Participants: John Dinzey (Host), Neil Hawkins
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY015018A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:07 Hello and welcome 01:08 to another wonderful program with 3ABN Today. 01:10 My name is John Dinzey. 01:11 It's a pleasure for me to be with you 01:13 during this hour of blessing on 3ABN. 01:16 And I'm grateful to have a person 01:18 that loves a Lord with me. 01:20 And we are speaking about Neil Hawkins, 01:23 acting principal of the Taiwan Adventist International School 01:27 and we want to welcome you. 01:29 Thank you very much. I'm really happy to be here. 01:31 I think it was Lord ordained 01:33 that I was actually able to make it, 01:36 this with, this little lead time. 01:38 Wonderful. 01:39 We're glad that you're here 01:40 and we have a wonderful testimony, 01:44 plus we're going to find out 01:46 about a school that's changing lives. 01:48 So we want to encourage you to stay with us 01:50 during this hour and during 01:52 this opening part of the program, 01:54 we'd like to invite you to pray. 01:56 And once again we encourage you 01:58 to be part of 3ABN Ministry, 02:00 praying for 3ABN, praying for this ministry, 02:03 that is bringing the gospel to the whole world. 02:06 As a matter of fact, you can be part of our prayer warriors 02:09 and we encourage you to be a part. 02:11 We have prayer warriors in practically every country, 02:13 but we always need more prayer. 02:15 So if you want to be part of that 02:18 from wherever you are in the world, 02:19 you can contact us and learn how to do that, 02:22 so you can pray for the different request 02:25 that you will receive through email. 02:27 In addition to that, 02:29 you can just pray for the prayer request 02:31 that you hear throughout the day on radio 02:33 or on the screen as you watch television. 02:36 We want you to be blessed 02:38 and when you pray for the people, you're blessed, 02:40 so we encourage you to do that. 02:41 At this time, we're gonna go the Lord in prayer 02:43 and ask for His blessing during this hour. 02:46 Let us pray together. 02:48 Our loving Heavenly Father, we want to thank You Lord 02:52 for Your goodness and mercy to us. 02:55 We thank You Lord for the way You lead in our lives. 02:59 And, Lord, we want to ask of You to please consider 03:02 every request that is put on the screen 03:05 or that is mentioned through the airwaves, 03:07 so that many are blessed. 03:10 Lord, we know there are many seeking for spiritual help. 03:16 Others are seeking for financial help. 03:18 Others are praying for someone to come back to Jesus 03:22 or to give their lives to Jesus Christ 03:24 for the first time. 03:25 And still, there are others facing some health challenge. 03:28 We pray that You will be with them, 03:30 we pray that You will be near them and truly 03:32 You have already promised to be with us 03:34 even until the end of the world. 03:35 We pray that You will bless them 03:37 to know that this promise is true. 03:40 And we ask You Father, to bless everyone 03:42 that stops to listen to this program. 03:44 We pray that they will be encouraged, 03:46 inspired and blessed. 03:49 We ask You, Father, for these things 03:50 in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 03:54 Amen. Amen. 03:57 Well, at this time we're gonna read a scripture 04:00 and that is powerful. 04:01 And unfortunately we do not have time to talk about 04:04 during this whole hour because it could several hours 04:06 to really understand this scripture. 04:09 Well, this is found in Matthew Chapter 28 04:12 and I'm going to read it to your hearing 04:14 and these are the words. 04:19 Matthew 28:19-20. 04:20 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, 04:24 baptizing them in the name of the Father, 04:28 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 04:30 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 04:34 I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, 04:38 even unto the end of the world." 04:42 And the verse ends with "Amen" and I also say amen. 04:46 So this is a powerful scripture and I would like to ask, 04:50 Brother Neil, do you have any thoughts 04:52 you would like to share about the scripture? 04:54 It gave me more meaning once I actually moved to Taiwan 04:58 and started working with the mission there. 05:02 It's something that we hear in Sabbath school 05:04 and in church if you go 05:05 to one of our Seventh-day Adventist schools. 05:09 And now I can actually understand 05:11 the importance of going out there 05:14 and actually spreading the word. 05:16 If we just sit at home and wait 05:18 for someone else to do all the work, 05:21 no matter what our jobs happen to be, 05:23 then we're going to be on this planet this much longer 05:27 because the Lord wants us to do our part, 05:31 to share His word with them and to give people 05:34 who don't have hope, the true hope. 05:37 Amen. Wonderful. 05:38 Thank you very much. I appreciate that. 05:41 And this is a message for the followers of Christ 05:45 and He says to you as well to those of you listening, 05:49 "Go ye into all the world and there are many ways 05:51 in which you can do that 05:52 and the Lord will show you how." 05:55 Our part is to say, here I am Lord use me. 05:58 And it's marvelous the way the Lord uses everyone 06:01 that puts himself or herself in His hands. 06:06 Mighty things and wonderful things can happen 06:08 and it's just a circle of blessing 06:10 because as you seek to bless others, you are also blessed. 06:13 And I'm sure you have some things 06:16 you could share about that. 06:18 I do and it's also one of the lessons 06:19 that we try to teach all of our kids. 06:21 Excellent. Excellent. 06:23 Well, we're gonna find out 06:24 a little bit more about Neil Hawkins and the Taiwan 06:29 Adventist International School in a moment. 06:32 But we like to share with you now some music 06:35 that we would like to encourage you to listen 06:38 to considering God's love for you 06:40 and this is by Johann Sentana 06:44 and the name is "Abide With Me." 12:15 Amen. Praise the Lord. 12:16 That was very pleasant and spiritual and we thank you. 12:20 We thank Johann Sentana for that interpretation. 12:23 Praise the Lord. 12:25 We'd like to now get to know our guest Neil Hawkins 12:30 and first question I like to ask is, 12:32 were you raised in a Christian home? 12:34 I was. 12:35 I was raised in a Seventh-day Adventist home 12:38 and for most of my high school and elementary years 12:41 went to Seventh-day Adventist schools. 12:44 And it was for university that I went out of the system 12:48 and went to a secular school. 12:50 All right. Very good. 12:52 So there, one as, one grows in life, 12:58 one has to make decisions. 12:59 And I'm curious how did you 13:01 as an individual choose to be baptized? 13:06 Choose to give your life to Jesus Christ? 13:08 The first time, when I was actually baptized, 13:11 I actually went through the system. 13:12 I was baptized at age 12. 13:15 I wasn't forced into it, I chose to do so. 13:17 You went through series of studies and made a decision? 13:21 Made that decision and also wanted to understand 13:24 a little bit more about exactly why am I doing this? 13:28 What does this mean? 13:29 But to the degree that perhaps a 12 year old can. 13:33 Later in life, in my high school years 13:37 things were becoming a little bit more in questioned in mind. 13:42 Is this really what I want? 13:44 Is this the church that I belong to, 13:47 that I really think follows the biblical principles? 13:51 And so I had to do a little bit 13:53 of self exploring or exploring God. 13:56 I never left God, but I would say, 13:58 I left the church for a little while. 14:01 And one of the things 14:03 that I had always enjoyed was building things, 14:06 but not, not construction, I would like to make things 14:10 that people would remember and enjoy. 14:12 That actually started at my time at Monterey Bay Academy. 14:15 I had put on a couple of productions 14:18 for our talent show and really got a taste for that. 14:22 And so, I actually even thought 14:24 I wanted to get into acting until I realized 14:26 that I'm actually a terrible actor. 14:28 Did someone tell you that or you came-- 14:30 You saw yourself and say, ah, that's not gonna work out? 14:32 Yeah. 14:33 I'm gonna with, I did saw myself 14:35 and I've always been a hard critic of myself. 14:39 But I still enjoyed making things, 14:41 putting the production together 14:42 and so I wanted to get into producing and directing. 14:46 And so I went to USC which is a school 14:49 that's very strong in that area, 14:51 but I also wanted a real degree, 14:54 sorry Brian and I also went 14:58 into the business program there. 15:00 Learned many things, really enjoyed my time 15:03 but there was still something tugging at me. 15:07 There is still something a little 15:09 that I wasn't quite getting. 15:11 I put that behind me, 15:12 I kind of pushed that voice to the back a little bit 15:15 and I got into Hollywood. 15:17 I worked in production, television and film production. 15:22 By the end of my Hollywood career as it were, 15:25 I was in the agency world where you actually put writers 15:29 and directors together, studios and actors and so forth, 15:32 really building the foundation, 15:35 but it was not satisfying whatsoever. 15:38 What I learned later is that my mother 15:41 was constantly praying for me, when-- 15:42 Praise the Lord. 15:43 Whether she knows it or not, 15:45 she has the gift of intercessory prayer. 15:48 And so her never giving up on me in that way 15:51 and I know my father prayed for me too. 15:54 I, God was always allowed to stay with me 15:57 and always remind me, I'm here, I have something for you. 16:00 I'm here, I have something for you. 16:02 So you can say that while you were not attending church 16:07 and perhaps not even reading your Bible-- 16:10 Did you prayed during that period of time, 16:12 that you would say, you were not really 16:14 following the Lord on a daily day-to-day basis? 16:17 I was praying not as, often as, either one of us would like. 16:22 Okay. 16:23 But there was still and I would always remember 16:27 what I had learned in Sabbath school, in my Bible classes, 16:31 but also what my parents had taught me 16:33 what they had raised me with. 16:35 And I could see that my life was in congruent 16:39 with what God had in store for me 16:41 and what God wants for all of us. 16:45 So it got to the point when I was at the agency 16:49 and I would just think if I had all the money in the world, 16:54 what would I do? Would I stay here? 16:57 And the fact of the matter was, the answer was no. 17:01 I actually wanted something else. 17:03 I wanted something 17:04 where I was going to benefit other people. 17:06 Okay. 17:07 Now I enjoyed production, people are happy, 17:09 but that's fleeting it's a moment. 17:11 I want something 17:12 where they are going to have a lasting impact. 17:14 Great. 17:15 And so I thought to myself well, 17:18 I need to do something different. 17:21 What had happened was, a friend of mine had told me 17:23 about a job he was at, and he tried to get me. 17:26 He tried to get me to join his company 17:29 and this company overpaid 17:32 and it provided wonderful vacation in time-off packages. 17:36 That's very interesting that you say, 17:39 you said this company overpaid 17:42 because the conclusion most people come to is, 17:47 I'm not getting paid enough. 17:48 No company seems to pay enough, 17:49 but you're saying this one did. 17:51 This one did and I was very seriously going-- 17:56 looking into joining them. 17:59 Every door closed on the way, 18:02 whether it was a certain certification I needed to get. 18:04 The timing of that didn't work with other plans that I had. 18:09 The reason I even wanted to join that group 18:12 was I would work for a month or two months 18:15 and then I'd take a week, two weeks off 18:17 and go on a mission trip somewhere around the world. 18:19 That was your plan? That was the plan. 18:21 Okay. It was my plan. 18:22 God had something a little different. 18:23 So let me see, you were trying to make, 18:26 if I could say it this way, 18:28 something of the world to make money, 18:31 but you wanted to connect yourself with God again 18:33 through mission trips. 18:35 Yes. Interesting. 18:37 And I thought this was the way to do it. 18:39 And I could even self finance these mission trips. 18:43 My brother got wind of what I wanted to do. 18:46 He had just finished four months in South Korea 18:49 and he had said to me well, why-- 18:51 As a missionary? 18:52 As a missionary teaching English 18:54 at the Sanyu Institutions. 18:57 He said, "Why don't you make 18:59 the mission your job instead of doing this job thing." 19:03 Interesting. I said, "No, I want the money." 19:07 Okay. 19:08 We hung up and actually it was about 45 minutes later 19:12 I thought how foolish. 19:13 I can go to Taiwan 19:15 'cause this was something he had found. 19:16 I can do this for a year, that's nothing. 19:20 And then I'll come back and do this after a year. 19:23 Let me ask you this question because I'm curious. 19:26 You were in Hollywood, you were involved 19:28 in perhaps producing TV programs or was it films? 19:34 By the end it was in the film. 19:36 Okay. You were involved in films. 19:38 And during this time did you get married? 19:41 Were you married at all or you were still single? 19:44 No, I was still single at this time. 19:45 Okay. 19:46 I hadn't met the one yet. 19:48 So you have felt the liberty to able to do 19:52 whatever you came to your mind. 19:54 You had-- 19:55 You didn't have a family to say no. 19:56 Let's not do that, let's do this. 19:58 You had-- You could make 19:59 your own decision without affecting others. 20:01 I had no ache inkers weighing me down at this time, right. 20:05 So now as you're considering going on this mission trip 20:11 and the idea of making too much money, 20:15 you had to weigh this two. 20:16 What happened? 20:17 Well, I figured one year away from this. 20:22 Would this opportunity would be fine. 20:24 Okay. 20:25 And now I had made this decision in 45 minutes, 20:29 but I neglected to tell my brother 20:31 that I was on board for the next two, three weeks. 20:34 In my mind I made the decision we're done. 20:36 So we started doing some research, 20:38 finding out which area of Taiwan we would go 20:42 and it was about three, four months later 20:46 all those doors opened up and we came out. 20:49 My brother and I came out and we moved to Central Taiwan. 20:52 Now initially we were there to set up a lifestyle center. 20:56 This was something to show the locals that religion 20:59 or excuse me Christianity 21:01 is not some quaint western philosophy, 21:05 but this is a real lifestyle. 21:07 Well, that ended up not working out 21:10 which was a wonderful blessing, we didn't know at the time 21:14 because he and I ended up working at the school, 21:16 Taiwan Adventist International School 21:18 which was up the hill from the little town 21:21 where we were stationed 21:22 on the campus of Taiwan Adventist College. 21:26 While we were there I did happened to noticed 21:29 there was a very attractive young woman 21:31 who instantly had earned my respect 21:34 because straight out of school she had gone out, 21:40 thousands of miles away from her home, 21:42 away from her comfort zone to teach in a mission school. 21:46 Okay. So-- 21:47 Where was she from? She's from Colorado. 21:50 Oh, she's from Colorado, okay. 21:52 And so I wanted to get to know 21:54 this attractive Seventh-day Adventist woman 21:57 and let's just say the interest wasn't mutual at first. 22:02 Okay. I was, I was still too LA. 22:05 It was a challenge then? 22:06 Oh, yes. 22:08 That's actually always what makes it worth it. 22:10 Okay. 22:11 So I had to, I had to work on convincing her 22:16 to get to know me, but also I had some growing to do. 22:19 There were some changes I needed to go through first 22:22 before I would become the Christian God 22:24 wanted me to be and the man she deserved. 22:27 So at the time did you see yourself 22:31 coming back to church already? 22:33 I mean, you're talking about getting involved 22:34 with the Christian school. 22:37 Were you now attending regularly 22:39 at school, I mean church? 22:43 Actually yes. 22:44 Still an LA I really wanted to find a connection 22:48 in my personal research. 22:51 I found that what the Bible teaches wasn't lined 22:55 with what our church... 23:00 teaches. 23:01 And even there are always going to be people 23:05 in all walks of life who maybe a discouragement 23:08 to one person or another. 23:10 The church itself is working hard 23:12 to be completely in line with Christ. 23:14 Praise the Lord. 23:15 And so I had first come across the Glendale Adventist Church 23:20 when Elizabeth Talbert was there and then I ended up 23:24 moving on to the John Carter Report in Arcadia. 23:28 Okay. 23:29 And just found that 23:31 there is so much more for me to learn. 23:33 I actually had to be reminded, 23:36 you don't need to be perfect to come here. 23:38 It was the acting head pastor of John Carter Report 23:42 who told me, Neil, God wants you now how you are now. 23:47 Let Him worry about changing you. 23:49 Praise the Lord. 23:51 And I became more and more comfortable 23:55 coming back to the Lord not feeling 23:57 so outside of the church as I spent more time reading, 24:03 studying, doing the different research that I needed to, 24:06 and it got to the point where when I did go to Taiwan 24:10 I had no problem interacting 24:12 within the Seventh-day Adventist parameters, 24:16 that was me. 24:18 So just briefly this question comes to mind 24:20 because when somebody, 24:22 when somebody dares to step out of the, 24:27 the atmosphere of God's family 24:30 and steps into the atmosphere of the world, 24:34 the devil tries to take that person 24:36 and plunge them as deep as possible into sin 24:39 and separate that person completely from God. 24:42 Now apparently you didn't have any problem with drugs, 24:49 alcohol or any of those vices that take hold of somebody. 24:56 Did you have any problems with those types of things 24:59 because what comes in the news it's you know, 25:04 drugs in Hollywood 25:06 and this person is an alcoholic, 25:08 that person overdose in drugs, 25:10 in that type of industry you didn't have that problem? 25:13 No. Praise the Lord. 25:14 What's really interesting here is the subterfuge 25:18 with which Satan acted when it came to my life. 25:23 I would do my best-- I wasn't perfect, 25:25 but I'd actually still do my best to keep the Sabbath 25:28 even when I was out. 25:30 I knew that was a right thing to do 25:32 and so I would to a degree I would keep it. 25:37 Well, when we do that Seventh-day Adventist, 25:40 not Christian or now when people keep the Sabbath, 25:42 there is a special protection that the Lord gives you. 25:46 And so there cannot be an over attack where it's drugs 25:51 or other bad decisions that a person may make. 25:54 What happened here is-- Let me explain 25:58 how Hollywood works in this case. 26:00 Okay. 26:01 They are professionals. They are kind to their own. 26:03 They reward hard work, but in order to be successful 26:08 in Hollywood you must give 100% of yourself. 26:13 That's, that's the catch, the hook. 26:16 Okay. 26:17 And if you give a 100% of yourself to Hollywood 26:21 whether it's acting, writing, directing, 26:23 whatever it is, how much is left for God? 26:26 Zero. 26:27 And that's the hook. That was the catch. 26:31 And at no point was I willing to completely give up God. 26:34 I got close unfortunately, but I just didn't get there. 26:38 So I didn't reach the levels of success 26:40 that make a person famous or popular. 26:44 So somehow you maintained connected to the Lord, 26:49 even though it's like you're kind of walking away 26:52 but you maintained some type of connection with the Lord. 26:54 So now you're meeting this girl 26:58 and she's captured your attention, 27:00 her spirituality perhaps as well and that attracted you. 27:04 How did this girl has become part of your life? 27:11 What happened? 27:14 I had to work on, like I said I had to work on myself a bit 27:18 and I had to come up with some creative dates 27:22 to get her to know, the me that God wanted me to be. 27:26 Okay. 27:27 Well, we had similar interests which was travel, 27:31 share ourselves with other people. 27:33 She has a passion for teaching. 27:35 I have a passion for building, so there was a way for God 27:39 to use both of us in this school. 27:41 And just to show off a little bit, 27:44 I want to show you a picture of my family. 27:46 Okay. 27:47 So you can see that eventually I won. 27:51 Wonderful, praise the Lord. 27:52 So we have on the screen, can you describe what we see? 27:56 We have my wife Maria holding our son James 28:00 and this is when we were able to take a Christmas trip 28:03 to my parents place. 28:04 Just this last year which is the first Christmas 28:08 we have been able to come home, 28:10 seven years for her and six years for me. 28:12 Praise the Lord. 28:13 I don't see any problem with the smiles you have on, 28:15 and it seem very natural, praise the Lord. 28:17 So the Lord blessed you with a companion 28:21 that shares the same passion. 28:24 And tell me about the school? 28:25 Taiwan Adventist International School was originally set up 28:29 on the Taiwan Adventist College campus 28:32 for pastor's kids, missionaries' kids, 28:36 people who wanted Adventist education in English 28:40 and that's the key. 28:41 There is another high school on campus 28:43 but it's all taught in Chinese. 28:44 Okay. 28:45 And the demand for the school had actually 28:49 grown outside of our church rather quickly 28:52 because the people of Taiwan are looking for an alternative 28:56 form of education to the rather route system 28:59 that the Taiwanese government offers. 29:01 They want more and more people want their kids to learn, 29:05 how to think, not just what to think. 29:07 Okay. 29:08 So what happens is in that system 29:10 and this is a lot of Asia. 29:12 Here's a lot of information, memorize, 29:15 regurgitated on your fill in the bubble test 29:18 and depending on how well you do there, 29:20 you can go to this level high school 29:23 this level university and so forth. 29:26 But it does nothing to teach them of character building. 29:30 It does nothing to teach them how to think. 29:32 How to use the brains that God has given them. 29:35 And more and more as we interview parents 29:38 and prospective students of people who want to come. 29:42 We're hearing, we want our kid to learn character development. 29:46 More and more people are less concerned about grades 29:50 and they want their kids to grow up to be good people. 29:52 Praise the Lord. 29:54 And so that's exactly what we're able to offer. 29:56 We don't hide the fact that we are a Christian school 30:00 or that we're Seventh-day Adventist. 30:01 We're quite open that we are going 30:03 to share Jesus with them. 30:04 We are going to share God's principles with them. 30:07 We are school that focuses 30:09 on three aspects of Adventist education, mind, body, spirit. 30:15 No one has runaway from us yet. 30:17 Praise the Lord. 30:18 So the Taiwan Adventist International School, 30:23 tell me again the grades that you offer. 30:27 We are junior, high, and high school, 30:29 so 7 through 12th grade. 30:30 7 through 12th grade. 30:31 And it's a full US curriculum. 30:34 We go through Griggs University 30:37 or Griggs Academy International. 30:39 And when they graduate they have an American diploma. 30:44 Okay. 30:45 Most of our students want to study abroad. 30:47 They want to go. 30:48 Most of them want to come to the United States, 30:50 some Canada, some the UK or Europe 30:53 and most of them want to come here 30:55 and so they find it beneficial to actually be taught 30:58 in a western system with western teachers. 31:01 And even though we're an American curriculum, 31:03 we actually have a rather international faculty. 31:06 Excellent. 31:09 Does the school offer some work study as well? 31:15 Because of the amount of English 31:19 that we have to teach 31:20 because our students don't come with perfect levels of English. 31:23 Many of them are actually rather low. 31:25 Most of our time is spent 31:28 either bringing up their English 31:30 through our English language learners programs 31:32 or they have many credits that they have to get completed 31:37 in order to get our degree. 31:39 So the work study program 31:40 is a work in progress right now. 31:43 We're still trying to work that in, 31:45 but at the moment we don't have that opportunity. 31:47 Does the school-- Is the school-- 31:50 Does the school offer a dormitory for people 31:54 that come from far away? 31:56 Or is it set up for just local community? 32:01 Because we're in the middle of Taiwan, although Taiwan 32:03 is only the size of the State of Maryland, 32:06 it's still quite a commute for most of our students. 32:09 So we're a boarding school and we only have a few students 32:13 who are day students, 32:14 most of them are kids of faculty 32:17 or missionaries right around or right on the campus. 32:20 So everyone else boards 32:22 and that actually lends greatly to our program 32:27 because we have a captive audience, 32:31 we have a tremendous program 32:33 where we are actually able to build the characters 32:36 that the parents want for their kids. 32:38 And that's where a great amount of progress is made 32:41 and how we're able to reach or touch the hearts 32:46 and really make an impact on the lives of our students. 32:49 Can you help, describe how this is done? 32:53 Is there a simple way that you can explain? 32:56 What the process is for building 32:57 the characters of the students? 33:01 We work to teach them, 33:03 first of all responsibility for their actions 33:06 and to try to show them that there are affects 33:10 to anything that they may cause. 33:13 A lot of the students-- 33:15 In fact most of the students come from families 33:17 that work so much that there isn't 33:19 a lot of what we'd consider quality time 33:23 between mom and dad and the kids. 33:24 Okay. 33:25 And so we are surrogate parents in that way. 33:29 What we've done this year 33:30 that I'm actually really proud of within our spiritual program 33:34 is implemented a small group 33:37 and with this small groups program, 33:39 every Friday night when the kids are on campus, 33:42 every other weekend they will go home. 33:44 Okay. 33:45 As we have vespers in the faculty homes. 33:49 So we will have the kids broken into different groups 33:52 and that same group will go to a faculty sponsors home 33:56 and we talk about the theme of the week. 33:59 In the beginning it's a lot more organized 34:02 in terms of having the same discussion topics, 34:06 but as the year has gone 34:07 on each groups develops a life of its own. 34:10 Kids have different questions depending 34:12 on where they are in their spiritual walks, 34:14 where they are in age. 34:16 And what I had noticed 34:18 as a result of this small group program, 34:21 is in church when we do get together 34:24 for the divine service, they are much more energized 34:28 and involved than they have ever been in the past. 34:31 Wonderful. Wonderful. 34:32 So they come over Friday night, we have dinner with them, 34:35 then Sabbath school or Sabbath morning 34:37 before Sabbath school they will come 34:39 and at the same house we'll have breakfast together 34:42 and then everyone joins together 34:43 for our divine service. 34:45 Magnificent. 34:47 What is the capacity of the school 34:48 right now as far as students? 34:51 The maximum we can have would be 84, 34:54 if you don't count any day students. 34:55 Okay. 34:56 Instead has to do with dorm space. 34:59 Long term goals, the maximum we would want to be 35:02 is about 120 because we want to keep 35:05 the familial environment that we have. 35:07 Wonderful. Wonderful. 35:09 Now you have, the school has been opened 35:12 for how long and besides what you mentioned, 35:16 are there other goals in mind? 35:20 We've been opened, this is our seventh year 35:23 even though I joined 35:25 at the beginning of the second year myself. 35:29 And our goals are to reach-- 35:33 Well, in this case the children, 35:35 as many children of Taiwan as we can to show them 35:39 that there is such a thing as unconditional love. 35:42 They don't have to get straight A's to be loved. 35:45 They don't have to earn this love. 35:48 They will be disciplined when they do something wrong, 35:51 but it doesn't mean we don't like them anymore, 35:54 it doesn't mean we're ashamed for them 35:55 and this is part of the obstacles 35:58 that we have to face. 35:59 The culture presses upon them 36:03 that they must obey their elders 36:06 or which is a good thing, but without question, 36:11 without knowing why. 36:12 And tradition is more important than an individual's rights, 36:19 desires and things of that nature. 36:23 Not questioning a teacher 36:26 is part of what makes it difficult 36:28 to teach how to think because in order to know 36:31 how to think one must ask questions. 36:33 Yes. 36:34 And so when they come it's a big culture shock 36:37 when we actually ask, what do you think about this? 36:40 If A and B take place, what would C look like? 36:45 Stone silence. 36:46 It takes about six to eight months 36:49 for someone to reorient to our culture. 36:52 Okay. 36:53 And start to become comfortable knowing I can ask questions 36:58 and if I answer a question and I'm wrong, it's okay. 37:03 That's very interesting-- 37:05 What I've just heard is very interesting. 37:07 So it's a learning process for them 37:11 and it's a growing process as well. 37:13 Let me ask you. 37:14 You mentioned the word obstacles, 37:15 that was one of the questions I had. 37:17 What are the obstacles or challenges 37:20 the school is facing? 37:24 We have three major obstacles. One is the cultural difference. 37:30 The language barrier is part of what the school is about, 37:34 is to teach them English 37:36 and have them improve their English skills. 37:40 But because of the spiritual program that we have, 37:43 because we are introducing the true character of Christ, 37:46 Satan does not want us there. 37:48 Since the first year he has been working hard 37:51 to shut this school down. 37:55 In Taiwan it's generally a dark country spiritually speaking. 37:59 Okay. 38:00 This is a county whose major religion is Buddhism, 38:03 but in Taiwan Buddhism is an amalgamation of Buddhism, 38:07 Daoism and ancestral worship. 38:10 There is a lot of spiritism there, 38:12 whether people are aware of it or not. 38:14 So the, the type of Buddhism that I see 38:17 there is very different than what maybe portrayed 38:20 in television, movies what not here in the US. 38:24 Let me give you one example. 38:25 I had a student-- When I first went there, 38:27 I was the dean, boys' dean and I had this student Wallace 38:31 who was-- 38:33 he was a high maintenance child. 38:35 He knew how to get under people's skin. 38:38 Everyone has that button that can be pushed 38:40 and he knew how to get to everyone. 38:44 When we did have our church services 38:46 he couldn't stay awake at all. 38:48 It's just like all the energy was sucked out of him. 38:51 I tried to spend some time with him to get 38:53 to know more about him and what I learned 38:55 is he actually had a friend let's call him. 39:00 Now this was a spirit friend. 39:02 And this spirit friend of his, I asked him eventually 39:04 what is his name and he told me, Louie. 39:07 So Louie was the spirit friends name. 39:09 Louie would actually give this boy a lot of energy 39:13 so he could do whatever it was that he wanted to do. 39:16 He was actually very smart kid. 39:18 He was pretty good in sports, 39:22 but when it came time to go to church, 39:25 well, it turns out Louie wasn't allowed in the building 39:28 and so his source of energy was gone. 39:31 There was-- I would talk to him about, 39:34 why it was hard for him to make friends. 39:36 He didn't understand what it was, 39:37 what the problem was. 39:39 His room was completely filthy. 39:42 He was personally or rather dirty individual. 39:45 He would push those buttons 39:47 whether it was teachers or students 39:49 and I asked, why do you do this? 39:52 Well, Louie would tell him to do these things. 39:55 And as a result he didn't have friends. 39:58 Not having friends, 39:59 he would go to Louie who was his friend. 40:02 Louie would also grant him certain things 40:03 that he would use 40:05 in order to try to win the favor of other students. 40:08 He had a limited amount of clairvoyance, 40:10 so if a student lost something 40:11 he could ask Louie, where is it? 40:13 And he would find it right away for them. 40:16 He said that, if someone did upset him, 40:18 he was given an ability to make some face 40:22 and produce some kind of roar that would really startled kids 40:25 and it actually scared a few of them quite a bit. 40:27 Wallace told me he tried to do that to me, 40:29 but it would never work, he couldn't do it. 40:32 I explained it's nothing special about me, 40:35 it's my father has more power than Louie. 40:38 You should really conside 40:40 what we're trying to teach you here. 40:43 At one time the principal at the time 40:46 and I were talking with him trying to counsel Wallace 40:50 and he would use this circular logic of why God was bad, 40:57 why the Bible was not helpful, 40:59 why following these Christian principles 41:02 were not in his best interest. 41:06 At one time he even said this line 41:08 which I thought was a bit concerning. 41:11 We don't want to be saved. 41:14 So he used the word "We." 41:15 He said "We." 41:16 Okay. 41:17 We're calling-- We want to call it, 41:19 call it as it is-- There was a demon working 41:24 through this Louie character that was his friend. 41:29 Definitely. There's no doubt about that. 41:32 Louie was not allowed in my office, 41:34 but he could talk to Wallace through the wall 41:37 and when Jeremy the other former principal 41:40 and I were talking to him, it finally dawned on us, 41:43 we're not talking to Wallace. 41:45 So we had asked him, are we talking-- 41:46 Wallace, is this you? 41:47 Are we talking to you? 41:49 He just remained quiet, 41:50 so we stopped right there and we prayed. 41:54 Let it be just us, just us 'cause we need to talk 41:57 to Wallace no one else. 41:59 Amen. 42:00 And then his entire demeanor, his eyes were different, 42:06 his voice was a little bit different. 42:08 We had our student back. 42:10 All right. Praise the Lord. 42:12 Even then when we wanted to discuss the Bible 42:15 and talk about this with him, he would, 42:18 he couldn't touch the Bible. 42:19 He would describe it as very warm, 42:21 but if he touched it, he himself would be very cold. 42:24 So these kinds of spiritual interactions particularly 42:29 in the beginning were actually a lot more common 42:31 and this is-- These are some of the ways 42:33 that we're being fought. 42:36 I'll just quickly mention a current student of ours 42:39 whose name I'll not mention. 42:42 So to close the story about Louie and Wallace, 42:46 how was God victorious in this? 42:51 Wallace knew that God was more powerful. 42:57 What I'm able to do is I'm able to touch share with people, 43:01 that there is-- There are powers 43:03 and principalities at work. 43:06 One of the things that I share him, 43:07 I am actually very pleased to share with people 43:09 because I want them to be encouraged 43:11 knowing God is physically present with us, 43:14 Christ is present with us, 43:15 it's something that Wallace could see. 43:16 Amen. 43:18 When we were in church, Wallace could see-- 43:22 He described to me beams of light 43:25 with six wings harmonizing with us as we were singing. 43:29 Praise the Lord. 43:31 And this doesn't just happen in Taiwan, 43:33 this is around the world. 43:34 So music is so powerful, 43:37 it is immensely important that people keep music, 43:40 praise and worship music in all of their services. 43:43 The angels are harmonizing with us. 43:45 Amen. 43:46 Before you continue the other story, 43:48 I would like to see if we can put the pictures 43:51 that you came with, you can share those 43:53 and kind of briefly go through them, 43:55 so that-- We get a picture here. 43:56 What we have on screen now? 43:59 This is Longshan Temple in Taipei. 44:03 This is the typical form of worship 44:05 that we would see in Taiwan. 44:07 Incense being burned, what you can't see 44:10 is that they are facing different statues, 44:13 so it's blatant direct idol worship. 44:16 And this one is a statue? 44:17 This one is of a dragon. 44:20 I took this photo because of how happily 44:24 I thought it would describe, who people, 44:27 who are worshiping idols are truly worshiping 44:30 whether they know it nor not. 44:31 Interesting, next one. 44:33 This is a picture of the mountains, 44:36 early morning when I went out for jog of... 44:38 Beautiful. 44:40 Taiwan Adventist College campus, 44:42 and the fog rolling in beautifully 44:44 and this is not Photoshop, 44:46 this is the way the photo was taken. 44:48 Let's go to the next one. 44:51 This is a picture of some of our students. 44:53 We have outreach programs that teach the students 44:57 not only the benefit of taking things for themselves, 45:01 but when you give your time, your energy, 45:04 your blessing both to people you help and yourself. 45:07 Praise the Lord. 45:08 And these are some of the activities. 45:11 We take our kids outside into nature 45:13 because of where we are, 45:14 we have some wonderful nature not only on our campus, 45:18 but also around the campus. 45:20 This is a local swimming hole and we go there, 45:22 at least once a year. 45:24 And the kids don't want to go swimming, 45:26 then they end up going in and just having a great time. 45:29 We have week of prayer every, we have two a year. 45:33 And this is where some of the most violent, 45:37 spiritually speaking attacks come against our school. 45:40 The week before every single week of prayer we have attacks. 45:45 This year we had a government threat to shut down our school. 45:50 Last year we had, someone became very ill 45:53 and he actually had to leave abruptly. 45:55 We had the year before that, 45:58 two years before that a student... 46:02 who had made some poor decisions regarding let's say, 46:05 playing with a Taiwanese version of a Ouija board, 46:08 had actually invited spirits in. 46:10 And these spirits did not leave him alone particularly 46:13 during the week of prayer. 46:16 He had washed some clothes and the only shirt 46:19 that came out smelling like rotten milk 46:21 was the shirt that said, "Jesus Saves" on it. 46:24 He showed me the shirt, I smelled it and it was putrid. 46:28 I was speaking to him trying to comfort him 46:31 and let him know-- Okay, Jesus is more powerful. 46:34 We need to pray, it got to the point 46:37 where I needed to call in our chaplain 46:39 and we spoke to him and he ended up doing much better, 46:44 but this, my point is this is the kind of attack 46:47 that does happen while we're there. 46:49 Well, we definitely want to ask our viewers 46:52 and listeners to pray for this school 46:55 because they are facing day-to-day challenges. 46:57 And praise the Lord, a victory is at hand and we see victory. 47:02 We've already heard some stories 47:04 of the victories they have had. 47:05 I'm sure there are many more. 47:06 But at this time to share, 47:09 you had another story, you wanted to share. 47:11 We have briefly time for another one maybe, 47:13 and then we need to get ready for the address. 47:16 So if you would like to write the address information. 47:20 Why don't we go here first? 47:21 Do you have any needs at the school, teachers...? 47:28 We have two major needs. The first and foremost prayer. 47:32 Please add us to your prayer lists 47:35 and I mean actively pray, don't just say we'll do so. 47:38 We really need this prayer. 47:41 With this government, 47:43 a new government certification that we're going for, 47:48 it allows us to operate more smoothly 47:50 and most importantly teach Adventist principles. 47:53 We can teach Bible class, we can teach creationism, 47:57 and we can continue with the American curriculum. 47:59 So pray for the people who are in charge of that, 48:03 who have the stamp and that the teachers continue to have 48:07 the energy and enthusiasm to do what we're doing 48:11 'cause everyone there works very hard and it is rewarding, 48:15 it's incredibly rewarding. 48:17 And yes, we need teachers. 48:19 I need English language teachers. 48:21 I need high level math teachers, 48:24 science, chemistry, physics 48:27 because we have some missionaries 48:28 who are moving on to the next mission. 48:30 We have some people who are returning home. 48:33 And we have a need to just fill these slots. 48:37 We need an academic director. 48:39 So please I'd like to hear from people 48:42 who are interested in this. 48:44 And I can talk more with them about what life is like there. 48:49 Some of the things that we offered to make life easier. 48:52 I'll just say one thing, sometimes people are afraid 48:55 that mission work means that they have to go into debts 48:59 or that it won't provide for them in that way. 49:03 When I got married we had about $30,000 in debts, 49:07 student loans and so forth, 49:09 completely debt free in 18 months. 49:11 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 49:13 So while you cannot say about the school, 49:15 just you said about the other job 49:17 that they paid too much, the people are benefited 49:22 and that they are not gonna be starving or in great debt. 49:26 They will be well taken care of by both the Lord and by us. 49:30 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 49:32 Well, we have very little time left. 49:34 We want to make sure 49:35 we put the address on the screen very soon. 49:38 So we want to invite you to pray. 49:40 Do you have something brief 49:41 that you'd like to share with us 49:42 before we go to our break? 49:45 We have about two minutes. 49:47 Yes, I want to tell you about 49:49 our mission trip that's coming up. 49:51 We're taking the kids to India in just a couple of weeks. 49:56 Wonderful. 49:57 And this is great because I had asked our spiritual committee 50:00 for two mission trips. 50:02 Excuse me, I had asked them for one mission trip, 50:04 they gave me two. 50:06 And we're headed to India. We had set up a budget. 50:10 I had already told the parents about this, 50:12 collected a certain amount of money, 50:14 then when we got the actual numbers back, 50:16 it was about $13,000 more than 50:20 what we had asked for or collected. 50:22 Praise the Lord. 50:23 No, the budget was more. We were short. 50:26 Oh, you were short? Yeah. 50:27 Okay. Misunderstood. 50:29 So we had prayed about this. 50:32 We had prayer groups in the states going, 50:34 I saw a Facebook post 50:36 by a friend of mine Richard who said, I have a minute. 50:38 You have prayer request, send them my way. 50:40 I said, yes, pray for this. 50:43 Within 19 minutes my friend 50:46 who is organizing this whole event 50:49 got an email that had actually explained, 50:52 our entire problem had been solved. 50:55 Praise the Lord. Now we say praise the Lord. 50:56 Now, it's praise the Lord. 50:57 Praise the Lord. Fantastic. 51:00 So the Lord is working for us. 51:01 This mission is running successfully 51:05 because of the people we have there 51:07 and because we are following 51:08 what God has instructed us to do. 51:10 And as long as we stay on that path, 51:12 He's gonna continue to protect us. 51:14 Praise the Lord. This is marvelous. 51:16 We have more to find out about the school, 51:20 but we need to take a short break right now 51:23 because we want to share with you the address, 51:25 contact information for the school. 51:27 Those of you that are interested 51:28 in becoming teachers, you need to contact them 51:31 and we also want to encourage you to send them an email, 51:36 contact them to say, you are praying for them. 51:38 And you can even ask them 51:39 what other specific needs they may have. 51:41 So right now we like to go through the address 51:44 and then we have news from 3ABN with you, 51:46 so we'll be back. 51:50 If you would like to support this school, 51:52 you can write to, Taiwan Adventist International School, 51:55 39 Chunwen Lane, Yuchih, Nantou County 55542. 52:01 That's Taiwan Adventist International School, 52:04 39 Chunwen Lane, Yuchih, Nantou County 55542. 52:10 You can call +866-0-49-289-9778. 52:16 That's +866-0-49-289-9778 52:22 or visit them online at tais.tw. 52:26 Or you can email Neil at neil@tais.tw. |
Revised 2015-07-13