Mission 360° Magazine by Adventist Mission - Vol 12 No 1

Editorial

Hi! I’m Mwamba Mpundu.

I just joined the Office of Adventist Mission team, where I serve as the senior editorial assistant. Being part of this awesome group showcasing inspiring mission stories is a blessing.

Growing up, Sabbath School was not negotiable for me. While I didn’t always have the best attention span, mission stories never failed to captivate me. They were my favorite part of class, and some of them remain in my memory to this day.

My teachers read numerous stories about how God touched lives worldwide, always leaving me in awe. From these stories, I learned two significant things. First, while God is powerful and mighty, He is also intimately connected to each person, caring about individuals from all walks of life. The essence of God revolves around

impacting and enriching lives. Second, I discovered the beauty of surrendering to His plan. His Great Commission calls us to share and live out the gospel as He did. The peace and joy that He gives when we accept His call is incomparable, and our lives begin to feel purposeful. A life of service to God is a life well lived. Although we might not always feel fully prepared, God supplies us with everything necessary. All He needs is our yes.

Now look at how God works—little did I know, as I sat in my church listening to mission stories, that one day I would have the opportunity to serve in the Office of Adventist Mission! I’m beyond grateful.

I look forward to writing mission stories and sharing with you how your support of Adventist Mission is reaching hearts for Jesus all around the world.

You’re Rejecting My Call

But sir,” Pastor Lata* exclaimed in anguish, “I don’t know the area. I don’t know the languages they speak there. And I don’t know anything about this Global Mission program. These new Global Mission pioneers you’re talking about, well, they’re enthusiastic and dedicated, I’m sure, but they’re uneducated. They don’t know how to talk right. They don’t know how to eat right. They don’t even know how to sit on a chair respectfully!”

Pastor Lata’s eyes were desperate as he pled, “I just can’t do it. I would be a failure. You need to send someone else.”

The mission president looked sadly at Pastor Lata. “OK,” he said slowly, “we will find someone else.”

It was the early 1990s, and the Global Mission program was just beginning. Donors had provided funding for stipends and supplies. Hundreds of pioneers had been recruited to go into unentered parts of their own countries to make friends, introduce people to Jesus, and plant churches where there were none. The mission committee had selected 260 pioneers and sent them into a massive, almost unentered part of this veiled country. The committee also voted to ask Pastor Lata to leave his churches and train, supervise, and support these pioneers.

At that time, this region had almost 500 million inhabitants, twice the number of people living in the United States. But in that massive population, there were only 18,000 Adventist members. It was a huge challenge, one that Pastor Lata felt unprepared for. He was sure if he went, he would be a failure.

The president and Pastor Lata knelt, and the president began to pray. Suddenly, a voice rang out gently but firmly, “Pastor Lata. You are rejecting my call!”

Startled, Pastor Lata opened his eyes. His heart was pounding. His legs were shaking. He

was filled with fear, and there were tears in his eyes. But the president didn’t appear to have heard anything. His decision made, Pastor Lata interrupted the prayer and said, “Sir, God has just told me that I’m rejecting His call, and I don’t want to do that. I will go.”

Fifteen years later, Pastor Lata told me that the first weeks were as bad as he had imagined. He spent days trying to teach the Global Mission pioneers how to speak clearly so they could be understood and how to eat politely. He had to keep telling them how to sit in a chair properly—with their feet on the ground. They also practiced giving Bible studies, but they couldn’t even find the verses.

Finally, Pastor Lata couldn’t hold them back any longer and had to send them out to their new villages. They were excited, but as he watched them go, he wanted to pack his bags and leave the country. He was so embarrassed!

He didn’t quit, though. With great fear, Pastor Lata began to travel from village to village to visit. He planned to help the pioneers as much as possible and have them return every few weeks for further training. But Pastor Lata was amazed at what he found. Each time he visited, and they came together, Pastor Lata could only listen and watch in awe at what God was doing through the pioneers. Miracles took place. Lives were changed. Churches were established.

When Pastor Lata told me about his experience, he praised God for the privilege of being there. It was the hardest experience of his life, but one he wouldn’t trade for anything. Pastor Lata had watched how God can take uneducated people and make them into powerful witnesses for Him if they are willing. And he had seen how God could take what he had thought would be a horrible failure and turn it into a fantastic miracle! The membership in this region has grown from 18,000 to more than 163,000. It has gone from 127 churches to almost 500.

Oh, there is still lots to do. The region now has almost three times as many people as we have in the United States and only has 1 Adventist for every 4,962 people. There are still millions and millions of people who don’t know Jesus.

The work isn’t easy. During the past 20 years, many of our Global Mission pioneers and pastors have been persecuted—even beaten or killed for bringing this message to new areas. But they keep on going because they know what Pastor Lata has also learned—that when you are working for Jesus, there is no such thing as failure!

*Name has been changed.

Please help Global Mission pioneers reach the 66 percent of the world’s population who haven’t had the opportunity to experience Jesus. To learn more, visit global-mission.org.

Ways to Give ONLINE

Make a secure financial gift by scanning this QR code or visiting Global-Mission.org/giving.

PHONE

Call 800-648-5824

MAIL

In the United States:

Global Mission, General Conference

12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904-6601

In Canada:

Global Mission SDA Church in Canada

1148 King Street East Oshawa, ON L1H 1H8

Please remember us in your will and trusts. Visit Global-Mission.org/PlannedGiving or call 800.648.5824.

To watch video stories about pioneers, visit m360.tv/pioneer.

Igor Radonjic, left, tells Ralph S. Watts how he relied on ADRA’s postal service during the siege of Sarajevo to learn his mother was alive.

I Am a AdventistSeventh-day Christian Because of ADRA!

This is the story of a mother’s prayer, a young boy, and an organization called ADRA during the siege of Sarajevo in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1992–1996.

Eleven-year-old Igor Radonjic crouched by the side of the road with the sudden realization that he was alone. He didn’t know whether his mother in Sarajevo had survived the daily bombings. Was she starving? Did his brother escape?

It had all happened so quickly. There were rumors of war, but no one believed them. Then the bombs fell. Electricity and supplies were cut off. Roads were blocked, and snipers were everywhere. Mother knew she must get her two sons out of the city. Though she wasn’t especially religious, she made a covenant with God that she would serve Him if He saved her children from the war.

A neighbor proposed an escape plan using an embassy that flew children on military planes to

Igor and his mother had never heard a sermon from a Seventh-day Adventist, but they saw one in action and wanted to serve the same God that ADRA served.

Belgrade. Unfortunately, they could assist only one of Mother’s children. She chose Igor. Everything went according to plan until he arrived at the military airport, and no one was there.

Igor didn’t know what to do. After watching buses come and go, he decided to hail one and hope for the best. When one stopped, the driver eyed him quizzically.

“Hello sir, I believe I’m a refugee,” Igor blurted out. “Can I catch a ride to the city to meet my family?”

The driver nodded, and Igor climbed in. The two chatted, and Igor explained how he escaped from Sarajevo and arrived at the military airport with no one to greet him.

“They’re probably at the civilian airport,” the driver correctly concluded.

United with his grandparents, Igor hoped that his life would improve. But he found the stigma of being a refugee almost as bad as living in a war zone. He also worried constantly about his mother. All communication and food from Sarajevo had been cut off. He must find out if she was alive!

Soon, Igor learned about a postal service run by a nonpolitical organization called ADRA. He didn’t know that the letters stood for Adventist Development and Relief Agency. He just knew that their convoys were never stopped.

Ralph Watts, ADRA president from 1985 to 2002, oversaw ADRA’s postal service and incorporated the Adventist Church in the region as headquarters for dropping off and picking up mail. “The big lorries would . . . pick up the ADRA-stamped mail and distribute it across Europe and the world,” Elder Watts said. “What a blessing it was to provide this kind of service to the people there.”

Igor wrote a letter to his mother and was overjoyed when she replied! Week after week, he sent her packages of food. Later, he learned that ADRA kept his mother and the children she had hidden in her basement from starving.

Years later, Igor moved to Australia, where he again encountered ADRA. When he told his mother that ADRA was associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she remembered those who kindly served the people of Sarajevo. She also recalled her pledge to serve God if He saved her sons, and both had been saved! Igor and his mother had never heard a sermon from a Seventh-day Adventist, but they saw one in action and wanted to serve the same God that ADRA served.

Igor Radonjic became a lawyer and now serves as legal counsel for the South Pacific Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. On October 9, 2023, he attended a meeting that commemorated ADRA’s 40 years of mission service and honored the contributions of Elder Watts, its longest-serving president.

Elder Watts was surprised on stage to meet Mr. Radonjic and hear his story.

“I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian because of ADRA,” Igor told him. “I learned by watching ADRA that Christianity has a very simple concept: treat someone as you want to be treated. ADRA is generous. They are the epitome of how Jesus treated people. . . . ADRA . . . didn’t tell me a story about Jesus. They just showed me what Jesus would do.”

Greatly moved, Elder Watts embraced Mr. Radonjic. “I believe ADRA can play a significant role in preparing the hearts of people like this young man right here to follow the Lord,” he said. “I believe the best days of ADRA’s ministry are ahead; I just wish I were 40 years younger!”

Crystal Earnhardt is a writer who lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

ADRA is a global humanitarian agency with more than 5,000 employees and 7,000 volunteers serving more than 120 countries. Besides supporting communities in long-term humanitarian crises and conflicts, ADRA responds to an average of two weekly disasters. Although their 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, go to 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. Travel

Go,Give, Grow

Brook

Danelson is an elementary education major at Walla Walla University in Washington, United States. She wrote this story while serving as the second-grade teacher at the Yap Seventh-day Adventist School in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Achildren’s story at church changed the trajectory of my life. I was 12 years old, sitting beside my grandmother, listening intently as a young woman shared her experiences as a student missionary (SM). Her passion for spreading God’s love stuck with me through the years, inspiring me to become a SM myself one day.

In high school, my teachers realized I was good at mathematics. They encouraged me to study engineering; however, my grandmother had unwittingly influenced me toward a different career path. She was a teacher, and I saw her impact on people’s lives. Former students often approached her, reminiscing how she had helped them grow closer to God. I wanted to influence people’s lives like that, so when I went to college, I jumped at the opportunity to be a missionary teacher. I applied for several positions and was accepted to serve as a second-grade teacher on the island of Yap in Micronesia.

I faced many challenges throughout my school year teaching abroad, challenges I would have felt overwhelmed by if God hadn’t shown me that He was positively impacting my students’ lives through me.

I learned at a parent-teacher conference that one of my students had been changing her family. Her father, who teaches high school, had been surprised by the material we were covering in our elementary

class because these were topics he was teaching his students. He began to take more notice of his daughter’s studies, including her Bible class.

The girl’s mother shared how their daughter had brought the entire family closer together and closer to God. She had been asking deep questions about the Bible, so the entire family had started studying God’s Word. She was only seven, yet she made a huge difference in her home because of what she learned at school.

I had a quiet, shy, scared new student at the beginning of the school year. She was six years old and should have been happy and carefree. But she had been through some terrible things. As a result, she had been sent to the Adventist school, where she remained curled up in her little cocoon. She refused to speak to or even look at anyone.

However, one of her classmates was willing to be her friend. It took several months, but the quiet girl blossomed into an amazing person. Instead of avoiding people, she went out of her way to help them. She went from being unwilling to make a sound to saying a special prayer for upset classmates. Only God could create such a change in such a short amount of time!

By the end of the school term, you could see and hear the love of God in my students. They were excited to learn from the Bible and eager to sing and talk about their Savior.

Guam-Micronesia Mission’s “Go, Give, Grow” theme is the only way to describe my experience on Yap. I went to an unfamiliar place by following God’s guidance, and I gave everything to Him and the kids. In return, we grew individually, with each other, and with our God!

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 pastors, teachers, medical professionals, computer technicians, orphanage workers, farmers, and more. To learn more, visit AdventistVolunteers.org

A service of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, VividFaith connects people with mission opportunities. It’s the central place to find opportunities to serve and to share your faith. Use it to advertise mission openings, find qualified applicants, share urgent needs, tell your amazing stories, and stay connected with missionaries. vividfaith.com.

Run the Race

This was one tough run! The horizontal thrust of the wind was so strong that with every step, I had to flatten my trajectory to continue moving forward. Plus, a high tide had left the track strewn with sand and stones.

I was participating in a marathon on Ebeye in the Marshall Islands on Kwajalein Day, a holiday commemorating the liberation of the Kwajalein Atoll during World War II. Although I was a seasoned athlete, this was my first marathon,

and I struggled. The lead competitor was running so fast that I had trouble keeping up. Behind me, another runner was hot on my heels. My heart was racing and my muscles were screaming, but I couldn’t give up. I was representing Ebeye Seventh-day Adventist School, and finishing the race was essential to my plan to reach my students for Christ.

My wife, Anne Bernadette, and I had served several years as missionaries in Hong Kong. We fell in love with mission service and decided

“This experience shifted my focus from my performance to seeking God’s glory.”

to continue serving God in a new country. He opened the way for us to come to Ebeye Seventh-day Adventist School in the Marshall Islands, a vast mission field with diverse opportunities to serve Him.

One of the greatest needs of Ebeye’s people was health awareness. Because fruits and vegetables were scarce, the people’s diet mainly consisted of rice, meat, canned goods, and soda. The excess consumption of sugar and a lack of physical exercise had resulted in a scourge of diabetes.

My wife and I had been concerned about how we would promote vegetarianism. Once we recognized the scarcity of plant food, we wondered how to maintain this lifestyle ourselves. We expressed our concern to the former principal of the school, who showed us a tree planted in the middle of the staff apartment courtyard. The tree of life. Its leaves and fruit could be eaten, and its flowers could be brewed for tea. This tree reminded us that wherever God sends His children, He provides for their needs.

Unfortunately, such a tree had no value for locals, who appreciated meat and canned food more. So, we started Reeducate Your Tongue, a program that consists of planting a tree of life at each of our student’s homes and teaching them how to make simple, vegetarian cuisine from it and the few other plants that grow on the island. Participating in the marathon was part of our plan because we wanted to use it as a springboard to introduce our students to the benefits of healthy eating.

With nine miles left in the race, I wondered whether I could complete it. Suddenly, a question came to mind, a question I believe the

Lord was asking. “Why are you running? Do you run to be the best or to represent God?”

The question reminded me of 1 Corinthians 9:25, which says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (NIV).

This experience shifted my focus from my performance to seeking God’s glory. As a result, I felt a burst of energy and finished the race strong in seventh place!

Completing the marathon resulted in respect from my students. They saw what a healthy diet can do for the body and mind, and I could now more easily turn their focus to God’s physical and spiritual guidelines.

When the Lord sends us somewhere, He gives us the freedom to use the talents He’s entrusted to us and make plans to meet people’s needs. When we entrust those plans to Him, He strengthens us and uses them to bring Him glory.

Whatever “race” we engage in, let’s run to bring people’s attention to Jesus, the ultimate teacher and true source of happiness.

Your generous and systematic mission offerings help support the ministry of hundreds of missionaries. Please give at adventistmission.org/donate.

Discover the difference missionaries are making at m360.tv/missionary.

Friendships for Hope

If God shows you a need, he expects you to do something about it. And if you’ll step out in faith to meet that need, he’ll provide the resources,” says Will James, retired pastor of the Paradise Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church in National City, California, USA. That’s exactly what started Friendships for Hope, an urban center of influence (UCI) that operates out of the Paradise Valley church community center.

When the economic recession hit in 2008, Pastor James knew it would hurt the community, which has one of California’s lowest incomes per capita. He advertised online, asking for a walk-in cooler to be donated so they could start a food ministry. The next week, a florist, closing her shop, offered hers. The church stepped out in faith, God provided, and now they serve 650 families with about 15,000 pounds of food every Tuesday.

From this food ministry, the UCI discovered pockets of refugees who needed transportation to their food distribution center. Soon, they were delivering food to the refugees’ apartment complexes, and from this grew a bus ministry. Today, volunteer bus drivers deliver 40 boxes of food to families every Friday and bring people to church on Sabbath.

Sandra Dombrowski is a freelance writer living in Connecticut, United States.

She has a passion for highlighting, promoting, and working in urban ministry.

The ministry continued to expand when Ephraim Bendantunguka, a refugee with experience helping immigrants and refugees, encouraged Pastor James to start a ministry to assimilate refugees into American society. Now they run an English language school five days a week, which about 30 students attend. The ministry also collects donations of clothing and household items to sell to help fund their work. The retirement community next door donates items from residents who have passed away without anyone to empty their rooms. The ministry receives enough donations to stock a thrift store, providing job training for some refugees.

When the UCI staff asked God to arrange a way for them to pay the store workers, they discovered a work-study program at a community college that would subsidize 75 percent of

the wages. “It’s an ongoing process of growing as God opens doors for us,” Pastor James says.

The more the UCI staff mingle with the refugees they serve, the more needs they discover. “Depression is a very big problem with the refugees,” Pastor James explains. “Ellen White said that getting your hands in the soil is therapeutic to the mind and body, so we started a community garden. It’s phenomenal what happens. As these refugees get out in the garden and work in the soil, they begin to sing, and their depression is lifted.” The hospital next door to the church allows them to use five acres for the garden and well water at no charge.

God even provides for the small, daily needs of the refugees. Welfare from the government supplies food but not essential items such as soap and toiletries. Friendships for Hope ministry is constantly looking for ways to supply these needs. One day, as Pastor James’s wife, Peggy, drove to the church, she prayed, “Lord, we really need forty containers of laundry soap.” Soon after she arrived, one of the

volunteers drove in with a pick-up truck full of liquid laundry soap. Someone had vandalized a store by spilling a bottle of soap over the other bottles of soap in stock. The store was happy to donate all the soap-coated bottles.

But the blessings that spring from this UCI are more far-reaching than meeting physical needs or even launching refugees into self-sufficient lives here in the United States.

Volunteers at Friendships for Hope know that experiencing God’s love is the greatest human need. These practical ministries, expressed with kindness, draw in people and introduce them to God’s love. “Just being there for people, offering ‘friendships for hope,’ loving and nurturing them, and being a family for them makes a difference,” Pastor James says. “It is natural for them to just follow us to church.”

Ali, a refugee who works at the food ministry, told Pastor James, “All I've heard about is God's anger. I love working with you because I see God's love.”

A senior citizen exercise class meets in the same room where Peggy prepares food boxes for the Friday delivery. After a year of watching these preparations, two women from the class were drawn to the faithfulness and love shown by the food ministry. They started taking Bible studies and attending church regularly.

With this kind of ministry, it’s not surprising that there have been hundreds of baptisms since Friendships for Hope began. Four years after Pastor James became pastor of the Paradise Valley church in 2002, the Adventist-owned hospital next door was sold. Many predicted that the church would die as a result. But today, the church is a vibrant, international faith community with some 900 members. It is true—when people are willing to serve the needs of others, God is eager to provide.

For more of the story, read The Joys of Partnering With God: The Story of a Church That Did, by Will James (n.p.: Teach Services, 2016).

Urban Centers of Influence

Global Mission supports a 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.

Crossing Mountains and Rivers to Carry Hope to His Village

Imagine trekking for hours over steep, muddy mountains and zip-lining across treacherous rivers to get to the nearest store. This is everyday life for many of the Cabécar people, an indigenous group living in Costa Rica.

Some Cabécars have moved to the city for employment, but most remain isolated in the Chirripó region of the Talamanca mountain range in the eastern part of the country. They eke out a living by fishing, hunting, and smallscale agriculture. They also harvest plants and trees for food, medicine, and building homes.

The Cabécar people are a largely unreached people group for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but its membership is growing. One Cabécar member is Arsenio, who learned the Adventist message from a visiting lay preacher. He was baptized and became a Global Mission pioneer, working to start new groups of believers among his people.

Arsenio faces many challenges in his endeavor. Most Cabécar people are entrenched in animism, believing in a supreme creator called Sibo, communicating with spirits, and practicing magic.

The Cabécar people also tend to resist outside influences. Although Arsenio already speaks the language and knows the customs, sharing a new worldview is challenging.

“Everything is difficult,” Arsenio said about his efforts to share Jesus with his tribe. “People don’t always like the gospel.”

Arsenio models Christ’s method of ministry by visiting families in their homes and meeting their needs. This has allowed him to develop trusting relationships. Some people have asked about his faith and requested Bible studies.

One such person is Ana. She met with Arsenio’s study group regularly. “We read the Word of God and prayed,” Arsenio said, “and [she] felt good about it. Now Ana has opened her home to us so that we can always meet as a small group.”

During the past year, several Cabécars in Arsenio’s area have accepted Jesus into their hearts and been baptized.

Living nearly halfway across the country, Melvin is a member of the Cabécar community who, like Arsenio, became an Adventist because of a lay preacher who visited his village. He is a theology student at Central American Adventist

University and is studying to become the first Cabécar Adventist pastor. He dreams of translating Adventist literature into the Cabécar language, making the gospel more accessible to his people.

“When the message arrived in my community, it was a different message, a message of hope for a village who didn’t know about God,” Melvin said.

Melvin felt a conviction to bring this message of hope back to his people. “I feel that it was a call from God,” Melvin said. “I accepted the call because I saw that it was an important message for my family, my community, and all the people I know.”

Please pray for Melvin and pioneer Arsenio as they take the gospel to unreached villages in Costa Rica and that the Cabécar people will be filled with the love of Jesus. Thank you for making this work possible.

Global Mission’s priority is starting new groups of believers among unreached people groups. Often this means that Global Mission pioneers serve in challenging places. Please pray for our Global Mission pioneers and support their ministry by visiting Global-Mission.org/giving Transform Lives, One Month at a Time: Join Our Recurring Donor Family!

Better With a Brother

My brother, Jonah, and I grew up listening to stories about student missionary (SM) life from our dad, who had served with his brother as a teacher in Majuro, the capital city of the Marshall Islands. Those stories inspired us, and Jonah and I started to dream about keeping the SM brother thing going.

So, one day, after Jonah experienced one too many extra-dark days at Walla Walla University and I had a difficult general biology test at Southern Adventist University, we decided we needed to go to the islands.

We had planned to follow in our father’s footsteps by going to Majuro, but after some difficulties with vaccine regulations, we were given a new list of places to choose from. One location piqued our interest.

The Adventist school in Kosrae, an island in Micronesia, was looking for two teachers to instruct its kindergarten through eighth grade (K–8) students. Jonah felt impressed that Kosrae

was where we needed to be. I thought it was the best choice because our dad had taught at two-teacher, K–8 schools, and we understood how a small school setting works.

After we arrived at Kosrae, we learned the school had just expanded its curriculum to include grades 9 to 12. And no additional fulltime staff were coming.

My brother and I were stretched to the limit with the school so understaffed. He taught four levels of English, three social studies, two sciences, Bible, physical education, and a homeroom. I taught five levels of math, three branches of science, Bible, and health. To top it off, we had limited teaching material and no internet or cell service to access outside resources during the first few months.

The whole situation was really challenging, but God helped us. We were blessed with a missionary family who helped teach some classes. And the many teachers in our family advised us on how to handle difficult situations

in the classroom and pointed us to educational websites once we had access to the internet.

Being a student missionary gave me a taste of the fulfillment that teachers often talk about. I loved seeing my students discover new information; leading them to their independent “aha” moments was gratifying. I completely understood why my dad and uncle changed their majors to become teachers after being SMs. I would do the same!

Receiving care packages containing things we couldn’t get there really helped Jonah and me. For example, all the flip-flops I’d brought eventually broke, and no one sold a size 15 on the island to replace them. The exact week I broke my last pair, I received a sturdy, comfortable new pair that I used every day. So, if you know a student missionary, I’m sure they’d appreciate a package of useful and delicious things. They’d also appreciate someone simply keeping in touch, even if that means sending

Instagram memes in the middle of the night due to the time difference.

If you’ve felt called to step away and be an SM, I highly recommend it. You’ll live outside your comfort zone, be completely immersed in a new culture, develop relationships that will shape the rest of your life, and, most importantly, learn to lean more on God.

If you’re interested in being a volunteer, visit AdventistVolunteers.org.

Modern-Day Tentmakers

Istood among the ruins of ancient Corinth in Peloponnese, Greece. This large and influential city was a major center for religion, culture, and trade.

When the apostle Paul arrived in Corinth around 50 AD, he worked as a tentmaker with a husband-and-wife business team, Aquila and Priscilla. They were tentmakers, but they also had a heart for mission. And these mission-minded people faced a formidable mission challenge in this pagan city.

Tentmaking may have been Paul’s trade, but mission was his calling. The Bible tells us he reasoned in the temple every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

Today, there are modern-day tentmakers. These mission-minded people don’t necessarily make tents, but like Paul, they use their trade or profession to support their mission. Tentmakers are missionaries, but they don’t get a salary from the church. These missionaries find their own jobs in the marketplace, and their employers pay their salary.

Tentmakers usually work in countries and areas where regular mission work is difficult or impossible. They can work in places where missionaries aren’t allowed. To reach the people around them, tentmakers follow Christ’s method of ministry—mingling, showing sympathy, ministering to needs, and winning confidence so that they can then bid people to follow Jesus.

Adventist Mission’s Global Mission initiative helps local mission fields support tentmakers by providing training and materials. Global Mission also helps by organizing spiritual retreats where tentmakers can meet, share experiences, get training, and most importantly, fellowship and be spiritually refreshed. Tentmakers often work in isolation, and these retreats connect them with others facing similar experiences.

If you feel God’s call to become a tentmaker and have a skill that can get you work in a veiled country or city, visit TotalEmployment.org for more information.

“Through tentmaking, I could do my profession and be a missionary and take Jesus to people.

.

. . It’s the biggest mission that we can ever do. You don’t need to be a nurse or pastor or a teacher. You can be anything.”

Current Tentmaker

Location: Veiled Country

We don’t need anyone to call us except for Jesus. . . . If God calls you to reach the unreached in the 10/40 Window in the Middle East North Africa region, go for it. God will take care of you.

Former Tentmaker

Location: Veiled Country

Two Miles High

Cusco, Peru, lies in a bowl of the Andes mountains, more than two miles high.

I had come to visit two new Global Mission projects in this city of some 350,000 people. But I wasn’t going anywhere! Although I had been warned of the possibility of altitude sickness and done everything I could to avoid it, I experienced its effects. Nothing helped, so I was miserable for a few hours while my body adjusted to the low oxygen in the atmosphere.

When I recovered, representatives from the Southeast Peru Mission picked me up on Sabbath morning. We drove across the city, navigating chaotic traffic up and down cobblestone streets. The people, dressed in bright traditional clothing, created a tapestry of color on the road, where dogs roamed freely.

The Seventh-day Adventist work has been active around Cusco for many years, but the Adventist population in the city remains about 1 for every 350 people. That’s because it’s easier to work in the mountains, where the poor

villagers respond more readily to the gospel. I was glad when I received a request from the mission for projects focused on reaching the city for Jesus.

Eventually, we arrived at a half-built apartment building. Walking through the gate, we were greeted by three children engaged in Sabbath School outside. They were covered in blankets because it was about 40°F. The children sang enthusiastically for us, as did the adult group worshiping in a small one-room apartment.

After the service, a man named Ruben spoke to me in excellent English. He seemed to be functioning as the Global Mission pioneer for the project even though he wasn’t receiving a stipend. Ruben was a civil engineer who combined his love of ministry with his work. Whenever it was time to build another church in the vicinity, he volunteered his time and expertise to design and supervise the construction.

I discovered that the apartment in which the group worshiped belonged to Ruben.

He was building it for his family and using it for a church. Ruben explained that once the believers outgrow it, they will move to a school owned by an Adventist family. They will continue to grow in that facility until they can build their own church.

After the group outfitted me in a bright Peruvian poncho, we drove to another city section, 600 feet higher up the mountain. There, a whole new community was under construction. Our guide explained that they wanted to establish a new group while this area was being developed.

We sped up the mountain on steeply inclined, twisting, pot-hole-filled dirt roads. Many were only a single lane, making passing oncoming traffic a constant exercise in driving creativity.

When we arrived safely at the mountaintop, we parked beside a mud brick, tarp-covered building sporting a sign above the door, “Seventh-day Adventist Church, Loma Linda.” Loma Linda means hilltop in Spanish. Inside was a group of some 20 people. Again, the children sat outside, bundled up against the wind and dust.

After we greeted the people, they hauled out mandolins, flutes made of PVC pipe, and panpipes made of bamboo. Several adults and young children played while the rest of the group sang hymns.

Later, we were introduced to a 70-year-old man named Fortunato. He wore a beautifully designed leather hat and vest, which he promptly informed us he made. Fortunato didn’t speak English, but we were told that he was this project’s leader. We walked to his nearby house and entered through a gate into a small courtyard. Fortunato, like all the residents in this new community, had electricity but no running water. They collect rainwater in barrels, and trucks deliver large water tanks.

Fortunato showed us his leatherwork shop, which also served as his bedroom. Leatherwork and tools covered every available surface, and pictures of some of his work hung on the walls. One showed him sitting on a rearing horse on a saddle he had made.

As we talked to Fortunato about what he planned to do to grow this new church, he said he would use his trade to connect with people. People enjoy learning to work with leather, and as Fortunato developed relationships with them, he would begin Bible studies. For the same reason, the musical group that played for us also offers to teach music lessons for the community.

These Global Mission projects were only beginning when I was there, so your prayers are welcome. Indeed, the groups asked for prayer. Stories such as this one are possible because of your gifts to Adventist Mission. It’s those gifts that have started these two new groups two miles high in the Andes mountains of Peru.

Global Mission’s priority is starting new groups of believers among unreached people groups. Often this means that Global Mission pioneers serve in challenging places. Please pray for our Global Mission pioneers and support their ministry by visiting Global-Mission.org/giving.

See this story at m360.tv/s1922

A Place of Belonging

An international church-planting team working with the Japan Union Conference recently opened Yanagi Square, an urban center of influence (UCI) in downtown Tokyo, Japan. Before purchasing the property, the missionary team settled into the community and crafted ministry plans that were in harmony with Japanese culture and would meet the community’s most pressing needs.

The team chose the name Yanagi, Japanese for willow trees, the type of tree lining the avenue where the UCI is located. They adopted the Japanese concept of ibasho, a place of belonging, as the philosophy behind this UCI. They chose one of the team’s Japanese families, rather than one of the international families, to live in the apartment above the UCI because they felt this family would fit in better. All this was done to become part of the local

community and culture, to meet their neighbors’ needs, and to win their hearts to God, just like Jesus did.

This UCI is part of Mission Unusual—Tokyo! (MUT), a church-planting program run by the Japan Union Conference. MUT focuses on forming relationships with people and helping them become disciples of Jesus. The initial goal of the MUT program is to form 30 new groups of Adventist believers, and the UCI is an integral part of the plan.

As soon as the MUT mission team assembled in December 2020, they started looking for a suitable place for a UCI in downtown Tokyo, but everything was too expensive. They had no money except a grant that only could be used for operational purposes. “We were just praying because we knew from a human perspective, it was impossible,” said MUT program director Yure Gramacho.

They applied to the Winifred Stevens Foundation, a private foundation, and received a generous grant. But they were sure it still wasn’t enough.

“We said, ‘OK, let’s just rely totally on God,’” Gramacho said. “And when we started to pray more intensely, out of the blue, this place just appeared.”

It was exactly what they were looking for. “It’s in a mixed-use area, residential and

commercial together, and the property is on the ground floor, which is ideal for wheelchair accessibility, elderly people, and mothers with strollers,” Gramacho explained.

Amazingly, the grant money was more than they needed to purchase the property. A month later, they heard that an apartment was for sale right above the UCI, where the UCI coordinator could live and connect with the residents of the building.

“This connection with the community is really important in Japan,” Gramacho said. “The idea of ibasho is not that we are going to the community to help them out but that we are

from this community, and we are serving with our community. It is a totally incarnational ministry.”

The price of the apartment was the exact amount the team had remaining from the grant. They saw this as a clear sign of God’s approval and purchased it.

On October 28, 2023, after remodeling the apartment and the UCI, the missionary team met in the apartment for a house church worship. They then prayed over the UCI, the residents of the building, and the neighborhood in preparation for opening the UCI to the community. Then, they invited all the residents in the building to a preopening event on November 3 and 5. Would these families, who are part of a culture where Christians are in the minority and people tend to be suspicious of religion, receive Yanagi Square as part of their community?

On Friday, November 3, 3 of the 16 families in the building attended. On Sunday, 10 more families came, bringing flowers, cards, and sweets, the traditional gifts for a new business.

Some gave money to support this new ibasho that was becoming part of their community. After the preopening event, the building association leader asked Nozomu Obara, MUT’s associate director who had just moved into the second-floor apartment, whether they could use the place for the year-end celebration for the building residents. “The fact that she has already requested to use this place made it a moment of celebration for us,” Gramacho said. “These responses from our first official interaction with the community are a strong sign that we are building trust.”

Please pray for the Yanagi Square UCI team as they move toward their goals of creating workshops, social activities, and clubs to address local social challenges; plan times for worship and Bible studies; and seek ways to become self-sustaining and a continual part of the community.

The MUT mission team hopes this story will inspire your church to use its facilities to serve your community. Become the place of belonging for everyone in your area!

If God is moving on your heart to support this unprecedented churchplanting program in Tokyo, please give at Global-Mission.org/giving

In the most unexpected places Hope Blooms

Hundreds gather to hear the Hope for Africa presentations sponsored by Hope Channel International in conjunction with the East-Central Africa Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Adventist World Radio

TAfrica

he Hope for Africa evangelistic series in Nairobi, Kenya, was a beacon of hope that radiated across the continent. The impact of its messages, translated into seven languages and reaching approximately 10,000 downlink locations in 11 countries, was huge!

During the series, 194,000 people chose to be baptized and join the Seventh-day Adventist Church family. I’ve chosen two of their stories

to share with you because they powerfully demonstrate God’s hand at work.

The Rebel’s New Leader

The first story takes us to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a nation marred by decades of instability and conflict. In DRC, a dreaded rebel group, Mai Mai Kifuafua, held sway over the life of Omari, a man entangled

in violence and chaos since the age of 15. The efforts of local pastors Bakano and Esaie during the evangelistic event would prove to be a divine intervention in his life.

The pastors’ mission took them to the confines of a prison, where they encountered Omari, a man seemingly immune to any authority beyond that of his rebel group. They shared the Word of God with him through the Hope for Africa series, and his hard heart began to melt.

Omari made the courageous decision to sever ties with his former life and embrace Christ as his Savior—a perilous choice given the dangers of leaving a rebel group. Now baptized, Omari’s testimony of freedom in Christ echoes within the prison walls.

Transformed Through Tragedy

The second story unfolds in Nairobi, where the lively city contrasts with the solemnity of Kenyatta National Hospital. Within its walls, two strangers, Makokha and Desire, found their lives intersecting on a path toward faith and transformation amid tragedy.

Makokha’s journey began with an accident that left him alone in a foreign city with his injured wife. There, he met Desire, who was grappling with the agony of his daughter’s illness. Their shared nights in the hospital corridors became a catalyst for deep conversations.

Desire, a devout Adventist, introduced Makokha to the teachings and optimism embedded in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. United by a common pursuit of hope, Makokha and Desire attended the Hope for Africa evangelistic event at a local church. The speakers,

including Mark Finley, imparted wisdom and hope through compelling presentations.

Tragically, Desire’s daughter lost her battle with illness. Yet his unwavering faith in Christ’s promise of resurrection became a source of strength for Makokha, reinforcing his need to be part of a church family that embraced this profound truth.

When the evangelistic campaign ended, Makokha surrendered his life to Christ and was baptized. With his wife’s health restored, the couple returned to their hometown, but not before Makokha engaged in his own act of mission work. To extend the blessing he received, he donated a parcel of land in his village for the construction of a Seventh-day Adventist church.

The transformed lives of Omari, Makokha, and many others are a testament to the mission of Hope Channel International. They are a powerful reminder that hope can bloom even in the most unexpected places.

To explore the various programs on Hope Channel, visit HopeTV.org or watch on DirecTV HOPE Channel 368, Roku, or the free Hope Channel app.

Thank you for supporting Hope Channel through your weekly mission offerings and, in North America, by giving to World Budget. To give, visit adventistmission.org/donate.

Remembering Tanabose Viviriti Lukukana

Tanabose Viviriti Lukukana was a teacher, pastor, church planter, and administrator who served in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. The following story, written by his son, is adapted from his biographical article in the online Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists (ESDA). To enjoy more stories about Adventist missionaries, visit encyclopedia.adventist.org.

Tanabose Viviriti Lukukana was born in 1921 on Choiseul Island, the northwesternmost island in the Solomon Islands chain in the South Pacific. His father, a tribal chief and warrior, and mother raised him deep in the forest to protect him from enemy tribes that engaged in brutal feuds. Tanabose knew nothing about God and the Bible, but that changed when he turned 20 and was sent to an Adventist educational center called Ruruvai Central School. While there, Tanabose gave his heart to Jesus, joined the Adventist Church, and met his future wife, Leah

Barighaza Bitalo, with whom he would later have nine children. Tanabose paid his tuition by hunting crocodiles and preparing their skins for export.

Following his education, Tanabose spent years serving the Lord as a teacher and local church clerk, treasurer, and personal ministries leader. He was also an ordained pastor and district director.

Tanabose’s greatest interest and delight in gospel ministry was planting new churches. He was successful in starting new groups of believers because he was friendly and courageous.

Tanabose entered areas that had been declared dangerous for Christian missionaries. He told villagers steeped in traditional magic and devil worship that there was a Creator God who loved them and could set them free from evil spirits and sin. Tanabose shared gospel stories with them, healed their sicknesses with simple treatments, and helped them understand how to live healthfully. Consequently, many communities invited him to establish a house for his Creator God.

Tanabose often experienced divine protection from devil priests, including those times they poisoned his food. He would always pray over a meal and eat while his perpetrators watched. When Tanabose didn’t die, the devil priests wanted to know what power he had that protected him. Because of these incidences, villagers often requested Bible studies and baptism, and a new company of believers was established.

Tanabose experienced many other miracles during his ministry. One time, when hiking to an unreached village called Pore, he had to cross a raging river. Tanabose tried to find a safe place to cross, but finally, he decided his only option was to swim across with his bag. As was his custom, Tanabose prayed for God’s power and protection. After his prayer, he turned and saw a person standing beside him. Without a word, the person pointed to a rope bridge about 20 feet (about 6 meters) from where he stood. Tanabose

thanked the man, breathed a prayer of thanks, and crossed. It was risky. There was no way to escape if he fell into the rushing torrent. When he reached the other side, Tanabose turned to shout words of thanks to the person who had helped him, but neither the rope bridge nor the person were anywhere to be seen.

Tanabose safely reached his destination but would soon be in trouble again. As soon as the villagers saw him, they made plans to kill him for meat. They showed him a place to sleep and gave him a piece of human flesh to eat for dinner. Tanabose told them he didn’t eat flesh. Then he motioned for them to come close.

When the group had gathered around him, Tanabose pulled out his Bible picture roll and, through the help of a young interpreter named Mena, told them about the love of Jesus, the commandment not to kill, the soon return of Christ, and the new earth.

During the night, Mena woke Tanabose and urged him to escape with him because the people were planning to kill him. Mena led Tanabose through the jungle, mountain trails, and valleys for some days until they were safely within a police-protected area.

When Tanabose retired from mission service in 1981, the Solomon Islands government granted him the Solomon Islands Independence Medal, an honor for his service, leadership, and commitment to the people of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Tanabose Lukukana died of a heart attack on December 21, 1981, at the age of 61, while traveling to establish a church.

Lawrence Pita Tanabose

retired in 2013 as the secretary of the South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists in Sydney, Australia. A Solomon Islander born of missionary parents in Papua New Guinea, Pastor Tanabose served the church as a pastor, evangelist, and administrator. In retirement, he served as the president of the Solomon Islands Mission until taking up residence on his home island of Choiseul. Pastor Tanabose is married to Rosina and has three children.

More than 4,000 articles and 11,000 photographs featuring Adventist missionaries, evangelists, institutions, events, and beliefs.

Not My Money

Idon’t know what time the phone rang that night, but it was late. My husband, Greg, listened intently as the local Adventist pastor explained that the Thai immigration police had raided an apartment building housing some 100 asylum seekers. Twenty of them had escaped and desperately needed refuge. The pastor was asking whether we could help.

The timing couldn’t be worse for Greg and me. We were setting up for our annual mission

conference, and there was still much to do to be ready when the meetings began in the morning. What were we to do? We had a guesthouse attached to our home on the mission compound, but it wasn’t adequate to accommodate 20 people. We excused ourselves due to our busyness and promised to pray that they would find help.

During the next three days, we wondered what happened to those people. Then, we heard

that another asylum-seeking family had invited the entire group to stay with them. We were shocked and felt somewhat rebuked because we knew the family was living in a small one-room apartment half the size of our guest house.

Fearing the threat of arrest by the immigration police, the family kept the curtains and doors closed and didn’t allow anyone to leave the apartment. They urgently needed supplies, so we bought and delivered groceries discreetly for the next two weeks until the asylum seekers found new housing.

Then we learned that even though the guests had left, the host family’s needs hadn’t. Despite their status with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), they were considered illegal immigrants and, therefore, unable to work. Having no income, they had sold everything of value just to pay rent. So, we continued helping them, eventually taking responsibility for all their financial needs, including paying their children’s tuition. Each time we provided financial assistance, our friends would exclaim, “You are doing so much for us, and we are so thankful. But there is no way we can ever repay you.”

Their words caused me angst. While somewhat happy to help them, I was struggling deep inside. It’s one thing to help someone once or twice. I could even see helping for a few months in extreme cases. However, the asylum process would take seven to eight years.

I felt terrible about my attitude. I knew that even though they were professionals capable of supporting themselves, they couldn’t. I also knew that they had no other options. They couldn’t return home because they’d probably be killed. They couldn’t travel to another country because their passports had expired, and their embassy wouldn’t renew them for asylum seekers. They were truly stuck.

I also struggled with the change our support was causing in our relationship with this family. In their shame-honor-oriented culture, our help meant we were indebting them to us, reshaping our peer friendships into a patron-client relationship. It was hurting their dignity.

So, I began praying that God would show me how to receive their gratitude in a way that restored their self-respect and rebalanced our friendship. I also asked Him to help me feel at peace with a long-term financial commitment if that was what He asked us to do.

God’s answer came repeatedly in a strong impression: “Tell them the money belongs to Me.” I was confused by His instruction, but as I continued to seek His guidance, He taught me something important about stewardship.

I had thought of stewardship mostly in terms of returning a 10 percent tithe to God. Now, He drew my attention to Jesus’ parable of the talents. Carefully reviewing the story, I realized that the servants were accountable to the owner for 100 percent of the money he gave them. The owner fully expected and trusted that the stewards would act as agents on his behalf, investing the talents as He would. Each decision they made was expected to reflect the character of the master.

The idea that all the money in our bank account belonged to God and that He was entrusting it to us to use according to His will and character was a paradigm shift for me. It took off all the pressure of having to decide whether a cause was worthy or not. Instead, I began asking, “How does God want me to use His resources to respond to this situation?” This new perspective freed me to be more generous.

It also rebalanced our relationship with our friends. The next time they poured out their thanks, I told them what God told me: “Friends, the money isn’t ours. It’s God’s. He would want us to help you in this difficult situation.” Saying this restored our relationship as equals and put God in the rightful place as patron for their family and ours.

I also experienced another blessing. Each month we helped our friends, we discovered that our paychecks seemed to stretch to cover all our needs as well. Proverbs 19:17 says, “He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given” (NKJV).

I’m so thankful for this experience. The lessons I learned continue to guide me as I encounter people with needs. As a steward of God’s resources, my responsibility is to use them as He prompts me. And each prompting is a precious opportunity to reveal His generous, compassionate heart.

Amy Whitsett

enjoyed living and working in Southeast Asia as a missionary for 16 years. She now works for the Institute of World Mission, helping to prepare and train missionaries for cross-cultural service.

Your generous and systematic mission offerings help support the ministry of hundreds of missionaries. Please give at AdventistMission.org/donate

Check out m360.tv/missionary for more stories about missionaries.

The Leaky Roof

Grandmother Brigitte loves her house in Germany.

Her parents built the house before she was born. It was a small house with one kitchen, one big bedroom, and one very small bedroom.

When Grandmother Brigitte was little, she slept in the small bedroom, and her parents slept in the big one.

When she grew up and married, she and her husband didn’t have enough money to buy their own house. So, they stayed in the big bedroom, and her parents moved into the small bedroom.

Then, Brigitte became a mother with two children. Now there were four people in the big

bedroom. Her parents, now grandparents, still lived in the small bedroom.

There was barely enough space for everyone to fit inside the little house! Three years passed. Everyone thought it was time to build a bigger house.

So, two more bedrooms were added to the house. The little house became a larger house.

Even though the house was bigger, the rooms quickly filled up. Two more children were born.

As the children grew older, the family needed more space. So, they removed the roof from the house and built a comfortable loft where the children could sleep in the space between the ceiling and the new roof. Everyone

liked the new roof. The builders promised that the roof would last for many, many years.

Twenty years passed. The four children grew up and moved into their own homes. Brigitte grew older and became a grandmother. The house grew old and needed a new roof. The hot sun caused cracks to form in the roof. When it rained or snowed, water leaked into the house.

Grandmother Brigitte desperately needed a new roof. She found out that a new roof would cost a lot of money.

Around that time, Grandmother Brigitte heard about a wonderful mission project at church. Money was being collected to tell people in another country that Jesus is coming soon.

Grandmother Brigitte wanted to give money to the mission project. But, she thought, I can’t give any money because I need a new roof.

Still, Grandmother Brigitte wanted to give money to the mission project. She thought, God will give me a new roof even if I give my money to the mission project.

She gave her money to the mission project.

A few days later, a letter arrived from the German government. Because Grandmother Brigitte had retired and no longer worked, the government sent money every month to help her buy food and other important things. But this was an unexpected letter.

Grandmother Brigitte opened the letter and read, “We just found out that we have to give you this additional payment.” Inside the letter was the exact amount of money that she needed for the new roof!

Grandmother Brigitte was so happy. She loved her house in Germany, and now she could live in it for many more years.

“The money was a great miracle,” Grandmother Brigitte said. “I thank God for it.”

Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering that went for a mission project in Grandmother Brigitte’s homeland of Germany in 2020. Germany has sent many Seventh-day Adventist missionaries around the world. The offering will help them send even more by renovating an Adventist academy where missionaries are trained.

More Children’s Mission Stories

Find dozens of inspiring mission stories for children at AdventistMission.org/childrens-mission-quarterly