[theme music]
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[calm music]
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>> Welcome to
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It Is Written Canada.
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Thank you for joining us.
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Imagine a courageous, godly
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mother praying to be guided
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in her journey to raise
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her young boy to become
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a man of faith in a
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foreign country, and having
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to do the unthinkable,
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to leave her son because it is
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the best option given
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the circumstances.
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>> When Joba Mejares arrived
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in Canada as a young boy,
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he was shocked to see
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no leaves on the trees.
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Coming from the Philippines, he
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had never been exposed to such
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a desolate, cold country.
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That wet winter weather was
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not the only season he had to
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go through in his quest
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to create his own
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enduring community.
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>> Being away from his mother
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for lengthy periods of time, and
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being too young to understand
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the many changes and challenges
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that would come his way,
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Jobo trusted his mother's God
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to help him discover
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what would later become
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his lasting home,
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a place with friends and family
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that would not vanish every time
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he had to change location.
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>> Today on It Is Written
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Canada, we are going to listen
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to Jobo's story of finding
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a place to belong.
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>> My name is Jobo.
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My full name is Jobo Samuel
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Alenzona Mejares.
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I was born in the Philippines,
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immigrated to Canada
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when I was nine years old,
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and I currently live at
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Burnaby, British Columbia,
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Canada.
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My story began before
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I was even born.
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My mom and my dad had conflicts
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and it was really rough
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for her
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even to just start out
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having me as a child.
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She was first told by doctors
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that due to a pituitary tumour
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in her brain, that she would be
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unable to even give birth.
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Nevertheless, she prayed,
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and that's when I came into
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the picture.
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As much joy as it brought her
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to see me, it was also difficult
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for her because her husband,
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my dad, stepped out of
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the picture.
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And growing up, I never really
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had that father figure.
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It was hard for my mom to
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financially support for me
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as a single parent.
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So she did her best running her
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own pharmacy in the Philippines,
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but as mega corporations stepped
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in, it was difficult.
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So she went and decided to
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move to Canada to look for
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better opportunities abroad.
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However, she couldn't quite
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bring me yet because of
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immigration constraints
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and limitations.
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So she left me behind
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temporarily.
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It was a sacrifice that was
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very hard on her.
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She thought about it very deeply
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before actually going.
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Back in the day, we would buy
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calling cards because we didn't
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have the high speed internet
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to video call each other.
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We had to go through
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Yahoo Messenger and have
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weekly scheduled, like, times
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to actually call.
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And those times just
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bring a smile to my face because
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it reminds me of how
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I really treasured my mom.
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And I still do.
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But while she was gone, it was
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very difficult for me
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to stay disciplined.
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I might have gotten into
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my fair share of mischievous,
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like, activities,
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like stealing and lying
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here and there,
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but that didn't last long
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until I was finally caught
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by my auntie.
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My auntie then promptly asked
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my mom if she could take care
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of me while she was away.
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I...
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...was adopted
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into my auntie's family.
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She took care of me like she-
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I was one of her own kids.
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She had three of her own,
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and I was- I felt like I was
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one of them.
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She took me to all the
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conferences that they went to,
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on their vacations,
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I was fed like one of their own
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and treated like one of
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their own.
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It was really apparent that they
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did love me.
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And after two years of that,
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I felt really comfortable
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in that household.
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But it was the first
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time that
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change now must occur again.
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My mom came back from Canada
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in 2007
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and she came with news
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that I could finally
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come with her.
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At the time, I was very happy.
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There was a lot of things
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that I would not understand
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at the time, but I would
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soon discover that there was
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a very different world out there
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waiting for me.
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We arrived
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in Canada
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and I saw that there were
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no leaves on the trees,
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and I was so shocked.
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I was just nine years old
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and I finally got to the country
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that my mom was
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going to school at.
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It was great.
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I could spend more time
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with her, I could
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do all these things.
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But that wasn't quite the case.
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My mom still had to go to school
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at UBC, and it's really hard
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to raise a child and do exams
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and studies at the same time.
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The unfortunate case was
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I had to live with
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another family.
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I was actually
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adopted again
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for a year by
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Pastor Normand Cote.
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It was cool meeting him.
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He had three kids.
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He had three kids.
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I had fun with their kids.
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When I got the news that I'd
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be staying with them,
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I felt like I did
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when my mom would end
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when my mom would end
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the video chat
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back when I was in
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the Philippines.
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It would usually be followed
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with the words, "Be strong.
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Be brave.
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This is a sacrifice
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that we must make."
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It was difficult for me
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not to feel sad,
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but my mom said that
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she would be visiting
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a lot more often,
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as opposed to every six months
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or every year, it would be
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every weekend or
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every couple weekends.
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And I felt comfort in that.
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Other people have raised me
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growing up, and it was never
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a shortage of parental figures
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in my life.
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And so as I stepped into
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this next one, I treated it
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like I did my last and I
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respected them as my parents
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and I treated their kids
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as my siblings.
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And I think it was
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quite the experience
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because once again, I had been
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adopted by another family.
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Three kids and
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learning what it was like
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to have siblings, and
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not having siblings
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at the same time.
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My mom and my auntie Lorna
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actually was baptized by
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Pastor Normand in Courtenay.
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Me being a child and
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hearing my parents go through
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something like baptism,
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I'm like, "What is that?"
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And living with the pastor
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that performed the baptism,
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it was almost, like, perfect
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because he could describe it
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exactly as it was
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supposed to be.
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He brought me through the
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process of Bible study,
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went through a of couple weeks
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questions and answers from
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a nine-year-old mind.
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And after a couple of months,
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I got baptized at Courtenay
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Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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When I first got baptized,
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I didn't realize the magnitude
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of the community that I was
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about to step into.
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After living at Campbell River
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for a couple months, I had
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gone through my first
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school year in Canada and
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all these new things
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have become routine.
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And it was finally me
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getting into the groove
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of things, but it was not long
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after that my mom came back,
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said that she graduated from
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UBC, that she was now able
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to start practising
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as a pharmacist, and...
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...that we once again
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had to move.
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And for me, that was
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the start of another routine,
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moving from place to place,
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because it was not
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our only move
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in the next 3 to 5 years.
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It was the start of many moves.
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We moved to Chilliwack
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We moved to Chilliwack
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and I went to
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an Adventist school there.
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I spent, I think, my grade four
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and five year.
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I went through Adventist
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education and learning
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what that was like.
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I made my community,
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I had struggled once again
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because community is
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difficult to build.
00:09:55.42\00:09:57.09
At the time, I remember
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being a child who
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used to be very open.
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I used to talk to a lot of
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random strangers.
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I would just be sitting on a
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bench at a mall, and someone
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would come sit beside me
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and I'd start talking to them.
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I kept that spirit alive
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for around 2 or 3 years
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while in Canada, but...
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...soon enough I found myself
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getting discouraged.
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I found it hard to build
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community.
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Because after those two years
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in Chilliwack, I once again
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uprooted myself and moved
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to another city and I
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moved to a new school,
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moved to a new church,
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had to meet new people,
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had to make new friends.
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It was really difficult
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because...
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...one of the things I really
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wanted to do was belong.
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And it's difficult to do that
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as a child because everyone else
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already has their best friends.
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Everyone else has their
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friend groups.
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And it's very difficult
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for a new person to step in
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and say, "Can we be friends?"
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And this pattern continued
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year after year.
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After another move
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back to Chilliwack,
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it was once again a new school,
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a public school.
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And I was sitting on a bench
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just waiting for friends
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to come because I had
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grown tired of reaching out.
00:11:33.62\00:11:36.22
I became...
00:11:36.22\00:11:37.69
...discouraged.
00:11:39.39\00:11:40.53
But over time, friends did come.
00:11:41.40\00:11:44.40
I ended up talking to people
00:11:44.40\00:11:46.20
once again.
00:11:46.20\00:11:47.67
It got exciting.
00:11:47.67\00:11:49.60
It was something that
00:11:49.60\00:11:51.27
brightened up my life.
00:11:51.27\00:11:52.51
I was able to go biking
00:11:52.51\00:11:53.91
with them, paintballing,
00:11:53.91\00:11:56.04
and it was quite the experience.
00:11:56.04\00:11:57.88
And by this time, I was
00:11:57.88\00:11:59.91
in my teenage years
00:11:59.91\00:12:01.52
and the news came again.
00:12:01.52\00:12:03.55
We have to move.
00:12:03.55\00:12:06.32
And being a teen, having moved
00:12:06.32\00:12:08.52
so many times, you'd think I'd
00:12:08.52\00:12:10.29
get used to it.
00:12:10.29\00:12:11.26
But Chilliwack was the place
00:12:11.26\00:12:13.80
where I said, "I don't wanna
00:12:13.80\00:12:15.93
move anymore."
00:12:15.93\00:12:17.53
And that was the first time
00:12:17.53\00:12:18.80
I had ever said that.
00:12:18.80\00:12:20.07
And it was really difficult
00:12:20.07\00:12:21.67
because as much as they
00:12:21.67\00:12:23.37
heard me,
00:12:23.37\00:12:24.54
my voice,
00:12:24.54\00:12:26.54
it wasn't taken
00:12:26.54\00:12:27.71
into consideration.
00:12:27.71\00:12:29.61
In my teenage years, I ended
00:12:29.61\00:12:31.08
In my teenage years, I ended
00:12:31.08\00:12:31.98
up actually during my sleep,
00:12:31.98\00:12:33.98
I bit my tongue three times
00:12:33.98\00:12:36.92
and it swelled to the size
00:12:36.92\00:12:38.09
of my mouth.
00:12:38.09\00:12:39.09
I could not talk for
00:12:39.09\00:12:40.36
the next day.
00:12:40.36\00:12:42.32
Moving to Burnaby...
00:12:42.32\00:12:45.09
...was one of the hardest moves
00:12:45.76\00:12:47.40
that I have ever done.
00:12:47.40\00:12:49.03
It was another new church,
00:12:49.03\00:12:51.27
another new school.
00:12:51.27\00:12:53.23
But thankfully some of these
00:12:53.23\00:12:55.30
people at the school
00:12:55.30\00:12:56.54
I already knew.
00:12:56.54\00:12:58.14
I had attended every single
00:12:58.14\00:12:59.74
camp meeting since 2009.
00:12:59.74\00:13:02.31
Camp meeting is a place where
00:13:03.58\00:13:05.08
Camp meeting is a place where
00:13:05.08\00:13:05.18
all the churches in BC
00:13:05.68\00:13:06.95
and other surrounding provinces,
00:13:06.95\00:13:08.68
and sometimes even people from
00:13:08.68\00:13:10.39
the states, come up to camp
00:13:10.39\00:13:13.09
for 10 to 14 days, depending on
00:13:13.09\00:13:15.46
how long you wanna stay.
00:13:15.46\00:13:17.26
And we just spend time there
00:13:17.26\00:13:19.49
together, learning more about
00:13:19.49\00:13:20.83
God, getting to know friends
00:13:20.83\00:13:23.00
and meeting new ones.
00:13:23.00\00:13:24.23
And in the process of going to
00:13:25.10\00:13:25.67
And in the process of going to
00:13:25.77\00:13:26.30
camp meeting every single year,
00:13:26.47\00:13:28.37
I had met some of the people
00:13:28.37\00:13:29.84
that were going to Deer Lake.
00:13:29.84\00:13:31.21
But not only that,
00:13:32.44\00:13:34.21
it helped me realize
00:13:34.21\00:13:36.95
now that my community wasn't
00:13:36.95\00:13:39.35
just based on the city that
00:13:39.35\00:13:41.98
I stayed at the time, but it's
00:13:41.98\00:13:43.42
something that could follow me.
00:13:43.42\00:13:44.99
And it did.
00:13:46.89\00:13:47.92
As I...
00:13:47.92\00:13:48.89
...went to Deer Lake,
00:13:50.73\00:13:52.29
I was able to...
00:13:52.29\00:13:53.63
...finally set up roots.
00:13:55.06\00:13:56.46
I was able to choose a church
00:13:57.87\00:13:59.67
that I wanted to go to,
00:13:59.67\00:14:01.94
that I wanted to serve at,
00:14:01.94\00:14:03.77
and that was Oak Ridge
00:14:03.77\00:14:04.97
Adventist Church
00:14:04.97\00:14:06.17
or OAC for short.
00:14:06.17\00:14:07.81
I did have that one
00:14:10.61\00:14:11.81
constant friend throughout
00:14:11.81\00:14:13.15
all of those different cities
00:14:13.15\00:14:14.42
that I moved to.
00:14:14.42\00:14:16.42
His name was Amir.
00:14:16.42\00:14:17.85
We actually met when I was
00:14:18.99\00:14:21.52
two years old and he was one,
00:14:21.52\00:14:24.23
in the Philippines.
00:14:24.23\00:14:24.56
in the Philippines.
00:14:24.79\00:14:26.16
After moving from city to city,
00:14:26.16\00:14:28.46
he actually lived in Vancouver
00:14:28.46\00:14:30.20
and in transit to those
00:14:30.20\00:14:32.47
different cities, I would see
00:14:32.47\00:14:34.77
him and his family.
00:14:34.77\00:14:36.47
He was that one anchor point
00:14:36.47\00:14:38.84
that we could always go back to
00:14:38.84\00:14:40.81
and just have fun with.
00:14:40.81\00:14:42.81
And when I finally moved to
00:14:42.81\00:14:44.78
Burnaby, we became a lot
00:14:44.78\00:14:46.85
closer friends.
00:14:46.85\00:14:48.22
We started attending the same
00:14:48.22\00:14:49.48
church, we went there weekly.
00:14:49.48\00:14:51.85
We got heavily involved in music
00:14:51.85\00:14:54.26
and ministry.
00:14:54.26\00:14:54.42
and ministry.
00:14:54.69\00:14:55.72
Uncle Joey, as I call him,
00:14:56.96\00:14:59.79
was also my teacher
00:14:59.79\00:15:01.50
at Deer Lake, but was also
00:15:01.50\00:15:04.50
the worship leader at OAC.
00:15:04.50\00:15:07.07
Seeing him lead worship during
00:15:07.07\00:15:09.00
the times I visited Vancouver,
00:15:09.00\00:15:09.20
the times I visited Vancouver,
00:15:09.67\00:15:11.41
it really inspired me to
00:15:11.41\00:15:13.34
want to do something similar,
00:15:13.34\00:15:15.48
to be a part of that.
00:15:15.48\00:15:17.51
to be a part of that.
00:15:17.51\00:15:18.01
And when I was given
00:15:18.01\00:15:19.11
the opportunity to do sound
00:15:19.11\00:15:21.02
at OAC,
00:15:21.02\00:15:22.48
I just got so excited.
00:15:22.48\00:15:24.39
I said yes right away.
00:15:24.39\00:15:27.39
I came under the
00:15:27.39\00:15:28.86
mentorship of Otto
00:15:28.86\00:15:30.69
and he taught me the ropes.
00:15:30.69\00:15:31.73
and he taught me the ropes.
00:15:31.73\00:15:32.83
He showed me what it was like
00:15:32.83\00:15:34.50
to be a good sound engineer.
00:15:34.50\00:15:36.33
He showed me what
00:15:36.33\00:15:38.63
a clean setup looks like.
00:15:38.63\00:15:40.97
And as I learned
00:15:40.97\00:15:43.30
all these things,
00:15:43.30\00:15:44.57
I absorbed it like a sponge.
00:15:44.57\00:15:46.41
Because for me, it was
00:15:46.41\00:15:48.01
not just an opportunity
00:15:48.01\00:15:49.31
to help out, but it was an
00:15:49.31\00:15:50.48
opportunity to build community.
00:15:50.48\00:15:52.38
It was great.
00:15:53.18\00:15:54.82
It was exciting.
00:15:54.82\00:15:56.65
But that wasn't all that was
00:15:58.62\00:15:59.82
happening in my life
00:15:59.82\00:16:00.82
at the time.
00:16:00.82\00:16:01.86
I was going through school
00:16:01.86\00:16:03.63
figuring out what I was
00:16:03.63\00:16:05.83
gonna do with my life,
00:16:05.83\00:16:07.03
my education
00:16:07.03\00:16:09.43
past high school.
00:16:09.43\00:16:12.17
I was learning...
00:16:12.17\00:16:13.64
...who I was.
00:16:16.24\00:16:17.37
Not...not who
00:16:19.17\00:16:22.71
everyone told me to be,
00:16:22.71\00:16:24.78
but who I really am.
00:16:24.78\00:16:27.48
Outside of all the exciting
00:16:27.48\00:16:29.72
things that happened at OAC,
00:16:29.72\00:16:31.89
I was still a kid
00:16:31.89\00:16:33.12
who had moved
00:16:33.12\00:16:35.49
and moved and moved.
00:16:35.49\00:16:37.69
And by the two year mark
00:16:38.69\00:16:40.60
at Deer Lake,
00:16:40.60\00:16:42.63
that urge came again.
00:16:42.63\00:16:45.70
But this time it wasn't
00:16:45.70\00:16:46.84
out of necessity.
00:16:46.84\00:16:48.04
It was out of choice.
00:16:49.00\00:16:50.61
Summer came by.
00:16:50.61\00:16:52.14
I talked to people about it.
00:16:52.14\00:16:53.58
I counselled with friends
00:16:53.58\00:16:55.68
and family.
00:16:55.68\00:16:57.21
I was reminded of the importance
00:16:57.21\00:16:59.78
of roots, of staying in a place
00:16:59.78\00:17:02.28
long enough to actually grow.
00:17:02.28\00:17:04.15
Running away wasn't the answer,
00:17:04.15\00:17:06.02
it was staying.
00:17:06.02\00:17:07.46
And that's what I did.
00:17:07.46\00:17:09.36
After arranging my whole
00:17:10.33\00:17:12.99
dorm situation at PAA,
00:17:12.99\00:17:15.93
I think about two weeks out,
00:17:15.93\00:17:18.23
I cancelled everything.
00:17:18.23\00:17:20.40
I sunk my heels into
00:17:21.50\00:17:24.07
the community, I doubled down on
00:17:24.07\00:17:26.64
volunteering at church,
00:17:26.64\00:17:28.51
and I learned what it was
00:17:28.51\00:17:31.18
to be planted.
00:17:31.18\00:17:33.28
Coming to
00:17:33.28\00:17:35.08
OAC was like
00:17:35.08\00:17:36.62
going back home
00:17:36.62\00:17:38.12
to my second home.
00:17:38.12\00:17:39.79
And over the course
00:17:39.79\00:17:40.89
of my college years,
00:17:40.89\00:17:43.16
it was a place of comfort
00:17:43.16\00:17:44.53
for me.
00:17:44.53\00:17:45.36
It was a place of community.
00:17:45.36\00:17:47.30
And...
00:17:47.30\00:17:48.26
...Uncle Joey
00:17:48.90\00:17:50.37
and Tita Ester,
00:17:50.37\00:17:51.87
the Aguilar's, were the ones
00:17:51.87\00:17:54.00
that really drew me into that.
00:17:54.00\00:17:56.20
They were people who
00:17:57.14\00:17:59.81
welcomed me in.
00:17:59.81\00:18:02.21
As a teenager, you just wanted
00:18:02.21\00:18:04.35
to belong.
00:18:04.35\00:18:05.28
You just wanted to feel wanted.
00:18:05.28\00:18:07.18
And that's exactly
00:18:07.18\00:18:08.82
what they did.
00:18:08.82\00:18:10.15
After having solidified
00:18:10.15\00:18:11.85
my community in
00:18:11.85\00:18:14.19
Oak Ridge and
00:18:14.19\00:18:16.79
my church,
00:18:16.79\00:18:17.93
I wanted something a little bit
00:18:17.93\00:18:19.63
closer than just community.
00:18:19.63\00:18:22.23
I wanted a partner.
00:18:23.06\00:18:25.00
My first real relationship where
00:18:25.00\00:18:27.14
the other person was in college.
00:18:27.14\00:18:29.47
However, that wasn't quite the
00:18:29.47\00:18:32.64
relationship I was looking for.
00:18:32.64\00:18:34.68
Our values were misaligned.
00:18:34.68\00:18:37.28
She wasn't quite Christian and
00:18:37.28\00:18:39.15
there was a lot of friction in
00:18:39.15\00:18:41.42
the values that we
00:18:41.42\00:18:43.62
didn't share.
00:18:43.62\00:18:44.92
A couple years after
00:18:44.92\00:18:47.62
that college relationship...
00:18:47.62\00:18:49.76
...I met Rhythm.
00:18:51.19\00:18:52.76
I was already working
00:18:52.76\00:18:53.80
as a massage therapist
00:18:53.80\00:18:55.03
for a couple of years,
00:18:55.03\00:18:55.90
for a couple of years,
00:18:55.90\00:18:57.67
and I had become stable
00:18:57.67\00:18:59.73
in my financials,
00:18:59.73\00:19:01.94
and I had also
00:19:01.94\00:19:04.11
continued my community
00:19:04.11\00:19:05.41
and my volunteering.
00:19:05.41\00:19:07.54
I actually had met her
00:19:07.54\00:19:08.91
at a volleyball tournament.
00:19:08.91\00:19:10.98
She was a godsend...
00:19:10.98\00:19:12.95
...in every part of the word.
00:19:14.22\00:19:15.95
I had previously made a list
00:19:15.95\00:19:18.19
of the things that I would like
00:19:18.19\00:19:19.89
in a wife, and she checked off
00:19:19.89\00:19:22.52
every single one.
00:19:22.52\00:19:23.86
Rhythm was definitely
00:19:24.59\00:19:27.36
an answered prayer because...
00:19:27.36\00:19:29.26
[RHYTHM] He was playing
00:19:31.10\00:19:32.13
volleyball with
00:19:32.13\00:19:33.13
my friend's team.
00:19:33.13\00:19:34.24
I was there to cheer on
00:19:34.24\00:19:35.64
my friend, but then he ended up
00:19:35.64\00:19:37.57
coming up to say hi to me
00:19:37.57\00:19:39.81
out of nowhere.
00:19:39.81\00:19:40.78
I was just so shocked by how
00:19:40.78\00:19:42.68
bold he was.
00:19:42.68\00:19:43.98
And me being the shy person
00:19:43.98\00:19:45.85
I am, I said hi
00:19:45.85\00:19:47.42
and then I ran away.
00:19:47.42\00:19:48.42
[laughs]
00:19:48.42\00:19:49.05
My life before I met Jobo
00:19:49.05\00:19:51.49
had always been characterized by
00:19:51.49\00:19:53.25
a lot of independence,
00:19:53.25\00:19:54.69
a lot of fierceness,
00:19:54.69\00:19:56.99
even in the way that I talk, I
00:19:56.99\00:19:58.73
always seemed really confident.
00:19:58.73\00:20:00.63
But as I met Joba and as he
00:20:00.63\00:20:02.86
got to know me more, I was
00:20:02.86\00:20:05.20
very humbled by how
00:20:05.20\00:20:07.50
gentle and kind he was.
00:20:07.50\00:20:09.74
And it really made me reflect on
00:20:09.74\00:20:11.91
what type of
00:20:11.91\00:20:13.98
characteristics am I reflecting
00:20:13.98\00:20:15.78
that are from God.
00:20:15.78\00:20:17.11
Am I gentle, am I compassionate?
00:20:17.11\00:20:19.91
Am I faithful?
00:20:19.91\00:20:20.92
And that's all the attributes
00:20:20.92\00:20:23.15
that he showed me in our
00:20:23.15\00:20:25.75
early stages of
00:20:25.75\00:20:26.79
our relationship and that
00:20:26.79\00:20:27.89
really softened me.
00:20:27.89\00:20:29.56
And I'm very excited to journey
00:20:29.56\00:20:31.66
through life with him.
00:20:31.66\00:20:33.13
[JOBO] God sent me somebody
00:20:33.13\00:20:34.93
who could dig
00:20:34.93\00:20:37.27
up my...
00:20:37.27\00:20:38.37
...past, who could
00:20:39.40\00:20:41.84
help heal
00:20:41.84\00:20:43.34
those wounds that were made
00:20:43.34\00:20:46.37
moving those many times, and
00:20:46.37\00:20:49.31
growing up without
00:20:49.31\00:20:50.98
Mom, or
00:20:50.98\00:20:52.95
not really having a dad.
00:20:52.95\00:20:55.68
As much as the parental figures
00:20:55.68\00:20:58.72
around my life have helped
00:20:58.72\00:21:00.89
to raise me, there...
00:21:00.89\00:21:03.02
...there is still some things
00:21:04.66\00:21:06.06
that I lacked
00:21:06.06\00:21:08.20
and Rhythm helped me
00:21:08.20\00:21:09.93
heal from that.
00:21:09.93\00:21:11.17
She...
00:21:12.50\00:21:13.67
...showed me...
00:21:14.77\00:21:16.04
...how
00:21:17.24\00:21:18.91
a partner could
00:21:18.91\00:21:20.84
truly understand you.
00:21:20.84\00:21:23.65
To speak...
00:21:24.51\00:21:25.71
...and be heard.
00:21:27.58\00:21:29.52
She showed me that
00:21:30.62\00:21:32.95
you can converse with someone
00:21:32.95\00:21:35.72
and that they can respect you
00:21:35.72\00:21:38.33
even when you try
00:21:38.33\00:21:40.76
to say that they're wrong.
00:21:40.76\00:21:42.66
You're partners.
00:21:44.93\00:21:46.40
You're not each other's parent.
00:21:47.40\00:21:49.64
And I think
00:21:50.51\00:21:52.01
that was very healing for me.
00:21:52.01\00:21:54.01
And I think that
00:21:54.94\00:21:56.28
stemmed from those times
00:21:56.28\00:21:58.28
when my mom and I would have
00:21:58.28\00:22:00.92
video calls when I was
00:22:00.92\00:22:03.59
8 to 9 years old...
00:22:03.59\00:22:05.62
...and she would tell me
00:22:06.92\00:22:07.99
to be strong
00:22:07.99\00:22:10.29
and not cry.
00:22:10.29\00:22:11.73
And so I took that with me
00:22:13.36\00:22:15.13
through those years,
00:22:15.13\00:22:16.93
through all of these years.
00:22:16.93\00:22:19.13
And I still have some of those
00:22:19.13\00:22:20.34
habits now...
00:22:20.34\00:22:21.47
...where I will bottle up
00:22:22.44\00:22:23.71
my emotions, as opposed to
00:22:23.71\00:22:25.34
saying anything that might
00:22:25.34\00:22:26.91
cause the other person to cry.
00:22:26.91\00:22:28.71
But I have learned
00:22:30.65\00:22:32.05
that there is more,
00:22:32.05\00:22:34.48
and she has taught me that.
00:22:34.48\00:22:36.18
I think throughout my life,
00:22:38.19\00:22:40.49
that phrase that my mom said
00:22:40.49\00:22:42.69
when I was young
00:22:42.69\00:22:43.73
always wraps around.
00:22:43.73\00:22:45.16
"Your father might have
00:22:46.83\00:22:48.46
made his own decisions
00:22:48.46\00:22:49.90
to leave...
00:22:49.90\00:22:50.90
...but no matter what,
00:22:52.10\00:22:53.77
don't hate him for what he did.
00:22:53.77\00:22:56.47
He still loves you very much.
00:22:56.47\00:22:58.41
And if your physical father
00:22:59.84\00:23:02.01
isn't present,
00:23:02.01\00:23:02.98
your heavenly Father
00:23:02.98\00:23:04.68
is always and always has been
00:23:04.68\00:23:07.28
there.”
00:23:07.28\00:23:08.28
And I have seen that throughout
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every part of my life.
00:23:11.02\00:23:12.92
Seeing the parental figures,
00:23:13.92\00:23:16.22
the mother figures, the
00:23:16.22\00:23:17.29
father figures pop up through
00:23:17.29\00:23:20.06
the different cities
00:23:20.06\00:23:21.13
that I went, through different
00:23:21.13\00:23:22.70
schools, different churches.
00:23:22.70\00:23:25.27
I can't be-
00:23:25.67\00:23:27.47
I can't help but be
00:23:27.47\00:23:28.67
overwhelmed
00:23:28.67\00:23:30.67
at the amount of love
00:23:30.67\00:23:32.67
that my Heavenly Father
00:23:32.67\00:23:34.31
has given me,
00:23:34.31\00:23:35.84
in giving me these people
00:23:35.84\00:23:38.68
to look up to,
00:23:38.68\00:23:39.98
to be inspired by.
00:23:39.98\00:23:41.42
>> I can't help wondering what
00:23:43.05\00:23:44.85
Jobo's mother must have
00:23:44.85\00:23:46.19
gone through.
00:23:46.19\00:23:47.52
It makes me think of the story
00:23:47.52\00:23:49.32
in the Bible of Jochebed,
00:23:49.32\00:23:51.19
the mother of Moses, who had to
00:23:51.19\00:23:53.56
let to a little boy drift down
00:23:53.56\00:23:55.36
the Nile River hoping to save
00:23:55.36\00:23:57.87
his life, not knowing where that
00:23:57.87\00:24:00.50
would lead him, and letting God
00:24:00.50\00:24:02.80
take care of his protection and
00:24:02.80\00:24:05.11
the ultimate plans for his life.
00:24:05.11\00:24:07.94
>> What kind of community
00:24:08.71\00:24:09.94
would her son end up in?
00:24:09.94\00:24:12.18
When our lives turned tough and
00:24:12.18\00:24:14.65
twisted and we don't know what
00:24:14.65\00:24:17.52
the future holds, we still have
00:24:17.52\00:24:19.22
a choice.
00:24:19.22\00:24:20.56
We can choose to turn to God
00:24:20.56\00:24:22.82
for strength and wait on
00:24:22.82\00:24:24.49
His goodness.
00:24:24.49\00:24:25.86
>> Jobo always had the voice of
00:24:27.30\00:24:29.26
his mother in his head
00:24:29.26\00:24:30.90
to look up and to look ahead.
00:24:30.90\00:24:33.30
With his Heavenly Father as his
00:24:33.90\00:24:36.04
guide, Jobo was surrounded by
00:24:36.04\00:24:38.57
strangers who later turned into
00:24:38.57\00:24:41.31
family, father figures,
00:24:41.31\00:24:43.81
and friends.
00:24:43.81\00:24:45.48
As hard as it was to be
00:24:45.48\00:24:47.35
continually moving around,
00:24:47.35\00:24:49.82
Jobo's community found him
00:24:49.82\00:24:52.05
wherever he went.
00:24:52.05\00:24:53.66
>> Community is difficult
00:24:54.69\00:24:56.22
to build, especially when you
00:24:56.22\00:24:57.96
have to keep moving.
00:24:57.96\00:24:59.16
Be it a new country, a new city,
00:24:59.16\00:25:01.90
a new town, a new school,
00:25:01.90\00:25:03.80
a new church.
00:25:03.80\00:25:05.00
>> For a child, that is
00:25:06.53\00:25:08.17
really difficult.
00:25:08.17\00:25:09.70
As Jobo said, you begin to feel
00:25:09.70\00:25:11.91
like you are outside the
00:25:11.91\00:25:13.68
community rather than within it.
00:25:13.68\00:25:16.54
Everyone else has their
00:25:16.54\00:25:18.08
friend group and it hurts
00:25:18.08\00:25:19.61
to feel like you don't belong.
00:25:19.61\00:25:21.55
>> Perhaps you feel like that.
00:25:22.18\00:25:23.85
Tired of reaching out and
00:25:23.85\00:25:25.72
waiting to find a place
00:25:25.72\00:25:27.72
to belong.
00:25:27.72\00:25:28.82
Waiting for someone to walk
00:25:28.82\00:25:30.69
into your life and say,
00:25:30.69\00:25:32.26
"Can we be friends?"
00:25:32.26\00:25:34.10
>> In a very beautiful way,
00:25:35.43\00:25:37.33
the Lord brought genuine friends
00:25:37.33\00:25:39.73
into Jobo's life and gave him
00:25:39.73\00:25:42.27
the courage and confidence
00:25:42.27\00:25:44.31
to take that step of faith,
00:25:44.31\00:25:46.34
to reach out to Rhythm,
00:25:46.34\00:25:48.51
who is now his best friend
00:25:48.51\00:25:50.81
and partner for life.
00:25:50.81\00:25:52.71
What a good, good God
00:25:52.71\00:25:55.18
we serve.
00:25:55.18\00:25:56.72
>> Throughout Jobo's life,
00:25:56.72\00:25:58.45
he had hope based on the words
00:25:58.45\00:26:01.26
that he found in the Bible.
00:26:01.26\00:26:02.99
He trusted those words because
00:26:02.99\00:26:05.03
the only thing really in our
00:26:05.03\00:26:07.50
world that we can rely on
00:26:07.50\00:26:09.36
is the Word of God.
00:26:09.36\00:26:11.33
And God invites you to also
00:26:12.07\00:26:14.40
prove for yourself the reality
00:26:14.40\00:26:16.20
of His Word, the Bible,
00:26:16.20\00:26:17.91
and the goodness and truth
00:26:17.91\00:26:19.74
of His promises.
00:26:19.74\00:26:20.84
He invites you to taste and see
00:26:20.84\00:26:23.88
that the Lord is good.
00:26:23.88\00:26:25.61
>> Instead of depending upon
00:26:27.35\00:26:29.05
the word of someone else,
00:26:29.05\00:26:31.15
you can taste for yourself.
00:26:31.15\00:26:33.46
Jesus declares, "Ask
00:26:33.46\00:26:35.99
and you will receive."
00:26:35.99\00:26:37.96
Our free Bible study guides
00:26:38.76\00:26:40.83
will help you to experience
00:26:40.83\00:26:42.63
for yourself the reality of
00:26:42.63\00:26:45.07
God's Holy Word.
00:26:45.07\00:26:47.10
The truth of His promises.
00:26:47.10\00:26:49.97
You will see how the Bible has
00:26:50.61\00:26:52.64
verifiable answers to all
00:26:52.64\00:26:55.18
your questions, to find
00:26:55.18\00:26:57.35
your place of belonging
00:26:57.35\00:26:59.51
and God's will for your life.
00:26:59.51\00:27:02.48
>> Our free Bible study guides
00:27:02.48\00:27:04.15
will provide you with
00:27:04.15\00:27:06.15
practical answers that
00:27:06.15\00:27:07.76
make sense, giving you the
00:27:07.76\00:27:09.69
assurance that you belong
00:27:09.69\00:27:11.63
to your Heavenly Father
00:27:11.63\00:27:13.23
who loves you with an
00:27:13.23\00:27:14.83
everlasting love.
00:27:14.83\00:27:16.33
Before you go, we would like to
00:27:17.93\00:27:19.87
thank all of you who have
00:27:19.87\00:27:21.44
supported the ministry of
00:27:21.44\00:27:22.97
It Is written Canada
00:27:22.97\00:27:24.71
with your prayers and
00:27:24.71\00:27:26.44
financial contributions.
00:27:26.44\00:27:28.71
Without your support, this
00:27:28.71\00:27:31.11
television ministry could not
00:27:31.11\00:27:33.21
have reached so many people
00:27:33.21\00:27:35.68
for so many decades.
00:27:35.68\00:27:37.79
>> Yes, thank you.
00:27:37.79\00:27:39.22
And we would like to invite you
00:27:39.22\00:27:41.86
to follow us on Instagram and
00:27:41.86\00:27:44.16
Facebook and subscribe
00:27:44.16\00:27:45.63
to our YouTube channel, and also
00:27:45.63\00:27:47.46
listen to our podcasts.
00:27:47.46\00:27:49.73
And if you go to our website,
00:27:49.73\00:27:51.37
you can see our latest programs.
00:27:51.37\00:27:54.34
>> Friends, Jesus is offering
00:27:54.34\00:27:56.81
you a life of confidence
00:27:56.81\00:27:59.24
and community.
00:27:59.24\00:28:01.38
We would like to recommend you
00:28:01.38\00:28:03.51
to open the Bible, where it is
00:28:03.51\00:28:06.11
recorded that Jesus Himself
00:28:06.11\00:28:08.82
found His assurance to defeat
00:28:08.82\00:28:11.05
the Devil through the Word of
00:28:11.05\00:28:12.95
His Father when He declared...
00:28:12.95\00:28:15.49
>> "He will wipe away every tear
00:28:27.97\00:28:29.67
from their eyes, and death shall
00:28:29.67\00:28:32.04
be no more.
00:28:32.04\00:28:33.21
Neither shall there be mourning,
00:28:33.21\00:28:35.61
nor crying nor pain
00:28:35.61\00:28:37.95
anymore.
00:28:37.95\00:28:38.81
For the former things
00:28:38.81\00:28:40.05
have passed away."
00:28:40.05\00:28:41.42
[uplifting music]
00:28:41.42\00:28:44.32
¤¤
00:28:44.32\00:28:47.29