Participants: Richard O'Ffill, Ariel Roldan, Kathy Matthews
Series Code: TAH
Program Code: TAH000165
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00:30 Welcome to Thinking About Home,
00:31 I am Kathy Matthews 00:32 and I'm glad that you're with us again. 00:34 We've been doing some changes on the program here recently, 00:38 and I was the guest, and now I am back in my old spot again. 00:41 But we do have Richard O'Ffill from the Florida Conference 00:45 of Seventh-day Adventist, 00:46 Pastor O'Ffill, you're with us again. 00:48 And our guess today is Ariel Roldan is that correct? 00:53 You said it good. 00:54 Thank you. Good, good rolling the R right there. 00:56 Oh, good, I have. But I can do it better, Roldan. 01:00 Five years in Chino would do that to you. 01:03 Well, I don't. 01:04 Well, I haven't been there and I don't know Spanish. 01:07 You did very good Kathy. Thank you very much. 01:09 You know that's the nice thing 01:10 about the Spanish language, Kathy, 01:11 is that they're so complimentary. 01:13 I mean, if you pronounce that with a Texas accent, 01:16 Ariel will say, it's wonderful Kathy. 01:19 No, no, he do it all of us, no they it all of us. 01:22 But it encourages us. Kathy, you did fine. 01:24 Thank you, but he's being genuine 01:26 and real this time, aren't you? 01:28 Yes, I am. 01:30 You know I like your shirt, 01:31 your mother sent you that, didn't she? 01:33 Yes, I am blessed with a good momma, 01:36 she sends me quite a bit stuff, 01:38 but she found out that I was gonna be coming 01:40 to this show, so she sent me something 01:42 a little bit out the ordinary so. 01:44 Oh, mother, you did a beautiful job, 01:46 I like the shirt. I like it too. It looks pretty. 01:49 So, we wanna compliment you. 01:50 It's wrinkle free, so it's a design for. 01:53 For a single fellow. 01:56 Yes, this is wrinkle free quite a long time too. 01:59 I meet Ariel at Black Hills Mission College of Evangelism, 02:04 and I was really impressed with his sincerity 02:07 and his surrender to the Lord, 02:09 and I asked him and two of his buddies 02:10 to come to the program, 02:11 and they were not able to make 02:13 and I'm really sorry about that. 02:14 Eddy and Doran weren't able to come, 02:17 but Ariel made it and probably wasn't easy 02:21 on the flight, was it? 02:23 It was interesting, it was a blessing 02:26 because I had already been exposed 02:28 to this type of thing traveling abroad overseas, 02:31 this is standard, when you go overseas. 02:32 They always check your language make sure 02:34 there is nothing being taking into the country. 02:37 But, when I go to the airport, 02:39 it was very thorough they checked 02:41 even inside my shoes and everything, 02:43 so I'm glad I had clean underwear, mom. 02:47 I remember old jokes about that kind of thing, 02:49 but I won't go there. 02:51 Ariel, I've invited you, because I wanted you to share 02:55 something about the changes in your life 02:57 as the Lord came into your life. 02:58 Your background and because this is thinking about home, 03:03 I want you to talk about how your home life was? 03:08 Where the change for Jesus took place and so on? 03:10 Can you tell me where you born? 03:13 Yes, I was born in Tucumán, Argentina, 03:15 I will not ask you to say that. 03:17 Please, don't. 03:18 It's the Northern part of Argentina, 03:21 it's a beautiful town close to Bolivia. 03:24 And I grew up into home of a Colporteur 03:26 or a literature evangelist, so. Your father was? 03:28 Yes, my father was a Colporteur, 03:30 he was originally a policeman 03:31 and my mom was an accountant for a car dealership. 03:35 Growing up was, we always have good 03:38 memories growing up home. 03:40 So, there were some shifts that took place growing up 03:44 because of changing living quarters where we were living, 03:49 because we came from South America all the way 03:51 to the United States when I was 11 years old, 03:53 that created a shift. But growing up home, 03:57 my mom side of family was all Catholic 03:59 and my dad side was all Pentecostal. 04:02 So from very little I was aware that Seventh-day Adventists 04:06 were not the norm, you could say. 04:09 My cousins would come over 04:10 and they always asked this question so, 04:12 from very little we had this ability 04:15 or this opportunity rather to share our differences 04:19 both with our Catholic cousins and our Pentecostal cousins. 04:21 And actually I get along better with my, 04:24 I enjoyed, my favorite cousins were the Catholic cousins, 04:27 because there were allowed to do more stuff. 04:29 So, you grew up Seventh-day Adventist, 04:31 they were allowed. Yeah. 04:35 So, you grew up Seventh-day Adventist, right? 04:36 Yes. Okay, all right, well. 04:38 I'm just being honest. 04:40 Right, well, I can understand that, 04:41 of course, that comes from a youth's heart, no, doesn't it? 04:44 Yes. It does. 04:45 And it is interesting, Kathy, 04:47 when he says you know when you think back 04:49 you have good memories he has good memories, 04:51 not everybody has good memories. 04:52 You know I thought of that when he said that, 04:53 I thought, I was gonna say the same thing, 04:55 not everybody does have good memories, 04:57 but I am glad that you do. 04:58 Thank God. The good memories come 04:59 when you involve the Lord, even the bad ones. 05:01 Because you go through some hardships, 05:03 when we were in Bolivia, there were some times 05:05 when being a Colporteur was not lucrative at all, 05:08 because South America... Bolivia was going through 05:11 some shifts during that time 05:13 and so economically it was not stable, 05:15 so they were times that my dad did well. 05:17 But then they were the years where there was much praying 05:20 and much tear shedding at home 05:22 and those were also good memories, 05:24 because it got us closer to Lord. 05:25 Right. You know, when he says 05:26 there were times, you know he is just using 05:28 these forma words he is saying 05:30 there's times when being Colporteur was not lucrative, 05:32 I don't know that word ever... 05:34 I think you're right, because that was one month 05:36 and he's in the States and it wasn't lucrative then. 05:37 What he's saying is that there were times 05:39 which we could barely make it. 05:41 Yes. Yes. Yeah. but in spite of all that, 05:44 I mean those are the times 05:45 where you see the hand of God closer to your family. 05:48 If you will take it that way. 05:50 See it's not a miracle when you get a paycheck, 05:51 that's standard lifestyle you could say. 05:54 Even the bad guys get a paycheck. 05:55 That's right, and really big ones. 05:59 When you see food being delivered 06:01 to you by people you don't know, 06:02 when money comes out at the last minute, you know... 06:06 I've been there, done that. 06:07 You eat the food differently, it tastes better. 06:10 Yes. you feel like, 06:11 you know like the Israelites in the wilderness 06:13 and God's given you Manna right there in there. 06:16 Amen. So even the bad memories, 06:18 you look back at them, of course, at that moment 06:20 you're not thinking, oh, I wanna remember this. 06:22 Yes. But now I am glad I do, 06:25 because all those little things helped to shape 06:28 where I am today. Yes. 06:29 And of course this brings up something too, Kathy, 06:31 and that is, that when we have hard times, 06:33 it's gonna do one or two things to us. 06:34 It's either gonna brings us closer to the Lord 06:36 or it's gonna drive us away. 06:37 Yes. But all things were together 06:40 for good to those who love the Lord, 06:41 and that's what you're saying, 06:42 because my family loved the Lord even hard times 06:44 drew us closer to him. Amen. 06:46 Did you cover all that you wanted 06:48 to on how your family backgrounds, differences, 06:50 one family off in this direction and one in this, 06:53 how it effected your life, did you? 06:56 I think it solidified me and my brother 06:58 that we were distinct. 07:00 It was awkward at all for us to stand out, 07:04 to be different even in our family. 07:06 So, wherever we went, it was always the four of us. 07:09 I have a younger brother, he lives in Massachusetts. 07:13 And whenever we went to new school, 07:16 whether it was Adventist or not, 07:18 we were used already being different and peculiar, 07:21 not eating certain things and not participating 07:24 with certain events on Sabbath and things like that. 07:26 So, growing up in that type of an environment, 07:29 I think prepared us to meet the world 07:32 in its reality as a Seventh-day Adventist 07:35 that you would stand out like, like a good thumb. 07:37 Like a good thumb, not like a sore one. 07:39 You know Kathy, I was thinking our experience in 07:42 because we live just over the mountains in Chile. 07:46 Did you? And tell me if I am wrong, Ariel. 07:50 but being a Protestant 07:53 in certain parts of South America 07:54 is not actually a bad thing to be, 07:56 it's kind of an upward thing. 07:58 In other words, it's actually the in thing, 08:01 now I am sure there is exceptions to this. 08:03 But the Protestantism is growing leaps and bounds 08:07 in South America. 08:08 Was it like that though when you were there? 08:11 Argentina and Bolivia, I've never been to Chile. 08:13 But Argentina and Bolivia are strong Catholics. 08:16 Okay. And our friends the Catholics 08:18 have you can say, predominance over there. 08:21 But me and my brother, we have a problem learning 08:26 to say The hail Mary's, 08:27 my brother could actually recite them better, 08:29 then some of the other kids so. 08:30 In the public schools, public schools were run 08:32 by the Catholic Church. So, you had the priest, 08:36 sometimes they would bring the Virgin Mary 08:38 to the school and the priest will come 08:39 and bless the school. 08:40 We had to participate in all these rites. 08:42 So were very much exposed to all that as kids, 08:44 and God gives you wisdom. 08:46 You know, you can only go as far as your beliefs 08:49 and your understanding of the word of God is, 08:50 you can only go so far. 08:52 But the Lord give us wisdom as children to be like 08:55 the three faithful that they were in Babylon. 08:58 They went toward the statue was, 09:00 but they never bowed down to it. 09:01 So, we find ourselves sometimes in those situations, 09:04 I'm saying that. 09:05 So, did it help you grow spiritually? 09:06 It solidified. it did. 09:08 because growing up in a Colporteur's home 09:09 you have tons of books. 09:11 I praise God that I have a mom like the one he gives me, 09:15 gave me, because she saw in me 09:17 a desire to learn fast. 09:19 Reading was one of the first thing she caught up, 09:21 because I used to have the Bazooka Bubble Gum Wrappers. 09:24 Mom, what does that word say, 09:25 of course, she's Spanish. 09:26 Yes. Mom, what does that word say 09:27 and she will begin to teach me 09:28 and so I learned to read before I went to school. 09:30 Yes. And because of that, 09:32 I think the Lord used that and... 09:34 That is so funny, 09:35 well, so where did you learn to read, Ariel? 09:37 Off the bubble gum wrappers? Yes. 09:39 That was the beginning. Well, it's wonderful. 09:41 I never that's just a new one. 09:43 Right, I, that's the only reading material that I had. 09:47 And it was short enough that, you know, a book has pages, 09:50 but a bubble gum wrapper is just a bubble wrapper. 09:52 So it was not threatening. No. 09:53 If I can read this, you know, it's a style. 09:56 It was a five year old's newspaper, 09:58 you find out about the world from those sources. 10:01 And of course, if you chew too much bubble gum, 10:02 you don't... Oh, dear. 10:05 I don't have to worry about those, 10:07 they were coming out naturally. Oh, okay. 10:09 Anyways, because of that, 10:10 when my dad would bring children's book to sell 10:13 as a Colporteur, I devour them, 10:15 I mean, I just went through the stories of the Apostle, 10:17 the stories of Joseph, Moses. 10:19 So, me and my brother were extremely or thoroughly 10:23 exposed to biblical themes and biblical stories. 10:25 So, I praise God that the foundation, 10:29 the foundation that our parents 10:30 were able to give us by God's grace, 10:33 placed a very concrete foundation in the life of me 10:37 and my younger brother. Amen. 10:38 Did you stay there? 10:40 Then we came to United States. 10:42 Oh, no, what's that going. You're suppose to laugh. 10:45 I think I'm suppose to stand 10:46 and sing the national anthem or something... 10:49 I will explain myself what I say about that. 10:50 I didn't laugh my head hung... 10:52 Let me explain what I said about that, 10:53 Okay. Because coming here 10:57 it was a blessing, of the opportunities 11:00 that were given to myself, my brother. 11:02 And I do not by any means regret any of that. 11:07 But this country, the way it's setup, 11:10 this is for my outsiders perspective. 11:12 The way it's setup is designed at least when we came here, 11:16 this was around 1984. 11:18 Things that, you know, you have seen them 11:20 flashes of those times in the past. 11:22 Some of the things that I remember, 11:24 were the one time I was watching PBS, 11:27 and there were gonna run a special, 11:29 after school special and the question 11:31 on the whole show was going to be, am I gay? 11:34 And they had a picture of a 13 year old boy. 11:36 Really. That question never, 11:39 ever, ever entered into my mind. 11:41 I thought, you know, girls were, you know, 11:45 fun to play soccer with and things like that. 11:47 I was nothing to this sexuality mentality already. 11:51 Right. But when I saw that, 11:53 it was like just like Satan in the Garden of Eden with Eve. 11:56 You know, has God really said? 11:58 The question was never in Eve's mind 12:01 until Satan planted it. Suggested it. 12:04 And that just created a chasm of conflict in my mind, 12:07 because my parents had already told us, 12:09 you know, listen, girls are gonna be 12:12 a part of your life, but later. 12:14 Don't worry so much about that, 12:15 you have school. And women will take up 12:17 enough of your brains once you're done with school, 12:21 No, no. Be positive, 12:22 it was a good thing, 12:23 you know, you've focus on how to please this lady. 12:25 You noticed, he's kind of above that... 12:26 I think I'm, and it's not fair here, 12:29 I don't think I will go there. 12:30 Go ahead with your story, there's two, 12:32 two sitting over here and one sitting here, go ahead. 12:35 And so you're telling us that coming 12:37 from the culture of South America 12:39 and coming into this kind of somewhat secularized, 12:43 very open, very open. 12:44 Really, it was more open then there. 12:46 As far as certain things, yes. 12:49 But you know, well, it was like that for us 12:51 in Europe, compared to here. 12:53 Ariel, I also hear you're saying that this is a land 12:59 where there are more material advantages, 13:02 you know, Kathy, I was, I remember 13:03 when I was in Pakistan years ago. 13:05 A conference president, he told me, he said, 13:08 pastor, he said, I can't think of anything 13:10 that would be in heaven that you don't already have. 13:12 And so this is seen as the land of opportunity, 13:15 and so this did give more material opportunities. 13:19 It did quickly, in Bolivia and Argentina, 13:22 I can remember that if you had car in one place, 13:24 you really didn't have money to afford a TV. 13:27 And if you had a TV in one place 13:28 you really couldn't afford to have a car. 13:30 That's how the mind of a young person thought. 13:35 When I came here we had everything, 13:37 all of us had cars, we had a TV in every room 13:41 and all of those things began to crack at that foundation, 13:45 Because the first thing that I was, 13:48 I was very prone to read, 13:50 but then I was very prone to watch cartoons, 13:53 Bugs Bunny and all those other. 13:54 I grew up that way. Cartoons. But I wasn't a reader. 13:57 But we didn't have cables in South America. 13:59 And South America is different now of course, 14:01 now the whole world is pretty much the same, 24x7 TV. 14:04 But, back then they had, 14:08 They had started 12 with military news, 14:10 then they had a Mass, and they had soap operas 14:14 for about five hours, and then cartoons for an hour. 14:18 And so once the cartoons were over, 14:20 you know, you didn't wanna see soap operas, 14:22 we didn't care about those things. 14:23 So, you read, you played games, 14:25 you did all these things. 14:26 Here they had the cartoon network, 14:28 24 hours cartoons, all day long. 14:32 Seven days a week. 14:33 And so, it was hard for me to turn it off. 14:36 So, Satan supplanted the love for reading, 14:40 for the love for watching. yeah. 14:42 And no mental exercise. So, coming here was, 14:46 could have been a tremendous blessing, 14:49 unfortunately the circumstances that I allowed myself 14:53 to enter both in high school and even after high school, 14:58 we're just extremely detrimental to that foundation, 15:01 to the point where it seemed like 15:02 everything was gonna crumble. 15:03 In other words, you're describing 15:06 your early life with high spiritual values, 15:09 and a high sense of importance 15:12 of spiritual things in your life. 15:13 And so you're saying when you came here 15:14 that begun to the diminish somewhat. 15:17 Well, on your choices, you choose certain things 15:19 that undermine all the other things that you've been taught. 15:22 Yeah, in high school, the values were different. 15:27 In South America, I'm not gonna say South America is better, 15:30 this is the difference, it's the difference. 15:33 In South America, you had uniforms, 15:35 everybody had to wear uniforms 15:37 no matter what school you went to. 15:38 Here when I came here Adidas, 15:41 Shell Top Adidas and this specific jeans 15:43 and specific jackets were in style. 15:46 And of course, those were not found in Kmart, 15:48 where my dad shopped. Right, right. 15:50 So, when I went to school, 15:53 it wasn't no longer my academic performance, 15:55 Right, that dictated my level 15:58 but rather my outward appearance. 16:00 So, you begin to care less about getting honors, 16:04 and carrying more about how many friends accepted you 16:07 and who you hung out and who you ate lunch with, 16:09 and who sat with you at cafeteria. 16:11 So, we became very shallow, 16:13 and of course, the transition wasn't fast, 16:16 it was extremely gradual. 16:18 Like I said, the Lord blessed me 16:19 and my brother with, we're not perfect, 16:21 but perfect for us parents. 16:24 Because they refer, they are like, you know, 16:27 we don't care what they're telling you on TV, 16:29 we don't care what they're. 16:31 You know, at that time, 16:32 it was around the time where I think 16:34 there was a young man that had divorced his parents, 16:36 I don't know if you guys remember that? 16:37 I do remember that, 16:38 I do remember something about that. 16:40 And my parents were like, listen, 16:42 you know, you cannot divorce us, That's right. 16:45 because we have a big belt then you do. 16:48 Are you sure? well in God's eyes though that's not possible? 16:54 Exactly, legalities, may say what they say, 16:57 but in God's eyes that was, that was false, that was void. 17:01 It was not heaven, they did not look 17:02 at that as something solid 17:05 or something that actually took place. 17:06 So, my parents had this fear of, 17:07 I was being drawn away from them, 17:10 and graduated from high school was actually 17:13 now back funny to me and my brother, 17:14 because as conversations grew back between 17:18 my parents and my brother. 17:20 When they were sitting together and we ate 17:22 and then we're finding out that they were scared 17:24 and we were sacred of something similar, 17:26 but from a different perspective. 17:28 All our friends in high school were telling us, 17:30 man, I got to get a job, my parents, 17:31 I am gonna turn 18 and they wanna kick me out. 17:34 I have to go and find a place to live at. 17:36 And me and my brother looked at each other like, 17:38 I wonder if mom and dad are gonna do that to us. 17:41 And in Argentina, you don't leave home unless 17:44 you get married, right, or basically, that's it. 17:48 My parents on the other hand were getting from their parents, 17:51 other parents saying, my child's threatening me 17:54 that when he turns 18 he's leaving, 17:56 and was never gonna see me again. 17:57 So my parents were thinking well, you know... 17:59 Are they gonna do that to us? 18:00 Ariel and Marcelo are not thinking about doing that to us. 18:03 So, it, this mentality that at least we found ourselves in, 18:08 what it begin to do was put 18:10 a huge wedge between our families. 18:12 The communication broke down really fast. 18:16 You couldn't talk to your parents of certain things. 18:18 So, this particular subject you just talked about, 18:21 the two fears had you all not talked to each about that? 18:23 No, we just acted them out, complete misunderstandings. 18:26 Our parents were over reacting to certain things 18:29 and we were over react to other things. 18:30 And so it just created a lot clashing, 18:32 a lot friction, it's also misunderstandings. 18:35 And Satan does things in such a way that 18:39 with through those misunderstandings you got, 18:41 you have a great separation. That's right. 18:43 And a greater chasm... Divide and conquer, 18:45 Yes, yes. And you could do a good job 18:48 dividing by breakdown communication, 18:50 yes, right, right, absolutely. 18:51 That's the first thing that I learned to do, 18:53 is to be suspicious of my parents motives. 18:55 Do they go through my things, blah, blah, blah, 18:58 and my parents on the other hand 19:00 were being taught to be distressful of us kids. 19:03 Are you kids bringing marijuana from school, 19:05 are your kids smoking, 19:06 and you don't know these things. 19:07 Are you kids drinking. So both of us had this fear 19:10 that were foreign to us. 19:12 And it was kind of difficult adjusting to those 19:15 and maintaining the conversation. 19:17 Because when you don't trust, you're kind of like waiting 19:19 for the other person to give you a little more information. 19:21 Yes. Rather than you give to them. 19:24 And when he came to issues like talking about sex, 19:28 because in, I was what 15 in Junior High. 19:33 And you know what sex education consisted in my school? 19:37 It was not anything more than showing 19:40 the males how to use a condom. 19:42 That's all basically that it consisted of and informing us 19:46 that we could have access 19:48 to as many condoms as we would need. 19:51 Is this once you got here obviously? 19:53 Once we got here, this is public high school. 19:55 And safe sex was actually, if you wanted to title it 19:59 correctly was half sex class education, 20:02 Right, Right. Yes. 20:03 It wasn't safe sex, it was, if you feel like it, 20:07 go ahead, but now you're safe. 20:09 Which is the most destructive thing 20:12 you can say to a teenager, 20:14 because it distorts totally the mentality of relationships, 20:18 it distorts towards the mentality of family, 20:20 of intimacy, it just, and Satan does that masterfully, 20:24 he begins young about breaking down 20:26 how we view these scared Holy things. 20:29 Yes. Ariel, now you were going 20:32 through a period in which you were being 20:33 very Americanized, this in some of the more 20:37 negative aspect of the culture. 20:39 What was going on in your spiritual life, 20:41 in another words, did you drop out of church 20:43 about that time or could you tell us about that? 20:46 I learned to fake it. You know you go to school 20:50 for a certain number of years and you get a Ph.D 20:52 I have about three of them. 20:54 Because of how many years I learned 20:55 to put up aside as an Adventist. 20:59 Because I didn't want to leave the church, 21:02 I was not happy anywhere else. 21:04 I mean, as far as truth was concerned, 21:06 I knew like I told you guys that foundation as a child, 21:09 gave me a conscious that I could not enjoy the world 21:12 no matter how hard I tried. 21:13 Amen to that. Yes, and thank God 21:15 for the prayers of mothers and fathers. 21:17 Because the Holy Spirit even though I wanted to go 21:20 and do the dancing and all these other things, 21:23 at the end of the night you come home 21:25 and you have this dreaded fear, 21:29 God's watching and he's seeing everything. 21:31 So, you did, you did drop out? 21:34 I did, but not, 21:35 I technically I always remained in the books. 21:37 I always had a suit and tie in church. 21:39 Okay. But Sabbath evenings 21:42 I was watching movies and doing anything 21:46 that if I was really in the church I would not. 21:49 I would not be participating in a lot of the things 21:51 that I did and doing many of the things that I did. 21:54 And for many years I was satisfied with that. 21:55 And when you said God's watching, 21:57 did you have a sense of hashes, 21:59 or did you have just a sense of you know I'm hurting the Lord, 22:02 God knows what I am doing, which was it? 22:04 If Satan can get you to misunderstand your parents, 22:06 he will have a easier time making you misunderstand God, 22:08 that's true. Because as the more ignorant 22:11 you are about the love of your earthly father. 22:14 Right. The more easily 22:16 you'll be deceived about your Heavenly Father. 22:18 So, did you have some experience 22:20 now as you came did coming, did you stay there? 22:23 Did you come back to the Lord? 22:25 The Lord and His mercy brought me out, amen, amen. 22:27 He put hedges about me, you know sometimes 22:29 we see restrictions and things that are not removed 22:33 quickly as hindrances. But now I see them 22:37 as a wall that Lord will not bring down, 22:40 to keep me from passing it, to keep me from passing it. 22:42 Because I was blindsided. 22:44 A lady once told me, you know the Lord does not deal 22:46 with all of us the same way. 22:48 He looks at the circumstances we were raised, 22:50 he looks at circumstances we find ourselves 22:52 in and he's merciful, amen, 22:54 and he was merciful with me to the utmost extreme. 22:59 Finally in 1997, I'm not gonna go into all of this, 23:05 but I was able to go to a mission field in Bolivia. 23:10 It's a branch of, Serve a Need, 23:11 of ADRA called Serve a Need. 23:14 And it's for drug we have children. 23:17 And I've got to see eight to ten, 23:19 twelve year olds glue sniffers from Santa Cruz, Bolivia. 23:24 We would take him away out in the Mountains, 23:26 change there diet and offer them prayer. 23:28 Really. And these kids had parents 23:31 that were horrible parents, 23:34 I say it the way it is, they were horrible parents. 23:38 And yet these kids loved their mom. 23:40 Really? Once they got past their anger 23:42 and the frustrations of the mom not being home, 23:44 and being out with boyfriends. 23:45 With the dad being out with girlfriends. 23:46 When he came down to it at night, 23:47 they wanted me to pray for those parents. 23:49 And I began to think. Amazing. 23:52 How have I treated my parents, 23:55 you know in the Mountains of Santa Cruz, 23:57 I remember after reading Spirit of Prophecy or the Bible, 24:00 I always sit out there and cry. 24:02 You know Lord, what kind of treatment 24:04 have I given my parents. 24:06 I've just been a horrible, horrible burden. 24:08 And so I hear you telling us, 24:10 Ariel, that though you had some ideological 24:13 conflicts in your teenage years, 24:16 when you began to get out there 24:17 and see things from another perspective, 24:19 you begin to reevaluate yourself 24:21 and kind of tune up your spiritual life. 24:23 And all the horrible things that happen 24:24 to those children yet they could love their parents. 24:27 Yes, and I had wonderful parents 24:29 that I totally mistrusted. 24:30 And I denied them my love, which wounded them deeply, 24:34 I know it did. First thing I did, think, 24:36 then when I came back from South America 24:37 was apologize to them. 24:40 And you know that was the beginning 24:42 of me seeing God hands in my family once more. 24:45 Because, I remember, I was kneeling together 24:47 and my dad praying and thanking the Lord, 24:49 with tears in his eyes, we were all crying, 24:52 all of us were crying in the kitchen table, 24:54 I remember it. I see it here that he, 24:57 all embrace like we should do when we were little. 25:00 It was like a big long time had passed 25:02 and it was full of darkness. 25:03 And God had once more brought the family together, 25:06 oh, amen, amen. And my brother of course 25:08 was there too and we, for a long time, 25:10 me and my brother never hugged, 25:11 and our father used to make us 25:13 kiss each other on the cheeks, 25:14 it's very Spanish thing. It's very Spanish. 25:15 Yes, yes. [Foreign Language]. 25:17 Yes, and the kiss as well, for the longest time, 25:20 me and my brother we did not show 25:22 any type of affection, he will go his way, 25:24 I will go my way. 25:25 But after this, we could embrace each other 25:27 and tell to each other, I love you again. 25:29 Amen. It was the most wonderful 25:31 experience, Kathy, to see in the short time 25:34 that I've been alive in this planet. 25:36 To see a God of mercy rescue somebody 25:39 with the knowledge that willing forsake it. 25:41 And he protected you during your most difficult time. 25:44 During that time, oh, the Lord is merciful. 25:46 I mean, anything could have happened to me, 25:47 those roads going up to those mountains in South America 25:49 are not like the roads out here, 25:50 people die all the time. Right. 25:52 He preserved me through that, preserve me through... 25:54 He's pursuing us, isn't he? 25:55 Yes, and to use us. 25:56 And to use us, we had for a purpose, 25:59 he is pursuing us for a purpose, 26:00 he has a purpose for you. 26:01 And you're doing a lot right now. 26:03 Ariel is the massage instructor at Black Hills Mission College 26:07 there of evangelism in South Dakota. 26:09 And he does a wonderful job, 26:12 that's good and he's taught 26:13 so many to do a wonderful job as well. 26:16 And that's by God providence as well. 26:18 Amen. It is by God providence, 26:20 he's got good hands. I would like to ask you more 26:23 about what most affected you about your walk with the Lord, 26:28 I don't know if we have enough time to even go into that but... 26:32 I say short prayers of whatever comes to my mind first, 26:36 okay, quick. The prayers of my mother, 26:39 oh, amen, okay. The prayer of my father, 26:42 yes, and the Desire of Ages. 26:44 Oh! That's good, which is a book, 26:48 on the Life of Christ, on the Life of Christ, 26:50 That's right. That book broke my heart. 26:55 It would do it for anyone who was looking for the Lord, 26:59 wouldn't it? If you were open to that, 27:00 it would do it. 27:01 What wonderful story. 27:02 It is and it's not enough we didn't get all the details 27:04 I would like have, but you are going to come back 27:06 into another program with us. 27:08 And it's more or less telling us where you are, 27:12 and in the subject of courtship and seeking a companion, 27:17 And a little bit more then that. 27:18 But before we go, I want to invite the, 27:22 our viewers to write or call 3ABN. 27:25 Tell us about your impressions of our program. 27:29 We would like to hear from you, 27:30 I enjoy hearing from those from the past. 27:33 Ariel is gonna pray for us now as we go out, 27:35 you stay with us, 27:36 we'll be praying with you and God bless you. 27:40 Dear Father, thank you so much for your mercy. 27:42 And Lord I am thankful that you saved me. 27:46 All of us Father we could not even, 27:50 we cannot even imagine where would we be Lord 27:52 had you not intervened in our life sometime. 27:55 And Father, I pray that all this work 27:57 and after repeating to our lives will not be for nothing. |
Revised 2014-12-17