Artist or Doctor?

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, March 20.

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

Y

uliana wondered for a long time what she wanted to be when she grew up.

“You are good at helping people,” Mother said. “You should become a doctor.”

Grandmother also thought Yuliana was good at helping people.

“You should become a nurse,” she said.

Yuliana didn’t like the advice.

“I don’t want to be a doctor or a nurse!” she said. “I like to draw, and I think I’d rather be an artist.”

One summer afternoon, Yuliana was walking home, and she saw three 10-year-old boys swimming in a pond on the campus of Zaoksky Adventist University in Russia. Immediately she worried about the boys’ safety. The water was brown and filthy. Moreover, people sometimes threw garbage into the pond.

Hey, boys!” she called out. “That water is really dirty. It isn’t a good idea to swim there.”

“I know!” one of the boys, Daniil, shouted back as he clamored up onto a small pier to jump into the pond again. “My mother told me not to swim here.”

He jumped off the pier and plunged into the water. A moment later, he surfaced — shrieking. Panic gripped Yuliana. She wondered what was wrong. She saw fear in the boy’s eyes and understood that something serious had happened.

“I’m hurt!” Daniel cried, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“What happened?” Yuliana said. “Why are you crying?”

Daniel raised a leg from the muddy water, revealing a large gash on his foot.

Yuliana was scared and began to tremble. “God, give me strength to help him,” she prayed silently. It was the first time in her life that she had seen such a wound.

It also was the first time that Daniil’s two friends had seen such a wound. They were scared and an away. Daniil also had never seen such a wound before, and it was on his foot. He was frightened.

“What will Mother say?” he cried.

“Don’t worry about that,” Yuliana reassured him. “Everything will be OK.”

Yuliana saw that the filthy pond water and worried that the wound might get infected. “Quick, get out of the water!” she said. “It would be very bad if something bad gets into your wound.”

Yuliana helped Daniil out of the water and told him to sit down on the ground. But what could she do? She wasn’t a doctor or a nurse.

“God, send someone to help us,” she prayed. “Help me not to faint.”

She looked around for help. No one was in sight.

“Help! Help!” she cried.

Two adults appeared.

“We need a first aid kit!” Yuliana said.

The adults ran off and returned a few minutes later with a first aid kit. One adult placed a bandage on Daniil’s foot.

Then Yuliana saw a church member driving past and stopped his car. He took Daniil to the hospital.

Later Yuliana learned that Daniil had landed on a broken bottle when he had jumped from the pier.

Yuliana no long wonders what she wants to be when she grows up. She doesn’t want to be an artist who draws pictures. She wants to be a doctor or a nurse who helps others.

“I like to help people,” she said.

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help Yuliana’s Seventh-day Adventist school, Zaoksky Christian School, construct its own building on the campus of Zaoksky Adventist University. Currently the school borrows classrooms from the university, and your offering will help the children meet in their own classrooms. Thank you for planning a big offering.