The Story Isn't Over Yet...

Our Bible Work term in Sonora may have ended, but my heart for the people I’ve met hasn’t left. When Melina and I first found out that we were going to be Bible Work partners, I thought about the things I wanted to see God do and I specifically prayed that God would use me to reach someone like me. However, throughout the three months that prayer request seemed to have slipped my mind.

Honestly, it’s hard to measure success sometimes in ministry because we work on a delayed gratification system. We don’t always have the privilege of seeing the fruits of our labor. I remember praying one day during our time in Sonora and saying, “Lord, I don’t need to see the results, it would be nice, but I know that You will do what You know is best in Your perfect time.” 

The very last night of Taj’s Revelation Seminar, seemed like another night. I didn’t really think much of it. During the seminar’s Melina and I were placed in the lobby that way if anyone came in late or left early, we were able to be the smiling face to greet them. This night Emily and Mike happened to come. Since they live so far away they weren’t able to come to all the meetings expect on the weekends. Instead Taj, gave me mp3 of his sermons to give to Mike so he could listen to them on the way to school every day. It was a blessing to see how quickly Mike and Emily were growing, and I was aways excited when they were able to make it to the meetings. Sometimes Anakin gets fussy so Emily will come and hang out in the lobby with Melina and I so Anakin can move around. 

It was right when Taj was ending his sermon. He decided to give another appeal if people wanted to give their life to Christ and enter into the waters of baptism. Emily and I moved to the back door because we wanted to see who was going up. Then I gasped and grabbed Emily’s arm, “Emily! Mike is going up!” Emily then turned to me and said, “oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you, can you tell me about re-baptism?”

As Melina and I drove home that night, I was like a kid in a candy store. There was a smile on my face that was impossible to wipe away. As we talked about the decisions Mike and Emily were making, Melina brought up something, “maybe that’s a reason why God had you get re-baptized, cause now you were able to relate with her.” 

Suddenly my prayer request that I had forgotten about popped back into my mind. Last November I had gotten re-baptized. Although I’ve always been in the church, there was a time that God didn’t have my whole heart and I wanted to give it to Him. When Emily asked me about re-baptism, I was able to share with her why I decided to get re-baptized. 

As I think back on our time in Bible Work, I would’ve been satisfied without seeing results, but God is just so loving that He decided to answer my prayer request just because He wanted to. 

Several weeks later, I received a picture from Sheila of Mike’s baptism and it just reminded me that God loves answering specific prayers and reminded me why I love doing this work. The best reward in the world, is being able to help lead someone to Christ. 

The rest of the stories of Sonora are still being written and my prayer is that in heaven I'll be able to see and hear how they ended.

I'm Not Done With You Yet

Today has been a day full of emotions for me as it's the second to last day of our time here in Sonora. Melina and I decided to stay longer by request of our church and it's been a blessing. However, this week has also been bittersweet. It's getting to the point where it's time to say goodbye to the people that I've been studying with and have grown to love as well as our church family.

The hardest family to say goodbye to definitely has to be our wonderful house parents, Uncle Pops and Aunty Gogo. They've been such a blessing to us. They have to be by far the sweetest couple I've ever met. They would always pray for us and our studies. They paid for Melina to go home when her family lost a loved one. They bought Mike and Emily a Blue Bible Stories set, and just today Uncle Pops paid to get my car fixed. That's literally just scratching the surface of how wonderful this family is. Words can't describe how incredible and truly inspiring they are to Melina and myself.

I was blessed with the opportunity to spend some extra time with Uncle Pops because he has been coming with me to my study with Alan (the guy I met at Starbucks). They hit it off from the moment they met each other and have become very good friends. There is one particular story that really bonded them. You see, both Alan and Uncle Pops have had near death experiences yet their lives were spared for some reason.

A few months ago, there was a horrific lightning storm in Sonora. Alan lives up in the mountain in a old style wooden house with a tin roof. He was terrified of the lightning hitting the roof and burning down the house so he decided to go and take shelter elsewhere. However, when he ran outside, little did he know a lightning strike was going to hit just the ground a few feet in front of him. The moment the lightning hit the ground, it shot Alan back onto a pile of wood. From that day on Alan knew that God had spared his life for some reason and he began praying that someone would study the Bible with him. Little did he know a few months later, I would show up asking him if he would like to do the very thing he had prayed for.

Uncle Pop's story is also quite miraculous. Before Uncle Pops retired he was a dentist and worked at Twain Harte Dentistry. It was an ordinary day at the office. He was working on of his patients as he sat in the chair he always did. He was in the process of making a mouth piece for his patient and needed to cure the mouth piece in a solution in the back room. It doesn't take long to cure. Once it finished he grabbed the mouth piece and proceeded to head back to his hair. Suddenly a thought  came into his mind, "you know, I don't have a lot of patients today, I could let this mouth piece cure a little bit longer." Uncle Pops stopped in his tracts, turned around, put the piece back in the solution and sat down to wait a few more minutes.

All of the sudden there was a huge crash. A tree suddenly crashed through the building, splitting the dentist office in two. Interestingly enough the tree landed in the same exact spot that Uncle Pops would've been in if he hadn't turned around to cure the mouth piece. Uncle Pops also realized that God had spared his life for some reason was well.

Uncle Pops has been coming with me to study with Alan consistently. Alan has expressed how he doesn't want to stop studying the Bible and asked Uncle Pops if he would continue to study with him after I leave. Uncle Pops was more then thrilled to say yes. They've become very close friends since we started studying together. Next week Uncle Pops and Aunty Gogo will be going to study with Alan and plan on continuing to study to learn more about God.

As we drove home after a study Uncle Pops and I talked about their near death experiences and Uncle Pops expressed, "you know, after that happened I realized that God wasn't done with me yet."

I then responded, "what if God saved your life, so He could use you, to help save Alan's."

Quick Transformations

About a month ago I saw this cute couple walk into church. In my mind they looked like the picture perfect family, husband and wife holding hands while the husband held their son, although I did notice that they looked rather young. I was talking to someone else when I noticed them walk into church and I didn't really think twice about seeing them. The Sonora church is so large that I don't even feel like I met half the church members. I wanted to go talk to them but I didn't get a chance, little did I know God has something planned the entire time. 

I was making my way to the front of the church to meet up with Melina and Sheila to give our weekly announcements, when our pastor, Nathan Renner stopped me. He motioned to the couple I saw earlier and told me to go talk to them so I did. I walked up and told the mother how adorable her baby is (he really is quite a cutie), and then proceeded to introduce myself. I just took time to get to know them and talk and briefly mentioned that I attend a Bible college and that I’m currently working with the church. Before I could even get to it, Emily asked me if I could give her Bible studies. She said that she had studied the Bible before but she hasn’t in a while and she feels like she doesn’t know anything. So we arranged to meet the next day.

They live about half an hour away so I drove up to see them. I knew that Emily had an Adventist background but I had no idea what her husband Mike had. I walked in and brought Real Heroes and Prince of Peace for their son, Anakin. And the moment Emily saw the books she said with excitement, “I know exactly what those are!” Turns out Emily canvassed 2011 in Bakersfield & Tulare. She told me Ricky was her leader and when she showed me her summer book I saw she was also a student with Heidi Maekawa. However, she felt like she lost hold of God and now she wants to come back. Her husband, Mike has never touched a Bible before and Nathan was able to give him his very own Bible. 

I mainly studied with Emily. Mike is a chemistry major and drives to school over an hour away every day. I was mainly teaching Emily how to do devotions the way I was taught. Every time Emily and I would hang out our friendship would grow  deeper. I realized how Bible work is far more then just studying the Bible with each other. There where times where I would just go grocery shopping with Emily or teaching her how to cook an asian dish before studying. Emily is absolutely precious. She has a tender heart for ministering to others and sharing the light that she has. Meanwhile, her husband, Mike would listen to sermons every day while drive to and from school. Every Sabbath they would consistently come and when they could make it they would come to the Revelation seminar as well. Mike is a great student and he's super interested in everything that he has been learning. He also takes notes profusely. 

Today was the last official day that I was personally able to study with Mike and Emily. It's amazing to see the transformation that Mike has had since the first time I met him. He went from not knowing where anything was to remembering specific things that he and Emily have read and even wanting to share what he has learned with his friends at college. 

I've really grown to love this family, especially their little one, Anakin. Mike and Emily taught Anakin how to saw my name and my heart melts each time he says it. I could go on about how adorable Anakin is. I think I have more picture of Anakin on my phone then anyone else. But what I really want to share with you is a text message Emily sent me this afternoon.

This is what Emily wrote me:

"Every single thing you have done for us has helped us in our faith since we met you. Mike was far from a believer and I was far from a follower when we met you but with your help and the grace of God we have come a long way in such a short period of time. We will really miss you when you go, and I want you to see that even if you don't have any other testimony as to why you think God led you to our little town that we believe that you coming in to our lives was crucial in leading us back to God and giving us the motivation to do so. I hope we find some good people to study with when you leave! And you can always stay with us if you're ever back in the area. Thank you for all you've done for us."

Emily, Anakin, and Mike

Victory In Depression

Depression is a very serious illness that unfortunately is also rather common. While it is true that everyone will occasionally get a case of the blues, depression is much deeper then that. According to the National Institute of Mental Health,  depression "interferes with daily life and causes pain for both you and those who care about you. The reason why I'm telling you all this is because I have a burden for people who suffer with depression. I have several friends who I dearly love that suffer with this very illness. A friend once described it to me as "it's like any other disease, but it's your brain that is sick." Recently God has put me into contact with some precious people that I had no idea suffer with depression.

A few weeks ago Sheila had asked me to take a church member with me to one of my Bible studies. When I approached this church member she wasn't very hesitant. I could see sadness in her eyes but I really had no idea what was going on. She's very active in ministry and helps out with several but she was explaining to me that she was just really tired and didn't know if she had it in her to come with me. I didn't know what was going on then but had a feeling there was something deeper that was going on. Instead of asking her to come with me to a study I offered to come over to cook her dinner and we could study together. I told her sometimes in ministry we give so much of ourselves but we forget that we need to be "fed" too.

The following Sunday evening I went to her house. I made her some sort of asian dish and spent some time just talking and eating. It was then that she opened up to me and told me about her past and I began to understand that her not wanting to come with me to a study was a lot deeper. That's when she opened up to me that she struggles with depression and this was the most severe that she's ever had it. I immediately started praying in my head because honestly I had no idea what I should do. Even though I didn't know what to do in that moment, I knew God did.

A thought popped into my mind, "the first thing you need to help her with, is you need her to teach her how to have a relationship with Me."

I then asked her, "do you get a chance to study your Bible?"

She responded, "I do but I don't feel like it's been doing anything for me. I have things that I do every day but I don't feel like I'm really getting anything from it."

In my mind I completely understood what she was talking about. I had been raised in a Christian home my entire life, but I felt the same way just a few years ago. So I said, "you know someone actually needed to teach me how to have a relationship with God, and if that's okay with you, I would like to offer to do the same with you."

She agreed. I realized how important it is to spend time with God in the morning and I wanted to help her to make that a habit. From that day on I drove to her house every morning at 7:30 and I began to teach her simply how to do devotions. The last time I taught someone how to do devotions, God showed me I needed to take them through this powerful book called Steps to Christ. So I did the same with her. All I did was simply pick out all the Bible verses used in each chapter and we would study one verse at a time.

One day we were reading a verse in the book of Jonah. I was teaching her different methods of studying and that day I was teaching her to read the context around the verse to give her more understanding. It happened to be the chapter where Jonah was very sad and rather upset at God. He was even asking God to take his life. As we read it together, thoughts started popping into my mind, "you need to ask her questions to help her realize that Jonah is suffering with depression."

I asked, "what do you think is going on with Jonah in this chapter?"

She responded, "I think Jonah has an anger problem."

"I does seem like that, but I think there's something deeper going on." I replied. "From what Jonah is saying, what do you think is really going on with him?"

She looked back at the verse and it clicked, "Jonah is depressed!"

"I think you're right." I answered.

She then said, "but the problem is we don't ever see a resolution for Jonah in this chapter."

"You're absolutely right, so let's go to a place in the Bible where someone else is depressed but we see a solution." I honestly couldn't believe those words came out of my mouth. In my mind I was saying, "Lord where are you taking me with this? I've never studied this before." My hands started to flip back to 1 Kings 19. I remembered a speech my friend Taja gave in speech class last year about depression and the name Elijah came into my mind. I seriously didn't know where that story was but I knew it had to be somewhere in the Old Testament and guessed it was probably in one of the Kings.

Elijah was one of God's prophets in Israel at a very key time. The king of Israel at that time, Ahab, had married a heathen woman named Jezebel, and because of her idol worshiping practices, the nation also fell into idol worship. In the previous chapter you see how God used Elijah in a mighty way to prove to the entire nation that Baal was a false god, and who the true God is. In this mighty victory for God through Elijah, all of the prophets of Baal were killed and this made Jezebel furious towards Elijah. When Jezebel threatens Elijah's life, he decides to run away. He runs off to the wilderness and that is where this study really began.

Photo Credit: goodsalt.com

Like Jonah, Elijah is also asking God to take his life and then we see him asleep under a tree. Suddenly an angel comes to him and tells him to wake up and to eat and drink, so Elijah does. The angel comes back to Elijah a second time and feeds him again. This is clearly food from God since it's an angel that is feeding him and also because that food strengthens him for 40 days and 40 nights. What the angel said also stood out to me, the angel says, "arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." God then asks Elijah, "what are you doing here, Elijah?" To me it almost seemed like God was saying, "what's going on Elijah, why are you here?" Elijah is then completely honest with God and explains everything that is on his mind. Elijah doesn't really use a filter either, but complete pure honesty.

The next scene we see is Elijah in a cave and some crazy things happen to him. God asks Elijah "go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord." First there was a strong wing that tore into the mountain and broke the rocks in pieces, yet the Lord was not in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, but the Lord wasn't in the earthquake either. After the earthquake there was a fire, yet again the Lord wasn't in the fire. But after showing Elijah all of these great and mighty things, He finally decides to reveal himself in a still small voice. He asks the same question He asked earlier, "what are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah's answer doesn't change at all, instead Elijah gives God the same honest answer. This time God basically tells Elijah, I just want you to know that even though you feel alone, I want you to know you're not alone. God then gives Elijah further instruction. God then tells Elijah to go help and train others, such as Elisha, the next prophet that would take Elijah's place.

As we read through the study, light bulbs started going off in my mind and I began to share this:

1. From what my friends told me in the past about depression, suicidal thoughts and tiredness are both symptoms of depression, so it really seems as if Elijah is depressed. So first we need to acknowledge that someone is struggling with having a low point in their life whether its actually depression or being extremely down. 
2. Next we see the angel feeding Elijah, in the same way we need to be fed by God spiritually.
3. Being fed spiritually isn't something that you can just do once, but it needs to be done consistently, and if you need someone else to help you with it, like that angel needed to feed Elijah, that's okay. 
4. The reason why God wants to feed us is because He knows there is a great journey ahead that is too great for us to do alone. Ultimately He has something great planned, but we need His help.
5. The next step is to communicate with God. He simply wants to ask "how are you doing?"
6. That's when it's your turn to answer and be completely honest with Him. Tell Him everything that is on your mind.
7. While you're taking the steps to have a relationship with Him, that's when He really wants to start revealing His true character to you. Yes, He is a mighty and powerful God, and He could have easily revealed Himself in the wind, earthquake or fire, but He didn't. Instead He chose to reveal Himself as a still small voice that wants to see how you are doing.
8. God will constantly check up on you and see how you're doing, and it's okay to still be completely honest. In fact Elijah used the same exact words. It made me think that it doesn't matter how many times we pray for the same things over and over again, God still takes the time to listen. 
9. After we're completely honest with God, He cares enough to let you know that even though you feel alone, you're not. 
10. The last step is to go and help others. It made sense because in this context it seems like it accomplishes at least two goals. One it helps to further the cause of God by reaching out to others, and second it helps that person not to focus on themselves but to care and focus on the interests of others. 

As we finished the study, the church member and I were both mind blown. When we closed with prayer she said something that touched my heart. She said, "Lord, thank you for sending me an angel, Janelle, to spiritually feed me."

I continued to go to her house everyday for two weeks and each day I went over I saw her becoming happier slowly but surely. The Revelation seminar was coming up at our church and Melina had asked her if she could help out in making sure the guests felt welcome. She was scared to do it at first, but the more we studied together the more confident she felt in helping.

I've literally seen a complete transformation from being sad and depressed to happy and social. The other night she came up to me at the end of the series and told me "I just wanted you to know that that time was the lowest I have ever felt but you studying with me every day has given me victory in depression. I'm cured."

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

The 20 Minute Divine Appointment

As the Archaeology meeting came to a close, Janelle and I stood in the back to pass out notes for the evening and invitations for the Revelation seminar coming up. As the crowd dwindled to a stop I noticed a lady standing in the middle of the foyer, looking like she was waiting for something. As I approached her, I asked her if she needed something. She shared how Janelle had just gone to make copies for her of the Archaeology seminar we just completed. we chatted about how wonderful the meetings were, then I invited her to come to the Revelation seminar which began a few evenings later. She lit up, "Oh I am coming to that! This is incredible! You can count on seeing me there!" I continued to stoke her excitement with the Revelation seminar. After sometime she asked what I was doing there, and I shared how I give Bible studies and help the church in whatever areas they need help. Janelle walked up at this point and handed her the copies she requested, but the lady and I had made such close friends that we continued to chat. Bible questions came up, and we answered one here and there, but the amazing thing was, the questions asked were questions I had just studied a week before in my devotions. Janelle mentioned Bible studies again, and Rhonda, who by this point was highly interested in how we answered her questions with verses in the Bible, jumped on the opportunity. She has now attended all the meeting accept one, but has requested for me to come over to her house early this week to catch her up on what she missed. She canceled plans for Friday night to be able to attend the Revelation seminar, and has been bringing a friend with her every time. Continue to pray for her us, God jammed the printer for a reason. "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

Divine Delay

This past week kicked off two of the seminars our church planned. First we had an Archeology Seminar by Tony Moore, and March 6 was when our Revelation Seminar started with Taj Pacleb. The Archeology Seminar went amazingly. The church was packed every single night and a lot of people from community came to check out our special event.

At the end of the night Melina and I would stand at the back to hand out notes from the seminar as well as giving them a warm goodbye. Several people had asked me for notes from previous nights so we made sure to keep extra copies in the back. However, it was so popular we would run out fairly quickly. 

One of the seminar attendees named Rhonda came up to me and asked me if she could get several copies of each night so she could share it with her friends. I went back and grabbed the notes for her and the only ones that were missing were the notes from the second night.

"If you want to wait, I can go make copies for you. It should only take a few minutes." I said. 

Rhonda responded, "Okay sure, I'll just wait here."

Keep in mind that normally a print job like this should only take three to five minutes max. I grabbed the original copy and put it into the copier. So I know our copier is pretty fancy and there's an option to get it to staple the copies. I was trying to figure it out and literally went through all of the options and I couldn't find anything. "Fine, I'll just do it the normal way,"  I thought to myself, "but it would've been so much cooler to get it to staple, oh well." 

I made a test copy, and it came out with the print only filling one fourth of the page. Apparently when I was going through the setting I accidentally hit a reduce size button. (For the record I didn't even know that was possible.) 

I went back and fixed the problem and attempted to print again. This time the original copy got jammed while it was being fed into the copier. The original got crumbled pretty badly so I now needed to remake an original copy for that page again. So I did that. Finally I could start printing. But then the copier started to jam on me, not once, not twice...but about five times. Something else you should know about this copier is when a paper jams, before you can get it to print again you have to open every single compartment so it will work. 

I actually started praying for this copy machine, I was like "Lord, this woman just wants to tell her friends about you, please help this copier so she can have these notes." Finally...20 minutes later, I finished making the copies. 

As I started walking back towards Rhonda, I saw Melina talking to her and it started to make sense why God allowed the copier to cause me so many problems. He was trying to delay her from leaving so she and Melina could talk.

To find out the rest of the story, read Melina's next blog post.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, 

to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

Not Satisfied

Archaeology meetings arrived and I was assigned to registration table. After the first meeting, two ladies walked up and grabbed Revelation seminar fliers. Noticing their interest, I wanted to make an effort to solidify their interest and personally invite them. I eagerly grabbed their attention by confirming their interest in the flier, and began talking to them how they were going to enjoy the seminar. As we became better friends one lady walks closer to me and asks, "Do you go to church here, when there is church here?" "Yes, I do!" I replied. She continued to tell me how she was raised Baptist and how she heard about the Sabbath and sees it in the Bible. She shared with me how she has been doing a lot of Bible studying, and wants to know what Adventists believe. At this point her sister, who was with her, said, "have you ever heard of Doug Bachelor? I watch him and listen to him all the time, he is amazing!" I concurred. She asked me if I knew anyone who would be willing to give her Bible studies, because she wasn't content with the beliefs of the Baptist church as she had been studying. We exchanged numbers and information, and will be studying together next Monday. She and her sister both plan to attend the Revelation Seminar coming up, and both are eager to understand what the truth is. Pray for them, the series, and me, as we dig deeper into God's word.

Unconventional Impromptu Study

Some of the Bible studies God has been having me give is anything but conventional. Today was probably the epitome of what I’m talking about. This is a continuation of the studying with Eloise, so if you need to be updated on her read the blog post “One Can Make All the Difference.” But here’s the summary, the only thing Eloise has been wanting to study is the book of Daniel (praise the Lord for the Daniel class I took at SOULS West, because it’s helped so much). So far we’ve been going through the beginning stories (mainly chapters 1-6) and she’s been reading Prophets and Kings along with it. 

Every week it takes at least three hours to study with her because she has a lot of questions and she loves studying as well. Also every week is different and I honestly have no idea what she’s going to ask me. The biggest preparation I do for this study is pray, and I constantly pray while we’re studying together.

In Friday's study, Eloise wanted to go through Daniel 8. As I started taking her through Daniel 8 God was putting on my heart “you need to take her back to Daniel 7,” so I did. We started going through the beasts and what they represented and then we got to little horn. 

She confidently said, “oh that’s the antichrist.” 

So I responded, “do you know what the antichrist is?” 

If you could’ve listened to the thoughts in my mind it would’ve understood the battle going on in there. Part of me knew that I needed to explain what little horn was, and another part of me really didn’t want to go there just yet because I knew what her background was like. Eloise kept asking me, “wait just tell me what it is.” But I refused to give her a direct answer, instead I would respond, “I want to show you what the Bible says.” Eloise must’ve begged me to tell her who it was at least 10 times, but each time I turned back to the Bible.

I pulled out a piece of paper and we went through each description of little horn, verse by verse. After we went through all the descriptions, I held up the paper and started to read all of them off, and all of the sudden it clicked in her mind. Eloise’s jaw dropped because she figured it out. "It all makes sense," she said. 

I didn’t say a word, but simply nodded. God put on my heart to show her the documentary Revelation: The bride, the beat, and Babylon, so I did. We were only an hour and a half into our study by this time so we still had time. The entire time Eloise kept looking over to me and would say the following: “I didn’t know that…wow, that’s true…you know... always wondered about that, but I was told not to question it.” 

It was almost like I could see her wheels turning in her mind as she watched the DVD. The interesting about that DVD is it basically goes through all the things we believe as Adventists but they do it by showing how certain traditions has fallen away from the Bible. So basically Eloise was introduced to baptism by immersion, the myths of hell, the Sabbath…and many more…and she’s open to all of them all because she understands little horn. This probably isn’t a very conventional way of introducing your Bible study contact to a bunch of core Biblical truths, but God definitely used it to reach Eloise. 

I saw Eloise the next night at our church's Archeology seminar featuring Tony Moore. We've had quite a turn out each night, with over 125 people coming each night. Something that made me extremely happy was Eloise didn't come alone, she brought her husband Joe and her grand daughter as well. 

I met up with them after the seminar and Joe thanked me again for all the time that I had spent studying with Eloise. He then said, "I'll be here for the Revelation seminar as well too, that's something that really interests me."

Health Seminar

This past week kicked off the beginning of all of our seminars. Tuesday through Thursday was the Health Seminar we had planned. Friday started the Archeology Seminar with Tony Moore, and this coming Friday the Revelation Seminar with Taj Pacleb will start up.

The Health seminar went extremely well. We're blessed with an amazing supportive church and we were extremely blessed by all of their help. The first night we had two doctors present simple healthy habits and principles that they could apply to their life. The second night we had to college students from Columbia College currently studying nutrition to present a cooking demonstration. The last night we had several speakers, first a Naturopathic Doctor presented natural remedies as well as doing a presentation on the local herbs in our community that and their uses.  Then we had a Physical Therapist and Nathan Renner (our AWESOME Pastor) talk about important simple things to do to reduce pain and simple massage techniques. Last but not least, we had the Dean of Theology of SOULS West demonstrate how to make a cabbage poultice and he tied all the things we had done with a spiritual implication.

I was super excited because my Bible study contact Kim (the one that signed up for Bible studies because she was interested in health), came every single night to our seminar, and she even brought her mom along as well. We had nightly drawings for the people who came to the seminar and our grand prize was a Nutri Ninja (2 in 1 blender and food processor), and Kim's name was drawn.

She was so stoked about it, I really wish I had recorded her reaction. The following Friday after the Health Seminar I went to her house to study with her and she had already gone out to pick the local herbs she had just learned about and is applying the things she learned from the seminar.

Here's some pictures from the event: (Just click on the picture to make it bigger.)

Alarms In the Middle of the Night

Back in December my car did something really weird. My car alarm would randomly go off, even when I wasn't touching my key. I seriously had no idea what was wrong so I did two things, I googled it and I asked my guy friends to take look at it. After figuring it was probably a dying battery I figured I would just change it when I got to Sonora.

The problem went away for a while but recently it's decided to go off again. However, this time things escalated to be far worse then before. Now my alarm was going off at the most random times (at inconvenient times I might add, like 2 am) and frequently as well too. It was getting so bad that my car was going off at least 15 times a day. (I really wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not.) I'm really glad we live in the middle of the country far from neighbors because I'm sure they wouldn't be too pleased. Unfortunately since my schedule has been extremely busy I had to endure it until my day off.

People told me that I should just disconnect the battery from my car, but I realized that wouldn't solve the problem. I wouldn't even be able to use my car if the battery is disconnected. The next thing I thought to do is to go to Radio Shack to buy a new battery for my key. So on my day off, I drove to the little shopping center and walked into Radio Shack. The worker took one look at my key and immediately said, "these things are delicate, you need to go to a dealership because I'm afraid to break it."

Since we live in a small town and the nearest dealership is in Modesto, I had to wait for the next day off to get it fixed. I was starting to get to the point of not wanting to use my car. When we would go to church I'd ask Melina if we could take her car because I didn't want my alarm continuously going off during the service.

Finally the day had arrived and I beyond stoked to go to Modesto to get my car fixed. That very day it got so bad that my alarm went off while my car was on. (You can imagine how awkward that was. People must've thought I was trying to steal my own car.) When I went to the dealership, my car alarm was going off just like it had been. I'm actually glad it was, I didn't want it to be like those situations where you go to the doctor and all of the sudden all the symptoms go away and they think you're lying. Nope, it went off at least 8 times.

When they took my key they discovered that it wasn't the key battery that had the problem. The real problem was deep inside. Over time the panic button had been worn down so much that on the inside it was pushed in and it kept triggering the alarm. The only way to fix it was to get an entirely new key. Thankfully it didn't take long. They got a new key and had to reprogram it and then everything was completely fixed. The weird part is that even though I knew my key was fixed and still had this feeling that my alarm would go off. It was like I had been scarred so much by the constant alarm that I was even scared to use my key. In fact instead of pushing the buttons I had gotten into the habit of just unlocking my door manually. But then I had to keep remembering that the problem is gone, and it's okay to use my key again.

Even though that experience was definitely character building, I learned a lot from it.

1. The car alarm is like the warnings of sin. It's telling you something is wrong, please fix it.
2. One way to temporarily stop the problem is by disconnecting from the Life Source altogether. It may stop the alarm for a bit, but then you become useless.
3. Sometimes we try to run to others to help us fix the problem, but even they realize that they can't do anything about it. 
4. What you have to do is go to the original Maker.
5. It may take opening you up to see what the problem really is. You may not be able to tell what it is on the outside because the problem is deep within. 
6. It also may not be a quick fix, many times you actually need to be made completely new.
7. Just because you're made new doesn't mean you aren't scared of the effects that you've previously suffered.
8. Don't be afraid. It's okay now, because you're made new. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; 

old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. 

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ending to the Study (Walk to Me and I'll Run to You)

For those of you who are wondering what happened at the end of the study with Alan, this is what happened...

Alan was just as mind blown as I was (I really wish you could see how animated he is, it's great). Alan had questions about the Man that Jacob was wrestling with and he went to grab a study Bible so he could look up cross references. When he brought it, we started looking at the different verses and a thought popped into my mind, it said, "pull out your History of Redemption and read the chapter "The Night of Wrestling" in Patriarchs and Prophets." So I asked Alan if I could read him the chapter, and after I got his consent I read it out loud.

You could see Alan sitting on the edge of his seat, deep in thought. When I finished the chapter he said, "you know when you told me that you were going to read some book I first thought, I was a little hesitant, but by the third sentence I was hooked. Who wrote that?" I showed him my book and told him it was written by my favorite author, Ellen G. White. He then said, "that name sounds familiar, I had to read some of her writing when I was in college. Even when I read her work back then I just knew she had to be inspired."

I started showing him how my book was really a compilation of her most popular writings and told him how I've been able to use it to help me understand the Bible. As I said the name of each book and explained what it went over, Alan intently listened.

I then said, "the next one is called The Desire of Ages."

"Wait, say that name again." Alan responded.

"The Desire of Ages." I repeated.

Alan said with excitement, "That title has been in my mind, but I had no idea what it was! I need to get that book."

This past Sunday, my house parents and I went to the hospital with Alan for a movie event. The local church was putting on an outreach event while playing the film, Forks Over Knives. Alan wanted to go so we all went with him. The first thing Alan told me when he saw me was, "I went to the library and I found a copy of The Desire of Ages! I'm so excited to read it." It was amazing because I told Alan I would work on getting him a copy, but he couldn't contain his excitement, so he decided to get it himself.

Fighter

Lisa is a soldier, not literally as, but she has definitely seen the devils side to the Great Controversy. After 20 years of being beat by several different spouses throughout the time. Having physical and financial struggles, she has had her low days. Mrs. Tuazon and I knocked on her door, her kindness Exuded her as she immediately invited us in and began talking to us. We learned that she decided to get her counseling certificate and give to the community what she at one point in time didn't know. She's a fighter. Through all of the way Satan continuously attacks her, her faith in God is strong; some views are skewed, but she has strength in knowing she has a best friend she can find peace in. She had a fear that Satan (whom she shared she could feel the power of Satan through the wall that separated her with her neighbor's apartment) would come in her apartment and hurt her family. Mrs. Tuazan shared with her, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." Psalm 34:7 As we began talking to her and invited her to study deeper into God's promises in the Bible for her, she became excited and signed up to attend the Revelation seminar and study the Bible with me. Praise God for fighters who don't give up on Him, even though Satan desires differently.

Walk to Me and I'll Run to You

Have you ever had those moments where you've heard/read something so many times you're not even going to try to keep count, yet all of the sudden you see/understand something that you've never seen before? Well that was me today. Recently God has been putting on my heart to not just spoon feed people the Bible but to also teach them how to study it for themselves. Basically, I've had a burden to teach people how to do devotions. I've started doing this with a few people and my friend Karen has been reminding me that even when I'm studying something for someone else, God is still trying to speak to me.

This leads to today. At noon I had a study with Alan (the guy I met at Starbucks). Before going to the study I spent some time in prayer asking God to help me know what to study with him. There was a study that I had previously done with a friend over the phone last week and it kept popping into my mind. It was so strong that I decided that I would redo that study but this time for Alan. It really is a powerful study but I thought I got everything out of that study that I was going to learn. I'm happy to say, God proved me wrong.

The story God told me to study with Alan was the story of Jacob wrestling with God and then reuniting with Esau. Alan loves to study the Bible but he seems to be more fond of the New Testament and not so much of a fan of the Old Testament. Because of this I needed to recap Jacob's life so Alan could understand what was going on. I told him of how Rebecca had twins, Esau and Jacob, and of the prophesy that the older would serve the younger despite tradition saying otherwise. Then I explained how Jacob stole the inheritance from his brother and ran away because of it, and now Jacob is returning. (That really is a super short summary that doesn't do the story justice, so if you want to read it's entirety read Genesis 25-33. It's seriously a crazy story. Who needs soap operas?)

To pick up the story Jacob is now returning to see Esau. Every step of the way, Jacob is reminded of the way he betrayed his loved one and now he is on his way home to see him. He first tries to make amends in his own self by sending servants with a message ahead to Esau basically saying that Jacob is willing to be a servant to him. When Jacob's servants return they inform their master that Esau is coming towards them with 400 men. The situation doesn't look promising and Jacob then pours his heart out to God. First he claims the promises that God has given him. Second he acknowledges that he isn't worthy of God's mercies. Next, Jacob is completely honest with God and tells him how afraid he really is. And lastly, Jacob claims God's promises again. After Jacob finishes praying, he then sent a massive gift to Esau. To me it seemed like Jacob is still doing everything he possibly can to seek forgiveness from the one he betrayed.

Jacob Returning to Esau

The night starts to approach and Jacob decided to spend time alone. All of the sudden a Man starts to wrestle with Jacob. They wrestle all night and even when Jacob's hip is wounded by this Stranger, he won't give up. Despite the pain Jacob is experiencing he refuses to let go and says, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" The Man then changes Jacob's name to Israel. Interestingly enough, names in the Bible represent character, so the Man is actually changing Jacob's character. Instead of being Jacob, the deceiver or supplanter, he is now Israel, because he "struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."

The next day, as Jacob is on his way home to meet Esau, Jacob receives a welcome that he didn't expect. Although Esau had the power to harm Jacob, he didn't. Instead, Esau "ran to meet him, and embraced him, and feel on his neck and kissed him, and they wept."

Lost Son Returning to His Father

The second we read that verse, something clicked in my mind that I never saw before. I literally felt like I was in a cartoon and a light bulb turned on above my head. (That didn't literally happen of course, but I was making a bunch of humming noises and was fidgeting in my seat.) While Uncle Pops was still reading, I quickly flipped my Bible to Luke 15 and read to the parable of the lost son. The same wording that described Esau meeting Jacob is the same words Jesus uses when describing the lost son returning to his Father. It also clicked that the parable of the lost son is about a son who wanted his Father's inheritance, ran away, and is now returning home, just like Jacob.

I then realized how much we can learn from the story of Jacob returning to Esau is like us returning to God.

1. First we realize the wrong we've committed and try to fix things on our own. However, we then we realize we can't do it in our own strength.
2. What we really need to do is to be honest with God. Claim promises, realize our state of helplessness, be honest, express fears and ask for help, and then claim promises again.
3. Do whatever we can on our part to seek forgiveness.
4. Spend time alone struggling with God. Even when it's painful, don't give up or let go.
5. God will change our character. He'll take us from being a sinner to one who can have victory in Him.
6. Walk towards God (or limp, it's okay to come to Him wounded). 
7. The moment God sees us coming towards Him, He'll run to us with open arms. 

Even when you decide to walk towards God and He invites you to come back to live with Him, He understands that you may have to go at a slower pace. Jacob asked Esau to go ahead, and he would come slowly at a pace they were able to endure. The important thing is to follow God, and it's okay if you need to go slow. Just keep going in His direction.

Needless to say, I was mind blown. (Who am I kidding, I'm still mind blown by it right now as I'm typing this out.) If you ever feel like you've learned everything from the Bible, read it again and pray for God to show you more...then prepare to have your mind blown.