Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002503B
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00:08 Welcome back to Andrews University.
00:10 Behind me, you can see this iconic sculpture 00:13 of J.N. Andrews and his two children 00:15 going as the first Adventist missionaries, 00:18 the first official Adventist missionaries to go overseas. 00:21 And next up, we're going to hear 00:22 the amazing story of a missionary 00:25 who went to India at a very young age. 00:28 My guest today is one of the regional editors 00:30 of the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventist 00:33 overseen by the Office of Archives, Statistics, 00:36 and Research at the General Conference. 00:38 This new reference work will include many topics 00:41 of interest to Seventh-day Adventist around the world, 00:44 including stories about Adventist Mission work 00:46 and missionaries. 00:48 Dr. Christo, welcome. Thank you. 00:51 It's a pleasure for me to participate in this video. 00:54 Today, you're gonna tell us a little bit about a missionary 00:56 named Theodore Flaiz who served many years in India. 01:00 Why did you choose him to talk about today? 01:03 When I reviewed the stories of missionaries, most of them, 01:07 well, many of them were sad, and actually depressing, 01:12 but the story of Flaiz I found inspiring and pleasant. 01:17 Okay. 01:19 Yeah, many missionaries, 01:20 many of our pioneer missionaries 01:21 ended up giving their lives and losing loved ones. 01:24 So I know what you're saying 01:26 when you say many of them are sad. 01:28 What role did Flaiz play 01:29 in the work of Adventist Mission? 01:33 Flaiz came to India when he was very young. 01:36 He was barely 23 years old, just married. 01:39 When he and his wife Jenny sailed for India, 01:42 came just in time to attend the meetings 01:44 of the 1919 Council 01:47 when Southern Asia division was formed. 01:49 And he was appointed superintendent of the first... 01:53 He was the first superintendent of the Telugu Mission. 01:56 And while he was 02:01 looking for a place to settle 02:04 and to situate the headquarters, 02:06 he received a number of letters from a certain party, 02:09 Mandla Abraham. 02:11 And Abraham said that 02:15 he was a minister for the CMS Mission. 02:18 And he said that he had accepted the doctrines 02:22 of the Adventist Church and it was in fact, 02:24 preaching some of them and wanted to work 02:26 for the Adventist Church. 02:29 So Flaiz invited him to attend a Colporteur Institute 02:33 with the idea that he might be a colporteur, 02:37 but when he came to attend the institute, 02:40 it was a rather cold morning. 02:41 So he wrapped himself up in a blanket 02:44 around this body over his head to cover himself 02:47 as much as possible. 02:49 And there was another colporteur 02:52 attending that institute 02:53 who took a look at him and said, 02:55 "Good morning, grandma." 02:57 Oh, no. 02:58 And this greatly upset Abraham, 03:02 who abused him with rather foul language. 03:05 Okay. 03:07 And this disturbed Flaiz and felt that 03:10 he could not be a good Adventist worker 03:13 and told him that he had to return home 03:16 and gave him some money to go home. 03:19 While Abraham was disturbed and upset, 03:23 and he heard that Flaiz 03:26 was going to be driving to Vijayawada, 03:29 which is where he was supposed to go. 03:32 And so he hung around thinking 03:33 that he could hitch a ride and save the fare. 03:36 Oh, Flaiz agreed to take him. 03:38 And while they were traveling by car, 03:42 Abraham told him, "You know, 03:44 I understand you're going for 03:45 in gathering to raise some funds for your work. 03:48 And incidentally, there is a Raja of Telaprolu, 03:52 who lives not far from here. 03:54 And if you go there, 03:55 I'm sure he will give you a good donation." 03:57 And he showed him a pencil he said the Raja had given him. 04:01 So that wasn't very far from Vijayawada, 04:03 which was where they were headed. 04:05 And when they got there, dropped off Abraham 04:08 and went to see the Raja. 04:10 The Raja said, "I don't know that guy. 04:14 And if he has a pencil, he says I gave him. 04:17 He must have stolen it." Oh, no. 04:19 But when he saw the brochure that Flaiz had 04:22 and saw that Adventists are running hospitals, 04:25 he said, "My mother was seriously ill. 04:29 And my father promised that 04:31 he would build a hospital, if she would get well. 04:35 Well, she got well, but my father died. 04:38 And it was up to me to fulfill that vow. 04:41 So I started building it and had to abandon the plans 04:44 because the World War 1912. 04:47 I couldn't get materials, so it stopped." 04:50 Okay. 04:51 If you would run a hospital, I'll give it to you 04:54 and some money to finish building it. 04:56 How providential. That's amazing. 04:59 And that's how the Giffard Memorial Hospital began, 05:04 but Flaiz also began a high school in our support, 05:08 which today is also a college. 05:10 So we have two very good institutions 05:12 because of Flaiz. 05:15 Is there anything about Flaiz that personally inspires you? 05:21 What impressed the people that he worked 05:24 with was that even though 05:25 he and his wife were very young, 05:27 they showed a maturity far beyond the age. 05:30 They welcomed people into their homes. 05:33 Even though people were looking into everything, 05:37 they felt at home with the local people, 05:40 the local people felt at home with them. 05:43 Even the decisions that he made, 05:45 demonstrated the maturity even though he was very young. 05:49 Dr. Christo, was Flaiz ever involved 05:51 in the work of the hospital? 05:54 He wasn't a physician at the time 05:56 when that donation was made, 05:58 but after a number of years 05:59 when his wife was not keeping well, 06:01 they came back to the US. 06:02 And he went to medical college 06:04 trained as a physician and came back, 06:06 and then served as a physician at that hospital. 06:08 Wow. 06:10 Were there any particularly struggles that he faced 06:13 when he was over there? 06:16 Perhaps the one struggle was his wife's illness 06:20 for which they came back. 06:22 And she eventually passed away, but he married again 06:25 and came back to India for the third time. 06:28 Wow, he couldn't get enough of mission work, 06:30 obviously, right? 06:32 He served at the GC also for about 19 years 06:36 as medical secretary. 06:37 Okay. 06:39 Then he came back after that to work in India, 06:40 that's where he systemized the work of our hospitals 06:44 and physicians in the division. 06:46 I wanna ask you one more question. 06:48 Why do you personally feel 06:50 that this encyclopedia project is so important? 06:53 Why is it so important to preserve the contributions 06:56 of our missionaries from the past? 06:58 The unfortunate situation is that in our division, 07:02 there's been no published history 07:05 of our division, no archives, 07:07 well no museum of collections. 07:10 And this work that's being promoted by 07:13 ASDR is creating an awareness 07:16 and an interest in this project. 07:18 So I'm happy to be working with it. 07:20 Wonderful. 07:21 Dr. Christo, thank you so much for sharing with us 07:23 a little bit of the life of Flaiz, 07:25 and giving us an idea of his contributions 07:28 to the work of this church. 07:30 You're very welcome. It's been my pleasure. 07:33 Reporting from Mission 360 TV, 07:35 I'm Laurie Falvo. 07:37 Next up, we traveled to Ethiopia 07:39 to visit a Sabbath School class. 07:41 And if you would have physically visited 07:43 there may not be enough room for you. 07:45 The children are meeting in a shipping container 07:48 and there's just not enough room. 07:50 Your 13th Sabbath Offerings 07:51 this quarter can help change that. 08:01 Twelve-year-old Bamlak 08:02 loves to share Bible stories with felts. 08:05 She has a pile of characters and scenes to choose from. 08:08 Even though she's so young, 08:10 she teaches the children Sabbath School class, 08:12 which meets inside 08:13 this converted shipping container. 08:16 On Sabbath morning this church 08:17 is filled with worship through song, 08:20 Bible study, and prayer. 08:21 Churches in Ethiopia's capital 08:23 Addis Ababa have seen 08:25 significant growth over the years, 08:27 especially with the children. 08:30 On any given day of the week, 08:31 children gathered in churches 08:33 to do their favorite activity, sing. 08:38 Children invite their neighborhood friends 08:40 to join them at church. 08:41 They love learning new songs 08:43 and playing games like Bible trivia. 08:45 They take ownership of teaching 08:47 and being a part of the church service. 08:58 Tiojo's family was not Adventist, 09:01 but live near this church. 09:03 From his house, he could hear the kids singing. 09:05 At just three years old, he wandered down this tree 09:08 to check it out. 09:09 He loved it. 09:11 Soon Tiojo and his siblings 09:12 were at the church every Sabbath. 09:15 Their parents noticed that 09:16 the children's behavior had improved. 09:18 And were curious about where they spent so much time. 09:21 What was happening? 09:22 The kids begged their parents to come to church with them. 09:25 When they finally did, 09:26 they were impressed by what they saw. 09:28 This was the right church for their family. 09:31 Fifteen years later, 09:33 they're still grateful to their children 09:34 for introducing them to the Adventist Church. 09:40 We love our church very much. 09:43 What they are doing there is helping us to think, 09:46 meditate, and be better Christians. 09:49 Not only that, our home and our church is the same. 09:53 What we have here, we will take to the church 09:57 and if we need something the church will help us. 10:00 The church is our family. 10:01 We are one, we are very happy to be Adventists. 10:07 The Sabbath School Program has taught many children 10:10 about the love of Jesus, 10:11 but if you visit Bamlak's class, 10:13 there might not be enough room for you. 10:15 The children only have this small dark section 10:18 inside the old shipping container. 10:20 Bamlak and the other children pray for the day 10:22 when there's more space in their Sabbath School, 10:25 then they'll be able to invite all their friends to come 10:27 and not have to turn anyone away. 10:30 A portion of your 13th Sabbath Offering 10:32 this quarter will help build a new shelter at this church 10:34 and several other churches across Ethiopia 10:37 that need more space for the children. 10:39 The offering will also go toward various projects 10:42 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 10:44 South Sudan, and Kenya. 10:46 Please pray for these projects 10:48 and consider how you can contribute. 10:50 Thank you for supporting the 13th Sabbath Offering. 11:07 Well, thanks so much 11:08 for joining us today for Mission 360. 11:11 And I hope that you've enjoyed 11:12 our 360 degree vision of mission around the world. 11:16 I hope you have been challenged 11:18 by seeing what's happening 11:19 with missionaries around the world, 11:20 what's happening with your 13 Sabbath Offerings. 11:23 Just seeing those kids 11:24 worshiping in shipping containers, 11:26 we're reminded many of the needs 11:27 and challenges that still remain 11:29 and I wanna thank you so much 11:31 for being interested in mission, 11:34 for supporting mission, for praying for mission, 11:37 for giving to mission, for being involved in mission. 11:40 And if you'd like to see more stories 11:43 about what's happening around the world, 11:44 you can always go to m360.tv 11:47 and there you'll find many, many video stories of mission 11:49 around the world. 11:51 So whether you pray, whether you give, 11:52 whether you go, or whether you do all three, 11:55 you are part of our Adventist Mission team 11:57 and I wanna thank you again. 11:58 For Adventist Mission, I'm Gary Krause. 12:01 And I hope that you can join me next time 12:03 right here on Mission 360. |
Revised 2020-04-29