Some of my favorite
stories from the past,
00:00:15.28\00:00:17.38
including the
little church planter
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on the Amazon River,
and the Trumpet family
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in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
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All that and much
more coming up next.
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Hello and
welcome to Mission 360.
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Coming to you today
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from the city of
Jerusalem in Israel.
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You know, Jesus often came
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to the Garden of Gethsemane
on the Mount of Olives to pray,
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often with His disciples.
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And, of course, the
most famous occasion
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was on that night
when Jesus struggled
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with the fact that
He was going to die.
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We don't know what
anguish went through His heart,
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went through His
soul, but we do know that
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He made a decision there
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that has
repercussions for eternity.
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And we're so
thankful for that decision.
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Of course, this garden today
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looks more romanticized
with beautiful flowers.
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Back then I imagined
it was a much rugged,
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much more rugged, rough look.
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When Jesus'
disciples couldn't stay awake
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to keep praying with Jesus.
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And I've wondered
would I have done any better
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under those circumstances,
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under that sort of pressure,
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but whatever it was
Jesus was there alone
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in the garden with the Father.
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Well, the good news is that yes,
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Jesus died but
He was resurrected
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and that is what now
empowers our mission.
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And on today's program,
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we'll be taking you
all around the world
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to see mission in action.
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First up, let's travel to Brazil
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and meet a little church planter
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traveling in a canoe.
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If you want to get
anywhere in northern Brazil,
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you need to be
comfortable on a boat.
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It can be a large ferry
carrying lots of people,
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cars and trucks or
as small as a canoe.
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Water travel is a way of life
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along the rivers of
the North Brazil Union
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of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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This area of Brazil
has seen tremendous growth
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over the past few years.
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And not all of
it has taken place
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in the large
churches and the big cities.
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In some very remote areas
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people are hearing
the good news of Jesus
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and His love and forgiveness.
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Lives are being changed
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and people are being
reached all along the water.
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Vitoria seems like any
active 10-year-old girl.
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She loves to spend time
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with her parents
and Brother Daniel.
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She even has a pet
Toucan, name Samson.
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Yet Victoria has done
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something most
young girls haven't done.
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She has planted a small group
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that meets every
week to study the Bible.
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One day a week Vitoria
climbs into her small canoe
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and paddles her way up the river
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that her family lives on.
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The river is part of
the Amazon River Basin
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which covers this
part of Northern Brazil
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like a million
slithering snakes.
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With skill and determination,
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she makes her way up
river to the houses of friends
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that she picks up to
take to the Bible study.
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Vitoria explains why
she's willing to navigate
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such a big river
in such a small boat.
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I had to take a canoe
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because I had no way
of going in a bigger boat.
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I'm too small, so I
had to go with the canoe.
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Sometimes her brother
comes along to help out.
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And when the canoe is full,
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they make their way to a path
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that leads them into the jungle.
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They walk on top of fallen logs
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trying not to fall
off into the thick mud
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that covers the forest floor.
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They finally come to a small hut
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on stilts that overlooks
another outlet of the river.
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This is the home
of another friend
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who has offered to
host the Bible studies
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as long as he's
allowed to attend as well.
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The young people
start with prayer
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and quickly open the
Small Groups magazine
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produced by the
South American division
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to use as a study guide.
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They also use the
Sabbath School lesson
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to guide their studies.
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After a discussion on
the topic of the lesson,
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they sing songs and
close with a prayer.
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Vitoria gives a simple reason
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for wanting to tell
her friends about Jesus.
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Because I want to
be in heaven with them.
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Three of Vitoria's
friends have been baptized
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because of her witness,
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and they are
inviting more friends
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to their weekly lessons.
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If a young child
is willing to brave
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a big river to share
her faith with her friends,
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just imagine what we all can do
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to help spread the
gospel around the world.
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All we need is a
little faith, courage,
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and the work of the Holy Spirit.
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And we can do
wonders in Jesus name
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just like a little
girl up on the Amazon River.
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The purpose of the
Global Mission pioneer program
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is to start new
groups of believers
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in new areas or
among new people groups.
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And the idea is
to have a pioneer
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from within that culture.
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They know the
language, they know the people.
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But that's not always possible
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because there's
parts of the world where,
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of course, we don't have
enough Adventist believers
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if we have any at all.
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And that's the case
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where my guest today is working.
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And you came here
from your home country
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many, many miles away.
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And I'm wondering,
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what was the
purpose for your coming?
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What motivated you to come here?
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Well, the special
thing I was motivated is
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because my love for the mission,
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my love for God
because I received many things
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from God and I
decided to serve Him.
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Okay, so you were
serving as a pastor
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in your home country.
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How did your family
react when you said,
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"I want to go to
Middle East North Africa?"
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You know, all
the people around me,
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they were surprised
because it was a hard decision.
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I talked to my
father and my mom.
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And they said, "Okay,
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if it the wishes
of God, you can go.
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For us it's not easy,
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but we know that God will
be with you wherever you go."
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Wonderful.
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So you came here
different language,
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different culture,
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different climate,
different environment,
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what were the major
challenges that you have faced?
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Yeah, at the
beginning was a little bit hard
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because all that you
mentioned, all the stuff...
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In the three first months,
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it was hard.
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Because, you know, you
have to learn many things
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about people, about
culture, language especially,
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I speak Spanish and English,
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no French, no Arabic.
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So it was so hard for me,
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but I can support that.
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Good, good, good.
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So tell me what
sort of activities
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have you been involved in?
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Yeah.
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Normally, I try to make friends.
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I go for gym or some places
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and try to connect with them,
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maybe exchange numbers.
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Yeah, chatting by Facebook
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or WhatsApp and, you know,
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to know each other
and to share experience.
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So are you
learning the language?
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Yeah, I know I learned
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some the basic
parts of the language.
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So tell me an experience
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that you've had
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where you've had the opportunity
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to share with somebody?
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Yeah, at the beginning it was...
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What I expected was like
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I can't share
anything about my beliefs.
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Right.
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But after when I met
some friends, they asked me,
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you know, like who are you?
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Where are you coming from?
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Are you religious?
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Do you have any religion?
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And it was...
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Yeah, it was so exciting for me.
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And I continued to
talk about the topic.
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Finally, we talked about
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the special thing
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that we came to share,
you know, about salvation,
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about the kingdom of God,
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about similar beliefs that
we have with the local people.
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But the most
exciting thing for me was
00:10:02.33\00:10:05.50
when I talked with my friends
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about the salvation
that we have in Jesus.
00:10:09.34\00:10:12.57
It was the best part
00:10:12.61\00:10:14.24
and the best experience
that I have and I had.
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Yeah, I think it is so
nice in this part of the world.
00:10:18.48\00:10:24.25
So when they asked
you about your beliefs
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and then you are able to
share the story of salvation,
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how did they react?
00:10:30.29\00:10:33.96
Well, the
reaction of them, you know,
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you have to
explain them step by step.
00:10:37.10\00:10:40.64
Yes.
00:10:40.67\00:10:42.47
But at the
beginning, I have to learn,
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I have to know
about what they believe
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and learn about
the book of them.
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I can share about
the book that I use,
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it means the Bible.
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But I study a lot
of about the Quran
00:10:59.65\00:11:04.39
and learn the similarities
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that we have
between Quran and Bible.
00:11:06.56\00:11:09.30
And talk about with them
00:11:09.33\00:11:10.97
only about the
Quran not about the Bible.
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Right.
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And they were surprised
00:11:15.27\00:11:16.60
because they don't
study like I have studied.
00:11:16.64\00:11:20.08
And they say, "Whoa, really?
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It says in the Quran.
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In the Quran talk about Jesus?"
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"Yes, look at
this. Here is a verse."
00:11:25.41\00:11:27.45
Yeah. "Read it. You can read."
00:11:27.48\00:11:29.65
Yeah, this is a
wonder how I managed
00:11:29.68\00:11:33.39
the
conversation with my friends.
00:11:33.42\00:11:35.02
Right.
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So you're following
Jesus' example of meeting people
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where they are
within their understanding.
00:11:39.49\00:11:42.93
Wonderful. Yeah.
00:11:42.96\00:11:44.47
Now what plans do
you have for the future?
00:11:44.50\00:11:47.80
Well, the plan is to create
00:11:47.84\00:11:52.91
a sports club for children,
00:11:52.94\00:11:57.85
for young
people to teach sports.
00:11:57.88\00:12:02.25
We already did this project.
00:12:02.28\00:12:07.52
I hope in some days after,
00:12:07.56\00:12:11.56
we will start this
project, to open this project.
00:12:11.59\00:12:15.80
Right.
00:12:15.83\00:12:17.17
And so this will
give you an opportunity
00:12:17.20\00:12:18.63
to be a center of influence
00:12:18.67\00:12:20.30
where you can
connect with the community,
00:12:20.34\00:12:22.10
with children
with their parents?
00:12:22.14\00:12:24.07
Exactly. This is the plan.
00:12:24.11\00:12:25.84
Connect first with the children
and then talk with the parents,
00:12:25.87\00:12:29.38
maybe have some
meeting with them.
00:12:29.41\00:12:31.71
And teach also
Spanish for the children
00:12:31.75\00:12:35.82
because in the
part where I'm living,
00:12:35.85\00:12:39.62
they like a lot of Spanish.
00:12:39.65\00:12:42.12
That's very, very helpful.
00:12:42.16\00:12:44.73
Well, thank you so much
for sharing with us today.
00:12:44.76\00:12:47.10
And God bless you in
the work that you're doing.
00:12:47.13\00:12:50.20
Thank you so much
00:12:50.23\00:12:51.57
for letting me
sharing this experience.
00:12:51.60\00:12:54.17
That's a privilege.
00:12:54.20\00:12:55.54
And viewers at home,
00:12:55.57\00:12:57.31
it's not easy
00:12:57.34\00:12:58.67
being on the
frontlines of mission.
00:12:58.71\00:13:00.14
It can be lonely.
00:13:00.18\00:13:01.51
Sometimes it can be
discouraging far from home,
00:13:01.54\00:13:04.35
so please pray for
people such as our guest today.
00:13:04.38\00:13:08.18
Pray that God will
be close to them that
00:13:08.22\00:13:10.65
they'll feel God's presence
00:13:10.69\00:13:12.02
and that He will continue
to bless their ministry.
00:13:12.05\00:13:14.49
We'll be right
back after this break.
00:13:14.52\00:13:16.26