Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220036A
|
00:01 ♪ ♪
00:05 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:25 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:58 ♪ ♪ 01:08 Hello friends. Welcome to 3ABN Today. My name is John Lomacang. 01:11 And it is always my pleasure to have my wife with me (Angela) 01:14 Good to have you here Honey. 01:15 I am happy to be here. I'm glad that you have tuned in today 01:19 You're going to be blessed by this program. 01:21 That's right. We're talking about education. And you may... 01:25 Christian education (Ah) not just education. 01:28 That's right. Not just education but Christian education. And our 01:33 guests today are from Ouachita Hills Academy. You'll get a 01:36 chance to meet them in just a moment. So if you have young 01:39 people in the home that you're thinking about sending to school 01:42 in this challenging generation it is always most important to 01:46 have an education that's going to shape them for eternity. 01:49 And we strongly recommend Ouachita Hills. But we want to 01:53 first of all, thank you for your prayers and your support of 3ABN 01:56 that work as we continue going and growing, getting ready for 01:59 the coming of the Lord. Now before we introduce our guests 02:04 we have some music today and what's the title of 02:08 the song Honey 02:09 It's going to be 'Tis So Sweet and it's going to be one of the 02:12 Birchfield Brothers. They're going to be sharing this 02:14 wonderful song and you know it is so sweet to trust in Jesus. 02:20 ♪ ♪ Guitar melody 02:39 ♪ ♪ 06:03 Thank you so much for that song and that's why this program's 06:07 important because this academy has been trusting the Lord for a 06:10 long time. 06:12 A long time. He did a wonderful job playing that guitar (that's 06:15 right). You used to play guitar. 06:17 I want to play like that one day so just pray for me to have a 06:20 guitar. I don't know what chords he used but it sounded very good 06:23 (Yeah) What a blessing for the song also. (Amen) 06:26 Well our guests today, we have Robert, Oh you go by Robb. 06:31 Yes. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what do you do at 06:36 Actually Robert Neall. Robb Neall. 06:40 Well I'm the registrar at Ouachita Hills Academy. I also 06:42 teach Bible. I get the privilege of teaching Life and Teachings 06:45 of Jesus, my favorite class. We to through the life of Christ 06:48 together with young people. And then I teach World History and 06:50 American History and I'm the director of the Ringers of Hope 06:52 bell choir as well. So. Been there for 22 years. Came in 2000 06:57 It's been a real privilege to work with young people and a 07:00 thrill to see them, many of them surrender their hearts to the 07:02 Lord. 07:03 How many students? 07:04 We have about 30 students. We're kind of a family-oriented small 07:07 school that is intentionally small. We can work with them 07:10 better, kind of in a family setting, you know. But we vary 07:14 between 30 and 50 depending on the school year. COVID you know 07:17 was a difficult circumstance to pass through but it was a 07:20 blessing nonetheless and now we're at around 30. 07:23 What about staff, how many? 07:25 And we about 20, 15-20 staff. We also have Ouachita Hills 07:30 College on the Campus and so some of the staff are kind of 07:32 half and between, some for the academy and some for the college 07:35 and some that are working for both and so it's kind of hard to 07:38 split it up exactly, but... 07:40 Is this a fully accredited college? 07:41 Ah-huh. Well the college is working on accreditation and the 07:45 academy is accredited through the ISEI Educational Association 07:49 that is with many of our self- supporting schools are 07:54 accredited through. 07:55 Okay good. 07:56 Completely different fact. I just have to mention this 07:58 because people always tell me I'm tall. Robert is 6'9". He had 08:01 to unfold to get into the studio Not really. (He's very tall)Good 08:06 to have you here today. I have a good friend, John Stanton, 6'10" 08:09 and I haven't seen him in a while and you reminded me of him 08:11 But okay Honey. 08:12 Okay next to you is one of the students. Tell us your name. 08:19 What grade are you in? A Junior or Senior? 08:21 Well I'm Oscar (Ortiz) and I'm a Junior at Ouachita Hills 08:26 Academy. 08:28 Academy! Are you enjoying it there? 08:29 Yes, I enjoy it thoroughly. 08:31 How long have you been there? 08:33 This is my first year actually at Ouachita Hills, so yeah. 08:37 What are you studying and what will you be studying when you 08:43 I plan to be somewhere between a pastor and a teacher, 08:50 psychologist. 08:51 You'll need all three when you're a pastor, believe me. 08:53 Yeah that's what I've been guessing. 08:54 Psychologist particularly. Yeah what is he talking about? 08:58 Good to have you here Oscar. And Alina Bretzsky, right did 09:03 I say that correctly. (Birecki). Birecki 09:09 That's Polish huh? 09:10 Yes, tell us about yourself. 09:12 My name is Alina Birecki. I am 17 years old. I go to Ouachita 09:17 Hills Academy and I am a Junior. 09:20 How long have you been there? 09:21 This is my first semester. 09:24 Okay (Your first semester) so you're just kind of getting 09:29 broken in there, knowing the campus. Are you enjoying it 09:34 thus far? 09:35 I am. It is such a blessing. It's a privilege to come to 09:39 school here. 09:40 And finally, we have Jewel. We left the Jewel for last. 09:45 A beautiful Jewel. 09:47 Yes, my name is Jewel Midboe. I'm a senior in the academy. 09:53 Okay. Have you been there all four years? 09:55 No, I actually came my sophomore year so this is my third year 09:58 being there at the academy. 10:00 Have you enjoyed it? 10:01 Yes. It's been a great blessing for me. God's definitely used 10:05 the work there to impact my life He's helped me to grow there 10:10 spiritually and in some amazing ways. 10:12 Are there more girls than guys there? 10:14 We're really right split half and half approximately this year 10:18 Some years it seems to swing one way and other years the other 10:21 was but right now we're just kind of split. 10:24 Wow well as a teacher who's been there for as many years as you 10:28 have given us an overview of the school and the various avenues 10:31 of ministry not only on the campus but we're going to 10:34 highlight these students today and some of the ministries that 10:36 you get involved in. Let's go ahead...Matter of fact, tell us 10:39 some of those areas and then we'll go ahead and start with 10:41 Jewel in just a moment here. 10:42 So, we are told in the Spirit of Prophecy that strength to resist 10:47 temptation is best gained through active service and you 10:50 know that's kind of a motto that we have that if we want young 10:53 people to have a vibrant Christian life that are going 10:56 have strong values that resist temptation they have to be 11:00 involved in service. And we try to do that through a lot of 11:03 different means, getting them involved locally. We have a 11:06 music program that we go out and tour a lot with that is around 11:10 locally and abroad, beyond our local state that is. And both a 11:15 choir, an orchestra, and a bell choir. We tour a lot and do 11:19 ministry in that way. Some of the students have been involved 11:23 over the years in canvassing. We do community service, disaster 11:28 relief, trying to get students involved in different avenues of 11:31 service because it's the foundation of a life of joy. 11:36 We're told that it is a life of service only that true happiness 11:39 is found and so to get students to be experiencing the joy of 11:44 knowing Jesus they have to be sharing Him with others and so 11:48 we really...our emphasis is to try to get them involved in that 11:52 and we've had a mission trip every year that any student can 11:56 be involved in. (Interesting) They can apply to go to. They've 12:01 gone mostly like Cuba, Dominican Republic and sort of close by in 12:08 South America. But if a student hasn't had the opportunity of 12:12 going somewhere and doing something in missions before 12:15 they graduate, all the seniors take a trip in active evangelism 12:20 somewhere doing something specifically around the world 12:24 traveling to a place to be able to do an evangelistic series in 12:29 which the students themselves are doing the preaching. That's 12:35 one of the avenues. Then we also have taken the students as we're 12:40 able to go to other mission events like Pathways to Health 12:44 That's a whole...It's a wonderful experience for the 12:49 students in getting involved in service and we'll talk about 12:52 that one as well. But there's lots of different avenues that 12:55 we try to plug them into different areas where they can 12:57 serve and find their niche to be able to share Jesus with others. 13:00 And let's start with Jewel today because we're going to talk 13:05 about Pathways of Health but you know you talked about mission 13:08 trips to different countries I'll go ahead and let you lead 13:11 into this part about how Jewel got involved in a project. 13:15 Where did you go? 13:17 So Jewel is one of our seniors this year I'll let her tell a 13:23 little bit about it. I think we have some pictures actually of 13:26 her. They were going on a mission trip it was...you can 13:30 tell them, Jewel, where you were headed. 13:33 This was taken in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which is where we ended 13:37 up going. And that's our group with a group of kids that was 13:42 at a church, we went to the first Sabbath there. We went out 13:45 We divided to go out to churches for our meetings to minister to 13:50 the people out there. 13:52 Okay, and what are you doing there? 13:54 I'm preaching. (With a translator) Yes. 13:59 Was this your first time Jewel? 14:00 Preaching? An evangelistic series. Yes. I had done a little 14:05 bit of preaching in the school in general and back home. 14:07 But for an evangelistic series this was my first time. 14:10 How did you feel? 14:12 I was nervous a little bit. But really coming to Ouachita 14:17 Hills Academy they've helped me to kind of be more prepared for 14:22 doing these kinds of things. Especially with our English 14:25 class like we do all sorts of speeches and learning how to be 14:29 able to kind of conduct ourselves in that way to be able 14:32 to provide the message that we're trying to give the people. 14:37 Okay so they teach you communication. 14:39 (Yes) to feel comfortable up front. Yeah like Toastmasters. 14:43 I know. 14:45 Yeah, we break them in. The freshmen start out with like a 14:47 talk that's like a five minute worship talk and then the 14:51 sophomores get a 10-minute talk and the juniors do a prayer 14:54 meeting talk. The seniors do a vespers talk. And so we build 14:58 them up then when they often go overseas and then they're 15:01 preaching the full evangelistic series while they are overseas 15:05 someplace. And we've been to I mean 20 some countries plus 15:09 countries in the world and there's been a direct result 15:12 of student evangelistic efforts over 2000 baptisms that we know 15:16 of and many of them are following up over the years with 15:18 more. But it's you know taking the gospel, the three angels 15:23 message to every nation, kindred tongue and people. That's our 15:27 mission to train young people to be involved in spreading the 15:30 gospel around the world. 15:32 What about Oscar? Have you preached before, done an 15:34 evangelistic series? 15:38 I have not yet but I have done what Mr. Neall was talking about 15:41 just giving a prayer meeting talk. 15:43 You've done that? 15:44 Yeah, I have. 15:46 What was that like for you? 15:47 It was a little nerve-wracking at first, because I had never 15:50 done anything like that. I'd participated a little in my 15:53 church but that was my first time actually getting up on 15:57 stage giving a full speech or message. 16:01 Was it because some of the students in the audience you 16:03 knew them and they were like saying, Go, Oscar! 16:08 A little bit, yeah. 16:09 I can imagine that... 16:10 It is. Sometimes it's easier to preach overseas than it is to 16:13 preach at home. The ones who really know you and they know 16:16 (multiple voices) 16:18 I can't laugh while he's looking at me. But that's good. These 16:22 are the developmental years of their lives and they'll look 16:24 back and say wow I used to be scared but look at me now. And 16:28 what about Alina? 16:29 Yeah, have you done your speaking? 16:31 Yes since I came to Ouachita I've preached once. I enjoyed it 16:38 thoroughly. It was such a blessing. Yes. 16:41 She's the missionary. You want to be a missionary. 16:44 I want to be a missionary nurse and have a group where we go 16:48 around and help those that need hygiene, health, or any help 16:53 they need. 16:55 That's an aspiring look. You know there's a lot of world out 16:58 there. And depending on how you approach that God can really 17:03 strengthen you. But let's get back to Jewel here for a moment 17:05 because Bolivia, preaching! How many topics did you cover? 17:10 A lot of doctrinal pillars of our doctrines and stuff like 17:15 that like I preached on the Sabbath. I preached on baptism. 17:20 The 2300-day prophecy. 17:22 Wow! What? 17:24 The state of the dead. Things like that. So just...A lot of 17:27 the people that attended the meetings had been taking Bible 17:29 studies to prepare for baptism already. So really coming 17:33 there was to 17:34 help give them an opportunity for baptism and kind of open up 17:39 to the...yeah, reaping, harvesting what was being worked 17:42 so they were going on there. 17:45 What about some of the atmosphere was it warm, was it 17:50 cool nights when you were preaching. How was it there? 17:52 Well, it was pretty warm, yes, it was fairly warm there, a 17:58 little bit dry but the evenings would get a little bit more 18:01 chilly, not super cold, but there were some evenings when 18:03 you wanted a jacket when you were going out. So... 18:06 What kind of audience? 18:08 The audience? Just locals. Some church members came to the 18:13 church I was preaching at. But mainly locals that they had been 18:18 inviting to the meetings. People that they had been doing studies 18:21 with like I mentioned. 18:23 Okay. I'm sure you were praying a lot, weren't you? 18:26 Yes, lots of prayers. 18:29 Lots of prayers. Were you nervous? 18:32 At some points, yes, but the more I did it I found it got a 18:36 little bit easier. 18:38 (Yes) The reason why she's asking that is that not too long 18:40 ago she was invited to speak in New Guinea but then COVID hit. 18:44 But she's going to get ready for a second chance for that. 18:47 I am? 18:48 I hope so. (multiple voices) Well you'll know all the answers 18:51 to the questions. 18:52 I don't know how comfortable that was. 18:54 The city that they were at I think they call it the city of 18:56 eternal spring because the weather there is like a spring 19:00 time. A lot of times its high in the Andes, so it's a valley 19:02 in the Andes in the mountains there in Bolivia and so it's a 19:06 beautiful area. She was also involved not just with the 19:09 preaching. They also held a clinic or a health expo and 19:12 Jewel you were sharing a little bit about that earlier. 19:16 What did you do with that? 19:18 So what we did was in the mornings because the meetings 19:21 would be in the evenings. In the mornings we would open up a 19:24 health clinic. It was open to the community to come and get 19:26 any health care I think that they needed. For the first 19:31 making sure they knew where to go first, because they had 19:36 different stations so they were like you know okay first you 19:40 have to go to this station just so it didn't become chaotic 19:42 with everybody 19:44 getting mixed up with the different places they needed to 19:47 go. So they would have some stations just teaching them 19:52 about water, hydration, nutrition, exercise, sleep and 20:00 then they would have stations for where they could come and 20:01 get a massage, especially the ladies there because they carry 20:04 so much on their backs. A lot of them really needed messages. 20:06 So that was a big thing. And you could see a doctor, talk to a 20:11 dietician. Also for the rest of the week I worked at a pharmacy 20:14 so we would give them prescription things that they 20:17 needed, vitamins, ibuprofen, things like that. So that's 20:21 where we did those in the mornings, my group did. 20:24 That's pretty good. Do we have any more pictures with you and 20:28 you can tell us what we're looking at. 20:29 Now, what is this picture of? 20:30 That was another smaller church that we went to where we were 20:35 inviting the people, introducing ourselves to that church and 20:39 inviting them to come to the meetings for the week. Telling 20:43 them why we were there, what we were doing. 20:44 And this one? 20:46 That was a baptism that we had the last day that we were there. 20:50 It looks like a lot of people there. 20:53 Yes, there were a lot of people. We did it in a big stadium that 20:57 was fairly new there. 20:58 And when the meetings were done what was your exhale, ah I'm 21:05 finished or I want to do this again. Which one was it? 21:07 It was more of I want to do this again. All of our group were 21:10 like we want to come back here see everybody again. I inspired 21:15 me a lot to continue doing mission work. Honestly, like 21:19 this is why I'm doing what I'm doing. So when you have an 21:24 experience like that for our group it's an inspiration when 21:28 you see the needs that they have out there and for me it helped 21:33 me see why I'm doing my education, you know. Education's 21:36 supposed to be actually what I've been seeing developing what 21:39 God has given us so we can go to use that for his glory taking it 21:42 out to help other people and share Jesus with them. 21:47 I like that. So when we were growing up in school in New York 21:50 City we didn't have these opportunities. So you're way 21:56 ahead of the curve. God is developing in you. That's why 21:58 Christian education is so vitally important. Thank you for 22:03 sharing that. We'll dive into that more so. This being your 22:07 senior year, where do you plan ongoing for the continuing 22:12 education? 22:13 Actually, I feel like the Lord might be leading me to go into 22:16 secondary education, studying in that area. And from there I 22:20 guess it's just wherever God continues to lead. After going 22:23 on that mission trip, I'm more open now to actually being a 22:29 missionary teacher in some other place if that's where He leads. 22:31 But education is the plan right now. 22:35 This is a question. What are the highlights about being at 22:38 Ouachita Hills? And of you. 22:40 For me personally, I think it's the holistic education that 22:46 they have that we get to work outside, we get to study inside 22:50 You know, the Biblical classes are just the high point always. 22:55 There's so much to learn and to just take in and I think the 23:00 brotherhood of the school you know like Mr. Neall said since 23:05 it's meant to be kind of small so that we can get close to each 23:09 other and just learn to be like better people, I guess, you know 23:15 for the Lord. And just being so close it creates a different 23:21 kind of relationship. 23:24 Wow is there a garden? Do you have a garden? 23:26 (Yes?) It's a work/study program so the students are involved 23:30 approximately four hours a day. And a vocational training and we 23:34 do have an agricultural program. The students also work in the 23:37 summer some. We grow a fair amount of the produce that we 23:40 actually consume on campus. Of course it's challenging you know 23:47 to grow in southern Arkansas but the students are involved in 23:49 that. Students are involved in food service, in construction. 23:52 They're learning skills in those areas, practice skills in 23:56 maintenance, grounds. There are some that work in the office, 23:59 some that work in media, media production. We have a media 24:03 program. And so there's a variety of aspects that students 24:07 can be involved in during their time here and then it's college 24:10 preparatory so the students are able to prepare you know with 24:12 the normal algebra and science and Bible and English classes 24:16 that they would need to go on to college which most of them do by 24:18 and large for their further education. It prepares them very 24:23 well for a life of service. You know, our mission statement 24:27 specifically is to nurture our students into a relationship 24:30 with Jesus, to educate them for a life of service and to train 24:33 them to take the gospel to the world. It spells NET, Nurture, 24:38 Educate and Train because you know the gospel is a net Jesus 24:44 casts a gospel net, right? And we reap in the souls and we want 24:48 the students to get a vision for that to first spend time and get 24:52 to know Jesus, that's the most important part you know. And 24:55 education is focused on service and that's what gives us joy. 24:59 Prepares us to live a life of service for others. And then to 25:02 take the gospel to the world. That's our mission and you know 25:06 we kind of focus on doing that in every aspect of our program. 25:10 When was this school established? 25:12 It was about 1989 was when it started. It started by Harriet 25:19 and Chester Clark. He's a dentist in that area and they 25:22 started it there in their home. And then it's grown over the 25:26 years that grew and then they got property with the Laymen's 25:30 Foundation out in the country and then the campus has grown 25:32 significantly. The college joined in 2004 and then it has 25:37 continued to grow. It's in the rural south part of Arkansas 25:42 so we're in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. That's why 25:46 the funny name because it's an Indian name. Ouachita Indians 25:51 live in that area. There's the Ouachita River and there's the 25:53 Lake Ouachita and Ouachita National Forest. So if you're an 25:58 Arkansan you know how to pronounce that name but if 25:59 you're not it's a funny one. But that's why we Ouachita Hills 26:04 because we're right there in the foothills. We often are able to 26:07 get out into the national forest which is just north of us. 26:10 Beautiful area in southern Arkansas called the 26:13 Natural State. 26:14 That's good. It's nice to encourage those that are 26:17 watching our program to consider this school for maybe future 26:20 educational needs. Because the Lord has developed this campus 26:24 for the full rounding of the student both temporally and 26:28 spiritually as well as education for eternity. Now let's come 26:31 back from Bolivia and come to America now and talk about the 26:34 other aspects of outreach that Oscar and Alina were involved in 26:38 So the whole school actually just had the opportunity of 26:44 going to the Pathways to Health and there's the picture of the 26:47 group that went. This last one that they had or recent one was 26:52 in well I'll let Oscar, you can tell about it, where it was and 26:58 what our roles were there. 27:00 At Pathways, well it was in Indiana, Indianapolis, and it 27:11 was held on the Lucas Oil Stadium. (Okay) 27:16 Normally it's a football stadium but for one, well not one week 27:23 but for four days. 27:27 It was created into a mobile hospital. 27:28 And that's the picture of it there, that mobile hospital. 27:30 But that there you had the stadium surrounding it and 27:32 that's large. When you think about the floor. I guess it has 27:36 to be big enough for a football stadium. That's more than a 27:40 hundred yards long. 27:41 Yes it is and they divide it up into all sorts of medical 27:45 services. If you go to Pathways it's like this enormous medical 27:49 program. It's really amazing. It is. They have triage and you 27:53 come out of medical or you come out of dental and they have just 27:57 about every medical service you could imagine. They even have 27:59 general surgery. Women's Health. They have Dental and Eye Care. 28:04 They have mental health. Some of the other services they 28:09 provide there. I think... 28:11 Haircuts, massages, hydrotherapy. 28:14 What about haircuts? 28:16 Haircuts, yes you can get a haircut there. 28:20 They provide it all and it's for free for the local community 28:24 that often are underserved or that are disadvantaged that 28:28 don't have health care. You know they might be immigrants or 28:32 whatever. It's provided for four days. It started on a Sunday and 28:37 went through Wednesday and it's a holistic program that touches 28:40 almost every aspect of our lives And so the students had a chance 28:44 to serve in different capacities Describe some of the things that 28:48 our students as a whole, what they did. 28:50 Well, Alina let's go with you since you're the quiet one. 28:55 So there were many positions where you could be. You could be 28:59 a patient assistant transport where you take a patient from 29:03 one area to the next. There was also child service care. 29:07 That's what's happening in this picture here. 29:09 Yes, in this picture. 29:11 And they have this lei. They had this lei on. What does that 29:13 It means that you're the patient transporter. (Oh okay) 29:17 And they were much in demand. Because the people would be like 29:20 Hey, come here. We need some help. This patient...The 29:23 patients have to get from one area of the stadium, you know, 29:27 from this corner and they have to go to Women's Health which is 29:29 you know way over here. And they don't know how to get there so 29:33 their job is to memorize the stadium and where to go and then 29:37 they are given the patient and they have to walk with them, 29:39 transport them to another area. 29:41 There was also a childcare service. You can take care of 29:46 the patient's children and then there's also the volunteers' 29:51 children that you can take care of. And then there's also media 29:54 where you can take pictures and whatever they need. There's a 30:00 food service where you have boxes and you take them around 30:04 and give them to every single station which was a lot. 30:08 Were there a lot people there? 30:09 Thousands like 2400 volunteers during the time. It's an amazing 30:15 thing and then the patients, I think they treated over 4000 30:19 patients during the four days that we were there and some 30:23 years you know it's been 6000 or 7000 that they've been able 30:27 to treat free. Millions of dollars of health care provided 30:29 free for the local community. And it's a wonderful 30:33 organization. The students were busy and they were all involved 30:36 in different aspects of it. It was just a wonderful service 30:39 opportunity and I know personally touching the lives 30:43 of individuals. I know Alina had several stories, Oscar as well, 30:48 of patients that they met and transported. Maybe Alina you can 30:53 share the one that you met with a lady as you were transporting 30:56 her in the wheelchair. 30:58 Yes so. Well I was working on the top and I was with 31:02 dental triage. And usually you don't get to see the patients 31:07 long but with the wheelchair people, you get to go all the way 31:10 around the stadium. The elevator is on the one side. So this one 31:14 particular lady, I got to talk to her, Myrna. I asked her how are 31:18 you today and as the time went on, she starting opening up and 31:22 she told me that her husband had died in a car accident and she 31:26 in it and she was badly injured. Her leg was fully not...it was 31:34 broken and she was telling me how hard it was because life was 31:37 hard and she felt like nobody was there. Her children were 31:40 rebelling constantly. And as we went on I asked her what she 31:46 thought about God and she said, sometimes I feel like he's not 31:50 even here. And I told her there's hope, there's hope. It's 31:53 not a coincidence that you met me. There's people who care for 31:57 you and I'm very happy that you could be here and she just 32:00 started crying. And I told here there's hope, you have a big 32:05 future ahead. God knows you plans and I quoted Romans 8:28 32:10 I know the plans for you, plans to prosper. And she just started 32:16 crying and I gave her a hug and I prayed with her. And it 32:21 inspired me to just see just how God can work. He gives us divine 32:26 appointments and I got to share God's love with her. 32:30 Beautiful. Isaiah 29:11 (Oh yes) Romans 8:28- All things... 32:38 All things work together for good for them that love. 32:42 And so Oscar speaks Spanish. Now tell us did they have that 32:47 service there at the... 32:51 Did you have to speak Spanish for anyone? 32:53 I did. Most of the people I actually spoke to were only 32:57 Spanish speaking because they were a majority of the patients 33:02 that were coming in. They didn't speak any English. They were 33:06 The majority of the health care providers were only English. 33:09 There was this huge need for translation. And we had a number 33:15 of students, we had about eight students who were bilingual and 33:18 so Oscar was one of those and it was a tremendous blessing 33:20 because you worked with the physicians (yeah) and you 33:24 worked with the patient to translate. You're a medical 33:29 person right? (A medical person?) 33:32 Did you work in medical? 33:33 No but I mean to translate into Spanish and into English. 33:36 Oh yeah. 33:38 Wow. That's interesting when you're dealing with medical 33:40 issues and you're the person between making it clear that 33:45 this is the kind of help they need. This is what the doctor 33:47 needs to understand. That's a responsible place to be. Talk 33:51 about your days when you woke up in the morning of the days of 33:55 being at Pathways to Health. What was it like? What was the 34:00 first thing you did each day? 34:01 Well you know like every day you have to pray for the people that 34:05 you are going to meet because I never knew what type of person 34:11 was going to come my way or what God had planned for me. So I 34:15 would ask Him, you know God, just put your influence upon me 34:19 that other people might not see myself but Jesus through me 34:24 because that's really what's most important that they see 34:27 Jesus in me, like I guess helping guide them. I'm not the 34:37 greatest like interactive. I was usually very quiet and just 34:43 what's the word? stoic. Yeah. (Okay, okay.) 34:50 So, I just asked Him, Lord, I just ask that you will open me 34:55 up to these people that they might feel comfortable around me 34:59 you know. Because it was just there, a great opportunity to 35:03 train myself in that way I guess. 35:06 Wow. What do you think of it, Hon. 35:11 No, I'm just enjoying this to see young people involved in 35:15 ministry and helping others. Were you there Jewel? 35:20 At Pathways? (Yes at Pathways) No. While I was in Bolivia 35:24 that's when they were at Pathways. So I was not able to 35:27 go. I see. 35:29 Now what about the story about the bus breakdown? 35:31 Yeah, maybe Alina can. 35:37 Yeah so the bus I was riding in that was where the girls were 35:41 and we were riding and we hear this pop and we don't know what 35:45 it is. We're not sure. We don't know what happened. We go okay 35:49 we keep going and after maybe a minute later the bus starts 35:53 sputtering and it breaks down to the side of the road in the 35:57 middle of the highway. And so the guys come and pick us up. We 36:03 were about an hour and a half away from our destination. And 36:07 the guys come pick us up, take the girls to a campsite and 36:12 then come back get the guys and go back. So instead of it being 36:17 a 15-hour trip it turned out to be an 18-hour trip. And at the 36:22 end when the mechanics came they found out the tire had actually 36:28 popped and if we had kept going it could have been more than 36:36 what had happened. 36:38 It was really amazing because the dulies on the back, there's 36:41 two tires and the inside tire, we didn't know it, but it had 36:44 blown and we were riding on the left tire. You know they had to 36:48 tow the bus all the way to Indianapolis and when they 36:52 lifted up the front end the back end went down because it was 36:55 only on one tire. And he had to turn around and lift it from the 36:57 back and tow it from behind. And realizing God's hand of 37:02 providence very much...you know when we were broken down beside 37:05 the road we don't know why. It just is inconvenient and it's a 37:10 long drive. The next day we're like you know who knows what 37:12 would have happened if that other tire had blown on our 37:16 journey you know. It could have been disastrous. God is good. 37:18 Okay, we know what that's like. 37:21 It happened to you recently with your brakes. 37:23 Yeah. My brakes gave out on my way. The Lord stopped me before 37:26 I got to the highway. I didn't know why I would pull over to 37:29 pick up something hot to drink and I thought I don't do that 37:31 and then I realized the Lord had me pull over. Only when I was 37:35 getting back on the road I had no brakes and I thought wow if I 37:38 had gone on the highway driving in a hurry to get to the meeting 37:41 with no brakes that would have been quite a different story. 37:44 So God does intervene. But you made it to the Pathways. Was 37:50 that on the way to Pathways? 37:51 It was on the way to Pathways just as we crossed the Illinois 37:54 border, Indiana border, and then we ended up having to rent a 15 38:00 passenger van it was tremendously more expensive than 38:04 we anticipated but God provided and we were able to meet all of 38:07 our obligations. We got there on time, just in time, actually. 38:10 But the students saw that when you're on a mission field number 38:13 one, the devil's angry and he's going to do everything he can to 38:17 try to prevent it. Right? He's going to slow us down and they 38:20 saw that we were on a battle field. When you're on the front 38:23 lines you're in war. And you can expect things are going to go 38:26 not the most smoothly, right? And then they also saw that God 38:33 provided because we were able to orchestrate things and we did 38:35 get it repaired and we were able to get back to campus with the 38:39 bus. So, in the end, everything worked out. But... 38:43 All things work together... Romans 8:28 (That's right) 38:46 The students...when you're doing active service that's when you 38:50 really see the hand of God providing for your needs, taking 38:54 care of the opposition. But then you know it's an answer to 38:58 prayer that He really answers and pushes the work forward. 39:02 Well I want to ask Jewel another question about evangelism 39:06 because evangelism is what causes the church to grow, what 39:11 causes the student to grow in preparation for your nightly 39:14 meetings. Well actually preparing to go. What kind of 39:18 material did you use for evangelism? 39:22 So, It Is Written actually gave us sermon notes so we can get a 39:27 better idea as to what we need to preach on, what they're 39:32 expecting for the people to hear So in the afternoon, we would get 39:36 back from the medical clinic, later in the afternoon. The 39:40 meetings for my church didn't start until around seven. So I 39:44 had a little bit of time to prepare then. During that time 39:47 I would go over the notes. I added some things. I would take 39:50 out things just to cut time so I wasn't going over too much. And 40:01 so I would basically just go through notes and I had a power 40:03 point so that...They provided a projector and I would use the 40:08 PowerPoint I had with my paper notes and I would use that to 40:13 basically, go off of to share with the people. So I would 40:17 share with them stories, the doctrine entire...Yeah I had 40:22 some pictures with them or for them and lots of Bible verses we 40:29 would go over the Bible verses in Spanish, so they could read it 40:32 and I didn't have to wait for the translator to see that. And 40:37 basically yeah I would just share with them that and that 40:42 was it. 40:43 Did you make an altar call? 40:45 I made three altar calls towards the end of the week, yeah. 40:47 Okay, and people responded? 40:49 Not for my church there were very few people there that 40:58 actually...There were a few people there who were still 41:00 taking studies. So I didn't get any calls during those altar 41:05 calls but I did make a few, yes. There were some people that 41:08 answered from baptisms in the other churches but... 41:11 Well you know you'll not see the success until later on till 41:14 kingdom come 41:15 You know Paul says, I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the 41:27 impact of your work maybe till eternity. Praise the Lord. Keep 41:38 doing that. 41:39 And one of the things that has been important over the years 41:44 is that, you know, we don't just go for spreading the gospel. We 41:50 go for us. And it gives the students a blessing. And we have 41:54 had many students who when they are giving the call...I remember 41:58 one young man that was preaching in the Philippines and he gave a 42:01 call for baptism and he hadn't been baptized. And when he gave 42:06 the call he actually walked down and answered the call and he was 42:13 baptized after the series of meetings. In other words, 42:17 sharing the gospel with others does something for us. And it 42:23 cements the gospel and it helps us to make that same step that 42:26 we're asking them to do. And we have had many young people that 42:29 have come back realizing that God is doing something in their 42:33 life because of them going to share in someone else's life and 42:36 they have answered their own calls. 42:38 He made the altar call. 42:39 And he answered it. That's called practicing what you 42:42 preach. (That's right) 42:44 It's a wonderful thing because when they come back you can see 42:47 a difference in their lives. They're more comfortable up 42:50 front just as part of their training but they have grown 42:55 spiritually. Because they've been sharing with others they've 42:57 seen God's hands at work and they've seen answers to prayer. 43:02 You know. There's something about mission service that makes 43:05 a difference in everybody's lives. 43:08 Yes. Now you want to be a missionary? 43:11 Are you looking forward to that? 43:14 Oh, I am. Yes, I am. I'm still asking God if that's His will 43:18 for me and if it is that is what I'm going to try to do it. 43:21 Where would you want to go? Think about it. 43:24 Anywhere God sends me I will go. 43:27 Including Poland? 43:28 Oh yes. Especially Poland. 43:31 Do you speak the language? 43:33 I do. I do. 43:34 So say Happy, will it's not Sabbath, but say Happy Sabbath 43:38 in your language. 43:39 Wesolych sabat. 43:40 Wow! Wow that's nice. So at least you're ready to go to 43:44 Poland and preach there. What were you going to say? 43:48 When she was a Pathways you know all the people that speak a 43:52 different language they get a little placard that says what 43:56 language they speak in case they had somebody that came in that 43:59 spoke Polish then they would serve as a translator. They 44:02 would call up and say we need a Polish translator, right? So she 44:05 had her little Polish...but during that time they didn't 44:08 have an opportunity, no one came in that spoke Polish. But we had 44:11 another student, her mother is Chinese from Malaysia (_ 44:20 Chinese). We had a patient that came in that only spoke Chinese. 44:27 And maybe you can share that... 44:29 I can say ni hao ma. That's it. 44:33 What does that mean? 44:36 Hi, how are you? 44:38 Okay, all right. 44:39 So this lady, she was Chinese. She only could speak Chinese. 44:41 She came to me and she said ni hao ma? And I responded to her. 44:45 I said hao, which is good. And then she just started speaking 44:49 fluent Chinese. And I felt so bad because I didn't know what 44:52 to do. So then she held onto me. She grabbed hold of me and as 44:57 we went on she used Google translator and told me that she 45:00 had to use the restroom. I said all right. So I took her to the 45:04 restroom and it turned out there's two exits to the 45:05 restroom and I waited at one exit and she never came out. She 45:11 went the other exit. And she found one of my classmates, 45:15 his name's Raphael and he took care of her for four hours 45:18 translating through Google translator with the paperwork 45:24 everything. He even prayed with her through Google translator 45:29 saying some phrases and then translate it in Chinese and 45:34 Mandarin and then some phrases. She was very grateful. It was an 45:39 amazing experience. 45:41 And he had a translation placard that said Portuguese because he 45:48 spoke Portuguese, but he ended up translating Mandarin through 45:53 Google translate, you know. I was just thinking in the 45:55 technology we have in the world we live in we can minister in 46:00 in ways that we never could before, right? He prayed with 46:03 her back and forth. She would read it, she would translate it 46:06 and then you know she was very much appreciative, four hours 46:09 working through that and she was here because she had come over 46:13 before COVID and then COVID hit and shut everything down and 46:16 she's been stuck here, not able to go back the China. That's why 46:18 she spoke no English. And she was coming to get medical 46:21 services because she had no resources here or very few. And 46:25 so those were the lives of people that were touched in so 46:28 many ways and even using Google translator. A number of 46:31 the students had similar experiences. 46:33 I want to ask Oscar, what about Pathways impacted you the most? 46:37 I think just the abundance of needs you know. It was just 46:44 amazing to see how many people are not only needing like 46:49 physical help but like support mentally and emotionally 46:56 and spiritually. You know there are so many people that come 47:01 from hard places and you see it everywhere and they just need a 47:05 little bit of comfort and usually, that's all it takes for 47:08 the gospel to be spread. And it was so inspiring because it's 47:13 just like wow. You know God has so much work to be done. And you 47:19 know He gives us what we need to give to others and it was 47:26 inspiring just to...inspiring for me because it was like God 47:34 is calling me to go out you know to do the gospel. 47:39 How many students went? 47:41 So the whole school went except for the four seniors that were 47:45 in Bolivia. All the rest and seven staff and a few of the 47:49 staff families, so we had a group of like 42, 43 or so that went. 47:52 Of the 2000 some volunteers we were a small portion of it. 47:56 Were you all on the bus? 48:00 Well it was a 21-passenger bus and thankfully we had the other 48:03 vehicle so that when it broke down we were able to make a 48:05 couple trips back and forth the last hour and a half and we got 48:07 in at like 1:30 in the morning. Long day but the Lord provided 48:11 and the students saw you know God takes care of our needs when 48:14 we're serving Him. You know there's a...when we were in our 48:18 place where we're staying here at 3ABN there's a poster on the 48:20 wall and it says where God leads He provides. Where He guides He 48:27 provides, right? And that's what the students experienced. 48:30 Now what are some of the things that our audience, our viewers, 48:33 and our listeners could do to help participate in the ministry 48:36 the educational ministry at Ouachita Hills. 48:38 There's always lots of demands. Most important is to pray for us 48:43 The challenges facing education in this generation are numerous. 48:48 You know the devil I think has his cross hairs on schools, 48:52 on young 48:54 people more than anything else because we are told that of all 48:57 the institutions in the world the school is the most important 48:59 That's a bold statement. That's from the Spirit of Prophecy, 49:01 that the school is really where the future is headed, you know 49:07 the training that young people get. And so we need to be 49:09 uplifting all of our schools before the Lord. Of course, 49:13 there's lots of volunteers. We often have people that come 49:19 to the school and volunteer. Retired families or others that 49:23 might have skills. We have several that are teaching in the 49:26 college and in the academy that are retired and want to invest 49:30 in young people, while they still have opportunity to contribute. 49:35 That's another way. Of course, financially would be many needs 49:39 Helping specifically for young people to get involved in 49:43 missions. Those donations go specifically for helping 49:46 students to gain strength to resist temptation because that's 49:49 gained through active service. 49:50 What's the NET again, what's that an acronym of? 49:53 NET is to Nurture students into a relationship with Jesus. 49:57 To Educate them, E, for a life of service and to Train them to 50:01 take the gospel to the world. And really it's the emphasis of 50:05 taking the gospel to the world. Training young people to get 50:09 involved in service. 50:10 Oh I love this, don't you Honey? 50:14 You know and I want to ask just before we go to the break, we've 50:16 got about a minute and 30 before we go to the break. What would 50:19 you say, let's start with Alina, what would you say if a young 50:23 person in your age group is thinking about going to Ouachita 50:26 Hills. What would you say to convince them that this is the 50:29 place they need to go? 50:31 This is definitely a school you can grow with your relationship 50:34 in Christ. If you want a relationship with God and to get 50:37 to know Him personally, one on one connection, This is the 50:41 school to come to. 50:42 Okay, and what about you Jewel? 50:45 I think the biggest thing I learned about the school is 50:47 opportunity. It's an opportunity So if you're wanting an 50:50 opportunity to grow in your spiritual life, to get to know 50:54 more about God and have opportunities to share that with 50:57 other people, I think it's definitely a school that 51:00 provides those opportunities. 51:03 I'd agree with Jewel. You know that's exactly the reason I 51:08 started attending because I saw an opportunity, an open door 51:11 before me that only God opened. I can only give Him the credit 51:17 on this. And I saw this opportunity and I was like a 51:23 great opportunity for me to grow and to be able to not only grow 51:27 personally as a person but grow spiritually, physically, and 51:30 mentally. 51:31 Wow, thank you. Yeah, we have another side of the program on 51:34 the other side of the address roll. You know you've heard some 51:37 wonderful testimonies and if you're considering Christian 51:40 education here is the website information that you need in 51:43 order to get in touch with the school. 51:46 If you would like to contact or know more about Ouachita Hills 51:49 Academy you can do so in the following ways: You can write to 51:53 them at PO Box 35, Amity, AR, 71921. You can call them at 52:00 (870) 342-6210. You can also send them an email at 52:12 Info@OuachitaHillsAcademy.org Or visit their website at 52:22 OuachitaHillsAcademy.org |
Revised 2022-09-28