Welcome back to
the city of Chicago.
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And behind me you'll see
a sculpture by Anish Kapoor,
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which is called Cloud Gate
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but it's more
popularly known as The Bean.
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And it's like a
magnet drawing tourists
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to take pictures
and do funny poses
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and see themselves
reflected in this sculpture.
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Hi, there.
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I'm so happy to
have you with us today.
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My name is Kleber Goncalves,
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and I'm here in
the streets of Madrid
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to introduce you to a
friend in an urban missionary.
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This is Jonathan Contero.
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And, Johnny, you mentioned to us
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that a dream
brought you to this city.
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Can you share with us a
little bit about this dream?
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Yes, when I was
raised in church,
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I was feeling that
we were unable to reach
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secular people.
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And in 21st
century, we still in Spain,
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we don't reach
secular and postmodern people,
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and my dream was
to plant a church,
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able to reach
this kind of people.
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We communicate,
that could communicate
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with the secular
and postmodern mind.
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Yeah, we have to
connect with them.
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What brought you to
Madrid? Any specific reason?
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Well, Madrid is
the capital of Spain,
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is the largest city,
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actually, 3 million
people are living here.
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How large is the
country, the whole country?
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The county is
like 47 million people.
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In Madrid?
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In Madrid, 3
million living here.
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So it's quite big
city to share the gospel.
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And for how long
have you been in Madrid
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with this specific project?
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It's for three years now, yeah.
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And during these three years,
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could you share with
us some of the challenges
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that you have faced
in order to really...
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Yeah, the challenge in
the postmodern society,
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they reject organized religion.
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They even
reject the idea of God.
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They don't like,
yeah, religion and churches,
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they reject all this idea.
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And what are some of the
steps that you and your team
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have developed to
make friendship with them.
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So build bridges with
the community around you?
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While the first step
is impact the community
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to live what we preach
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is just impacting
the community around us,
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and we invite them to join us
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working for the
community for homeless people.
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We go to the hospital,
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we do very hard push
into the impact to community.
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When I hear you
mentioning that you guys
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go to hospitals
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to do a specific
work with children there.
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If I'm not wrong,
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can you go a
little bit more specific
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with what you do in the hospital
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in order to really reach out
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to these children
and their families?
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In the hospital,
we stay with them,
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we play with them, and
we spend time with them.
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At the end, I
guess people need time,
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quality time
and to develop trust
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and we try to spend
time, quality time with them.
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What are some of the results
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that are coming out of
these community initiatives
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that you have been developing?
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Well, we do a
summer camp with sick kids,
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cancer, epilepsy,
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and two girls,
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two of the
participants of the summer come,
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two young
ladies of 15 years old.
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They are coming
to church very often
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because of the
summer camp we do.
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That's wonderful.
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And through all these years
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that you've been
leading this specific project,
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what are some of the lessons,
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Jonathan, that you have learned
that you could share with us?
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Yeah, first lesson
is to develop trust
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before the invitation.
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I mean, people need to trust you
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before they go the way you do
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and before going
the place you go.
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The second is patience.
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We need to be patient
because we are in a rush,
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we're stressed to
just to make people
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do a commitment
with Jesus very fast,
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and several people need
time to make that commitment.
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And throughout this
whole wonderful experience
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that you guys are having,
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I heard that many
people have been transformed.
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Could you kind of mention
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a situation or a
story of somebody?
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Yeah, a guy comes to my mind.
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He's actor and
he started with us
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with the project, is step one.
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He did step two,
is a small groups.
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He came to my house
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and we studied Bible every week,
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we pray together.
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And the third
step, he came to church.
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He was ready to came to church.
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And now he is disciple.
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This been really...
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So he's part of the
community? Yeah, yeah.
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What kind of steps are
you guys taking to build
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this family kind of
attitudes in the community?
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Yeah, we try to teach,
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to pass it on the
idea of discipleship.
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We are a family and community,
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we are a family
and we work for God.
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We work to one
another. We help us one another.
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And we try to change the world.
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So if I hear you correctly,
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church for you
guys is not a building
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or four walls in
which you meet once a week?
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Not at all.
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Church, we are
church, the persons,
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every one of us
is church together
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when we are together.
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So your goal is to build
the church in the community?
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Yeah, yeah, no
matter the building,
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the church is every
one of us and what we do.
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So yeah,
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the idea is to kind
of bring this vision,
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this dream to
other young people,
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other pastors
that could take this
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to maybe other cities in Spain?
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Yeah, hopefully.
Or maybe out of Spain?
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Yeah, hopefully it
will be a great miracle
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and a great challenge as well.
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It is our sincere
prayer that, Jonathan,
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that Lord will continue
to bless you, your team,
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the community
that you are building
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such a way that
you're going to be
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powerful
instruments in His hands.
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Thank you so
much for joining us.
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And thank you for
having us in your home.
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And we just pray
that you also understand
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that God has appealed to you,
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that you also has a part
to fulfill in His mission.
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All the best. God bless you.
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Next up, we travel to Thailand,
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and we visit a
unique mission project.
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It's a climbing wall.
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The thing that I
really like is seeing people
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do something that
they think they can't do
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or trying something,
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coming, facing a challenge
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and then pushing
through and continuing to try.
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To me, it gives me
courage to see that people
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can be willing to do something.
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We see people who
have never climbed before.
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They're terrified of it.
They're scared of heights.
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And we say, "No, you can do,"
and we give them encouragement
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and we try to help
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give them some
kind of motivation.
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And they go for
it, and they do it.
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And at the end,
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they're so
excited that they did it.
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You know
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that's just
really fulfilling to me.
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My wife Jessica and I
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most recently lived in
Washington State in the USA.
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And we just felt
like God was calling us
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somewhere else
and we prayed about it
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and through prayer and study,
God brought us to this place.
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Bangkok is a giant city.
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I think there's
like 12 million people
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that live here.
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They say there's 2 million
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that commute
into work every day.
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It's very modern.
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It's got a lot
of high tech stuff.
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Neither one of us really likes
urban settings or the city.
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We much more prefer
nature and being outdoors.
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But sometimes you have
to give up your desires
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and your wants for what God has.
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So, yeah, He brought
us here and it wasn't,
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wouldn't have
been our first choice,
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but it's His choice.
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And so that's what we wanted to.
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So F5 Challenge Center
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is a health
focused Center of influence
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in Bangkok, Thailand,
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where we're trying
to connect with people
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and minister to felt needs
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through the avenue
of health and fitness.
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F5 is actually an acronym
or there's five F's rather,
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it's faith, fellowship,
fitness, fortitude, and fun.
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And those correlate
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with the five aspects
of health, the spiritual,
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the mental, the physical,
the emotional, and the social.
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It's kind of a holistic,
encompassing message of health
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to try and
connect with every aspect.
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Depression and
suicide rates are really high.
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And so meeting those
social and those emotional needs
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are also really important.
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Climbing is very
good thing for that.
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Climbing has
been shown in studies
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to help with
depression in different times,
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things like that.
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We have the climbing gym
here where people can come
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and they can try out climbing.
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But also during the times
where the weather is good,
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we lead weekly outdoor trips.
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We take people
out of this giant city
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where they can go
and climb on real rock.
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You know, to be able
to see God's creation,
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to be able to see and
interact with them in nature.
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And then basically,
you're spending eight hours
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with a group of people.
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And it really
gives opportunities
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in a social setting,
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just to
interact with each other,
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to learn about one another
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and truly build
those connections
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that build trust.
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When you're hanging
off the side of a cliff,
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26 meters up in the air.
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And the only thing keeping
you from falling to death
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is the person below
holding on to the rope.
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It really builds
trust and community.
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And so, then when
they come back down,
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and they're so excited,
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and you know,
they're really pumped up,
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you give them a high
five, so that was great,
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you know, and then
they sit down there
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while they wait for
the next few people.
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And you get to talk
and interact with them.
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And so you're
building that relationship
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in a social setting.
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We've had people talk to us
about very personal challenges
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that they're facing,
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maybe when they
come into the gym,
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and they're just
kind of one on one,
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then they say, you know,
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this is
something that's going on.
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And so we found that
it really helps build
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a solid relationship
rather than something where,
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you know, you see
them every once in a while.
00:10:02.20\00:10:03.83
The majority of
people are living in cities.
00:10:09.37\00:10:11.27
And often,
00:10:11.31\00:10:12.64
you know, when we
first were thinking
00:10:12.67\00:10:14.01
about becoming missionaries,
00:10:14.04\00:10:15.38
we were thinking about
on the jungle adventures,
00:10:15.41\00:10:16.75
we were reading
Eric B. Hare stories,
00:10:16.78\00:10:18.11
you know, and fighting tigers
00:10:18.15\00:10:19.55
and rogue elephants.
00:10:19.58\00:10:20.92
And then when God
called us to Bangkok,
00:10:20.95\00:10:22.42
was like, that's not
really a mission field,
00:10:22.45\00:10:24.15
you know, that's a city.
00:10:24.19\00:10:25.52
But yeah, as we
thought about it,
00:10:25.55\00:10:26.89
it's like this is
a huge mission field.
00:10:26.92\00:10:28.49
And it's where people
you know, they don't know,
00:10:28.52\00:10:30.29
and often times they don't care.
00:10:30.33\00:10:31.66
They don't really feel a need.
00:10:31.69\00:10:33.03
They don't feel like
they need anything physical.
00:10:33.06\00:10:34.96
But what they fail
to understand is that
00:10:35.00\00:10:37.47
they do have emotional needs,
they do have social needs,
00:10:37.50\00:10:39.77
they have these things.
00:10:39.80\00:10:41.14
And often times,
you don't even know.
00:10:41.17\00:10:42.50
You feel like,
"Well, I've got an Audi
00:10:42.54\00:10:44.24
and I got a nice house
and I got a girlfriend,
00:10:44.27\00:10:46.27
I don't need anything else."
00:10:46.31\00:10:47.74
But when we connect with them,
we're able to share with them
00:10:47.78\00:10:49.84
and build those relationships,
you come to understand that
00:10:49.88\00:10:52.58
and you can help you know share
00:10:52.61\00:10:53.95
that there is a
need that you have,
00:10:53.98\00:10:55.32
you think that you're filling it
00:10:55.35\00:10:56.69
with all of these
things that you have,
00:10:56.72\00:10:58.05
but it's not actually filling it
00:10:58.09\00:10:59.42
and that hole that
you feel is actually,
00:10:59.45\00:11:01.79
can be filled with God,
00:11:01.82\00:11:03.26
and He's seeking you
00:11:03.29\00:11:04.83
and actively looking
to connect with you there.
00:11:04.86\00:11:07.66
But yeah, working with a group
that's, that has everything.
00:11:07.70\00:11:11.40
It takes right more
00:11:11.43\00:11:12.77
so the heart that
work towards the heart.
00:11:12.80\00:11:14.74
Well, thank you so
much for joining me
00:11:45.23\00:11:46.87
today on Mission 360°.
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And I hope that you've enjoyed
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our 360 degree view of
mission around the world.
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But we see so
many different creative
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and dedicated ways
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to share the
gospel around the world.
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And I want to thank you so much
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for being part of our
Adventist Mission Team,
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because whether you pray,
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whether you go,
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whether you
give, whatever you do,
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you are part of our
Adventist Mission family
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supporting mission.
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I want you to continue to pray
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for our
front-line mission workers.
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Well, for Adventist
Mission, I'm Gary Krause.
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And I hope you
can join me next time
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right here on Mission 360°.
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