Welcome back to Portland, Maine.
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If you missed any
part of this program
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or any of our other
Mission 360 TV programs,
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you can always go to m360.tv
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there you'll find our programs
and many other mission stories
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that you can
watch at your leisure.
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Next up, we travel to Thailand
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to learn how we can
build better bridges
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with our Buddhist friends.
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I work with the
Global Mission Centre
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for East Asian
Religions here in Thailand.
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And whenever I travel,
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I like to ask
people their stories,
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people who have
converted from one...
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from an East Asian
religion to become a Christian
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because these are gems
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that we can learn from
and understand their stories.
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One of my travels,
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I was actually
working here in Thailand,
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I went into the
northeastern part
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of the country
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and their Sabbath
morning for worship,
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there was a grandma
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and she was just so
involved in the singing
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and when it came
time for the sermon,
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she was looking for
the text in her Bible.
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And, of course, she
needed help to find it.
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And afterwards,
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as I was talking
to different ones,
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I found out that she had
just recently been converted
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to become a follower of Christ.
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And so I decided to interview
and find out her story.
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And this is what she told me.
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She said, "I've only been
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a Seventh-day
Adventist Christian
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for the last three years
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and now I'm 75 years old."
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I was like, "Wow,
that's not very common."
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Often times,
though, as folks get older,
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they're more
devout in their own faith
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and not looking
for something else.
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I said, "Tell me your story."
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She said, "Well, you know,
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it started a long time
back when I was five years old."
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She said, "Both of my parents
were in an automobile accident
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and they were
tragically killed."
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And so at five years
old, she became an orphan.
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Now her family took care
of her the best they could
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but she said at that
funeral, at the cremation,
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she felt some impact in it.
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She didn't
understand what it was,
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but she felt uncomfortable and,
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and but she
marked that as the day
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that she's began to
have problems with spirits.
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That the demons will
began to chastise her,
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begin to give her problems.
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And as she grew,
and as time passed,
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she began
having health problems.
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So she went to the
University Hospital,
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actually right there
in her town in her city,
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where they even have
a special cardiac unit,
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because she was having
symptoms of heart congestion
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and all kinds of
problems like this.
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And so she went there,
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and they did
everything, took a lot...
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did all kinds of
tests and treated her,
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but it got to the
point where they said,
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"We think your
problem is not just medical."
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And they encouraged her to
go to find help in her religion
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to ask the monks to help her
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or to go and talk to shamans
and see if they can help her
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and so she did.
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She first went to the
temple, and that helped,
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she went to the
shamans, and that helped,
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but it didn't solve the problem.
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She still had the problem.
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But not only did
she had a problem,
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but it kept getting worse.
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By the time she was in her 60s,
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she was struggling
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to get even
half a night's sleep.
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She couldn't sleep,
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she was
constantly being tormented.
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And once she was 72 years old,
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a new person moved
into the door next...
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next door to her.
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She didn't know who it was.
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She didn't really pay attention.
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But on a Saturday morning,
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she heard music
coming out of that house.
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So out of
curiosity, she went and looked,
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and she's like, "Hello,
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this is, this is
Christian worship.
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I want to go and see,"
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and so she just kind of
stood in the doorway and looked
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and watched
what they were doing.
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And she waited
until after the service
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and then the pastor come out,
actually he was a retired man.
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He had retired and lived there,
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but he was starting a church
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in his retirement
as a church planter.
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He came out and
talked to her and said,
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"You are very interested,
tell me how can we help you?"
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And she told her story.
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And he offered to pray for her.
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And not only did he
offer to pray for her,
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but he began to
give her Bible studies.
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And you know what?
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God worked
miraculously in her life.
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She was healed and
she studied her Bible,
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she was excited,
and she was baptized.
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And now here she was
in church on that Sabbath,
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I was enjoying
spending time with her.
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And I said,
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"You know, I'm sure
your life has changed a lot,
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not only with the
demons, but in other ways."
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Can you just summarize
what Jesus means to you today?
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And she said, "Oh, I love Jesus.
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He's amazing, what
He's doing for me."
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She said, "In fact,
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I just tell
everybody about Him."
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I tell my parents,
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I tell my
friends, I tell my family,
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not her parents,
her parents passed away
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but she'd tell her
family and her friends
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and tell her
family and friends again,
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and they just said,
"Please be quiet about this.
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We're tired of
hearing the same things."
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But she said, "I
can't keep quiet."
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Well, she said, you
know, "I'm an old lady.
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I know I don't have a
lot of years left to live.
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But when I die,
I plan that I will,
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when I am reborn
in the next life,
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I want to be a Christian again."
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I thought what in the world
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and the Bible
worker sitting next to her,
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her jaw just dropped.
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What was wrong?
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Well, we talked,
we prayed with her.
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But then we talked
together separately,
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the Bible worker and
I said, "What happened?
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Why this woman loves
God with all her heart,
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her conversion is
real, it's genuine."
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Why is it that she's
talking about the next life?
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She's been taught
about the second time,
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she's been taught
about the state of the dead,
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she's been
taught about the glory
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that God has for us.
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The issue is,
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is just because we
tell people our beliefs
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does not mean that it
changes their worldview,
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and how they
understand the cosmology.
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So this is something
that's really important for us.
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You know, in, in
many parts of Asia today,
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we have many converts,
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but they often come
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from another
Christian background,
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or from animistic background,
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but very few of those
in the world religions,
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including Buddhism,
have made that transition.
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And this is one of
the big reasons why,
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is that their
worldview is so different.
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So how do we deal with this?
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Well, what we've learned
is that worldview is formed
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through experience,
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and through stories of
other people's experiences.
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And it's really
important that what we do
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is take the time to take them
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through the
stories of the Bible,
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and help them to
have new experiences
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and re explain life events,
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so that these
things can make sense.
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This is what the
Global Mission centers
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are all about in our Center
for the East Asian religions.
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If you would
like more information
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on how you can reach out
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to Buddhists and
other East Asians,
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go to our website,
cear.globalmissioncenters.org.
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May God bless you
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as you live for
Him in these last days.
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Next up, we
traveled to Sri Lanka
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to meet a
Global Mission pioneer.
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In Sri Lanka,
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most young adults in their 20s
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continue pursuing
their professional careers.
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But Rupan is taking
a different journey.
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At age 23 Rupan realized
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God's unique
purpose for his life
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and decided to use his
training and natural remedies
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to serve as a
Global Mission pioneer.
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My heart is telling
me to do God's work.
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I believe it was the Holy Spirit
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who convinced me to do His work.
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And that's why
I choose to become
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a Global Mission pioneer.
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He was sent to a
town called Omanthai,
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a primarily Buddhist community
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274 kilometers away
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from the
country's capital, Colombo.
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With a population
of over 22 million
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this South Asian
country in the Indian Ocean
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is a land of rich
diversity and culture.
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Home to various ethnic
groups, religions and customs,
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Sri Lanka has
great opportunities
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for mission.
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Rupan tried to find ways
to reach out to the community.
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As soon as he arrived,
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he started
going around the city,
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visiting one home after another,
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and building relationships.
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After days of home visitations
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and understanding the
community's way of life,
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Rupan realized that
there was an enormous need
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for lifestyle development
and medical assistance.
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He started going
around the city again,
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this time introducing
the Adventist health message,
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which stirred the interest
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and curiosity of
the people he visited.
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One day Rupan
came across a family
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who owns a local hotel business.
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The head of the
family suffered from diabetes
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and his condition was worsening.
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Rupan's first visit
with them wasn't easy.
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They found the health
message hard to believe.
00:09:13.21\00:09:15.95
But after giving it much thought
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the hotel owner
agreed to try it out.
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Rupan started the first
session with a word of prayer,
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which was quite
unusual for the hotel owner.
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He then prepared all
the things he needed,
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and then went on
with the procedure.
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After months of
consistent visits
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and water therapy sessions,
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the hotel owner's
wounds started healing.
00:09:41.68\00:09:44.95
Amazed by these improvements,
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the hotel owner
became more excited
00:09:46.88\00:09:48.92
to learn about
the health message.
00:09:48.95\00:09:50.55
In time he accepted
Christ and was baptized.
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Now he looks forward
to growing more in Jesus.
00:09:58.36\00:10:03.53
By helping them I
can share God's love
00:10:03.57\00:10:06.27
through this kind of treatment.
00:10:06.30\00:10:08.07
I also learned how to share
love and care more to others.
00:10:08.10\00:10:12.34
So yes, this
treatment is really effective
00:10:12.37\00:10:16.51
in reaching people in this area.
00:10:16.54\00:10:19.81
Rupan is just one of
many Global Mission pioneers
00:10:19.85\00:10:23.02
sharing the gospel
within the 10/40 Window.
00:10:23.05\00:10:26.42
Please pray for Rupan as
he continues to reach out to
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and touch lives
00:10:29.72\00:10:31.06
through God's
ministry of healing
00:10:31.09\00:10:32.73
in these
challenging areas of South Asia.
00:10:32.76\00:10:35.73
Thank you so much for joining us
00:10:46.47\00:10:48.14
on today's program.
00:10:48.18\00:10:49.94
I hope that you've enjoyed
00:10:49.98\00:10:51.31
our 360 view of
mission around the world.
00:10:51.35\00:10:55.35
And I hope that
you've been inspired
00:10:55.38\00:10:56.85
by the Global Mission pioneers
00:10:56.89\00:10:58.55
that you've seen
on today's program.
00:10:58.59\00:11:00.96
These pioneers make
tremendous sacrifice
00:11:00.99\00:11:03.32
for the sake of the gospel.
00:11:03.36\00:11:05.06
And the results
are seen in new groups,
00:11:05.09\00:11:07.80
new communities of believers.
00:11:07.83\00:11:10.47
And I want to thank
you so much for your part
00:11:10.50\00:11:13.07
in making this happen.
00:11:13.10\00:11:14.57
Through your prayers,
through your finances,
00:11:14.60\00:11:16.71
and through your
personal involvement
00:11:16.74\00:11:18.81
mission
continues around the world
00:11:18.84\00:11:21.08
under the blessing
of the Holy Spirit.
00:11:21.11\00:11:23.55
Whether you
pray, whether you go,
00:11:23.58\00:11:26.18
whether you give,
whether you do all three,
00:11:26.21\00:11:28.68
you are part of our
Adventist mission team.
00:11:28.72\00:11:31.45
Well, for Adventist
Mission, I'm Gary Krause.
00:11:31.49\00:11:33.96
And I hope that you
can join me next time
00:11:33.99\00:11:36.02
right here on Mission 360.
00:11:36.06\00:11:38.46