Participants:
Series Code: MMS
Program Code: MMS010013A
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00:01 - Hi. I'm Hilary Macias with the Maranatha Minute.
00:02 On November 20, the Seventh-day Adventist 00:05 Church in Cuba honored 25 years of Maranatha's 00:08 work in the country with a special ceremony in 00:10 Havana. More than 150 people gathered at the 00:13 Adventist seminary including Adventist leadership from 00:16 all over Cuba and the world. Since starting 00:19 in Cuba in 1994, Maranatha has constructed and 00:22 renovated more than 200 places of worship. This 00:25 seminary, which was constructed by Maranatha, 00:27 has educated 600 students from all over the world. 00:31 Nearly all of the pastors currently employed in the 00:33 country are graduates of the seminary. Most 00:36 recently, Maranatha completed a 500-seat 00:39 church in the city of Cardenas and finished 00:41 a renovation project at San Antonio de los 00:44 Baños, located on the western side of the 00:46 island. Projects like Cuba need your financial support. 00:50 If you're willing to give to the mission of Maranatha, 00:52 please be sure to include us in your year-end giving. 00:55 Visit our website or call the number on your 00:58 screen to make a donation. 01:20 - Maranatha's history is full of extraordinary 01:22 moments of faith that illustrate God's leading 01:25 in the mission. He has been faithful every step 01:30 of the way, even through what appeared to be the 01:32 most impossible requests. Today's story looks at 01:37 two places that stretched Maranatha in many ways 01:40 as an organization physically, mentally, 01:43 and spiritually. The first location is in the 01:46 Caribbean on an island that was closed to the 01:50 world, but surprisingly open to the gospel message. 02:00 - The year is 1993. Maranatha is energized 02:04 by the success of a large project called Santo 02:07 Domingo '92 and has just finished construction 02:10 of 50 new churches and three schools in Guatemala. 02:14 The leaders of the project gathered at their hotel 02:16 around a pizza to evaluate next steps. 02:21 - There was a guy named Tem Suarez there. And 02:23 Tem, of course, was a Cuban-American. He 02:26 was on a board of directors, and he 02:28 constantly was bringing up Cuba this, Cuba that, 02:30 and everybody's going, "Oh, yeah, that's Tem. 02:31 He's Cuban." This night, he got a little 02:34 bit more traction. Don Falkenberg was there and 02:39 Bob Paulsen. We were sitting around, just- 02:42 "Okay, we've finished Guatemala. Where's 02:46 the next big push? What's exciting? What can we do 02:48 to change someplace for God?" I mean, that's 02:52 really what it was. And of course, Tem: "I know 02:56 where we can go! Let's take a look at Cuba." 03:00 And somebody says-I don't remember who it 03:01 was. Somebody says, "Well, you know, you can't go into 03:03 Cuba. It's a closed country," you know, 03:05 like a lot of these countries are closed. 03:07 And giving credit completely where it is due here, God 03:12 worked through a guy named Garwin McNeilus. 03:15 - The main challenge was to get our nerve to go 03:18 in the first place. - Garwin was a get-stuff-done kind 03:22 of guy. And Garwin says, "Have you tried? Has 03:28 anybody really tried? You say you can't do 03:31 it; how do we KNOW we can't do it? We don't 03:35 know we can't do it. I haven't been down 03:36 there. Have YOU been down there? Tem says 03:38 we can go. Let's go!" - Many times, you hear, 03:44 "We can't go into a country," and really... 03:47 we haven't tried. We had talked about Cuba and 03:52 the need in Cuba, and I said, "Let's go to Cuba! 03:59 Do it!" So, Maranatha did. - So we put together 04:04 a team. There was five of us. And a couple of 04:07 months later, we made our first trip down to 04:09 Cuba. - In 1994, when we first came over here, 04:16 the church was very, very depressed.? 04:21 The buildings would fall apart. The ministers were 04:24 real, honest and good and were down to 04:26 ? I will speak in plain language. Gotta remember 04:30 that first meeting in particular, we met with 04:32 all the ministers from one end of the island 04:35 to another. It's just like the Holy Spirit over 04:38 there was touching us. - More than 100 people 04:42 crowded into that meeting room at the union office 04:45 in Havana. In the room, there was a white board. 04:49 Based on the need that was expressed, he was 04:52 determined to move ahead with 100 new churches and 04:55 100 renovated churches, as well as 100 evangelistic 05:00 campaigns and the production of literature to penetrate 05:04 the areas surrounding those churches. The 05:07 entire project was called, "Christ for Cuba." Unlike 05:12 similar projects in the Dominican Republic, 05:15 Mexico, and Guatemala, it would take several 05:17 years to build and renovate 200 sanctuaries...but the 05:21 work progressed, and baptisms increased tenfold. Maranatha 05:28 rebuilt the country's aging seminary. Students 05:32 came from around the world to take advantage 05:34 of this post-graduate facility. The seminary 05:39 was lacking a sanctuary. Again, Maranatha Volunteers 05:42 International took an empty space on the seminary 05:45 crowns, and transformed it into an inviting place of 05:48 worship and fellowship. From the very first meeting 05:54 Don Noble had with Pastor Fontaine, it was clear 05:57 that one of the churches on the list that was growing 05:59 and needed to be expanded was the Cardenas church. 06:03 The tiny church was filled to capacity every week 06:06 with many members forced to sit outside on the veranda. 06:11 Cardenas, located about 100 miles east of Havana, 06:15 is very near Varadero Beach, a magnet of 06:18 tourism on the island. The city's leadership 06:21 was not friendly to Adventists and created 06:24 obstacles, making the construction of a new 06:27 church there next to impossible. 15 years into 06:32 the process, Don Noble visited the anxious church 06:35 members. - I said, "Unfortunately, I have to tell 06:38 you that right now, we have neither permission nor 06:40 the money to build this church." And the reaction 06:44 that we got was something I've never seen before. I 06:48 hope I don't see it again. It was the entire church... 06:52 just started crying. Wailing, some of them. 06:55 It was absolutely horrible. 07:10 The congregation was crushed. Don was heavy-hearted. 07:15 Maranatha had been working on a solution for 07:18 Cardenas for more than 15 years. Could it-should 07:21 it-really be over? Don turned to prayer. - So, 07:26 I said, "Well, you know, I've seen God do some 07:27 amazing things-on this island and a lot of other 07:31 places. So, you still have prayer left, and 07:34 you've got a mighty God, and I know that you believe 07:36 in that God. So, I think we should pray." 08:00 She went marching up the front very confident, 08:02 she turned around, and she folded her hands- 08:06 I can still see her- she looked up, not 08:08 down. She looked up and she says, "Dear Jesus, 08:12 thank you for giving us a new church. Amen." 08:16 It was a pivotal moment in the Cardenas story. 08:19 This was about more than building the church. It 08:23 was about faith. - And I'm sitting there going, 08:26 "Wow. I think God's gonna answer that prayer." 08:30 I mean, how's He gonna say no?! 09:06 - In late 2015, a small crew assembled in Cardenas 09:10 to break ground and tear down the old building. 09:13 After more than 30 years of prayer, 20 years of 09:16 permit applications, and an enduring test of faith, 09:20 Maranatha Volunteers International received 09:22 final permission to begin construction on the new 09:26 Cardenas church. Immediately, construction began-and 09:29 just as quickly, Maranatha created an opportunity 09:33 for volunteers to head to Cuba for a two-week 09:36 construction project. 09:43 Local crews worked alongside the volunteers. They continued 09:47 building long after the volunteers returned 09:49 home. 18 months later, after decades of prayer, 09:53 the Cardenas Seventh-day Adventist Church was 09:56 transformed from this to this. 10:03 Thousands of church members from all over the island 10:06 came to the dedication. 10:35 - Today in the morning, I was here, and two 10:38 guys came and they were not Christian. They came, 10:43 and they were watching the church, and they were 10:46 talking about how beautiful, how nice, the church was 10:50 for this city. This church is very important because 10:55 the Adventist church in this city is very famous. 10:59 Everybody knows it. 11:39 - It is a sanctuary worthy of the God it represents. 11:42 The sanctuary can accommodate 500 people-and the fellowship 11:46 hall upstairs connected by video and sound, another 11:49 250 people. 12:53 - You know, this church is built, clearly, on the 12:57 foundation, the reality, the power of prayer, 13:01 without question. [cheering] 13:10 And frankly, the future's more important than the 13:13 history. The history is very valuable here, 13:16 and they've learned a lot of lessons-but the future 13:19 is what this church is about, and it's going to 13:20 be a great lighthouse in the Cardenas community. 13:29 Today, Maranatha Volunteers International continues in 13:33 prayer and faith to answer the call from the 13:36 church in Cuba. From our beginnings there in 1994 13:41 till now, the Adventist church in Cuba remains 13:45 close to the heart of Maranatha. Christ for Cuba. 13:51 Then, now, and tomorrow. 14:08 Coming up next, we head to a country of more than 14:11 a billion people and a billion reasons to keep 14:15 sharing the mission. 14:30 - For more than a decade, Maranatha Mission Stories 14:33 is taking you around the world, showing you the 14:36 need, and challenging you to get involved. Now, we're 14:41 introducing new ways for you to stay informed and 14:44 inspired about the mission. Watch your favorite episode 14:48 of Maranatha Mission Stories, as well as other 14:50 Maranatha videos on your Apple TV. Visit the App 14:55 Store, search for the Maranatha channel, and 14:58 hit install. You'll have access to all of our 15:03 latest video content, and you can watch 15:05 anytime. Our videos are available on demand 15:08 24 hours a day. Our content can also be 15:12 viewed on Roku and Amazon Fire TV. The Maranatha 15:17 channel, bringing mission adventures to your living room. 15:27 - There are certain events in Maranatha's history 15:30 that help to catapult the organization to new levels 15:33 of productivity-events that pushed Maranatha 15:35 to think bigger and aim higher. Among those 15:40 is India, a place where Maranatha has invested 15:43 in the mission to build people and communities. 15:52 The 1990s were a faith-building decade for Maranatha. God 15:57 led the organization through a large scale project in the 16:00 Dominican Republic...and miraculous construction 16:04 on the island of Cuba. But when God leads, 16:09 there are always new challenges-this time, 16:12 on the subcontinent of India. - Maranatha 16:15 started in India, actually, in the early middle '80s- 16:19 the campus north of Delhi called Roorkee. But it was 16:24 a come-and-go/do-a- project, leave...it 16:27 wasn't the long, continued involvement that started 16:32 probably a little more than 20 years ago, now. 16:35 - At the time, the Adventist church was struggling. 16:38 Adventists represented a small percentage of the 16:41 general population. In the places they had to worship 16:45 didn't inspire others to join them. Ron Watts, 16:50 president of the Adventist Church in India at the time, 16:53 reached out to Maranatha for help in growing their 16:56 fledgling group. - I asked Ron at that time, 16:59 I said, "Ron, how many members do you have?" 17:01 He says, "Well, the books, we have about 17:03 200,000." He says, "Really, I have to tell you it's 17:06 not more than 100,000. We really need a new 17:09 church here. This is a huge, huge area of 17:16 primarily Hindus that don't even know who 17:20 Jesus is or ever heard of Him." Don't know 17:23 anything about the Creator God; they don't know 17:25 anything about salvation. Says, "This is what 17:28 we're here for! That's is what we should be 17:30 doing." - Although Maranatha had previously done a 17:33 handful of projects in India, the decision was 17:36 made to establish a permanent presence on 17:39 the country to facilitate evangelism meetings and 17:41 build churches. - And then we started talking, 17:44 and we moved our leadership from Cuba over to India to 17:53 start overseeing those campaigns and to start 17:55 some construction. We didn't know where it was 17:57 going, but it went. - Garwin McNeilus, a businessman 18:02 from Minnesota, was asked to get involved. - Ron Watts 18:06 said, "Why don't you come and do an effort?" 18:09 And I said, "Sure, we'll go." Now, I'd never done an 18:13 effort. So I contacted my friend Bob Paulsen who I knew 18:21 could do the preaching. Maranatha helped us, 18:24 and we set up Tenali. 18:27 people in Tenali. It was just overwhelming. And 18:31 what took me back: when we closed up, all 3,000 18:34 wanted special prayer. They just crowded around 18:38 you, and the hunger and the willingness... - The success 18:42 there led to the organization of larger meetings in the 18:46 town of Angul. - I remember the big Angul project. 18:48 There were over 50,000 people there listening 18:53 to Bob Paulsen stand up and say, "I want to introduce 18:57 you to not just any old god-not just another 19:00 god-but the Creator God." And they're all listening 19:04 to this, and it was powerful. - It was 19:07 just overwhelming, and Maranatha was just 19:12 deeply involved in organizing and coordinating 19:15 the effort of all the churches... But I just 19:19 can't help but think in heaven what it'll be like 19:23 when we have an India Homecoming. There'll be 19:28 thousands and thousands of people there as a result 19:30 of it. - The 50,000 people in the crowd 19:36 weren't the only ones listening. Halfway across 19:39 the world, this meeting would have an impact on 19:41 a family living in Medford, Oregon. - I had no idea 19:45 about going to India or any place else; I was 19:48 happy to stay on the United States side of 19:52 everything and didn't look forward to traveling 19:55 at all. Merlin found- he was watching television, 19:58 and he's watching Garwin McNeilus, and they've been 20:03 doing evangelistic meetings over in Angul. 20:09 He's intently watching that. When it was over, 20:11 he said, "I think we could do that." And 20:15 I was shocked. "We could do that?!" "Well, yeah, 20:19 I think we could." - The television program they 20:23 watched was a report put together by 3ABN, 20:26 highlighting the recent meetings. What JoAnn 20:31 and her husband Merlin didn't know was their 20:34 son Bruce was also watching and felt impressed to get 20:38 involved. - I was committed to call Don on Monday and 20:42 tell him that I'd like to go over there to India 20:45 sometime and help if they had a need or an opening. 20:50 In just a few minutes, my dad called and he 20:53 said, "Hey, have you ever thought about going to 20:54 India?" And I said, "A matter of fact, yeah! 20:57 Over there we'll go." Six months later, Bruce 21:02 was on an airplane headed to India. Merlin joined him 21:05 on the next trip, but JoAnn, in her 70s, wasn't 21:09 sure about making the long journey. She wondered 21:12 if there was anything she could contribute to 21:14 the effort. - Bruce said to me, "You can go. And 21:19 even if you just hug the ladies and smile 21:24 at them if you can't understand them, they're 21:27 gonna understand you." So, that's what I did! 21:31 I went to India and I gave them hugs. I was 21:34 72 the first time I went to India, and the culture 21:40 shock was so severe. It was like, I need to fix 21:48 these things! These poor people... They don't have 21:51 anything-and yet, they're happy! I kept talking to 21:56 Merlin about it. He said, "I want to tell you 22:00 something. By coming here and helping them 22:04 to know that there is a Creator God that 22:09 we're helping them with the greatest thing that 22:12 they can have." - The Fjarli family was hooked on India. 22:17 Not only did they continue to conduct evangelism 22:19 campaigns-they also helped to fund hundreds 22:22 of churches in several large school campuses. 22:26 The Fjarli family really got involved in India 22:29 in a major way, and I don't have any question 22:32 that God used them. Merlin Fjarli, I've known since 22:36 the '60s. Tough guy, committed guy, generous, 22:45 man of few words... Said, "I want the best 22:48 bang for the buck." That was his line. "I want the 22:52 best bang for the buck." And he felt that in a society 22:55 like India where there's so many people, you could 22:58 get the best bang for the buck. - You leave 23:01 India, but it never leaves you. And to think about 23:05 going back...I had to go back! It was such 23:11 a blessing to see that I could put smiles on the 23:18 little kids' faces, and I just had to go back. 23:25 I think the Lord put it in my heart to treasure 23:29 the times in India. - Maranatha has worked 23:33 in India for more than 20 years. Today, more 23:37 than 2,000 structures stand as influential 23:40 anchors in their communities, monuments to a living God. 23:45 - You build a building, and those same ones 23:48 that were built in the '90s are producing souls 23:52 today...and they've spawned, and the next 23:55 one has spawned. And the church family, as 23:57 a result, there will be thousands in eternity 24:01 as a result of that one project. - But the impact 24:05 goes beyond the people of India. - You think you're 24:10 gonna go there to change people and let them know 24:15 that there is a real God that knows them, 24:22 and it changed us and it changed my husband 24:25 more than I could ever have dreamed that it would. 24:30 - Merlin passed away in 2014, but his sons 24:34 Bruce and Clint have continued the family's 24:36 legacy of service. - I think Dan was really 24:40 blessed by going to India and raising the 24:47 money to invest in India and fund. Doing that, 24:53 he was blessed by doing that. It softened him, 25:00 it exposed a soft side of his heart that most 25:08 people never saw. - It was just amazing? 25:12 From my perspective, I think, it was just a 25:15 miracle, and our family's just been part of it, 25:21 which is quite a blessing. But, you know, once 25:25 God's work gets rolling, it's pretty hard to stop 25:27 Him. [chuckles] It was a little bit of help, and 25:30 we've been very blessed to be able to help. 25:33 - Maranatha's commitment to India is unwavering 25:36 as more and more people are longing to hear the 25:39 gospel. There continues to be requests for more 25:44 churches and schools in India. And in 2018, Maranatha 25:48 started drilling water wells in areas of great need. 25:52 - I think heaven's gonna be a wonderful reunion 25:55 with a lot of people that gave their heart 25:59 to Jesus. It's an awesome thing to do. 26:02 I'm gonna do it again... except I would've 26:07 started 30 years sooner. 26:10 - As Maranatha continues working in India, your 26:15 support is needed in the country. Please, 26:17 make a donation toward church, school, or water 26:20 well projects in India. Call the number on your 26:23 screen, or visit maranatha.org to give. 26:40 - Get ready for 2020 by registering for a 26:43 mission trip to Côte d'Ivoire. From January 30 to February 26:46 11, 2020, we need volunteers to build 26:49 the d'Ivoire Seventh-day Adventist Church. 26:51 This congregation is full of the missionary 26:53 spirit, and they work hard to share the 26:56 gospel in their community. However, their worship 26:58 space is a partially completed building 27:00 that looks more like a patio. Maranatha will 27:03 be building the d'Ivoire congregation a new 27:05 church. So join this project and make a 27:08 big impact in the new year. Then, plan for 27:11 spring by registering for the Camp Yavapines 27:14 Project in Arizona, USA. From April 19 to 29, assist 27:18 with renovations at this Camp and Retreat Center. 27:20 We'll need help with light construction, 27:22 plumbing, painting, roofing, and much more. Since this 27:26 is a North America project, your food and 27:28 lodging is provided in exchange for your 27:30 labor. All you have to do is get there. Just remember 27:33 to register first. Go to maranatha.org to learn 27:37 about these projects and many more. 27:41 - From the very beginning and through every triumph 27:44 and bump in the road since, God has had His 27:46 hand in the development and growth of Maranatha. 27:50 They had been His volunteers, His 27:53 projects, and His mission. |
Revised 2019-12-18