Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002706A
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00:18 A wonderful story
00:19 from the islands of Sao Tome and Principe in Africa, 00:23 a center of influence in San Diego, Chile, 00:26 and an exotic recipe from the Mission 360 Kitchen, 00:29 all this and much more coming up next. 01:15 Hello, and welcome to Mission 360. 01:17 I'm Gary Krause. 01:18 Today's program is coming to you from San Jose, 01:21 the capital 01:22 and the largest city in Costa Rica. 01:25 When you think of Costa Rica, 01:26 you may think of postcard beaches, 01:28 exotic wildlife, beautiful birds, jungles, 01:32 and if you think that, you'd be correct. 01:34 Because this is a place that takes its nature seriously 01:38 and tourists come from all over the world 01:40 to enjoy the beauty of Costa Rica. 01:42 On today's program, 01:43 we're gonna be looking at mission 01:45 right here in this country. 01:46 But first up, let's travel to the country of Andorra, 01:49 which is sandwiched between Spain and France. 02:01 I have eight sons 02:03 who would soon have to enlist in the army 02:06 and face serious Sabbath challenges. 02:10 To protect my sons, 02:13 I moved here as a literature evangelist. 02:19 Forty years ago, 02:20 Juan Amigo was sent to Andorra to work as a colporteur 02:23 and to plant 02:24 the first Adventist congregation 02:26 in the nation. 02:27 Andorra is a speck on the map, 02:29 sandwiched between France and Spain. 02:32 It lies in the valleys of a mountainous region 02:34 where millions of tourists come 02:36 for exciting sports activities every year. 02:42 This country 02:43 was one of the last un-entered territories 02:45 of the inter-European division. 02:48 At that time, 02:49 Juan and his family 02:50 were the only Adventists in the country. 02:52 Today, five of his sons remain in Andorra 02:55 and have leadership roles 02:56 in the only Adventist congregation there. 02:59 Our church is a bit different than other countries. 03:02 Actually in Andorra, there's no church registration. 03:06 So we cannot exist as a church, 03:08 so we created ourselves as our association. 03:11 And this is a way 03:12 that we can operate in this country. 03:16 We are a small group. 03:17 We have 25 members of whom 14 are children. 03:24 For several years we did many evangelistic campaigns 03:27 without many results. 03:30 We decided to stop to pray until God showed us 03:33 where we should focus our efforts. 03:41 Now we are focusing our efforts on our children, 03:44 and our children's friends, and our friends too. 04:01 Putting kids first 04:03 has reshaped the style and flow 04:04 of this church's worship. 04:06 On Friday evenings, 04:08 adult members meet at the church for vespers 04:10 and study the Sabbath school quarterly lesson 04:12 ahead of schedule. 04:14 This allows extra time for the kids 04:15 during regular Sabbath morning activities. 04:18 The study is a great way to enter the Sabbath day. 04:21 You know, in church, 04:22 we're not used to put kids first. 04:25 We don't give them a place in front in the stage. 04:28 For example, 04:30 many times maybe only once a trimester. 04:32 So we started focusing to do activities 04:36 as the pathfinders for our kids. 04:40 That's actually what every church does. 04:43 But we also created the space Saturday morning for them, 04:47 where they have kind of a sermon for kids. 04:50 They have some activity for kids 04:51 and also for the grown-up, 04:53 so we can interact them and us 04:55 and we can learn from the kids and the kids can learn from us. 05:05 This week's teacher 05:07 presents a message from the Bible. 05:08 She brings visual illustrations 05:10 and a kid friendly sermon 05:12 that is also enjoyable for adults. 05:14 Afterward, the children break into classes 05:16 to study their quarterly lesson, 05:18 then the adults enjoy 05:20 a special message in the main hall. 05:22 Once a month, a delicious potluck is served 05:25 with a lot of international dishes 05:27 and flavors. 05:28 This is a great opportunity to grow relationships 05:31 and nourish the body. 05:33 The children of this church 05:35 are catered to in a special way. 05:37 They are put first 05:38 because this group wants them to take leadership 05:40 and ownership of church life. 05:43 They are the future of this congregation. 05:46 And through them, 05:47 friends and parents are invited to many fun activities. 05:51 Please pray 05:52 for Adventist children around the world 05:54 who will lead God's Church in the coming days. 05:57 And thank you for your support of the mission offering 06:00 which help start this church. 06:23 My guests, Dr. Frank and Diana Atavia, 06:26 who are from Costa Rica, 06:28 but are serving as missionaries in Bangladesh. 06:31 Thanks for joining me. Hello. 06:32 Now tell me what made you decide 06:36 to travel all the way from Costa Rica 06:38 to a very different country to serve? 06:41 Well, it was an invitation. 06:44 We say it was just a call. 06:45 It was a call and we accepted the call. 06:47 We were not expecting, we were not planning, 06:49 but God opened all the doors in. 06:51 Okay, so you're working as a dentist here in San Jose? 06:54 Yes. 06:55 And what did you expect from your work in Bangladesh, 07:02 what were your expectations? 07:04 What were my expectations? Yes. 07:05 Well, I was not expecting 07:07 that it was going to be so tough. 07:08 Okay. 07:10 It is challenging, 07:11 but thank God we have been going on. 07:13 The things have been going on well. 07:15 Now it's very crowded, traffic 07:19 and sometimes we have to travel 07:22 one hour and a half back and forth every day. 07:25 So I wasn't expecting that huge amount of traffic. 07:29 And the challenge to clean it, but we're doing well. 07:32 Thank you. Yeah, good, good. 07:33 Diana, what was it like for you 07:35 to arrive in Bangladesh into Dhaka 07:37 and now this is your new home? 07:40 It was so hard because one year and a half, 07:42 because we have one year and half to live there. 07:45 In one year and half 07:46 I didn't know how to speak by English, 07:48 neither Bangla, only a few words in English. 07:52 So in this year I learn back English 07:55 and recently we started Bangla. 07:57 Another thing 07:59 is because this is a Muslim country, 08:01 so for the ladies is more difficult 08:04 because you have to change everything, your clothes, 08:07 the way you do speak with in front of people, 08:11 in front of men. 08:12 So it's a little hard for a Latina woman, 08:16 but it's okay. 08:18 It's okay. I like it. 08:19 Good, good, good. It's a big challenge but nice. 08:21 Excellent. 08:22 Now describe for me your work? 08:25 Okay, well, 08:27 the clinic has been established by General Conference in 1974 08:31 as a second income generating tithes 08:34 for the organization. 08:35 So we have two clinics now. 08:37 One low-cost clinic 08:39 in the campus of the union in Mirpur 08:42 and now the big clinic is in the shopping mall, 08:43 Jamuna Future Park 08:45 which is one of the biggest shopping mall. 08:47 It was the biggest. 08:48 But now it's like the second or the third 08:50 biggest shopping mall in Asia, Southern Asia. 08:53 So the majority of the people that goes to the clinic 08:56 are VIP people, rich people, 08:58 wealthy people from the community. 09:01 They look for the clinic 09:04 because they are expecting always a foreign doctor, 09:07 they are expecting good quality service. 09:10 And of course, we were trying to put in practice 09:12 as much as we can 09:14 the Christ method to mingle with them, 09:17 to satisfy their needs 09:19 and, of course, become friends with them. 09:20 And well, we are happy to see 09:22 that how God has been opening doors 09:25 because now we are getting more connections 09:27 with our patients. 09:28 And there are some stories that we'll share with you. 09:31 Wonderful. 09:33 Now the other clinic 09:34 there's one in the shopping mall, 09:36 then the other clinic, 09:37 who does that other clinic serve? 09:39 The clinic that it's in the union campus. 09:43 It was recently opened just two or three months ago. 09:46 The idea is also to be 09:47 an extended center of influence, 09:49 both of them 09:51 part of the center of influence program. 09:53 So the clinic is, 09:54 mainly they're targeting the campus 09:56 and the union campus is to, 09:58 the target is the people 09:59 who lives in the surrounding area 10:01 and some of the church workers. 10:02 Wonderful. 10:04 Diana, tell me a story from your experience? 10:06 Well, I work in woman ministry, woman ministry. 10:10 The name is Paluvu Handicraft. 10:12 So we teach the ladies how to make handicrafts, 10:15 cross-stitch and bags, purses? 10:19 Yes, purses. Purses. 10:21 So and now we'll start also with bakery. 10:24 So I teach them how to prepare brown bread, oatmeal cookies, 10:28 sweet bread. 10:29 So they're so happy, we work with Muslim, 10:33 Hindu and other Christian ladies there. 10:36 Wonderful. Terrific. 10:38 Now what about the story 10:40 you were mentioning earlier about Bibles? 10:42 What was that about? 10:44 You see, the Bibles was amazing. 10:46 It's interesting, shocking. 10:47 What happened is that 10:49 one day we were invited to join one Christian service, 10:53 one Christian program. 10:54 You know, different religions, 10:56 invited to worship and testify. 10:58 And then at the end of the service 11:00 they said, 11:01 if any one of you wants to have Bibles to give away, 11:05 you can give. 11:06 The person in charge of that ministry, 11:08 in fact, he has a school. 11:10 He has an English school. 11:11 So in the library of his school, 11:12 he always put Bibles. 11:14 So the students, they always steal the Bibles. 11:18 So he gets the Bibles, 11:20 he puts the Bible mainly to be stolen 11:24 by the students. 11:26 Wonderful. See, that's his ministry. 11:27 So he said, if you want to take some Bibles 11:29 to your house or for your ministry, 11:30 so we took. 11:32 How many Bibles we took? Eleven. 11:33 Eleven Bibles. We took 11 Bibles. 11:35 So the traffic is crowded, really crowded. 11:40 What, we was with the technician 11:42 of the clinic, 11:44 Pradeep. Pradeep. 11:46 So I told her let's take an Uber 11:49 and then Pradeep said, no, let's take the bus. 11:51 But the buses are small, not comfortable. 11:54 And I said okay, let's go 11:56 because he was already with one foot 11:59 on the step of the bus. 12:01 Let's go. 12:02 So we tried to sit on the bus. So we were on the bus. 12:05 Very small bus. 12:07 I tried to see it 12:08 and there was no place for my knees. 12:09 No place to bend her knees. 12:11 He said, "Oh, my God." And they... 12:12 And also in the bus, they have fans. 12:15 Oh, okay. I said okay. 12:17 Instead of AC, they have like... 12:21 A fan? A fan, some fans. 12:23 Anyway, so we said, okay, let's drop now. 12:29 And then when we came out of the bus, 12:32 suddenly, you told, you ask, "Where are the Bibles?" 12:36 And we said, "Oh, we left inside of the bus." 12:41 And then we didn't know what to do. 12:43 Then Pradeep, Pradeep, he is 60 plus. 12:45 He's in about two years of his retirement. 12:49 And then he said, "Don't worry, Doctor. 12:52 I'm going to get those Bibles." 12:54 And we said... 12:56 And in that hour was the worst traffic, 13:00 in the worst time. 13:02 So there was a lot of traffic and a lot also buses 13:07 and he said which one? 13:11 We were sitting in the last, in the last. 13:14 In the last seat, in the last aisle of seats. 13:16 So I told him, don't worry, 13:19 you know, if someone else get those Bibles 13:21 that will be a blessing. 13:23 Let's pray and we can get more extra Bibles. 13:25 Don't worry. 13:27 But, you know, 13:28 we are used to go to their library 13:29 and get extra Bibles for us. 13:31 It's very easy, 13:32 but in those days 13:33 is to get a Bible contextualized 13:36 written in their own language is not an easy thing. 13:38 No. 13:40 So he said, "I will get the Bibles, Doctor. 13:42 Don't worry, I will see. 13:45 You go to your house." 13:46 We said, "Okay, we'll." 13:49 To be honest, we were like, lacking of faith. 13:51 And said, "Okay." Okay, let's see what happen. 13:54 So we took the rickshaw. 13:56 A rickshaw is a bicycle with a... 14:00 I don't know... Seats at the back? 14:01 Yeah. Yes, with seats in the back. 14:03 Yeah. 14:04 So but on the way we said, okay, let's pray. 14:07 For Pradeep and the Bibles. 14:08 You know, in that moment I did my prayer in two ways. 14:11 I said, Lord, if the Bibles... 14:14 If Pradeep finds the Bibles, praise to Your name, 14:17 but if someone else get those Bibles, 14:21 please let those Bibles be properly used. 14:26 So we reached our house, 14:29 we start preparing the meal cooking for the next day. 14:33 And we started feeling bad. 14:35 He said, "Okay, he's late. 14:38 We are in home. He is..." 14:40 No news about Pradeep. 14:41 No news and I almost started crying. 14:44 He said, "For Pradeep I feel so bad." 14:45 Let's pray for him. So we prayed, she prayed. 14:52 She cried, "Oh, Lord, please, 14:55 if there is something that You can do. 14:57 We know You can do it." 14:58 We were choking about his faith. 15:02 We were impressed. 15:03 We were impressed about his faith. 15:05 So we prayed, "Lord, please, You can do it. 15:10 Let Your will be done. 15:12 Thirty minutes later it was almost 11:00 pm, 15:16 Pradeep called and said, 15:18 "Doctor, today is my lucky day." 15:21 And I said what happened? 15:24 "I found the Bibles." I found the... 15:28 Just remember it. 15:29 Just remembering that. 15:31 He said, "Doctor I found the bag." 15:33 It was in the same spot after two hours. 15:36 What I was doing? 15:37 He said I was coming inside of every bus, 15:40 every bus because I didn't remember 15:43 the driver, you know, 15:44 it wasn't easy to remember even the bus 15:46 but I was getting into every bus. 15:49 Finally I got and I went to the final aisle 15:53 and I found the bags. 15:54 Probably the people said, 15:55 "This might be something dangerous. 15:57 This might be a bomb or detonator. 15:59 They just saw one bag there. 16:02 So nobody touched it. 16:03 So he said, "Now we have the Bibles 16:06 to give away in the clinic." 16:08 So... 16:10 Wonderful. 16:11 That's a great story. It was a blessing. 16:13 And we always remember that and say, 16:15 "God is still in care 16:19 of His children, of His church." 16:20 Beautiful. 16:21 Thank you so much for sharing with us today. 16:24 Thank you. Thank you. 16:26 Sometimes we don't appreciate the value of Bibles. 16:29 We take them for granted, 16:30 but they're so special 16:32 and that still speaks to people today. 16:33 And it's so important in region 16:35 such as where the Atavias are working. 16:37 We'll be right back after this break. |
Revised 2020-06-18