A Rohingya refugee
family seeks away home.
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The Adventist
Development and Relief Agency
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distributes food in Bangladesh,
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and mission work
in Southern Asia,
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all this and much
more coming up next.
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You have tuned into Mission 360.
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I'm Gary Krause.
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Today's program is coming to you
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from Babcock
University in Nigeria.
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Babcock University is a
very influential university,
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not only here in Nigeria,
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but throughout Africa
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and in other parts of the world.
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It began back in 1959
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as the Adventist
College of West Africa.
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Today, it boasts
more than 10,000 students,
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and we'll be learning a lot more
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about Babcock in this program.
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But first up, let's
travel to Southeast Asia
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and meet a
Rohingya refugee family,
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struggling to find a way home.
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Yasmin clutches her infant
daughter Hasina to her chest
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as she makes her way home.
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She arrives at a
makeshift shelter
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made of tarpaulin
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where she and her
family are staying as refugees.
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Yasmin belongs to a
minority tribe in Myanmar
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called Rohingya,
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which has been targeted
for their Islamic beliefs.
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Early one morning
in September, 2017,
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Yasmin woke to the
loud roar of a helicopter
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circling her village in Myanmar.
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The next thing she
heard was machine guns
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strafing the buildings.
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Together with her husband,
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Yasmin grabbed her four children
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all under the age of five
and rushed toward the sea.
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The screams and gunfire
faded behind them as they ran.
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And by the time
they reached the coast,
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the only sound that remained
was the lapping of the waves.
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Still, the family was afraid.
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Hasina then just a newborn
survived those eight days
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on breast milk with a
piece of cloth for shade.
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Finally, Yasmin and her
husband decided that capture
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was better than starvation.
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On the morning of the ninth day,
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the family fled
toward Bangladesh.
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After an arduous journey,
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they ended up in a
refugee camp called Camp Leda
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in Southeast Bangladesh.
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The Adventist
Development and Relief Agency
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or ADRA is one of several
humanitarian organizations
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providing basic
necessities at the camp.
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Although life
in the refugee camp
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is relatively safe,
it's not always easy.
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Access to latrines is limited.
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Private bathing is
nearly impossible to find
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and schools are non-existent.
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As a Rohingya refugee in
Bangladesh Yasmin's options
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for food are also limited.
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So twice a month, she
gathers her youngest child
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and sets out for her
allotted portion of rice,
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lentils, salt, sugar, and oil.
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Yasmin's husband was
a successful shopkeeper
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and homeowner in
Myanmar before the attack.
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With the income
from his dry goods store
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and the shelter from
his two story wood house,
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her husband provided
for all his family's needs,
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but now they have no choice,
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but to accept aid and wait.
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Yasmin and her family
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are part at the
800,000 Rohingya refugees
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living in Bangladesh,
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yearning to
return home to Myanmar.
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Until then ADRA and other
humanitarian organizations
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are working to meet their needs.
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Your support of ADRA,
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and the mission offerings
makes a tangible difference
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for people like
Yasmin and her family.
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My guest is Pastor Matthieu,
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who is the secretary
of the Benin Mission.
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Pastor Matthieu, thank you
so much for joining us today.
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Oh, happy to meet you.
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Meet me again,
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because I have to give a
little bit of history here
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because more than 20
years ago, Elder Mike Ryan,
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who was then the
director of Global Mission
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for the General
Conference and I,
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who was his
communication director,
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traveled to West Africa.
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And it was my first
ever trip for Global Mission.
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And when we
were in Burkina Faso,
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we found a very,
very small church.
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I'm guessing that perhaps
there may have been 50 members
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in the entire country.
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But we were visiting
global mission pioneers
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who were starting new
groups of believers there.
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And this is where I
met Pastor Matthieu.
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And by, by surprise today,
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I met him again here in Nigeria.
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And Pastor Matthieu actually
came from Togo to Burkina Faso
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because he was the
close culturally, I guess.
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Yes.
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Similar language?
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Not similar.
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- You had to
learn? - Yeah, it's...
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I learned the language there.
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Yeah, so he was a Global
Mission pioneer missionary
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came to Burkina Faso.
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Now tell me,
what did you do while
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you were there as a pioneer?
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When I was there as pioneers,
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I was sent it to a
territory where there is none,
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no Adventist Church
no, not one Adventist.
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And then we start groups,
and at first at a Koudougou,
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and then we went
back to Yaramoko.
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Yaramoko we start
another new group in Gundi.
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During 10 years,
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I has the grace to start
12 groups in Burkina Faso.
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Today, some of them has
become a very big churches
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with many members.
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I thank God for that.
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Oh, yes.
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And today I was
showing Pastor Matthieu,
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an old photo that I
have of when we visited.
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And he is there praying
with a group of believers
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that he started.
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And that was a beautiful day.
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Yes, that day I was a very...
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Today for me,
it's a beautiful day
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because it reminds me that
day where we were together.
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In fact, what's
happened that day
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is that we are
starting a small group
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and then we are praying,
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after the message we make a call
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and then we are
praying for those
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who accepted Jesus.
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And there is a little
boy who was there observing
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what is happening.
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And then after that little boy
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decided to give
himself to Jesus.
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God since that time was touch,
has touched this little boy.
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And today he grew up.
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He gave his life
since that time to Jesus.
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He pulls his
father and his family
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to come to church.
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And then that small
boy you and decide today
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to serve God as a pastor.
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He went to Cosendai
at Cameroon to study
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and come back to
serve as a pastor.
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Beautiful story.
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What a blessing.
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Now, Pastor
Matthieu, when you went there,
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what approach did you take
when you moved into a new area?
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What did you do to start
a new group of believers?
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The real method is
that I used to study
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the culture of that
group of people and find
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what can be a link that
I can use to approach them
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through the...
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with the Bible.
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So I make, I
familiarize with them.
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I try to find out what they use
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and then for
Yaramoko, for example,
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I find that there is some group
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of idol
worshipers, [indiscernible],
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and the same is in
Togo and then they gathered
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and then they sing
and then after they sing
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they make their sacrifice.
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So, I think I
can use that method.
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So, I tried to find
how can I use the same...
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The Word of God to translate
to there was to a song.
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And then we sing and
then people coming out
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and then when they are out
and then we preach to them,
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we talk to them as
Jesus, as Jesus used to do.
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And we preached the gospel
and they were an interest.
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Is that method I used in
Burkina Faso at Yaramoko.
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When I went to another area
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where they use to...
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The young people
used to drink coffee.
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So, the method I use
that, I gather the young people,
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and then instead of use coffee,
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I found something that
is good for the health.
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And then we gather,
and we drink together.
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And then when we drink,
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it will be good occasion
to share the gospel with them.
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Thank God, it worked.
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God used many...
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I think that is the
orientation of the Holy Spirit
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by using the
method of Jesus Christ,
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mingling with people,
have their confidence,
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find something in their culture,
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and then with that,
it's a bridge to reach them.
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That's why we use.
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Beautiful.
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Matthieu has just described
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what Global Mission is all about
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following Christ's method
of ministry and finding leaks,
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bridges to the culture, not,
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not to become like that culture,
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but to speak the
language they understand.
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Yeah, it's true.
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So, how does it make you feel
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when you know that 12 new groups
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were established
and that the church
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has continued to grow?
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How do you feel?
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Very, very happy, very happy.
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Then in two weeks, in one week,
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I will go to Burkina Faso.
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Wonderful.
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Because I heard
that there is a church
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that we established that
people today many has gone.
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It's paining me
full, but if I...
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If I had a good news,
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that the group that
we established today
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became a very big church.
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It make me very happy.
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Wonderful.
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Because God sent me to...
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So, and He himself
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is making grow this fruit
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that was sowed.
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Beautiful. Wonderful.
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I was very
happy, very, very happy.
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It made me very happy.
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Pastor Matthieu, God
bless you and your family
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and your ministry in Benin.
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Amen.
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And as you also
care for Burkina Faso.
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Yeah, thank you.
Thank you very much.
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Thank you also,
because I like mission work
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and then I find that in you,
and I was very happy for you.
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Thank you very much.
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And please pray for Matthieu.
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Pray for the church
throughout West Africa,
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many challenges,
but God is blessing
00:12:03.62\00:12:06.35
and new groups are being planted
00:12:06.39\00:12:07.82
and are growing to His glory.
00:12:07.86\00:12:09.49
We'll be right
back after this break.
00:12:09.52\00:12:11.23