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.

One Can Make All the Difference

Taj Pacleb (top), Sheila (middle), Justin (bottom)

It's been really awesome to see how God has been allowing me to work with people from the past. I met Sheila about two years ago when I first began working in ministry in a summer colporteur program called Youth Rush. She was my leader along with Greg and Karen Wilson and was therefore one of the people that taught me what I now know about canvassing. The following summer it was my turn to teach students how to canvass. That's when I met Justin. Justin was my student my first summer leading in Youth Rush. It turns out that all three of us are now working together in Sonora. Also our evangelist for our Revelation Seminar happens to be Taj Pacleb who happens to be an incredible speaker (not that I'm bias because he's from Hawaii, he really is an awesome speaker). Anyway, it's been such a blessing to be able to work with so many familiar faces.

I'm mentioning this for two reasons, first it's just too cool how God is allowing me to work with so many people I know, and second, when I drop their names, you now have a little more background info to who these random people are. So this is where the real story begins...it's really epic, so keep reading. 

It was week one of this practicum. Melina, Sheila, Justin, and I decided to go door knocking in Jamestown (another one of the small towns right outside of Sonora). Justin and Sheila would alternate pairing with Melina and myself to give us tips on talking to people. It totally gave me flash backs to the previous summers. I guess it was more of deja vu's with Sheila since she was my leader and I was used to her working with me at doors, but it was kind of funny having Justin help me at doors since I was so used to being the one helping him at doors. 

Justin and I were right about to meet up with Sheila and Melina. Sheila and Melina were finishing up their last door while Justin and I waited so we could all move up to the next street together. That's when Eloise came walking down the road. Eloise had taken her puppy on a walk and was wondering what we were doing. She was relieved to find out that we were Christians going out to share the gospel. In fact it was an answer to her prayer that Christians would reach out to her community. After talking to her for a bit she decided that she would like to study the Bible with me and we made plans to meet up later that week. 

I had no idea how excited Eloise really was to study with me. Come to find out her doctor is also a Seventh-day Adventist and he's been trying to reach out to her for a while. So when she agreed to study with me, she made sure to let him know. The first study I did with her was over Daniel 2 and how the Bible has predicted over 2500 years of history. Eloise loved the study so much that she wanted to continue studying Daniel. We've been going through Daniel slowly and it's been truly amazing how God has been teaching her so many things from simply studying one book. 

Eloise is one of the most passionate people I'm studying with and she has a deep hunger for God's word. To give you a glimpse of how much she loves to study, each time I study with her it takes a minimum of three hours. The amazing thing is sometimes she just asks a bunch of questions and by God's grace and help, He's been giving me answers. He has really been giving me the opportunity to see John 14:26 happen every week when it says, "The Holy Spirit...will bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."

I wanted Eloise to understand more about Daniel so I gave her a book called Prophets and Kings. She's been reading it through the sections on Daniel faithfully (and several times as well) and has been loving it. She also watched all the documentaries (at least three times) such as Daniel Chronicles and Theodicy. Eloise is also been reading Steps to Christ and after I talked to her last night, she's planning on starting The Great Controversy. 

It's amazing to see how mind blown she's been by everything that she's been reading. I originally gave her the Steps to Christ to share with her son-in-law who has been struggling with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). But before giving it to him, Eloise decided she wanted to read it. Last night she told me, "I've been reading this book you gave me and it's unlike anything I've ever read before. I've been enjoying it because it's all true. I almost don't want to give it away because I realize how much I needed this book."

Eloise has a compassionate heart for her family and for everyone she comes into contact. She's always sharing stories with me of how she tells her neighbors and the people she meets about Jesus. It really is precious. There are times after we study that we'll just spend a few minutes praying for her loved ones.

Eloise is also extremely ministry minded. When I first knocked on Eloise's door, she wasn't home so I left a GLOW tract on her door and then later met her on the street. When I actually started studying with her she told me how much she loved that GLOW tract and how it's a great way to share Jesus with other people. God put on my heart to give her a stack of tracts to share and every week I replenish her because she gives all of them out. She's told me that as she talks to others she asks them, "do you want to be happy," then hands them a tract and says, "this will make you happy."

I could probably write a novel on how much I love Eloise and how wonderful it's been to spend time with her and study with her, so if you want to hear more about this, just give me a call. However, for now this is what really hit me the most last night; in the third hour of our study, Eloise's husband called. He works a lot and has never been able to make it to study with us, but Eloise tells me that she tells him everything we've been studying. As she was talking to him, she said, "Oh, Janelle is here right now you can just tell her yourself."

Eloise handed me the phone and her husband Joe told me, "I just wanted to thank you for all of the time that you've been spending with my wife to study the Bible with her. I've been enjoying everything that she's been sharing with me and I also really enjoyed watching the DVDs you've given her. I've been going to church for a long time but I've never learned so much then the things you've been teaching Eloise and the things I've watched in those videos. It's answered so many of my questions. I just wanted to let you know that you're doing a good job, kid. Keep it up."

My heart was touched by hearing those words, and apparently God wasn't done blowing my mind because then Eloise told me something else. She said, "you know, I know you've haven't met any of the people that I tell you about or the people we pray for, you haven't met Joe, my son, my son-in-law, my daughter, my daughter-in-law...(she continued to name off people and I actually lost track of all of them), but I just want you to know, that you've touched every single one of them. By studying with me, it's been softening my heart so that I can deal with them in a more Christ-like manner, and they've noticed. They've been asking what's so different and then I get to share with them everything I've been studying with you. You may not have actually met them, but you've touched them."

Before I left, I gave Eloise a hand full of smaller Steps to Christ to share and restocked her with GLOW. She's definitely not afraid to use it and that's great. In fact she even gives away the study guides I've given her. She told me that when the ladies from her Sunday Church give her some book to read she handed them a study guide in return and says, "great, here's something for you to read too."

As I got into my car to leave that night, the thought then came to my mind, "I know you study with her for three hours every week and you have to pray for strength from Me each time just to make it through, but just know it's all been worth it. You may only get to spend time with Eloise, but I've been using her to reach people that you personally can't." Little did I know that studying with one person could make such a difference.

And let us not grow weary while doing good, 

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 

Galatians 6:9