Editorial
Committed. Selfless. Exhausted. On their knees, pleading for wisdom, strength, and opportunities to reach others with God’s last-day message of mercy. For our Adventist pioneers, spreading the third angel’s message of Revelation 14 was all that mattered.
I read their letters, filled with fervent prayers for complete surrender, for Jesus’ yearning love for the lost, for forgiveness of anything that had kept them from His mission.
I say to myself, “I have never prayed like this . . . because I have never felt like this. I have never known this all-consuming passion to connect a dark, dying world with the Source of light and life.”
I wonder what our pioneers would think if they knew we still call Earth home. What would I say to explain my part in why this is? Would I say I was afraid of offending people? That I never figured out how to engage in outreach? That I didn’t care enough?
“Dear God,” I pray, “please forgive me. Wake me up. Break my infatuation with ease, self-determination, and noncommitment. Pour your love for others into my self-absorbed heart. Make your mission mine.”
Laurie Falvo, Editor
Photo
our cover photo
PHOTO BY RICKY OLIVERAS
Chairman: Erton Köhler
Editor: Laurie Falvo
Consulting Editor: Gary Krause
Senior Editorial Assistant: Mwamba Mpundu
Contributing Editors: Rick Kajiura, Elbert Kuhn, Andrew McChesney, Hensley Moorooven, Teen Nielsen, Ricky Oliveras, Karen J. Porter, Claude Richli, Gerson Santos, Karilyn Suvankham, David Trim
Editorial Advisors: Petras Bahadur, Jose Cortes, Jr., Varaprasad Deepati, Daniel Jiao, Sun Hwan Kim, Wayne Krause, Bledi Leno, Brad Mills, Silas Muabsa, Paul Muasya, Umesh Nag, Josiah Nwarungwa, Joni Oliveira, Brendan Pratt, Bill Quispe, Florian Ristea, Clifmond Shameerudeen, Reinaldo Siqueira, Dragan Stojanovic, Zhan Taraniuk, Samuel Telemaque, Anthony WagenerSmith, Gregory Whitsett
Design: 316 Creative
Mission 360° is a quarterly magazine produced and copyrighted ©2024 by the General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists. All rights reserved. The contents may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher.
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Unless otherwise noted, Bible verses are quoted from the King James Version.
On a recent filming trip to Costa Rica, I visited a Cabécar village to meet a Global Mission pioneer ministering to members of his tribe. While I was at his home in the mountains, this woman approached me with a big smile. Even though I couldn’t speak her language, we shared a special moment. To watch a video about the pioneer, visit m360.tv/s2416.
Meeting the General
Istarted my morning with a much longer prayer time than usual. After meeting many difficulties in applying for our residency in a Middle Eastern country, my wife and I were told that it might be possible for us to apply that day for a six-month temporary residence card if we presented ourselves at the immigration office.
Our situation was uniquely complicated. We knew that a technicality on my wife’s passport would likely deny any request she made for residency. Our stay in the country was at risk. I didn’t know where to turn except for God’s direct intervention.
At the immigration office, we carefully filled out the paperwork and waited nervously. The woman behind the window who finally called our number was efficient. She quickly processed my request, but hesitated when she picked up my wife’s passport. As we
feared, none of my explanations satisfied her questions. She waved us away with a mumbled, “You go see a general.”
This was just what we had hoped wouldn’t happen. My heart pounding, I breathed a quick prayer. Someone showed us to an office at the end of a long hall, where a young man sat behind a large desk. He smiled and confirmed, “I am the general.” As he took our passports, he cheerfully told us he was studying English and hoping to serve soon in the United Nations. He didn’t ask why we’d been sent to him.
After a few minutes of paperwork, he stood and announced, “It’s all done. Come back tomorrow for your residence cards.” Even amid my surprise and relief, I felt a nudge by the Holy Spirit. I quickly wrote down my number on a piece of paper and handed it to him, telling him that if he ever wanted to meet and practice English, I would gladly visit.
As told to Kathie Lichtenwalter, Middle East and North Africa Union
The Middle East and North Africa Union
Global Mission pioneers are laypeople sent to start new groups of believers in unreached areas or among unreached people groups. They are paid a small stipend and often work within their own culture. Please support their ministry with your prayers and financial gifts to Global Mission.
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Later that day, he messaged that he had finished our residency cards early and we could come pick them up. The relief that had replaced our frustration and worry gave way to amazement. God had smoothed the way—and so quickly! Moreover, we soon realized He had even more in mind than our problems.
The general and I have kept in touch. We talk often and have met several times. We enjoy conversations about life and the values we share. As his English improves, our friendship grows, and God’s opportunities unfold before me.
But those are small benefits next to the privilege of watching God use every circumstance to accomplish His purpose. We had approached Him with our great need because we were blocked by the challenges of doing His work, and in answering our prayer, He connected us to the very purpose of our work.
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In the United States: Global Mission, General Conference 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904-6601
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Seeing What They See
In the sitting room of my Middle Eastern friends’ family home, I carefully uncovered for Ashraf, his brothers, and their families the portrait I had painted of their father, a gracious patriarch I’d come to love. I felt the extreme satisfaction of an artist who has completed a carefully planned, tediously executed canvas.
A murmur of surprise rippled through the group while they inspected the painting. They sounded approving, but I sensed a reserve I hadn’t expected. Something was missing in their response.
When we were alone, I asked Ashraf whether the gift was well received. He expressed deep appreciation. Then he hesitated as if there was more on his mind. I could tell he didn’t want to hurt my feelings or threaten the friendship we had forged.
I remember the first time Ashraf invited me to his home. I met his father, a shepherd, and several of his six older brothers, all married. We sat down to a mid-morning spread gathered fresh from their family garden, livestock, and kitchen. We enjoyed a lively conversation that lasted far beyond the time it usually takes me to eat breakfast.
That’s how my friendship with Ashraf was born. We ate breakfast together almost every day for the month I was in his country. In my free time, I sketched portraits of him, his brothers, and several young nieces and nephews. The mothers were delighted with my drawings of their children.
Perhaps that’s why, toward the end of our time together, I decided to paint a formal portrait of Ashraf’s father. I had grown to respect him; his quiet manner and hardworking ways endeared him to me. I wanted to honor him. Before I left, I made several sketches of him and studied their living room for a setting where I might pose him in the portrait.
During the next few months, I developed a painting of the elderly man dressed in his formal, traditional clothing and sitting in the family’s
living room. After thoughtfully considering the special message I wanted to express, I painted a simple porcelain teapot and one teacup on a small table between the patriarch and the viewer. My reason for including only one teacup was because I had experienced his hospitality in a singular way so many times; he would serve me, but he never provided for his comfort or refreshment. The painting was an expression of my appreciation for the honor of being included so warmly in their home.
So, after sensing Ashraf’s hesitancy to explain the family’s reaction, I pressed him privately. What did they really think of the painting? Was it appropriate?
“We’re greatly honored. It’s very nice.” He was picking his words carefully. “I think the modern teapot is not of my father’s world. We have traditional Arab coffee pots that are very meaningful to us.”
That’s all he said. But in his brief response, I easily grasped the incongruence of the little porcelain teapot and matching teacup. I apologized profusely and assured him I could correct the painting.
Within a few days, I brought out my paints and asked about securing a traditional coffee pot. Within the hour, Ashraf brought in an elegant antique pot borrowed from a cousin. It wasn’t what they used; it was what they valued. In a few strokes of the brush, the modern teapot and single dainty cup disappeared. In their place were an old coffee pot and two traditional teacups because Ashraf had a further suggestion: “We must always have two cups, for a guest is always welcome.”
One more time, the family gathered, and I humbly brought out the corrected painting. Polite acceptance was replaced by noticeable understanding and appreciation. The painting was ceremoniously hung next to the only other decoration on the walls—a verse from their holy book etched in white plaster.
The portrait is a permanent message in their home. As it silently watches over their family experience, I pray it speaks of my desire to see what they see, to grasp what’s meaningful to them. To reach across cultures to those different from us, we must show Jesus’ interest and care and give glory to a personal God who is considerate of their perspective and understands their world.
I’m also praying that God will lead my friend, his six brothers and their families, and his parents to a saving relationship with a Savior who has shared their experience with great empathy—and is present to help.
The identify of this author has been withheld to protect his ministry.
The Middle East and North Africa Union
Global Mission is about reaching the unreached for Jesus in the 10/40 Window, which includes the Middle East and North Africa. We do this in various ways, including through the service of Global Mission pioneers, urban centers of influence, Waldensian students, and tentmakers who use their careers to share Christ.
Please support Global Mission in this region with your prayers and financial gifts at Global-Mission.org/giving.
Please remember us in your will and trusts. Visit Global-Mission.org/PlannedGiving or call 800.648.5824.
Michaela and the baby she helped deliver
The Gift of Life
It was a sunny afternoon on the peaceful compound of the Ile-Ife Adventist Hospital in Nigeria. My brother Joshua and I, three and five years old at the time, were walking with our mom to the nearby market. As we passed through the hospital halls, one of the nurses rushed out of the maternity ward and frantically called, “Dr. Lohr, we need you now!”
As my mom hurried into the ward to help with the complicated delivery, she motioned us into the nurses’ station, where we were told to sit still and wait for her.
Joshua and I obeyed at first. But as the minutes dragged on, we became restless. We made our way down the hall to the delivery room and came to a sudden stop when we saw a woman push out her baby into our mother’s arms. Our eyes widened as we gasped at the sight. I’ll never forget that moment. It shaped my life. It’s when I knew that I, too, wanted to become a doctor someday.
From then on, I begged my mom to take me with her so I could watch her deliver babies. I couldn’t get enough of seeing little lives enter the world.
I’ve thought of those childhood memories often these past few weeks as I’ve worked in the maternity ward of Kendu Adventist Hospital, where I serve as a student missionary. I’ve had some of the best experiences here.
One day this week, I arrived at work just in time to help take a mother to a C-section. Usually, the surgical team allowed me to be the second person assisting in surgeries, but this time, they thought I was ready to be the first person assisting! It was incredible!
The best part, though, was that the mother asked for my name afterward. When I told her my name, she decided to name her newborn daughter Michaela. It was extra special because it all happened on my birthday!
The magic of birth never ceases to amaze me. Each time I get to help with a delivery, I’m awestruck by how God gives each of us the gift of life.
Not only that, but it says in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jesus came to
Earth to give us a chance to truly live. The more I think about it, the more I realize this is a gift we can’t take for granted. Life has so much to offer, and each moment of each day is a gift we can treasure.
Would you like to help make a positive impact in the lives of others? If so, please consider volunteering through Adventist Volunteer Service, which facilitates church members’ volunteer service worldwide. Volunteers age 18 to 80 may serve as teachers, medical professionals, computer technicians, orphanage workers, farmers, pastors, and more. To learn more, visit AdventistVolunteers.org
A service of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, VividFaith is an online platform connecting people with service opportunities, including Adventist Volunteer Service. Use it to find or promote available positions. vividfaith.com.
Michaela Lohr served at Kendu Adventist Hospital in Kenya. She is earning a degree in biology with an emphasis on biomedical studies at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee, United States.
Kenya
Michaela, left, and her family as missionaries in Nigeria
Lighting Up the Community
In the western regions of Indonesia, vast expanses of greenery grace the landscape.
Many people have moved here from the city to work on tea and rubber plantations. They came seeking a better life, but they faced new challenges with their living conditions.
The pressing needs of the community caught the attention of Global Mission pioneers Iwan and Jamal.
“We advocated for electricity installation through discussions with government representatives,” Jamal said. “Praise God, they now have access to power. We also constructed toilets. This is our way of demonstrating our care for the locals here.”
The pioneers also provided education for the community children, most of whom didn’t attend school. Through meeting the people’s needs, they have built strong friendships with them.
“My desire for our fellow community members is for them to undergo a transformation,
to be lifted from their constant struggles so they may enhance . . . spirituality,” said Jamal.
The pioneers’ dedication to serving this community has made a positive impact on its children and their parents.
“I love when Mr. Jamal and Mr. Iwan come to our place,” said Dedeh, a community member. “My children eagerly anticipate the moments when they can meet Mr. Jamal and Mr. Iwan. Their genuine compassion and warm-hearted nature resonate deeply with my kids.”
Jamal requests your prayers. “Kindly pray for us to maintain our passion in serving and for the well-being of the souls we aid. . . . We aim for Jesus’ mission to resonate within the hearts of every individual we serve in this place.”
Thank you for supporting Global Mission pioneers, such as Iwan and Jamal, who serve Jesus sacrificially in their corner of the world.
Joshua Sagala is a video producer for the Office of Adventist Mission.
Indonesia Jamal visiting with villagers
Don’t miss out!
Mission 360° TV takes you to the front lines of mission with amazing stories of missionaries and church planters from around the world! Watch at m360.tv or HOPE Channel.
Mission 360° TV schedule for HOPE Channel in North America
Monday: 12:30 PM Wednesday: 2:30 AM
Friday: 10:30 PM
Sabbath: 9:30 AM
For more information, please visit hope.tv.org.
The 10/40 Window, which includes Indonesia, is an imaginary rectangle drawn on the world to show the area least reached by the gospel. It extends from 10 to 40 degrees north latitude and stretches from North Africa through the Middle East and into Asia. Nearly 60 percent of the world’s population lives here, and most have never heard the name of Jesus. Global Mission supports thousands of local church planters, called pioneers, in starting new groups of believers in areas of the 10/40 Window. Please support their ministry with your prayers and financial gifts at Global- Mission.org/giving.
Please remember us in your will and trusts. Visit Global-Mission.org/ PlannedGiving or call 800.648.5824.
Transform Lives, One Month at a Time: Join Our Recurring Donor Family!
Watch Lighting Up the Community” at m360.tv/s24311.
Children in the village
Missionaries Before Airplanes
How did Adventist missionaries travel before the invention of the airplane? A lot of the time, they traveled by ship.
Adventist missionary Stephen N. Haskell once had to rush to catch his boat to Australia. That ship, the Thermopylae, had reached Cape Town, South Africa, on September 16, 1896, at 4:00 PM, a day earlier than he expected.
“As I was in one of the suburbs, it left me only an hour after receiving the telegram,” he reported to the readers of the November 17, 1896, issue of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, “to finish packing, secure a cab, and drive
four miles to the dock” for the ship’s departure less than five hours after it arrived, at 8:40 PM
Part of the Aberdeen White State Line, the Thermopylae traveled monthly between London, England; Cape Town, South Africa; and Melbourne, Australia, and carried passengers and freight (mostly Australian wool). The second ship bearing this name (the first being one of the most magnificent clipper ships ever built), the steamer Thermopylae was launched in 1891 and eventually shipwrecked in 1899, three years after Haskell’s voyage.
Haskell reported to the Review: “The voyage was not a pleasant one for the passengers. It was
Ashlee Chism is a professional archivist for the General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research.
The Thermopylae steamer, built in 1891 and weighing 3,711 tons, was wrecked near Cape Town, South Africa, on September 11, 1899. Photo: State Library of Queensland
very cold and boisterous,” and to give his readers an idea of the crossing, he quoted extensively from the captain’s report of the voyage, which was also printed in the Melbourne newspapers upon their arrival.
The temperature dropped rapidly, snow fell heavily, sometimes mixed with hail, and the seas were high with occasional gale-force winds. The ship went far enough south that icebergs were spotted; the report details one iceberg that was “over half a mile long, and six hundred and forty feet high.”
The captain logged more than 100 icebergs in “a space one thousand miles long by twenty miles wide” and speculated there were more unseen in the dark, heavy snow. Haskell commented, “These large islands of ice, moving amid the foaming billows, and at times covered by the white spray, are truly to be numbered with the wonders of the deep.” They saw their last iceberg on September 26.
Haskell also spoke highly of the Thermopylae’s captain, Alexander Simpson, a well-known man of his profession, calling him “a social Scotchman,” and Haskell observed that Simpson “made daily visits to his bedridden passengers, speaking encouraging words to them.”
Despite the rough weather, Haskell stated that the other passengers and the crew “went far toward making the voyage a pleasant one, and we enjoyed much of the blessing of God.”
The Thermopylae arrived in Melbourne on October 6, 1896, and Haskell was met by people he knew, which made him glad, as it would probably make all of us after such a journey!
Through the years, your generous and faithful mission offerings have supported hundreds of missionaries. Please continue to make their ministry possible by giving mission offerings during Sabbath School or online at adventistmission.org/donate.
Stephen Nelson Haskell (April 22, 1833–1922) was an evangelist, missionary, and editor in the Seventhday Adventist Church. He pioneered the Adventist work in the South Pacific. Photo: Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research
Lessons and Blessings
Kelby with some of her students
Some of the things I’ve learned in Malawi are practical skills such as how to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, how to determine which critters are friends and which are foes, and how to sleep on blazing hot nights without a fan. Many of these learning opportunities have come through interesting circumstances.
For example, Madelyn, my fellow student missionary, was turning 21, and to celebrate her birthday, I wanted to surprise her with a cake. I was frustrated to find that our oven only went to 230 degrees. This seemed ridiculous to me. Weren’t most cakes baked around 300 degrees? I proceeded to bake the cake, assuming it would take hours. But I was shocked to see it was fully done in about 10 minutes. I eventually realized I had scorched Madelyn’s cake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit in our Celsius oven. Somehow, it turned out delicious!
My students at Malamulo Adventist International Mission School have given me a thorough education on which creatures will harm you and which are safe. Centipedes and millipedes have frequently visited our classroom. Thankfully, the larger millipedes, known as bongololos, are harmless. The centipedes, on the other hand, give painful stings. While chameleons cause widespread fear in Malawi, they’re safe, and we’ve had several as temporary class pets.
A very memorable day was when our firstand second-grade students found a snake on the playground. Rather than running away from it, they got closer and closer, debating whether it was dead or alive. Cosmas, the groundskeeper, took care of it. He later informed me that it was a deadly and aggressive black mamba. This reaffirmed my commitment to stay away from snakes at all costs.
My new experiences in Malawi have not only taught me practical skills but also taught me spiritual lessons, such as the importance of surrendering to God. Water shortages and the abject poverty around me have made it clear how much of life is outside my control. I’ve learned that amid the chaos, when nothing seems to go according to plan, God gives me power to fulfill my main purpose of serving Him faithfully.
Another lesson I’ve learned is to appreciate beauty in simplicity. Some things that have brought me joy would seem miniscule at home. For example, the little fan attached to my ceiling makes a huge difference in my ability to sleep on hot nights. Getting feta and chocolate at the closest grocery store (one and a half hours away) has been a source of joy. Some of my most cherished moments have been
the Friday nights spent reading by candlelight during lengthy power outages.
The missionary families have taught me the power of community and the necessity of sometimes asking for help. They’ve welcomed me into their homes and treated me like family.
These are just a few lessons and blessings I’ve been grateful to receive during my student missionary experience. Please remember Malamulo Adventist International School, Malawi Mission, the people of Malawi, and all the student missionaries serving in various countries in your prayers.
If you’re interested in being a volunteer, visit AdventistVolunteers.org
Kelby Eickmann graduated in 2023 from Walla Walla University, Washington, United States, with degrees in history and secondary education. She then served as a volunteer in Makwasa, Malawi, where she taught at Malamulo Adventist International Mission School.
Malawi
Kelby (right) and Madelyn, serving as student missionaries in Malawi
Preparing Missionaries for Tomorrow
Before the Seventh-day Adventist Church began1 printing Sabbath School lessons for Cradle Roll2 children, a Sabbath School teacher by the name of Vivian Robinson3 was calling those children to become missionaries. During the times the children were left to play or sleep through Sabbath School, she crafted sheep from cardboard and cotton balls, using them to teach about the Good Shepherd. She also wrote song lyrics4 to inspire them to one day take the news about the Good Shepherd to places where no one had heard of Him.
Today, it’s still important to call children to be involved in mission! But now, unlike in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, many resources are available for teachers and parents.
Adventist Mission makes a variety of resources available to inspire children and adults with a passion for mission. Here are some you can request for your classroom, church, or home:
1 Prayer map posters are available upon request to schools and churches for groups, young and old, to use in praying for people in cities worldwide. Request one for your school or church at missiontothecities.org/contact-us.
2 Mission Spotlight shares a new mission video each week, including some animated segments, from places all around the world. These can be viewed or downloaded from MissionSpotlight.org.
3 With a single sign-up, Mission 360° magazine, Frontline, and Picture Story can come to your address, bringing a wealth of mission stories to inspire all ages. Subscribe at am.adventistmission.org/newsletter-signup.
4 The Children’s Mission quarterly in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Bahasa can be downloaded from am.adventistmission.org/ mq-children. Don’t forget to download the printable mission bank coloring sheet from the same page.
Keeping before children and teens the powerful way God is working to reach the world and the importance of His call to join Him in reaching the least reached with His love can help prepare youth to become the missionaries of tomorrow.
Karilyn Suvankham is the communication specialist for the Global Mission Centers and Mission to the Cities.
Vivian Robinson
1 Sabbath school lessons for Cradle Roll were first printed in 1957. “Chapter 5: A Brief History of Children’s Ministries, https://children. adventist.org/chapter-5-a-brief-history-of-childrens-ministries.pdf.
2 Cradle Roll was Sabbath School for children 0 to 2 years old, now referred to as Beginners.
3 Vivian Robinson was my grandmother, whom, I am sad to say, I never met.
4 When looking for the songs in the Sabbath School worker archives, I discovered that the archivist remembered singing my grandmother’s song about a missionary nurse as a child in Sabbath School.
A sheep crafted by Vivian Robinson
“A Loving Missionary Nurse” by Vivian Robinson
The Influence of Pure Hope
When you’re involved in projects at the center, you’re helping people with their needs,” says Nataly, a volunteer education student helping at a center of influence in Costa Rica. “By meeting that need, you show them the love of God.”
In 2021, a portion of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped Central America Adventist University in Costa Rica establish a center of influence on their campus.
Called Pure Hope, the center offers a variety of activities to minister to the needs of non-Adventists.
The director of Pure Hope is a professional psychologist named Eduardo. He holds free classes and workshops for the community with the help of volunteers. A variety of mental health therapy groups meet here. One of the most attended groups is specifically for men.
“Men who have anger management problems and who may exhibit aggression or violence at home come here,” Eduardo says. “With the help of God and therapy, they can recover.”
There’s also a group for women who have suffered domestic violence. Deep emotional wounds have been healed because of these meetings.
“We don’t make decisions for other people; we simply help them and guide them to make the best decision they believe is appropriate for their lives,” says Marie, a volunteer psychology student.
Your Thirteenth Sabbath Offerings in 2021 helped establish the ministry of Pure Hope. Your faithful giving has made health fairs, computer classes, and tutoring sessions possible.
Quarterly mission project offerings unite Seventh-day Adventist believers for a common
purpose, extending a helping hand to those in need. Adventist communities around the world pour their resources, time, and prayers into initiatives that bring hope, healing, and love to countless individuals.
Please continue to pray for this center of influence and others like it around the world.
Urban Centers of Influence
Global Mission supports wholistic mission to the cities through the ministry of dozens of urban centers of influence (UCIs). UCIs follow Christ’s method of ministry to meet people’s needs and start new groups of believers. Please support urban centers of influence by visiting Global-Mission.org/giving
Watch “The Influence of Pure Hope” at m360.tv/s2437.
Ricky Oliveras is a video producer for the Office of Adventist Mission.
Costa Rica
Students volunteer at a community health fair
A woman attending a computer class at the center
Eduardo speaks to a women’s therapy group
Getting Healthy With Henry T
he City of Eternal Spring” is the perfect name for Medellín, Colombia, home to Colombia Adventist University. The people here enjoy pleasant weather all year and are surrounded by mountains, colorful streets, and vibrant culture. Unfortunately, they also have many needs.
Colombia Adventist University discovered that one of the greatest needs in the local communities is health care. So, with help from the students, they created a mobile health clinic, called the Social Innovation Mobile Laboratory, or LAMIS.
One of the many students volunteering with LAMIS is Henry who is studying to become a paramedic.
“I want to serve God and others with the knowledge I can get from the university to benefit their health,” Henry says. “We help people learn how to care for themselves through simple things such as fresh air, water, sunlight, and a good diet.”
The LAMIS health project offers resources such as basic health checks, massages, and even a checkpoint for spiritual health and prayer.
The volunteers are passionate about this project because they know they’re following Christ’s method of ministry.
“If Jesus lived on earth today, I think He would be with us in this project because its purpose is to give others better ways of living,” Henry says. “I think that’s what Jesus wants for all of us. That’s why He left His world, that’s why He’s always taking care not just of our spiritual selves, but also our physical.”
This education through service has made a big impact on Henry.
“It’s inspired me by showing me how important my work can be to impact, to transform other lives so they can become free from illness,” Henry says. “And that way, they’ll be able to connect with their Savior.”
Please pray for the LAMIS mobile clinic project in Medellín as they continue to use Christ’s method of ministry to serve their community.
Caleb Haakenson is a video producer for the Office of Adventist Mission.
Colombia
Paramedic student Henry
The mobile health clinic, serving a local community
Mission Begins Young
Candace and Myron Iseminger
Even though as a boy I’d read all the stories Eric B. Hare* wrote, I don’t think it ever occurred to me that I could be a missionary myself,” says Myron Iseminger, a missionary serving in Lebanon. “None of our relatives had left the country, and I didn’t personally know anyone who’d been so adventurous.”
It was the late 1970s when Myron’s older sister, attending Walla Walla College (now Walla Walla University), declared she was taking a year off to volunteer as an English teacher in Japan. Although Myron’s father was a pastor and their family was deeply involved in ministry, the idea of students serving a year in a foreign country in the middle of their education seemed impractical to his parents.
“She hadn’t been gone long before they were sharing her stories everywhere and were very proud of her,” Myron says. After a year in college as a theology major, he proposed his own mission experience, but not to the Pacific Islands where most of his classmates went. He was fascinated by the stories of two friends who had ventured to serve in the Middle East. The decision to follow in their footstep would steer the rest of Myron’s life.
“I thought it would be really neat to experience the Bible lands,” Myron says. “Besides, I thought it would give me some helpful ministerial experience. But I received much more. That year, my worldview began changing. I saw another culture, another way of thinking. I went to my students’ homes and listened to their stories, saw their personal grief. I began understanding life from another person’s perspective. I realized it’s easy to judge groups of people until you meet them one-on-one and come to love them.” This was a year of personal reflection for Myron and when he began sensing the call to long-term service for God overseas.
At the time, cross-cultural pastors didn’t appear to be in high demand, but Myron concluded if the world church budgeted funds for mission, finance officers would be needed to manage those funds. When he returned to college, he added a second major in business. It was another early, critical turn that would determine the direction of his life.
The advice a church leader shared with Myron also weighed on his mind: If you want to serve in a foreign country, make sure the woman
you marry shares that same vision! Myron’s wife, Candace, had never been outside the United States when they married. “But she was willing,” Myron says. Together, they waited for a job opportunity overseas.
Most assignments required experience, so while Myron spent years working in pastoral and administrative positions in North America, he often wondered whether he would ever serve the church outside his culture.
One day, a General Conference officer told Myron there would be an opening for a treasurer in the Middle East in a year or two. It was a small dream in the future for the Isemingers.
To their surprise, a couple of months later, the same officer announced, “We have an opening right now; are you ready to go?” Myron asked for time to pray about the request. The officer’s reply was jarring: “Well, yes, pray. But we need your answer now!”
Myron and Candace’s response defaulted to their dream. Within months, they were settling into an apartment in the Egypt Field office. It was hard work but rewarding. “I enjoyed being on the frontline of mission,” Myron says. “I liked contributing where there were limited resources. I enjoyed seeing the difference I could make, even though it was challenging.”
Myron would later serve as the associate treasurer of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division in the Philippines, then as president of the Egypt-Sudan Field. Currently, he is the executive secretary of the Middle East and North Africa Union in Beirut, Lebanon.
It all seemed impossible to a little boy captivated by Eric B. Hare’s stories, but he can testify, “If we’re open to wherever God needs us, He works out our life direction much better than we could ever plan it.”
* Eric B. Hare was a Seventh-day Adventist missionary and prolific author
Your generous and systematic mission offerings help support the ministry of hundreds of missionaries. Please give during Sabbath School at church or online at adventistmission.org/donate.
Kathie Lichtenwalter, Middle East and North Africa Union
Middle East and North Africa Union
Early Australian Indigenous Missionary Couples
The idea of sending Aboriginal couples from Australia to Papua (part of what today is Papua New Guinea) originated in discussions with church leaders visiting Mona Mona mission in Australia and Port Moresby in Papua in the late 1920s.
Dick and Jessie Richardson
Dick and Jessie Richardson were the first of three such couples sent from Mona Mona to Pacific locations.
lecturer at Avondale Seventh-day Adventist College of Higher Education in Australia. This story is adapted from his biographical article in the online Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. We invite you to visit encyclopedia. adventist.org to enjoy more stories about Adventist missionaries.
After their marriage on August 2, 1931, Dick and Jessie embarked on the Montoro, a steamer departing Cairns for Papua. Referring to their departure on November 20, 1931, the superintendent of Mona Mona Mission, J. L. Branford, wrote that their going out was “an event that we have long waited for, and at last it has come. We trust that they will be blessed of God in winning souls for Him.”1 Their departure was noted in the Brisbane newspaper Worker, which speculated that they might be the first Aborigines to leave Australia as missionaries.2 Notably, around the same time, six Solomon Islander teachers arrived in what later became Papua and New Guinea, to join some Fijians already working for the Adventist Church.
After arriving in Papua, the young couple worked at the Aroma Mission, where Dick oversaw the construction of two mission houses and a dispensary; then the Mirigeda training school, which they helped pioneer on a modest salary of £1 per month. Finally, the couple worked at Vailala River Mission, where Dick also taught classes. Conditions were often difficult. While at Aroma, Jessie wrote that the house
they were living in had “great big holes,” which allowed the building to fill with sand when the west winds blew. Despite not knowing the language initially, they were said to have visited up to five villages each Sabbath.3
Dick took charge of an entire area in the absence of missionary C. J. Howells. He oversaw the construction of a new school and church, taking part in the dedication of the building with some 400 people. Jessie was also busy. Apart from assisting Dick, she oversaw the needs of a growing family. At least three of her nine children were born in Papua: Leonard, Robert, and Earnest. The couple served in Papua until May 1939.4 After permanently returning to Mona Mona, Dick became the farm manager and played a key role in the Mona Mona church and later the newly established Kuranda Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Willie and Minnie Sheppard
The second Aboriginal couple to share the distinction of becoming missionaries to Papua was Willie (Bill) and Minnie Sheppard. In Papua they assisted missionary C. E. Mitchell with the supervision of the Vilirupu school while the Mitchells returned to Australia in 1934. Willie conducted walking tours of bush villages and assisted with events such as the 1934 Week of Prayer meetings at the Aroma Mission and weekend
Brad Watson is a senior
Papua New Guinea
Bill and Minnie Sheppard with daughter Rowena. Photo: Adventist Heritage Centre
Stan and Mabel Sheppard with children Beryl, Theodore, and Ellen, about 1936. Photo: Robert Dixon collection
meetings at remote outstations. At weekly services, the young couple taught the Bible, and Minnie also played an active role, teaching sewing classes and leading out in song services, using an accordion.
Writing at the age of 92, missionary Robert Frame remembered Willie and Minnie with fondness. He described them as a loving couple, “meek and lowly,” and a “fine example of Christian missionaries.”5 In 1988, Gapigoli Ravu, a respected pastor and a Papuan who had known the couple in the 1930s, described them as quick learners of the Motu language and effective in preaching, visiting from house to house, and conducting baptismal classes. Another pioneering pastor recalled how well they sang together and taught people to sing, how Willie was popular for playing such games as football and cricket with villagers, and for teaching Papuan people how to wash their clothes with soap.
Stanley and Mabel Sheppard
The third couple from Mona Mona to serve in Papua was Stanley (Stan) and Mabel Sheppard. Accompanying them were their children Marian Beryl and William Theodore (Theo). Initially, Stanley seems to have worked as a teacher and mechanic.
Although he was a teacher at the Mirigeda school, Stanley also led out in Sabbath services and supervised the boys’ work. On Sabbath mornings, Stanley and Mabel accompanied a
group of students to nearby villages to worship with the people. Mabel was able to use a variety of skills acquired during mission life. Before she arrived in Papua, she had sung in the Mona Mona choir under the direction of superintendent Borgas, and she had also worked as an assistant teacher in the Mona Mona school.
Legacy
The Aboriginal missionary couples were a tremendous success and played an important role in imparting not only the gospel of Christ but also practical Christianity. Throughout their terms of service, the three couples were given significant responsibilities and were well respected by their Papuan peers and nonindigenous Australian colleagues. This occurred at a time when Aboriginal people in the broader Australian community experienced prejudice and hostility. If some claims are correct, they were the only Aboriginal missionaries of any denomination sent from Australia to Papua, and perhaps even the Pacific region, in the pre-World War II period.
1 “The first appointees from our Mona Mona training school,” Australasian Record, December 7, 1931, 6.
2 “Aboriginal Missionaries,” Worker, April 19, 1933, 11.
3 J. Richardson. “From Dick and Jessie Richardson,” Australasian Record, March 14, 1932, 2.
4 “Mona Mona Family Book” (South Pacific Division Heritage Centre, Avondale College of Higher Education).
5 Robert Frame, email to Ken Boehm, November 21, 2007 (South Pacific Division Heritage Centre, Avondale College of Higher Education).
More than 4,000 articles and 11,000 photographs featuring Adventist missionaries, evangelists, institutions, events, and beliefs.
Dick and Jessie Richardson on their wedding day with former superintendent James Branford, acting chaplain. Photo: Adventist Heritage Centre
The School in the Forest
Mary Ortiz looked at the number of vegetables in the basket and the amount of money left in Grandfather’s hand. “The vendor cheated you again,” she muttered. Mary should have gone to the market herself, but the laundry needed to be washed, and the baby was fussy. Grandfather was her only option, but he couldn’t add or subtract.
“I just didn’t learn it when I was young,” Grandfather had once confided in her. “Math would have made my life much easier. It’s important to get an education if you can.”
Mary knew he was right. Math came easy to her, but not reading. She looked at her young daughter and knew she needed to master the skill for the sake of her child. How could they rise above poverty without an education? Except for manual labor, who would employ someone who couldn’t read?
A few days later, Mary strapped the child on her back and headed to the market. The vendor wasn’t going to get a bonus today! Grandfather went along to carry the packages.
When they arrived, they found people clustered around a woman who sat behind a table. Mary and Grandfather moved closer to hear what was going on.
“And it’s free?” she heard a neighbor asking.
“Yes, it won’t cost you anything,” the woman assured her. “But you do need to register.”
“Register for what?” Mary asked.
“I am with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency” (ADRA), the woman explained. “We’re going to offer literacy classes in this community for anyone who wants to learn and further their education.”
“What is the age limit?” someone asked.
“There is no age limit,” she replied.
Grandfather stepped up to the table, “I’m sixty-five. Can you teach me how to add?”
“Not a problem.”
“I would love to learn to read better, but I have this little one. May I attend with my daughter?” Mary asked.
“Absolutely.”
Grandfather looked at Mary and nodded. The time had come to better their lives.
Mary is one of the many students who told ADRA, “I thank God that I’m here learning with my daughter.”
Every year, hundreds of students graduate from the annual Literacy Project that began in 2002. Most of the students are women, and many are older adults. One 75-year-old man treks 15 1/2 miles (25 kilometers) every day to the Panchimalco school near a mountaintop. “You keep hope alive when you know you are coming here to learn,” he told an ADRA staff member.
“The project aims to change people’s lives by teaching them not just to learn to read, write, and have math skills,” says Alex Figueroa, ADRA’s country director for El Salvador, “but to earn a degree to find jobs.”
“We are grateful for ADRA’s collaboration,” said Patricia Quintanilla, a council member in San Juan Nonualco. “As a municipality, we couldn’t have done what ADRA has done. They have helped us reach communities and provided advice on how to conduct classes.”
ADRA values literacy as a virtue of dignity and human rights. In El Salvador, they operate more than 120 schools in indigenous villages and remote areas of the country. This year, about 1,200 students will graduate because ADRA was willing to transform backyards, gardens, churches, and even huts deep in the middle of the forest into schoolhouses to offer people not only an education but also a path of hope for the future. This service is important because El Salvador’s educational system is suffering from the challenges of extreme poverty, lack of technology, and lack of transportation from small remote villages to places of learning.
Crystal Earnhardt is a writer who lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
El Salvador
Mary Ortiz and her daughter
ADRA is a global humanitarian agency with more than 5,000 employees and 7,000 volunteers serving in over 120 countries. In addition to supporting communities in long-term humanitarian crises and conflicts, ADRA responds to an average of two disasters per week. Although our country offices are spread across different continents and thousands of miles apart, ADRA works as a unified body to provide innovative solutions to a world in need. To learn more about ADRA, visit ADRA.org.
Thank you for supporting ADRA through your weekly mission offerings and, in North America, by giving to World Budget. To give, visit adventistmission.org/donate.
Is God calling you to go? Check out these links!
• Volunteering: vividfaith.com and AdventistVolunteers.org
• Tentmaking: TotalEmployment.org
• I Will Go!: IWillGO2020.org
Music Is Our Mission
One of my passions is singing. I love getting people together to sing praises to the Lord. When I began teaching music in Thailand, I knew the power of music to bring us closer to God. What I didn’t know was that God can fill people with love through music, even when the lyrics are in a language they don’t understand.
I started a choir at church during my first year of service, and the congregation enjoyed our songs of praise. But I felt strongly that God wanted us to spread hope to those who needed it beyond our church walls. I talked to the church leaders, and they agreed that we should use music in our mission to reach hearts for Jesus and involve as many people as we could in this ministry.
That church was active, and the members enjoyed serving the community. Our only challenge was that, as an international community, many of us didn’t speak Thai. So, we invited all church members who wanted to join our singing group to gather on Sabbath afternoons to practice some simple Christian songs in the local language.
Once we mastered the songs, we prayed that God would lead us where He wanted us to go. In answer to our prayers, He sent us to many places, including people’s homes, villages, shops, hospitals, an orphanage, and a support
center for people with disabilities. To our delight, we watched people’s eyes light up as they listened to our songs and were humbled that God was ministering to people’s hearts through our voices.
Each of those events was special, but I’d like to share two that were especially meaningful to me. The first was when we went to the Ubon Ratchathani Cancer Hospital. The nurses gathered the patients in a hallway, keeping them a safe distance from us to protect their health. Even though we couldn’t hug them, we could see how embraced they felt by our spirit of love. A nurse told us later that one old man who was always sad smiled for the first time in ages.
After singing at the cancer hospital, we went to a beautiful spot on the edge of a river to have sundown worship. We were singing in English, just to ourselves. We didn’t realize that a group of fishermen was watching us from afar. They liked our songs so much that they asked if they could record us on their phones. After singing some more, we prayed with them as we do with everyone we sing to.
It was getting dark, so the fishermen went down the river in their boats. We came home filled with the joy that comes only from sharing God’s message of salvation—a message that transcends races, cultures, and languages.
Karen Tessaro de Melo from Brazil volunteered as a music and art teacher in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand.
Thailand
Photo for illustration
Snakebite!
Eight-year-old Hickel darted across the grass on a hot afternoon in Costa Rica.
School was out, and he was playing soccer with his friend Royden. The soft green grass of the churchyard felt good under his bare feet.
When Hickel saw an opportunity to score a goal, he raised his leg and kicked the ball with all his might.
Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced the back of his foot. Lifting his leg, he peered under his foot. A dark-brown snake with white stripes was dangling from his heel. Hickel’s
eyes widened with horror, and he screamed, “Aaaaaaaaah!”
At that moment, the snake let go of his foot and slithered off into the grass. Hickel’s foot hurt, but he ran home as fast as he could. He was scared.
“Mother!” he cried. “A snake bit me!” His mother heard his cries and ran out of the house. She was scared, too. She saw the two marks left by the snake’s fangs on his heel.
Hickel’s mother frantically called his father on the phone. His father came home from work and took him to the clinic. The doctor pulled out a syringe and gave Hickel an injection. Then he looked at the boy with concern.
“Do you feel all right?” he asked.
Hickel didn’t look well. He didn’t look well because he didn’t feel well.
Thump! Hickel fainted and fell to the floor.
No one knew what kind of snake had bitten Hickel. Was it dangerous? Was his life in danger?
People ran to the churchyard to look for the snake. After a short search, the snake was found in the grass behind a small shed.
“It’s a baby velvet snake!” someone called out. The velvet snake is one of the most venomous snakes in Costa Rica.
This was a serious emergency. The doctor called an ambulance.
A short time later, the ambulance rushed Hickel from the clinic to the nearest city
Story by Andrew McChesney, Office of Adventist Mission
Illustrations by Diogo Godoy
Costa Rica
hospital. It was dark when Hickel arrived two hours later in the city of Limón.
Being in the hospital was scary. It was scary having a big, swollen foot. Hickel asked his mother to pray to God for help. They bowed their heads and closed their eyes, and Mother prayed, “God, please heal Hickel’s foot. Help him to leave the hospital soon.” Then she told Hickel to have faith that God was with him.
Hickel believed.
On his third day in the hospital, Hickel felt fine. He knew that God had heard his mother’s prayer and healed him.
Back home at last, Hickel learned that the whole town had heard about his snakebite and astonishing recovery. Everyone was amazed to see the healthy and happy boy.
“It is a miracle,” someone said.
“There is a God who takes care of His children,” someone else said.
The next Sabbath, nine people came to church after hearing how God had answered Hickel’s mother’s prayer. They all gave their hearts to Jesus and got baptized.
Hickel is happy to be alive.
“God saved me from the snake,” he said.
Part of this quarter’s 13th Sabbath Offering will teach children in Costa Rica about Jesus and the power of prayer. Thank you for planning a generous offering.
What would you give up for mission?
Got a sweet tooth? What if for, say, one week, instead of buying your favorite dessert you saved the money and gave it to the Annual Sacrifice Offering for Global Mission? Your gift could help touch hearts by opening three windows of mission opportunity:
10/40 WINDOW: 66% of the world’s population live in the 10/40 Window, but most have never met Jesus and experienced His saving love. Your gift could help Global Mission pioneers start new groups of believers among unreached people groups.
URBAN WINDOW: 43 cities have more than one million inhabitants but no Adventist presence. Your gift could help start centers of influence in those urban settings.
POST-CHRISTIAN WINDOW: Throughout Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand most people have developed a post-Christian, secular mindset. Your gift could help reintroduce them to Jesus by starting small worship groups.
