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Powerful countries were driven
by economic and political gain,
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etheric center
believes about race superiority
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and the thrill of exploration.
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The motivation to
colonized distant lands
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even got mixed up with religion.
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And though the
reasons for missions
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were muddied by some,
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it's undeniable that colonialism
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helped to lay the
groundwork for honest
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Christ centric missionaries
to reach out in love.
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At this point
Seventh-day Adventist mission
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was like a base jumper
at the edge of a precipice,
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so much potential
ready at any second,
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like a toddler learning to walk,
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like a handful
of Lycopodium powder
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sitting next to candle,
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waiting to get
shaken up, primed to ignite
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and William Spicer
was the breeze to do it.
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The Spicer wind
began to blow in 1892
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when he was named secretary
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of the newly minted
Foreign Missions Board.
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Only one year later,
an African prime minister
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donated 12,000 acres of farmland
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to the Adventist church.
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This allowed Spicer to establish
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the Solusi mission in Zimbabwe,
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the first of
hundreds of African missions.
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In 1898, Spicer
received two notices.
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The first calls for
missionary to Africa,
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the second to India.
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After prayer and
a family meeting,
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Spicer accepts
the call to India.
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He becomes a missionary
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and editor of the first
American periodical in India,
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Oriental Watchman.
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But Spicer didn't
erupt into a gale force
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until after he
returned to the United States
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several years later.
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He would serve A.G.
Daniells as secretary
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during Daniells' term
as conference president
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and then Daniells
would return the favor
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once Spicer became president.
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Together these
two lead the church
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for the first 30
years of the 20th century
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and they would do
for Adventist missions,
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what Henry Ford did for
the automobile industry.
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Ford was visiting
a meat packing plan,
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when he realized that
all the workers stood still
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while the product came to them,
why not do the same for cars?
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Suddenly, the industrial
assembly line was born,
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infrastructure, groundwork.
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Around the turn of the century,
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it became clear that
the church's top-down style
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of government was failing.
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While appropriate to a
small localized church,
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this method ceased to
be effective as the church
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stretched across
continents and oceans.
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A.G. Daniells
suggested union conferences,
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handing the responsibilities
to locals on the ground
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familiar with the
specific needs of that region.
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During the reign of
western imperialism,
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leaders like Teddy Roosevelt
employed battleship diplomacy.
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In the midst of a
non-violent conflict,
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one country's navy
fleet would show up
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on the other shores
posturing all its power.
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This showmanship
was usually enough
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to resolve the
issue in favor of the team
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with the biggest guns.
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This mindset
infected foreign missions
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and Spicer knew it.
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He raised the issue of
American nationalism sank.
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It does one no good to
take along from America
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a national
feeling into the field.
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Missionaries
had to often erected
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a barrier between
himself and every soul
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who is not an American.
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William Spicer
wrote at least eight books
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and never owned a car,
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he always
traveled coach on trains
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and we wouldn't buy anything
he couldn't pay for in cash.
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Our Adventist College
in India is named for him.
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Before Spicer in 1880,
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the church had
eight overseas missions.
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In 1890 still only eight.
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But by 1900 there
were 42, then 87 in 1910,
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153 in 1920 and in 1930
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270 missions in
over 50 countries.
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That's three
Adventist foreign missionaries
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for every one
employed state side.
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Spicer stirred the air and
like Lycopodium podium powder
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exploded into flames.
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The churches' membership
was growing as numerous
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as the stars.
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I'm delighted to able to
talk to Herber Kalbermatter
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who is the regional director
for the Adventist Development
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and Relief Agency
here in the Amazon region.
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Thank so much
for joining us today.
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And I'm very interested
to hear that the Luzerio boat
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is still operating
on the Amazon River.
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Can you tell some of the history
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of the Luzerio boat?
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The history of
the first Luzerio boat
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begins with the arrival
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of a pioneering
family of missionaries.
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They were Leo
and Jessie Halliwell.
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After deciding to design
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and built the
first Luzerio boat.
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On 4th of July 1931,
the Halliwell's launched it
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and now they began to
cruse the Amazon River.
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They encountered many
obstacles and challenges
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as they navigate
through the Amazon,
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but they were highly motivated
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and
enthusiastic about this work.
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They traveled from village
to village serving the people
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in a unique way
through the health ministry.
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These of course
transformed lives.
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Since then,
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because of the
Halliwell's example,
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we also feel
motivated to do the same work.
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Today I have the
privilege of directing
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this legacy service
that began some 85 years ago.
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In essence, we do
here the very work
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that they begin with a
lot of challenges back then.
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We continue to work
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with a countless communities
along the Amazon River,
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serving the people
through health and healing.
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This is how this
important ministry began
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here in the Amazon region.
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So today the tradition continues
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and the Luzerio
boat travels doing what?
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Today, we work from
three operational centers.
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We have stationed
nurses on each of them
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to provide emergency assistance.
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We have also
developed partnerships
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with other institutions
in much like in the past.
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The modern Luzerio
boats visit the villages,
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bringing healing
and attending the sick.
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Many professionals come
from all parts of the world.
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They also come from
nearby schools and hospitals.
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Through the volunteered services
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of these professionals,
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we navigate to the
riverside communities,
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arriving at the people's
front door to offer them
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what they need the most.
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If these doctors
and nurses did not come,
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the people here would
have to brave the river waters
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for some eight hours by boat
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navigating before they could
receive any medical attention.
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The locals view these people
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who come to serve
as the white angels.
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Now the Luzerio boat
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has touched the lives
of thousands of people.
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Can you give an
example of someone
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who's been helped
through this, through this work?
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You're right, the Luzerio boat
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continues to bring
health and healing.
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Recently we met a child
who had bitten by a snake.
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It was a venomous snake,
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known as the pit
viper or the bushmaster.
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This child's family
took their small boat
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and traveled for
five hours to reach
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our operational center.
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We were in the middle
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of another delicate appointment.
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When we met this
family, they explained to us
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what had happen and
as we examined the boy,
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we realized how
serious his condition was.
00:10:07.67\00:10:10.74
So we quickly hopped in one
of our smaller and faster boats
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and rushed him to the hospital.
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We were very concerned
and all the way into town,
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we prayed for the boy.
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Honestly we did not
expect that he would survive.
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But God worked a
beautiful miracle.
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We arrived at the
hospital some eight hours later
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after he was bitten.
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It was very late at
night, but the hospital staff
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cared for the
boy and a week later,
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he was released.
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He returned with
marks on his foot,
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but he was still alive.
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Experiences like
this one show us,
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how important this work is.
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A work that is saving
and transforming lives
00:10:48.18\00:10:51.01
in the communities
along the Amazon River.
00:10:51.05\00:10:56.08
Herber, how long
have you worked for ADRA?
00:10:59.85\00:11:04.29
I have worked for 10 years now.
00:11:04.33\00:11:06.70
Actually 12
years, two as a volunteer
00:11:06.73\00:11:09.83
and 10 years working full time.
00:11:09.86\00:11:12.03
And I must say,
00:11:12.07\00:11:13.40
it's a great joy
working for ADRA.
00:11:13.44\00:11:15.67
So, why do you work for ADRA?
00:11:15.70\00:11:17.37
Why is it an
important work for you?
00:11:17.41\00:11:18.74
ADRA gives us the
privilege of working
00:11:28.15\00:11:30.09
as the arms and hands of Jesus.
00:11:30.12\00:11:32.89
We help people who are
needy and who are hopeless,
00:11:32.92\00:11:36.32
and through our
actions, we can show love
00:11:36.36\00:11:38.56
to these people
in practical ways.
00:11:38.59\00:11:41.60
When we assist people,
00:11:41.63\00:11:42.96
we fulfill many of
the verses in the Bible.
00:11:43.00\00:11:46.00
Verses that
encourages to help others,
00:11:46.03\00:11:48.27
to cover the
naked, to visit the sick.
00:11:48.30\00:11:51.51
And through the Luzerio work,
we continue to touch people,
00:11:51.54\00:11:54.88
where they have
the greatest need.
00:11:54.91\00:11:57.35
It is a greatest privilege
and honor to serve the people.
00:11:57.38\00:12:01.62
We want to thank
Leo and Jessie Halliwell
00:12:01.65\00:12:05.05
for navigating the Amazon River,
00:12:05.09\00:12:07.12
for visiting people
and transforming lives.
00:12:07.16\00:12:11.36
Herber, thank you so
much for sharing with us.
00:12:11.39\00:12:14.86
We will be right
back after this break.
00:12:14.90\00:12:16.60