Participants:
Series Code: MMS
Program Code: MMS011021S
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00:01 Hi I'm Dustin Comm, with the Maranatha Minute.
00:03 More than two decades ago, 00:05 the Indian state of Haryana 00:06 had little to no Seventh-day Adventist presence. 00:09 There were no church members 00:10 and only a few pastors 00:12 scattered throughout the entire region. 00:14 Spreading God's love here would be a challenge, 00:16 but it was a top priority for the Adventist Church. 00:19 In 1998 and 99, 00:21 Maranatha constructed 37 churches in Haryana 00:24 in partnership with Adventist Global Mission. 00:27 Over time, these buildings provided a base 00:29 from which God's love could be spread. 00:32 By 2003, there were nearly 2600 Adventists. 00:36 Today there are more than 7750 00:40 and from those initial 37 churches 00:42 built by Maranatha, 00:43 96 additional congregations 00:45 were formed throughout the state. 00:48 Church leadership in Haryana recently thanked Maranatha 00:50 for the blessings that have now multiplied 00:52 more than 20 years later. 00:55 For more reports on Maranatha's impact 00:57 around the world, go to our website. 01:20 March, 01:22 Maranatha's busiest time of year for volunteers. 01:28 Each year during the spring, 01:30 hundreds of Maranatha volunteers 01:32 pour into the mission field, 01:34 it makes up half 01:36 of Maranatha's total number of volunteers for the year. 01:41 March 2020 was supposed to be the same. 01:45 Maranatha had recently started working in the country of Peru 01:48 and expected hundreds of volunteers 01:50 to serve there as well as other locations. 01:55 But an extraordinary event was developing 01:57 that would soon ground Maranatha volunteers 02:00 and the rest of the world. 02:03 A novel coronavirus eventually known as COVID-19 02:07 had begun to spread around the globe 02:09 infecting significant portions of the population. 02:15 This virus would soon bring travel, 02:17 commerce and life itself to a standstill. 02:23 Chris Webb is a high school English teacher in Texas 02:26 who was preparing to lead a group 02:27 of more than 70 volunteers 02:29 from Burton Adventist Academy on a mission trip to Peru. 02:35 I think pretty early on, 02:37 no one really knew 02:39 how big of a deal this would be. 02:41 No one really knew that this was gonna like 02:43 stop the world, stop our country. 02:45 The week leading up to the trip 02:47 was a really interesting one for us. 02:50 We weren't really sure 02:51 that we were going to be able to pull it off or not. 02:53 There was some political concerns, 02:56 there was some nervousness 02:58 I think from our school board justifiably so, 03:01 that we could leave the country that we could get back safely. 03:05 You know there was issues of if we were to get stranded, 03:08 what that would look like. 03:10 After carefully weighing the risks, 03:12 The Burton Group decided to move forward 03:14 with their mission trip and safely departed for Peru. 03:18 As time went on, 03:19 the global response to COVID-19 was beginning to tighten. 03:23 By mid-march, 03:25 things were changing on a day-to-day basis. 03:27 On March 11, 03:29 the President had a press conference, 03:30 in which he restricted travel for people 03:33 coming from Europe to the United States 03:36 and that really was a change point for us in that. 03:40 It started to make everybody 03:41 in the United States think, 03:43 okay, something's really big and different happening here 03:46 and it's going to shift 03:47 whether or not we're able to travel 03:49 and so people started, 03:50 our group leaders started to re-evaluate, 03:52 whether they should go out. 03:55 It's really important to us 03:56 that we make sure 03:58 that our trips are safe as possible 03:59 for all our volunteers 04:01 and so, as we were looking at mission trips 04:05 happening in the lead up to COVID, 04:08 we also evaluated, are these trips safe? 04:13 Are we putting anybody at a necessary risk? 04:16 And we use a number of different ways 04:17 to do that, 04:19 but it was paramount then as it is 04:21 for every mission trip. 04:23 We monitor a lot of information 04:25 that comes from safety organizations, 04:28 from risk management companies around the world, 04:31 international travel type organizations 04:35 and we also rely on our eyes and ears on the ground, 04:38 so our employees, all of our contacts 04:41 within the church that are getting information 04:45 in a real-time basis on the ground 04:46 are sources for us 04:47 as we determine 04:49 whether a project is safe or not 04:50 and we used all of that information 04:52 as much as we could get to evaluate things 04:55 as we were moving through March, 04:57 it related to COVID. 04:59 Groups were really starting to wonder 05:01 if they were going to be able to go 05:03 on their mission trip or not. 05:04 And by mid-march, 05:06 many of our trips 05:07 had either cancelled or postponed. 05:11 Greg Hatch is a veteran mission trip leader, 05:13 having led more than 30 Maranatha projects 05:16 over the years. 05:17 In March 2020, he was evaluating 05:19 whether his group 05:20 from the West Houston Seventh-day Adventist Church 05:23 should continue with their mission trip 05:25 to the African nation of Cote D'Ivoire. 05:28 The night before we were supposed to leave, 05:31 we were leaving on a Thursday kind of midday 05:34 and getting there Friday night. 05:38 My wife and I were watching something 05:40 and you know everything is done. 05:42 we're just ready to go all packed ready to go, 05:44 and my phone just started blowing up 05:46 with text messages from my niece, my dad, 05:49 everybody on the trip like have you heard the news? 05:51 You've seen the news? No, I haven't seen any news. 05:53 I'm watching a game or something 05:54 and that was the night 05:56 that President Trump came out with his proclamation 05:59 that nobody can fly from Europe to the United States 06:02 which was a big problem for us 06:04 because we were flying through Europe 06:08 to get to Cote D'Ivoire 06:09 and then returning through Europe 06:11 when we were done with the trip. 06:14 So there was about a four-hour period, 06:15 where Lisandro and myself 06:17 were calling literally everybody we knew, 06:19 trying to figure out what this meant. 06:21 Did this mean we couldn't go on the trip? 06:23 And fortunately later that night, 06:27 you know it came out that 06:29 yes, if you're a US citizen 06:30 or if you're in the country legally, 06:32 you can get back in through one of the 13 airports. 06:35 But that was a little tense four hours. 06:40 So, at that point we then you know 06:43 we had to ask a group, 06:45 "Hey do you all still want to go?" 06:48 And all through the night, the replies kept coming, 06:51 I'm in, I'm in. 06:53 We're going. Let's do this. 06:54 And we had 31 of the 39 who ended up deciding to go, 06:59 so that was great. 07:01 When we come back, 07:02 The West Houston group travels to Africa, 07:04 while other Maranatha groups make hard decisions, 07:07 as the world continues to tighten 07:09 due to COVID-19. 07:24 Are you wondering 07:26 what is happening in the world of missions 07:27 during these unique times. 07:29 Watch Mission Maranatha for a comprehensive look 07:32 at how God has been 07:33 and continues to open doors 07:35 for the mission of Maranatha in 2020. 07:39 Visit Maranatha.org to watch the program 07:41 in its entirety 07:43 or pick an individual segment 07:45 to watch and share with a friend. 07:48 You can also watch this mission event 07:49 on Maranatha's YouTube channel, at youtube.com/missionstories. 07:56 Bring the mission field to your living room 07:57 by watching Mission Maranatha 07:59 on the Maranatha channel for Roku, 08:01 Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV 08:08 or download the Maranatha channel 08:09 on your iOS or android device. 08:13 Stay connected to the mission. 08:24 As the West Houston group 08:26 safely made it to Cote D'Ivoire, 08:28 travel restrictions continued to mount 08:30 and other Maranatha groups 08:31 were forced to make tough choices. 08:36 A group from the Gracepoint Adventist Church 08:38 in California decided to travel to Kenya, 08:40 but ended up turning around before they made it. 08:45 Another group of volunteers was already in Kenya serving 08:48 at the Kajiado Adventist School and Rescue Center. 08:52 As airlines around the globe 08:54 began to announce cuts in service, 08:56 some of the group moved up their flights to leave early. 09:00 The rest of the volunteers departed a few days later. 09:06 Back in Peru, 09:08 Chris Webb's group was safe 09:09 in the midst of a successful project 09:11 constructing a new building 09:12 for the Huaycan R Seventh-day Adventist Church. 09:18 I think that our mission trip went amazingly well. 09:21 We built the church 09:22 and no one got hurt other than sunburns. 09:26 I think we were able to see 1300 patients. 09:29 Our medical people were able to see that, 09:31 you know, see some surgeries, 09:33 we had people handing out glasses 09:35 and we had eye doctors who were doing, 09:37 you know, checks and all that. 09:40 We were able to take care of like 09:43 a number of different locations 09:45 as far as like doing VBS programming. 09:47 And meanwhile my wife and I 09:48 were as we were running the trip, 09:50 we would kind of be traveling 09:52 between the different work sites 09:53 and uploading pictures 09:54 and you know you pull your phone out 09:56 and you start seeing stuff like, 09:57 okay, well you know, there, 09:59 this school is now being shut down indefinitely. 10:04 These airports you know it doesn't, 10:06 it doesn't look like you're going to be able to like 10:07 travel through this certain airport 10:09 or you know certain countries and stuff like that 10:11 or you know the number of cases in Texas 10:15 and the number of cases in Peru, 10:17 and you know Peru is a really big country 10:19 and so, you know, so yeah, it's area was calculus, 10:22 it's all those pieces together kind of coming into my head 10:27 and just kind of like thinking like 10:29 okay, well, how do we deal with this? 10:31 Is this something where we need to bail out? 10:32 Or is this something that we're still doing well? 10:34 And I feel like throughout that entire process, 10:37 we were always very, very safe, very safe. 10:40 Well, everybody worked so hard 10:42 over the course of that week 10:43 and so our reward portion, 10:45 our adventure that after we were done 10:47 with all the stuff, 10:48 was to get in a plane and fly from Lima to Cusco 10:52 and then make our way up the mountain 10:54 in this really high elevation and make it to Machu Picchu. 10:57 We were just so just at the top of the world 11:00 like literally was the coolest experience 11:03 on such a beautiful way to kind of cap off the trip. 11:08 Yeah, we were literally on top of the mountain 11:10 and we got our way back to the hotel 11:12 and as we were preparing to kind of eat and relax, 11:15 then we hear the news. 11:18 What we found out was that Peru was going to be shutting down 11:21 their airspace Monday evening 11:22 in a little less than 24 hours 11:24 and unfortunately our flight leaving from Lima 11:27 back to the United states via Mexico city 11:30 was going to be leaving on Tuesday morning, 11:32 very early on Tuesday morning like at 4 am. 11:35 Also, in Peru, hearing the same news 11:38 was a group of 38 volunteers 11:39 from Alaska with Amazing Grace Academy. 11:42 They had been serving in the town of Ika 11:44 to construct a large school building. 11:47 Twenty members travelled to Cusco 11:48 in order to see Machu Picchu, 11:50 unfortunately they had to cancel 11:52 their excursion. 11:53 However, as a smaller group 11:55 they were able to quickly find flights out of Peru 11:58 through Bolivia before the midnight deadline. 12:01 The Burton Group was still two hours away 12:03 from the Cusco airport 12:04 and with rumors that the roads might soon be shut down 12:07 or curfews enforced, 12:09 the sooner that they could get to Cusco 12:11 and catch a flight to Lima the better. 12:15 Because of Burton's large group of 72 volunteers, 12:18 even once they got there, 12:20 commercial flights would be difficult to find. 12:23 I've travelled enough in my own life 12:26 that if I'm on a trip by myself 12:30 or with my family 12:32 and they shut the borders down, 12:35 cool like that's we'll deal with it, 12:38 it's a cool opportunity 12:39 to have a crazy experience, right? 12:42 When you're there 12:44 with 50 something high school kids 12:46 and I looked 12:48 at each one of those of their parents in the eyes 12:50 and I said I'm gonna bring your kid home. 12:53 The scariest thing is when we find out 12:55 that something's about to go down like I kept... 13:00 To me I just kept coming back 13:01 to how I'm going to get these kids back 13:03 like that's the promise I made. 13:06 Things kind of progressed along the trip 13:08 and their kind of starts to become this like 13:10 dark cloud of like, 13:12 you know, COVID 13:13 and then you know, 13:15 are they going to shut 13:16 our airport down and everything, 13:18 and it was very easy for me 13:19 personally to get into kind of a dark place 13:21 and to really feel you know, 13:23 down and discouraged and scared 13:25 and just wondering, okay, what's next? 13:26 What's next? 13:28 And the kids were absolutely my inspiration. 13:31 They were unbelievable. 13:33 Literally almost a tear 13:34 just thinking about like the number of kids 13:37 that would like come up to me 13:38 and they'd be like Mr. Webb, 13:40 we appreciate you doing a great job 13:41 and like I could be like 13:42 I don't know we're getting home. 13:44 They're like, it's cool man, we're just having bread, 13:47 like we're good, we're having a good time 13:48 like you're doing your best. 13:51 So we sit around the airport, 13:53 basically all day 13:54 and try to come up with a plan for, 13:57 okay, once we get to Lima, 13:59 then how do we get out of Lima? 14:01 And there's a couple different plans 14:02 that were in place 14:03 and thankfully we had some people from our church, 14:07 who stepped up and arranged for a flight 14:12 to take us from Lima back to the United States 14:17 as long as we could get out before midnight on Monday. 14:22 Strangely enough I think our flight was delayed 14:24 like 30 or 45 minutes, 14:25 but I feel like we got to Lima on time. 14:30 We had to still get our luggage 14:32 that had been left at the university 14:33 and make our way through customs 14:35 and check in 14:36 and we have to make our way through security 14:39 and everything and everything and everything. 14:40 We get everybody into this big, gigantic airplane 14:45 and I remember looking at my watch 14:47 and it was 11:58 pm. 14:50 The airspace was gonna shut down 14:51 at midnight. 14:54 I've never been on a flight before, 14:55 where the plane starts moving, when people aren't seated, 15:00 somebody almost fell over 15:02 because they were just trying to get out, 15:04 tried to get out 15:05 I don't know, if there could have 15:06 possibly been another plane that left after us. 15:08 I feel like we were the last ones out. 15:10 I mean I keep coming back to 15:13 just how much of a God thing this trip was? 15:16 I really do truthfully feel 15:18 that we were constantly in this position 15:21 of being challenged to this level 15:23 that I could not possibly deal with myself. 15:26 I couldn't write plans fast enough, 15:29 I couldn't make decisions fast enough 15:33 and it took a pretty incredible level 15:37 of just kind of letting it go, 15:39 having faith in God, having faith in my team, 15:42 having faith in Maranatha 15:45 and just kind of like recognizing like, 15:47 we're gonna be taken care of. 15:49 When we come back, 15:50 see how the worldwide shutdown would impact 15:52 the West Houston Volunteer Group 15:54 in Cote D'Ivoire. 16:07 Giving Tuesday is December 1, 16:09 and this year we're raising $100,000 16:12 for clean water in Zambia. 16:14 Between now and then, 16:15 we need people to donate 16:17 or start their own online fundraiser. 16:19 Creating your own fundraiser is easy. 16:22 Go to maranatha.org/givingtuesday 16:24 and click start fundraiser. 16:27 Log in or create an account if you haven't already, 16:30 then get to work 16:31 customizing your fundraiser page, 16:32 with photos, video and text. 16:36 From here, you can easily share the link 16:38 so family and friends can get involved. 16:41 You can even ask them to donate 16:43 for your participation in No Tap Tuesday challenge. 16:47 To do the challenge, 16:48 choose one day leading up to Giving Tuesday, 16:50 where you won't use any of the taps at your house. 16:54 Just for that day, find your water elsewhere. 16:56 Get it from a neighbor, a friend or the store. 16:59 Just keep washing those hands. 17:02 This Giving Tuesday, give the gift of clean water. 17:04 To get involved, go to our website. 17:10 Some companies spend millions of dollars 17:12 to bring you these sounds and images. 17:15 I made it. 17:18 These sounds and images are created 17:20 from the dollars you give to Maranatha. 17:24 Your support of our well drilling efforts 17:26 is bringing clean accessible water 17:28 to communities in Africa, 17:29 India and Brazil because while this sells soda, 17:34 this saves lives. 17:40 With all volunteers out of Peru 17:42 and the last volunteers departing Kenya, 17:44 the only remaining Maranatha volunteers 17:46 in the field were Greg Hatch's group, 17:49 in Cote D'Ivoire. 17:51 Cote D'Ivoire was a great trip 17:54 and to a person everybody was very excited 17:58 about our time there Coronavirus aside. 18:03 I mean it started that Sabbath morning 18:04 because we got in Friday night 18:06 and Sabbath morning, we went to church at the church 18:09 that had been built by a previous group. 18:13 Pastor and the first elder both of them said 18:17 through a translator of course because I don't speak French, 18:21 they said thank you for coming 18:25 and that we've been praying for you 18:27 and that the whole church in the entire country 18:30 has been praying for you 18:31 over the last week 18:33 and because they've heard what's going on 18:37 with the Coronavirus and all that said 18:38 we're just praying 18:39 that you would still come to serve, 18:42 and that was very empowering 18:44 even before we started the work. 18:46 I was working on the roof getting the roof on 18:48 and I noticed a crowd of people gathering over there 18:51 you know where the bus is usually parked in. 18:54 I called, you know, Gabriel, I said why are, 18:56 why is everybody lined up over there? 19:00 Oh, he said, they're here for the evangelism. 19:03 It's evangelism. 19:04 And I thought to myself at the time 19:06 when he said that I thought well the first elder has been, 19:09 he had a chair every day 19:11 and he would sit there and he would talk to everybody. 19:15 I thought oh, he's preaching to him. 19:17 I came down, I said well where's the evangelist? 19:19 He said you brother, you're the evangelist. 19:22 He said people came to watch you guys work 19:24 and this is evangelism 19:26 and so that was that was also a nice way 19:28 to end the we kind of, 19:30 you know, sandwich between everybody praying for us 19:32 to get there the fact 19:34 that they thought what we were doing 19:35 was evangelism. 19:36 Every morning throughout the week, 19:38 I not by choice, 19:40 I was waking up earlier and earlier 19:42 and had my devotion 19:43 and then I would read what's going on 19:46 throughout the world 19:47 and that was always a bad idea, 19:49 but it would let us know what's going on 19:52 and I would have to put it out of my mind 19:55 while I'm on the job site though. 19:57 Number one, for a safety reason. 19:58 You got to be, you gotta you know watch 20:00 what you're doing 20:01 but two, you know we wanted to be very present 20:04 and be there for why we were there, 20:06 but it was hard, you know, yeah, 20:08 during lunch, you look at your phone 20:09 and you see what's going on, 20:11 but you just have to put it out of your mind 20:12 and there was time for that in the evening 20:14 to spend time on the phone with airlines 20:18 and with Lisandro and with others, 20:20 but during the day, 20:22 I would do my best to put it out of there. 20:25 So as soon as we got there, Claude, 20:26 Al and I realized as of Sunday, 20:29 you know, the world is continuing to send 20:31 into chaos around us. 20:33 We were fine, we were in good shape 20:35 but getting home was going to be a challenge. 20:38 We were originally supposed to be there 20:39 through Tuesday or the following week 20:41 with a very nice excursion on the beach, 20:43 it was going to be great. 20:45 We made the decision on Sunday 20:46 you know, two days after we got there 20:48 like we got to get out as soon as the work's done. 20:51 When it was time to leave, 20:53 half of the group departed successfully 20:54 with the help of an airline manager 20:56 for seven countries in West Africa named Jean-Luc. 21:01 He's a problem solver. 21:02 So, we continue the conversation 21:04 while our guys make it through security. 21:05 we weren't going to leave until they were through. 21:08 And, so he and Gilberto strike a conversation 21:11 and more information and as we're leaving, 21:14 we get his card because Roberto thinks 21:16 oh, you know, at some point, I might need him, right? 21:19 I might need another group, might have a problem, 21:22 so we get his information. 21:25 And so we leave and we go back to the hotel 21:27 and we're ready for the next day 21:29 and our group makes it out no problems, 21:31 they get through and they get home. 21:34 The second half of the group's flight 21:35 was cancelled. 21:37 To make matters worse, Jean-Luc told Greg 21:40 that Cote D'Ivoire would be closing its airport 21:42 and borders the following night. 21:46 They had already purchased backup tickets. 21:48 So the next day 21:49 the group arrived at the airport, 21:50 but were denied boarding 21:52 because they had transferred 21:53 through Europe the week before. 21:55 They would miss the deadline. 21:58 For Hatch, an organized veteran mission trip leader, 22:01 the realization set in 22:02 that all of his planning was exhausted. 22:07 With commercial flights off the table, 22:09 Hatch began to look into alternative options. 22:13 Hatch reached out to the US embassy 22:15 and researched an expensive charter flight. 22:18 Maranatha worked 22:20 through the Adventist Church World Headquarters 22:21 to contact the US Department of State 22:24 and Senators from the States 22:25 where the remaining volunteers lived. 22:28 There was talk of an evacuation flight 22:30 for US citizens later in the week. 22:35 I get a voice message over WhatsApp 22:37 from the embassy lady. 22:39 She says, "I think I've got an option. 22:41 I'm going to be sending you information 22:43 that you need to fill out for your group." 22:45 And she said, "Your group needs to pray that this works." 22:49 A government employee telling me to pray. 22:52 Okay. I'm going to listen. 22:54 And so we brought everybody together 22:56 and said guys, we're going to have 22:58 a prayer meeting right now 23:01 because it's been, 23:03 we should have done this before 23:04 but it's being asked of us and so we're going to do it. 23:06 And so we laid it all out there, 23:08 and that was the first time 23:10 where I finally truly let it go. 23:14 Up until then, I've been trying to use 23:17 all of my training, all of the experience 23:20 to work through the problem 23:22 and that was finally when I just said, 23:24 "God, take it, go ahead and You run with it." 23:28 So, we had an amazing prayer session 23:31 and, you know, about a half hour 23:35 after we finished a prayer session, 23:37 I get a call from Jean-Luc. 23:39 He calls me rather than just email. 23:41 He says, "I have seats, I have four seats. 23:44 Who do you want on it?" 23:46 Twenty minutes later, he calls me again and he says, 23:48 well, he says, 23:49 "What would you think 23:51 if I got all 13 on that flight?" 23:52 I said, "I would think 23:54 that you're a direct answer to prayer 23:55 is what I would think." 23:56 And he started going through all the information 23:59 taking the credit card and getting us booked. 24:01 So he said you need to be at the airport at six. 24:04 So, within three and a half hours 24:07 of that prayer session, we were booked, 24:10 ticketed at the airport, 24:12 and that was the most amazing direct answer 24:15 to prayer that any of us have ever seen. 24:17 I thought, I knew what prayer was 24:19 until we had that prayer session. 24:21 Right, we were praying the entire week 24:23 but we weren't, I'll put, 24:27 I'll speak for myself, 24:28 I won't speak for everybody else. 24:29 I hadn't truly handed it over to God, right? 24:33 And that was a mistake and one that I hope 24:35 I don't make again. 24:37 The second was faith, 24:38 that we needed to have faith that God was gonna, 24:41 He brought us to this challenge, 24:43 He's gonna get us through the challenge. 24:46 On March 23rd, after days fraught with drama, 24:50 the group arrived back in the United States. 24:54 You know, it felt great. 24:57 There's no question about that. 24:59 I told you know, customs and border patrol, 25:01 he said, "Welcome America." 25:02 I said, "You have no idea how welcome I am." 25:05 And so one of the biggest takeaways 25:06 is as I think God was just, 25:08 He was just kind of sitting behind me, 25:09 you know, just watching 25:11 and finally when it was time 25:13 He just kind of tapped me on the shoulder and said, 25:15 "Are you ready for me to take it now? 25:18 Good, you gave it up. 25:19 I've got it now. Let's get this done." 25:21 You know, two days of worrying about, 25:24 ten days of worrying and planning for me, 25:27 He got it done in three and a half hours. 25:30 So that that's the biggest learning for me. 25:33 By March 24th, 25:35 all Maranatha volunteers had made it home 25:38 whether it was disrupting travel 25:40 or postponing volunteer projects, 25:43 COVID-19 had a significant impact 25:45 on Maranatha during March 2020, 25:48 but it could not crush the spirit of Maranatha. 25:53 I was really taken 25:55 by how every single group leader 25:57 that we were working with, mission trip leader, 26:00 was so focused on wanting to get 26:02 their volunteers out into the mission field, 26:05 and they were really focused 26:06 and really it was really important to them 26:10 that they fulfilled the mission that they had started. 26:13 Many of them had taken site visits ahead of time 26:16 and felt like they made a commitment 26:17 to the host community that they were going to visit. 26:19 And so that, for them it was almost personal 26:21 that they might not be able to go 26:23 and so, almost to a person 26:26 these leaders were feeling that if God wanted them to go 26:32 that He would make the, 26:33 He would open the doors for them and make it possible, 26:35 if not He would shut the doors. 26:37 And until the door is shut, 26:38 they were going to push as hard as possible 26:40 and that was really inspiring. 26:43 March 2020 was a trying time for the world, 26:47 but in the following weeks and months, 26:49 Maranatha began to push forward. 26:54 Our local crews, sheltering in place 26:56 started to safely work in countries like India, 27:01 Zambia and Kenya. 27:11 The mission was interrupted, but not stopped. 27:18 Months later volunteers would again serve 27:21 on projects starting in the United States. 27:28 Despite seemingly insurmountable odds, 27:31 Maranatha would continue to advance the mission 27:34 with the same unrelenting passion 27:36 displayed by our volunteers. |
Revised 2020-12-10