The land where Jesus
walked 2000 years ago,
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India, Tokyo, and
other parts of Asia
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coming up next on Mission 360.
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Hello and
welcome to Mission 360,
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coming to you today
from Galilee in Israel,
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and I'm standing on a hillside,
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which is traditionally
known as the mount of blessing,
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the mount of the beatitudes,
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whether this is the exact
location or not, who knows,
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but it's a testimony
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to those
wonderful words of Jesus
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that we know as the
Sermon on the Mount.
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And on that sermon,
He gave eight blessings,
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which so many of
us know off by heart
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and blessed are
the poor in spirit,
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blessed are the merciful.
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On today's program,
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we'll be looking at
mission around the world
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that has been inspired
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because of the life and
teachings of Jesus Christ.
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That's the only reason
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why the
Seventh-day Adventist church
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runs a mission program
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to share the
good news about Jesus.
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First up, let's travel to Tokyo.
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God placed this burden on me.
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For the last few years,
I've been having this burden
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because, you know, less
than 1% are Christian in Japan.
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It's a big
country, lots of people,
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but for some reason,
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the everlasting gospel
is not being communicated.
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Tokyo is the world's
largest metropolitan area
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with almost 40 million people.
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The challenge of
reaching a city of this size
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might seem impossible,
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but God can use anyone.
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Even someone on the other side
of the world to spark change.
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Daniel grew up in California
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as a third-generation
Japanese American.
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He always told himself
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he would be open to
God's plans for his life.
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After much prayer,
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he knew that God wanted
him to move across the globe
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to work in Japan
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and Daniel accepted
the call to serve in Tokyo.
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Even though I
grew up in America,
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my mom and my dad helped me
retain the Japanese language.
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So I was able to
communicate and read and write.
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So I believe that
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I felt like God was
calling me to go to Japan
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and use the talents for
His cause over in Japan.
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He was assigned to
work alongside the pastor
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of the Setagaya
Adventist Church,
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wherein 2016,
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there were less than 10
people attending each week.
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The church was
about ready to shut down
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when Daniel arrived,
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he knew that
God had bigger plans
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for this congregation.
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So he began working to
make the church a landmark
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in the community.
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Here in Japan, there's
a lot of lonely people.
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They just commit
to work or school.
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And a lot of them are
lonely, so they want fellowship.
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So I think that's what
the Japanese people need.
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We just need to
mingle with them.
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Mingling is
just one of the steps
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in Christ's method,
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Jesus mingled with people
to get to know their needs
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and earn their trust.
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Daniel decided
to try to reignite
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this church's mission
spirit with a fresh approach.
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He invited young people
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and held evangelism
training for them in the Church.
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We have young people,
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college-age, high
school age, young adults,
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stay in a
Church for three weeks.
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We eat meals together.
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We have devotions, worships,
Bible studies together,
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and we train how
to knock on doors,
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how to communicate with
people, how to pray with people.
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And it's been a blessing
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and the students
really grow a lot.
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They really have this identity
as Seventh-day Adventist
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in the mission spirits.
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This once dwindling church
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transformed overnight
into a youth training center.
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As the young members reached out
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to their local
community through prayer
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and face-to-face interaction,
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attendance quickly grew fivefold
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and word is spreading
throughout the community.
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When we go out
to this community,
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sometimes we cannot meet
the people around this area
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but sometime God sends
the people to our church.
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When the people
come to our church,
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I feel that Jesus is
working for this church.
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The church is
now essentially run
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by young people with a passion
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to reach the
people of Tokyo for Jesus.
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And if you ask them
why they love this church,
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Oh, this church is so special
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because the young
people they have power
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and passion and energy
to reach out to people.
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They are so friendly and kind.
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I really enjoy spending
time here with everyone.
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It's great to see
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how the young people are
getting excited about God
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and the Bible.
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In my experience,
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I have developed a
stronger prayer life.
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I have direct
communication with God
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as I reach out to people.
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I learned the joy of
communicating with God.
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Daniel decided to expand
the Setagaya churches programs
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to include youth
from all over Tokyo.
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Once a month, we have an event
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where young people from
all over the Tokyo area come
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and we stay in
sleeping bags at the church,
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50 to 70 young people
come stay at the church,
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study the Bible, sing
songs, and have fellowship.
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It's been a blessing.
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This group continues to grow.
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Thanks to the efforts
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of reigniting the
church's mission spirit.
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Setagaya Church
members are exploring new ways
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to break down barriers
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and show the love of
God to the people of Tokyo.
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Many people in this
city are busy and isolated
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but still long for
connection with others.
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When young people
get on fire for Jesus,
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I believe the entire
Church gets on fire for Jesus.
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And so that's why
working with a young people
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is such an
honor, such a privilege.
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And I believe when we
get the young people on fire,
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the entire country of
Japan will be on fire.
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Mission challenges in Japan
are real and continue to grow.
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Please pray for the
Setagaya Church members
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as they ask for God's
help in spreading His love
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throughout the
largest city on earth,
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your prayers and
support of the mission offerings
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go a long way to
encourage mission in Japan
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and around the world.
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My guest is Pastor Wasim,
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who is the director of
the life and hope center
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here in Nazareth.
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Thanks so much for
joining us. My pleasure.
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And we've just actually
had the opening celebrations
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for this center.
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Yes.
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How does it feel to
have it up and running?
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Well, it's a great
joy and we are so happy
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and we praise the
Lord for this opportunity.
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Actually, it's one of
its kind among the Arabs,
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and this is the first center
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that serves the Arabs in Israel.
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Wonderful.
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Now can you describe for us,
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we're actually on
the roof of the center,
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where are we located?
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We are in
downtown Nazareth. Yeah.
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In a city of 80,000 people,
75% of them they are Muslims.
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Can you describe
some of the activities
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that you're engaged in?
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In life and hope center,
we run different programs.
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Some of it,
English teaching programs,
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computer programs,
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we have about 60 kids
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that they are
from Muslim background.
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Everyone who would like to
sign and be part of the program,
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they have to sign the document.
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The parents actually
have to sign the documents
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that our center runs...
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It's a Christian, first
of all, Christian center,
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a Seventh-day Adventist,
and we teach from the Bible.
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The other program that
we run is a health programs
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with my wife,
educational health as well.
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We have another
program is computer,
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how to use, surf internet
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and how to use
computer in the right way.
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And the Lord is blessing us.
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We have a lot of
attendance by us.
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Yes.
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Now I understand there's
a waiting list of parents
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who want their children to come.
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Yes, that's right.
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You know, we...
Our capacity is not...
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We cannot like have
more than 60 kids at once.
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That's because of the
place, the size of the place.
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Secondly, it's
just my wife and myself.
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We are the only one
working for this project,
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and I have other work
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I'm pastoring
other five churches
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here in Nazareth.
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Right. Okay.
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Well, let's say...
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It's a pleasure to meet you
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because you're the
second person I know
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who lived in Nazareth.
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The other one was Jesus.
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That's right.
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So Wasim what are the challenges
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that young people
face in this city?
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Do you know...
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The Arab culture for
some time was a closed culture
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now because of
internet and, you know, the TV,
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and the access to technology,
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they became like
open to new cultures
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and they adopted just the
bad from the other cultures
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and the good
they left it behind.
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And you see the crime
start increasing in Nazareth.
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The moral issues, it started
like getting like interrupted.
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So we tried to assure,
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we tried to work with the kids
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to come back to their original
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the way how they
grow up their fathers,
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how they grow up.
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And we probably,
through the Bible,
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through teaching
them the message of Jesus,
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how to be peaceful,
how to live together
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and how to reach
their goals in the future.
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Wonderful.
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Can you tell me how
are lives being changed,
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being impacted
through this center?
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We faced once a challenge
with one of the children.
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Who's very hyper
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and we call it in
English, very naughty.
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Yeah?
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And the parents
complained and they said,
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"We will send him,
but we are so worried
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he will be
disturbing the class."
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But through the way,
how we dealt with him,
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through prayers.
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We were kneeling down
praying for this child,
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the Lord put a kind
of peace in his heart
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and he started
looking at the others
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the way how they behave,
and the way how they sit,
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the way how they write,
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the way how they respect
the pencils and the papers.
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He started like
learning from them
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that he is supposed to sit
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and not be hyper
and move all around.
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And step-by-step the
child changed totally.
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And the parents
start calling us, asking,
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"What happened that our
child now became so peaceful.
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He's not any more aggressive."
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And there we
explained to the parents
00:11:28.78\00:11:30.69
that when they signed,
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we told them that
we will be teaching
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the child from the Bible.
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And the question
of these parents was,
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"Does the Bible do this?"
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We told them,
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"It's not the Bible,
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but it's the
author of the Bible.
00:11:43.47\00:11:44.80
It's the one who inspired those
that they did write the Bible
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does this miracles."
00:11:47.90\00:11:49.34
And they were amazed.
00:11:49.37\00:11:50.71
They said,
00:11:50.74\00:11:52.07
"If the Bible will
educate our children,
00:11:52.11\00:11:53.71
then we respect the Bible
and the teachers of the Bible."
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Wonderful.
00:11:57.05\00:11:58.38
And they are
speaking about this method
00:11:58.41\00:12:01.52
in the school of the child.
00:12:01.55\00:12:03.52
And since then we received calls
00:12:03.55\00:12:05.45
from many parents,
00:12:05.49\00:12:07.19
"Please, can we
bring our children to you?"
00:12:07.22\00:12:09.66
But again
because of the capacity,
00:12:09.69\00:12:11.26
we cannot keep the doors open.
00:12:11.29\00:12:13.13
So we are very limited.
00:12:13.16\00:12:14.56
So Pastor Wasim,
00:12:14.60\00:12:16.40
what are your
hopes for the future?
00:12:16.43\00:12:17.97
We started with a dream
and the dream became truth
00:12:18.00\00:12:22.80
through the blessing of the Lord
00:12:22.84\00:12:24.17
and the help of many
divisions around the world
00:12:24.21\00:12:27.71
and the general conference.
00:12:27.74\00:12:31.81
The place is very small.
00:12:31.85\00:12:33.28
We are praying and hoping that
00:12:33.31\00:12:35.38
we can build a place
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or buy the top
floor of this building
00:12:38.19\00:12:41.02
because we need a space.
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We need people that
they can come and assist us
00:12:43.56\00:12:46.29
because the work,
00:12:46.33\00:12:47.66
I'm doing this
alone with my wife
00:12:47.70\00:12:49.96
and we have other
churches to take care of.
00:12:50.00\00:12:52.83
So, we hope that there
will be some volunteers
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that they speak
English, for example,
00:12:55.10\00:12:57.31
that they can teach English
00:12:57.34\00:12:59.24
that they will come and help us.
00:12:59.27\00:13:01.68
We are hoping to build
00:13:01.71\00:13:03.08
the first church
speaking in Arabic in Israel.
00:13:03.11\00:13:07.35
That's our dream and our
goal. That's why we are here.
00:13:07.38\00:13:10.89
That's why we run
00:13:10.92\00:13:12.25
life and hope
center in Nazareth.
00:13:12.29\00:13:14.29
Fantastic.
00:13:14.32\00:13:15.66
Pastor, thank you
so much for sharing.
00:13:15.69\00:13:17.03
It's a pleasure. And
thanks for being here by us.
00:13:17.06\00:13:18.76
Thanks for
visiting. Oh, it's an honor.
00:13:18.79\00:13:20.80
Thank you. May
the Lord bless you.
00:13:20.83\00:13:22.16
Thank you. Thank you very much.
00:13:22.20\00:13:23.53
And, viewers, pray
for the ministry here,
00:13:23.57\00:13:26.47
the life and hope center
00:13:26.50\00:13:27.87
that is bringing life and
hope in downtown Nazareth.
00:13:27.90\00:13:33.01
We'll be back
right after this break.
00:13:33.04\00:13:34.84