Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220062A
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00:04 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:26 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:56 ♪ ♪ 01:06 Hello I'm Shelley Quinn 01:08 I'm JD Quinn 01:09 We are so glad you are joining us today. I love when we have 01:14 people who are sitting at our table and they're serving Jesus. 01:18 You know in Matthew 25 Jesus said I was naked 01:23 and you clothed me 01:24 I was sick and you visited me. And they're going what do you 01:28 mean Lord. And then He says in verse 40 that He says, Assuredly 01:34 I say to you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of 01:40 these my brethren you did it to me. And we have two precious 01:44 people with us today who are serving the least, they're 01:50 serving Jesus. I'll go ahead and introduce them to you. William 01:55 Mack who is the director of Adventist Child India and his 02:02 beautiful wife. We've got Nancy who is the assistant director of 02:05 Adventist Child India. Now William I'm going to call you 02:08 Bill because that's what I'm used to. But we're so glad you 02:14 Yeah, it's good to be here. 02:15 How long will you be in the States on this trip? 02:18 To the middle of November (Okay) And so it's a time period that 02:24 we're able to have our family and be with them for a little 02:28 bit. Also, talk about the program and share it and promote it a 02:31 little bit. 02:32 Amen. I'm just going to cut to the chase and put in this music 02:35 first but I just have to tell you these folk have been living 02:38 in India 10 months out of every year for the last nine years. 02:42 So they have a very beautiful ministry but we're going to get 02:48 to see how the Lord called them into this, get to know them a 02:55 little bit and see what they're doing. But first, you have music 02:59 right? 03:01 I love music and I love this particular young lady that's 03:04 going to be singing. 03:05 Alessandria Sorace is going to sing for us. She's a beautiful 03:10 young Christian woman and she will sing Redeemed. 03:13 ♪ ♪ 03:32 ♪ Redeemed how I love to proclaim it ♪ 03:36 ♪ Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 03:40 ♪ Redeemed through His infinite mercy ♪ 03:44 ♪ His child and forever I am ♪ 03:49 ♪ Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 03:57 ♪ Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it ♪ 04:01 ♪ His child and forever I am ♪ 04:07 ♪ ♪ 04:12 ♪ I think of my blessed Redeemer ♪ 04:16 ♪ I think of Him all the day long ♪ 04:20 ♪ I sing for I cannot be silent ♪ 04:25 ♪ His love is the theme of my song ♪ 04:29 ♪ Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 04:37 ♪ Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it ♪ 04:42 ♪ His child and forever I am ♪ 04:47 ♪ ♪ 04:54 ♪ I know I shall see in His beauty ♪ 04:57 ♪ The King in whose law I delight ♪ 05:02 ♪ Who lovingly guideth my footsteps ♪ 05:07 ♪ And giveth me songs in the night ♪ 05:11 ♪ Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 05:20 ♪ Redeemed how I love to proclaim it ♪ 05:24 ♪ His child and forever I am ♪ 05:28 ♪ Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ♪ 05:36 ♪ Redeemed how I love to proclaim it ♪ 05:41 ♪ His child and forever I am ♪ 05:54 Ooo Amen. That's the way it's supposed to be sung. The Bible 06:01 says let the redeemed of the Lord say so. We are redeemed and 06:06 we are excited. If you are joining us just a moment late 06:10 we have two special people here today, Bill and Nancy Mack with 06:15 Adventist Child India and we're going to get to know them a 06:19 little bit and then we're going to talk about the beautiful 06:21 ministry God has called you to. So...Now Nancy you actually were 06:29 born and spent your first 19 years in India. Tell us about 06:33 that. 06:34 Well my dad was born also in India. His parents went in 1920 06:41 to India. He was born in 1922. Did all of his education, then 06:45 came back to college. 06:47 So his parents were missionaries 06:48 Yes and my mother met him in college. They got married and 06:53 then they came to India and worked for 43 years there. In 06:57 the process I was born there. And I was born in Mussoorie and 07:02 lived there except for leave when we came to the states in 07:05 India until I was 19 years old. 07:07 So you've got three generations of your family who have been 07:12 missionaries in India. That's exciting and it's not all that 07:17 usual really. So Bill tell us how did you meet this lovely 07:21 lady. 07:23 Okay. I was living in Southern California. Nancy's grandmother 07:26 was in Loma Linda and so on these leaves she would come back 07:31 and be there. And I was in La Sierra College and you were in 07:37 Loma Linda. And through my parents they had seen at Loma 07:41 Linda Campus Church they'd seen Nancy and we got connected that 07:44 way. 07:46 Ah so now you grew up in an Adventist Christian home. 07:49 Yes, I did, uh-huh. 07:50 Okay. So you both had that strong background... 07:54 Yes my parents were in the educational system in the church 07:58 then up and down California. 08:00 (Okay) I think the reason I got to meet Bill is that his father 08:04 loved the fact that I would argue with him about Bible 08:07 texts when he would bring things up that were a little negative. 08:10 Or he was making you question your religion just to get people 08:14 to talk. I would step in and say unh-huh that's not you know. So 08:18 he told Bill... 08:20 In one of the Sabbath School classes at the church there. 08:21 And he said you need to come meet this woman. So that's how 08:24 we really did meet. 08:26 Okay. So you guys got married, you had three beautiful children 08:29 Tell us about how the Lord prepared you...Before you get to 08:36 what you're doing in India now. Tell us how the Lord prepared 08:40 you with the skills that you need to be doing what you're 08:43 doing. 08:45 Okay We both had our own businesses so that does prepare 08:50 you for a lot of things. I think when you own a business you know 08:54 a little about a lot of things. So her with her cleaning 08:58 business, me with a furniture and a mattress business and we 09:01 helped each other out in those businesses but for a long time, 09:03 up to 25 years for me and almost that for Nancy. But we were 09:07 doing that beforehand and then the call came, so it was a good 09:11 preparation. 09:12 Before the call came I had been going back to India to do 09:15 humanitarian service and that's how the Indian Division office 09:20 found out about me and wanted us to come and work there. 09:24 So tell us about the call and how did God turn your world 09:30 upside down once again and you ended up back in India? 09:34 Well I think it was an upside down decision because I didn't 09:38 think that I would ever go back to India on a full-time basis. 09:41 I really thought that I had been there doing my little odd jobs 09:46 going as in humanitarian service and I got an email saying, Nancy 09:51 we want you to come to India and work with the Adventist Child 09:54 India program. Is there any chance you'd be willing to do so 09:57 and I ignored the email. And then again we voted you in, we 10:01 want you to come, please come, please send your resume. And I'm 10:05 like I showed it to Bill. And Bill looked at it and he says 10:09 hey, I know that couple I think. When you write them tell them 10:13 you'll send your resume this weekend because we're always 10:15 busy during the week and tell them who I am and say hi to them 10:19 Well that Thursday night we got a phone call from Brenda and Bob 10:25 Robinson and they said to us are you...Nancy you know you're on 10:31 the phone but how about Bill? Is he close by? I say oh yeah. 10:34 It was midnight, so yeah he's close by. So he said put 10:41 yourself on speaker. So we talked with them for about 45 10:43 minutes about what they wanted and what we were thinking about 10:46 and asking questions. At the very end Bob said okay Nancy 10:50 Who's going to be the director and who's going to be the 10:52 assistant director? I say well Bill would be the director and 10:55 I'll be the assistant director at least on paper. He laughed 10:59 and he says that's my girl. 11:02 But she wouldn't want my job anyway. 11:03 No, I don't want his job. 11:05 Okay so let's...what is Adventist Child India. 11:11 Is this a good time to show the video or do you want to talk 11:13 before the video. 11:14 We want to talk a little bit about it first then. And so I'll 11:17 tell you what it is and Nancy has a quick story on that one 11:19 And so Adventist Child India is the program for the poorest 11:23 Adventists in India to be able to go to an Adventist boarding 11:27 school. 11:28 Hit the pause button. How many Adventist children are in India? 11:32 I mean how many Adventists are in India? 11:35 The Adventists, this is the Southern Asia Division, 1.2 11:39 million out of a country that has 1.3 billion in the 11:43 population. So there's not so many when you think of it that 11:47 way. 11:49 And these people...but that's a huge number of people...now 11:53 these people tend to be...tell us how they were converted to 11:58 Adventism, and they tend to be poor. 12:03 Well I think a lot of times people don't realize that we've 12:07 been...you know Adventists have been in India for a long time. 12:09 For there is a few generations of Adventists. And when they 12:15 had a big group of people be baptized in about 2004, 2005 12:22 they had a lot coming in that were very poor. And when Dorothy 12:29 Watts saw this happening because she was the president's wife and 12:33 she was worried about...of the division office, sorry. 12:38 What is the name of the division? 12:40 Southern Asia 12:41 So Southern Asia Division. 12:42 And she saw what was happening and was really worried for our 12:44 children. So she started the program in 2005 and we at this 12:50 point have 1400 children that are in the program in the 12:54 boarding schools and getting a Christian education. 12:58 So we're working at about 30 different boarding schools in 16 13:01 of the 28 states of India. So this part of our job is to go 13:04 around India making sure things are running right and at least 13:07 once a year go to the schools directly and see the children 13:10 and communicate and all that. 13:13 So the schools are already employees, the boarding schools. 13:16 Were they boarding already? 13:18 Yeah, boarding already. They were part of the Southern Asia 13:21 Division education system which has about 293 schools but only 13:25 some of them are boarding, lot of day schools. 13:27 So the people can afford it they're already going to the 13:30 schools. So there's a group out there that just cannot afford it 13:35 and then this is where Adventist Child... 13:41 Good question. Yes. Of course we're not in the local areas so 13:44 we rely on the principals of the schools and the pastors that are 13:47 in those areas. And then they say here's a needy family and 13:50 that kind of thing and that's how we get to know about them. 13:53 Then we say okay it looks like they match up you know after 13:57 asking a lot of questions, getting paperwork and then they 13:59 can be put into the program. 14:02 Well I just have to say one thing. We're going look at the 14:04 video here in just a second but we've been talking for about an 14:08 hour before the program and I've heard stories that would make 14:13 your heart break to hear. We're going to share a few of the 14:17 stories but she didn't share the stories with us that she's going 14:21 to talk about today but these kids come from...some of them 14:27 have been abandoned, some of them they arrive very ill, but 14:32 they are the poorest of the poor and they need the help. So let's 14:37 look at this short video on Adventist Child India and then 14:41 we'll come back and talk with the Macks some more. 14:45 ♪ ♪ 15:09 At least donuts 99 cents, morning coffee $5, burgers and 15:18 fries $8, a chance to change someone's future for the better 15:27 priceless. $39 a month or $468 a year helps educate a child 15:36 Adventist Child India program. 15:39 ♪ ♪ 15:45 Every child has a story. Every child has a community. 15:50 Every child 15:52 has a future. Every child has a choice to make history. If a 15:59 child is without clothes or daily food what good is it. 16:06 Jesus said whoever uses my name and receives these children and 16:10 whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of 16:15 mine, you have done it for me. 16:20 Maybe you feel that you can't afford $39 a month. So ACI has 16:25 introduced Flex Payment Plan, a dollar a day, $5 a week, or maybe 16:29 even $10 a month or even just a one-time payment. No matter what 16:34 you choose, just know that you are making a difference. 16:41 The impending hopelessness stared back at Ananya 16:46 long before she 16:48 was born. Her mother Carmilla was threatened with dire 16:55 consequences if she did not choose to change her faith 16:58 to her husband's. Her choice was to love God unconditionally and 17:06 so Carmilla was left to bring up the newborn baby Ananya on her 17:12 own. With no source of income Ananya and her mother faced an 17:19 uncertain future because of her choice. The choice in a faith 17:25 that would leave ripples of hope for the future. 17:31 COVID-19 brought the world as we know it to a standstill. For 17:35 Washilly and her 10-year-old sister Evica it was no different 17:40 With the passing away of their parents to the virus and stigma 17:48 of being born as girls close relatives soon abandoned them 17:53 to their very elderly grandparents. Without a constant 17:59 source of income and the growl of hungry stomachs, they wondered 18:05 where their next meal if at all would come by and what other 18:13 calamity would tomorrow bring as their future looked grim. 18:19 A difficult choice had to be made, a choice that can't their 18:27 lives giving them hope that through education, they could 18:33 find a job and a better tomorrow 18:35 ACI uses 92 percent of what you give 18:39 to educate a child while the remaining 8 percent is used to 18:43 run the ACI program. That's the lowest of any of the aid 18:47 programs in the country. 18:51 Singmachi a 12-year-old girl from the remote region of south 18:55 Garolaise Negalia was waiting to take her final breath. Her 19:01 parents had given up hope. Her village had given up hope. She 19:05 was abandoned and left to die with a fatal skin disease. A 19:12 choice was made to shift her against the will of the village 19:14 to the newly opened Adventist Mission Hospital which began her 19:20 treatment. Complications arose and she was shifted to various 19:24 other hospitals only to be met with the same answer. Why go 19:30 through all the trouble to save her. As days turned into weeks 19:36 and weeks into months Singmachi began a slow painful recovery 19:43 Her only source of constant support was the ever prayerful 19:50 staff of the Adventist Mission Hospital. On hearing of her 19:54 miraculous healing many local villagers came forward for Bible 19:59 studies and today almost the entire village have accepted the 20:04 Adventist message. A choice was made, a choice that turned 20:12 Singmachi into a living testimony showing the true power 20:16 of prayer. 20:19 The choice to help change somebody's future for the better 20:24 is awesome. 20:27 Choices define who we are and we're asking you today to make 20:29 that choice and become part of Adventist Child India family. 20:33 When you choose to partner with ACI you change the future of a 20:40 child transforming a community one child at a time. 20:46 All the children in the ACI program have come from hard and 20:52 tough circumstances. A parent chooses to heal his family 20:58 because he has only girls The family moves away to ease 21:02 their financial burdens leaving the children behind. The village 21:08 and the parents want nothing to do with the child. As the child 21:15 has given his heart to the Lord and yet in the face of these bad 21:20 conditions a door was opened because someone made a choice. 21:26 You too have a choice but what would it be? Would you turn and 21:35 walk away or would you give generously and can a bad choice 21:40 lead to a bright future for someone who_ 21:49 Adventist Child India turns dreams into reality. 22:00 How beautiful. 22:02 It puts joy in your heart to know that you can take a broken 22:07 heart and put a big smile on their face. 22:10 So these children are Adventist and why do you choose...You had 22:16 mentioned a couple of times these are boarding schools. 22:19 Now there are some day schools. What advantage is it for the 22:23 boarding school? 22:25 Okay. In our thinking it's the way Dorothy Watts wanted it from 22:29 the beginning but you will get a better Adventist experience 22:32 let's put it that way in a boarding school because the day 22:36 school you're getting educated but you're just going and coming 22:39 like anything. These are maybe even newer Adventists so they 22:42 don't even have much experience themselves at home. But in the 22:45 boarding school you have worships in the morning and the 22:48 evening you know in the hostels or dormitories. And you're 22:51 involved in Sabbath School and church you know there on the 22:55 weekends and that kind of thing so the children do get involved 22:57 and get the experience and have a good time learning and that 23:00 kind of thing at a boarding school. So that's mainly it. 23:04 Also, they'll get three meals a day and they also have a bed to 23:08 sleep in and they are protected from the streets instead of 23:13 wandering the streets. They're able to be in a protected area. 23:15 The other thing that I was thinking about is that they 23:19 learn English. It's all English medium schools. So they will 23:22 have the local language coming to school but they'll learn 23:25 English pretty fast and that's what helps them get later on in 23:29 life for the good jobs because they know English. 23:31 So many of these kids if they were not in a boarding school 23:35 they'd be blessed to get one meal a day. 23:40 Yeah a lot of times they will have maybe a chipate and a hot 23:43 drink which is usually tea or coffee and then they'll have a 23:47 meal of dahl and rice. That's about it. Very simple meals and 23:50 very little, not a lot. When they come to our boarding school 23:54 they are so excited because they all get like two or three cups 23:57 of rice and they'll get a lot of curry and they'll also have like 24:03 the yogurt, the curd that they put on it and some stir fry. 24:08 And they're also with like minded brothers and sisters. 24:12 Yeah. Mm-hmm. 24:13 Okay, so what would the...now I know that you've got 1400 24:17 children in your boarding schools and you try to see each 24:21 school at least once a year you get to these schools. What would 24:27 these children...you've got a number who are in college now... 24:30 what would happen to them without this program? 24:33 Well they'd probably be just like their family, their 24:36 ancestors where they would become day laborers or they 24:39 would work in the fields or they would become nobodies, servants 24:45 not have much of a future. They would not be able to get any 24:51 proper paying job. 24:52 They just kind of stay at the lower level you know all their 24:54 lives. That's what would happen. 24:57 Yeah and children, girls will be married off by 15, 16 years old 25:00 They're not supposed to and most of the time it's to 18 but then 25:04 they don't really have a life. 25:07 So I know that...you should hear their story how they got there 25:13 God had to work miracles because you're actually there on an 25:19 employment visa and it took you what, six months, to get that. 25:26 God had to open some big doors to do that. But being there you 25:31 are actually employees of the General Conference of the 25:35 Seventh-day Adventist Church. You're not called a missionary 25:39 You're an ISE. 25:41 ISE - International Service Employee. 25:45 An International Service Employee. So tell us about your 25:49 typical day. 25:50 Okay, will I usually...We get up around 7:30 in the morning, 7:00 25:55 I get up at 4:30. 25:57 I do. He gets up at 6:00 to go play tennis. And we spend our 26:00 hours at the office when we're in the office on the compound. 26:05 If we're traveling we either are traveling by train or car or 26:08 plane, even sometimes a rickshaw or I've even been on the back of 26:12 a motorcycle and we've been on country buses and city buses 26:16 So there's different ways of traveling and we see our 26:20 children that way and it's always fun the see them because 26:24 as they get to know us, we've been there nine years. I have 26:27 many names. I'm either grandma Nancy or Auntie Nancy or Mommy 26:31 Nancy or Mrs. Mack. So depending on what age these children are 26:35 that's what my name is. And Bill is usually just called Uncle. 26:39 They don't call him Grandpa. In fact, I have two little 26:42 grandchildren not really but we call them our grandchildren and 26:46 he's Uncle and I'm Grandma Nancy 26:50 Let me tell you about this tennis court. We're not at a 26:55 club or anything like that. This is kind of a third-world tennis 26:57 court. Literally lots of cracks. So I'm playing with a you know 27:01 friend on the other end but in the middle when it bounces it 27:03 could go this way, that way, and holes in the net, that kind of 27:06 thing. But we get our exercise. 27:08 That's what your morning ritual. 27:10 As long as I can get more exercise. Just the normal. 27:14 So then you basically handle the budgeting and everything that's 27:19 going on administratively and you, I've already got to know 27:24 Nancy, she's just got... 27:26 Lot of email, advertising and newsletters and things like 27:30 that. We have four workers with us at the Division office, 27:36 actually, five when I think of Winnie who's another girl too 27:40 but they help us and they're there right now as we're you 27:45 know out telling about the program and sharing. But you 27:48 know we have Rachel who does a lot of the accounting and the 27:52 budget work and I work with her too so. It's not just us but 27:55 there's a nice staff. But can you believe that few people 28:01 cover all of India and all of the U.S. That's why we can give 28:03 92 percent to the schools. We don't you know keep a lot. It's 28:08 just the eight percent, that's all. 28:09 So as you're outgoing from place to place do the pastors, 28:16 do they come and visit with you and say hey listen we have a 28:20 family over here that is having... 28:23 When we visit them they come up to us. 28:25 Most of it is done by email now. I mean the technology in India 28:28 is pretty amazing that way. Or they'll call us. Most of our 28:32 work is with the principals of the schools. They will say 28:35 there's a child here that...and he'll send us photos of where he 28:39 comes from or she comes from saying this child really needs 28:41 help. Is there a chance that you'd be willing to sponsor this 28:45 child? 28:46 It's possible when we're visiting a school that a pastor 28:48 might bring someone (Correct) something like that a local 28:50 pastor. 28:51 Assume the child is in the boarding school tell us about 28:53 their day. I mean are they there all year round or are they there 28:58 nine months out of the year. 28:59 They get to go home on holidays. But most of them like to stay 29:02 there because their meals and their activities and the 29:06 friendships and...You know we tell all of our children that 29:09 they belong to a family or 1400 children and they are always 29:15 quite amused by it when I say that because it's what? Really? 29:18 I go, yeah you have this many children out there that are my 29:21 children and you're my child. So you belong to this family. 29:25 So what is their day like? 29:26 Well they usually get up around 5:30 in the morning, 5:00 or 29:30 5:30 they do chores, cleaning up their rooms, getting their rooms 29:34 ready, getting baths, getting ready for worship. I think 29:37 usually worship is around 6:00, 6:30. Then they have breakfast 29:41 and then they're to classes all day and in the evening they have 29:44 study hall and supper. 29:47 Tell us about the curriculum. 29:49 Well they have almost anything and everything that we have here 29:51 in the States when it comes to education. They have the English 29:56 Bible, history, geography, math, computer science, science, 30:03 computer labs, um. They're basically just like we are here. 30:06 So okay, so we got grades one through eight? 30:11 One through 12 actually... 30:14 No it's not one through, it's actually Kindergarten. They come 30:17 to school when they're five years old to our boarding school 30:20 some of them. 30:22 So yes these schools some of them teach up to eight, some of 30:24 of them go to 10th, The senior or higher secondary schools go 30:28 up to 12. So sometimes a child may switch after 10th and go to 30:32 another ACI school gives the last two years, 11th and 12th 30:35 Okay, and then say that they want to get into nursing. I mean 30:39 now how does that work? 30:42 They usually have to write letters. I tell them if you want 30:45 to become a college student you need to write letters from the 30:49 very beginning you start school all the way through so the 30:53 sponsor knows you and you have a relationship with your sponsor 30:56 When you have a relationship with your sponsor, they're more 30:59 likely to help you through college if they can. But you 31:02 never ask them. That is one point I will make sure every 31:07 child understands. You cannot ask to go to college. You can 31:11 tell them you have a dream to go to college, you can say that you 31:13 want to have better education and you want to be able to 31:17 support your parents later but you cannot say you want them to 31:20 sponsor. 31:22 But you have 35 kids in college right now don't you? And they're 31:26 planning...Tell us how that works when they do go to school 31:28 They go to two years of college or four years of college. What 31:33 do they give back? 31:34 We've asked them to pay back the amount of time that they 31:39 have gone to college they need to pay back to their division, 31:43 to our church (multiple voices) 31:47 It's not like they're paying back their tuition. You're 31:48 saying when they've invested four years or someone has 31:53 sponsored them for four years of college then they need to 31:57 invest four years of their life to give back to the project. 32:00 When a child leaves 12th standard and they go to college 32:03 and they finish college my three sentences to them when they tell 32:07 me they're finished is I don't want you to ever forget God. He 32:13 is the most important thing that you'll ever have in your life. 32:15 You can have a great relationship with Him. Never 32:18 forget to pay your tithe, always pay your tithe. And third always 32:21 be willing to pay forward because somebody's helped you 32:25 maybe you can help a child in the future. 32:28 Amen, amen. Now before...we're getting ready to hear some 32:31 fabulous stories, but first tell us what happened during COVID. 32:38 There were two years in India where every, I mean... 32:44 Yeah India was no different than the rest of the world. They kind 32:47 of stopped. And that's unusual for India because India is all 32:51 about hustle and bustle and noise and full streets and that 32:54 kind of thing. But literally you had to stay at home at that time 32:58 then and truthfully we probably felt pretty discouraged because 33:03 you know what are we doing here? We're in India we're there 33:06 ourselves and we can't do much or can't travel now, we can't 33:08 see kids. So it was a bit discouraging for a while but 33:13 India also changed in that can you believe after about five or 33:20 six months the air became clean again. The cities literally 33:23 usually are full of smog and pollution. They actually 33:26 cleared up. Animals were coming into the cities. 33:30 We were beginning to see pea cocks or we've seen an elephant 33:33 or we've seen the monkeys that were always away because of the- 33:38 Coming into the city. That actually was happening but we 33:40 also are not the type to just sit around and do nothing and 33:43 you know there was a lot of just what to do now? So we definitely 33:47 along with another family, the Biswas family in our campus in 33:50 Hosur decided to do some things so go ahead. 33:54 Well what we did is I called up Pastor Biswas. I says this once 33:57 I am so tired of just sitting around doing nothing. 34:00 This was probably after a week or two. 34:02 I can't go see my children with the ACI program, I can't go out 34:06 of the campus, I'm totally stressed. I don't want this any 34:10 longer. Can you decide to help us. Let's do something. He says 34:13 whatever you want to do Nancy, I'm on board. My wife and I will 34:16 be on board. So we chose to cook And we had to get permission 34:21 though because you can't leave the campus, right? So I called 34:24 Roju and I say Roju I need your help. Can you come to the 34:28 house. And so he came and I explained to him what we wanted 34:30 and he said wait a minute. So he started making phone calls and 34:33 he sat there for about 45 minutes. Finally got the right 34:36 man to help us. And he said okay I'll be over tomorrow. We'll 34:41 out the facilities. If it's okay and it's clean you can go ahead 34:44 And I will get a social worker as well as a permit so you can 34:49 cross the borders or the check point. So a guy came and he took 34:53 a look and he says, go for it. He gave us permission and he 34:58 sent a social worker and there was three different groups of 35:02 people. There were the cooks there were five of us cooking 35:04 in my kitchen. There was a purchasing which was Bill and 35:09 Pastor Biswas and then we had the delivery of the food in the 35:13 truck with a lot of the young youth. They were so diligent. I 35:17 was so amazed with them wanting to help because it was right in 35:19 the middle of COVID. Who wants to go out on the streets and yet 35:22 people... 35:23 None of your kids got Covid... 35:25 No. The 1400 never got one, no COVID. So what happened there 35:30 is that when the youth would go the social worker would go with 35:36 them to make sure that they could get through to these 35:38 people. 35:39 They were delivering this to who? 35:41 To um migrant workers that were stuck. They were from the north 35:46 part of India, we're in the south part of India. 35:48 the borders were closed so they couldn't go across. 35:50 They couldn't travel. Of course, they didn't know anyone, they 35:52 were not close to relatives, their work had stopped, they're 35:55 living in tarp tents, just in open fields. 35:58 They lost their jobs, they lost their homes, everything. 36:02 This is the ones that needed the help, the food. 36:04 So about 350 people we would feed daily. We would start our 36:08 morning at 6:30, 6, 6:30, and we would end at 4:30. But the one 36:13 day that I'll always remember is that we were running late. 36:17 The food hadn't got prepared fast enough because everything 36:20 had to be from scratch. It's not like going to our markets here 36:23 in the U.S. Okay we don't just have to go and buy the stuff and 36:26 just stick it in the microwave or whatever. So we were late. I 36:31 says guys you got to go, please, get going. And so they all start 36:35 getting to the truck with their masks and their scarves and 36:38 their gloves and the social worker said, No, no Madam no, no 36:44 He couldn't speak English but he wanted us to pray. Because 36:49 you've prayed every day prior to that that the food would be 36:54 enough to get everybody food and I always said Lord make it 36:57 plenty, make it to where everyone will have food. And so 37:00 he wasn't wanting us to leave until I actually prayed that one 37:03 day. 37:05 He wasn't a Christian but see he was becoming what he was 37:08 beholding, right? Okay So let's talk about some of the stories 37:14 of these precious children. It's amazing...First of all, I have to 37:21 say I'm astonished that $39 a month sponsors a child. But tell 37:25 us, one of you get started on this. 37:29 I want to say something. I really believe that it's a 37:32 choice. You can make a decision. All of us can come up with $39. 37:38 Bill and I with our measly amount of money that we receive 37:41 monthly, we sponsor a child. So $39 when you think about it buys 37:45 a pair of new shoes, going out to eat, buying a hot drink at 37:52 Starbucks, adds up. So if you could just leave some of that 37:57 off once in a while, you can sponsor a child. So we're 38:01 praying that each of you who hear us will say you know what 38:05 I can do it. I'm able to. So I guess what we'll do is we'll 38:11 start with our video. 38:14 You've got some pictures. 38:15 And I have some pictures. I mean not our video, our PowerPoint. 38:18 Our pictures. 38:20 So who's the first one? 38:22 The first one would be Krishna. Krishna, I met about five years 38:29 ago at our Abraham Putnam School And he came up to me and he said 38:35 Auntie. I say What. He says I think I'm going blind. I go oh 38:39 come on. Why do you think you're going blind? He says well when I 38:43 push on my eye here and go like this and he did it, pus just 38:47 started rolling out of his eye. Almost gagged, like oh gag. And 38:51 I say does this happen often and he goes yes, Well I say 38:56 this is a story right here. Okay I can't do anything right now 38:59 but we will get help and we did get help for him. And the next 39:03 picture you see is him at the hospital and he is just getting 39:09 finished. And now he's working up in Nepal and he's doing 39:13 amazing. And he thanked me just a week ago because we paid for 39:17 his surgery with our medical fund in our ACI program. The 39:24 second child Ansh. This little boy, I fell in love with. But he 39:31 couldn't go to school because he was cross-eyed and everything 39:34 couldn't read, he couldn't do anything. He was just such a 39:38 brilliant child but he just could not go to school, he 39:42 couldn't learn anything and his friend Neelum came to me and 39:47 said is there anything that we can do for the ACI program. Can 39:50 we get him enrolled, can he become an ACI student? And I 39:53 said yeah but what good would that be. She says will can we 39:58 get him medical help? And I said Well yeah, we can do that. So we 40:03 called the Hospital up in Jalandhar who is an eye doctor 40:06 his name is Dr. Jacob I believe. I may be wrong, sorry if I am. 40:11 And I asked him if there's a possibility that he could do the 40:14 eye surgery. And I said I need a discount because I don't have 40:18 a lot of money but I want to help this boy. And he did. He 40:22 performed the surgery and now this young man is in Hopper 40:26 going to school and getting great marks and doing so well 40:30 The surgery was about $600. 40:33 600 U.S. dollars and we were able to help him. 40:37 The next child I want to talk about is Saral Mary. Saral Mary 40:46 comes from a village, very poor and instead of saying a lot 40:51 about it, I would like to read a little bit about how she wrote 40:56 to her sponsor and I think you would enjoy it better than me 40:59 telling it. It says: It's been nearly four years since you 41:05 picked me up as your sponsor. Now she had been sponsored prior 41:09 but her sponsor had left the program and changed and so she 41:13 was picked up with this new sponsor. I was nearly five years 41:17 old when I was admitted to the Seventh-day Adventist school for 41:21 my kindergarten classes. Little did I know and understand the 41:24 value of what you were doing for me. After those long years of 41:29 educational journey I have reached my final high school 41:32 year. Yes, I'm in 12th class. I will be appearing for my final 41:37 board exams on the month of March. Kindly keep me in your 41:42 prayers. And then she goes on and I'll just jump to the next 41:45 which I really loved when I read it. In my school, I was directed 41:50 to the only living God, Jesus Christ. In my true opinion 41:55 knowing Jesus has been the best of all my experiences. Our 42:01 school trained me to be a hard working young lady. Sabbath 42:07 became an awesome delight. The worship service was so excited 42:09 that I got glued to Jesus. Talk about glued to Jesus! My 42:14 connection with the Bible has a immensely tightened. Today I am 42:19 in love with the word and the Master of the word. This girl 42:24 has completed her school now in 12th standard and she got the 42:29 highest marks. She got 84 percent. In India that's way 42:34 above That's like in the A-minus Yeah, And I am starting nursing 42:41 this October. 42:43 Here's some more stories about that. We had gone around of 42:47 course after COVID when we could start going back then and we 42:51 were trying to find children that had been in this program 42:54 clear from for sure first grade some from kindergarten all the 42:57 way through 12. She was one of those then. So Nancy had 43:01 included her in the newsletter and a sponsor has seen that and 43:04 said I want to help this girl in college and she's literally as 43:07 Nancy said has passed now and she will be going in another 43:10 month or two. Nursing college will start and she'll be able to 43:14 continue on. 43:15 So she says at the end, I cannot thank you enough for all that 43:19 you've done for me. I am running out of words to express my 43:24 deeper feelings. Thank you so very much. May the good Lord 43:27 bless you, your family, and your wonderful ministry. I am ending 43:31 my letter with loads of love to you. 43:33 Oh that's precious, that's precious. Great writer. 43:36 The next one will be Gambrean. When I met this young man people 43:46 were staying away from him. He was isolated even in the school. 43:50 Because if you look on his ear there's a growth and on that 43:55 can you put that slide back up please, yeah. On the right hand 43:58 side you'll see the growth that is growing. It's growing but it 44:03 also smells horrible. And so when I met this little boy I 44:07 went to him and I said, I gave him a hug and I say you're 44:11 pretty lonely, right? He goes yeah. Nobody wants to play with 44:14 me Auntie. I don't smell nice. I said I'm so sorry. But you're 44:19 loved by me. I love you and I know Jesus loves you. I said but 44:23 I have a question for you. If I can get this removed by getting 44:28 a doctor to help me would you be willing to go and have the 44:32 surgery? You should have seen this kid's face. I have never 44:35 seen so much smile. I mean it was just this huge smile and the 44:38 twinkle in his eyes and he goes Auntie, I would love that. Can 44:42 you do that for me? Well before we came I was able to talk with 44:47 the doctor and they're going to perform the surgery and the ACI 44:51 medical fund is going to pay for it. We're so thankful that he 44:54 is going to be able to do that. There was only one boy, there 44:57 was only one boy out of all the school that would connect with 45:00 him and play with him. So hopefully if his loneliness, the 45:04 smell will go away and he can have a childhood fun, there 45:11 playing soccer or they call it football and cricket. 45:16 Amen, amen 45:17 The next child is Razia who is a child that makes me smile 45:24 because she was basically from a school that came from a 45:30 public school system. And she had been taught there for a long 45:34 time and spoke the Hindi language. Well she wanted to go 45:39 to our boarding school. But she spoke no English. So a young 45:44 lady who is very dear to us and she comes from Manipur. This 45:48 girl comes from Manipur and Nelum said is there any chance 45:51 we could put her in our boarding school. She really wants to go 45:54 to our boarding school. I said okay no problem, we'll send her. 45:57 So we told Razia that she could go but she would have to find 46:02 her own way there. We can't pay for their way to get to the 46:05 school. It's a 10-hour train ride with her father to go to 46:10 Hopper in the north and she got there. Dr. Uttersingh who's the 46:14 principal, a really sweet guy. He will do anything for kids. 46:17 I love this man. Anyway she met him and could only speak Hindi. 46:22 And she said I've finished 8th standard, 8th grade, and I want 46:26 to here and go to school. She says well, Dr. Uttersingh says 46:31 well, I can do this for you. We can put your 8th standard again 46:35 and you learn English and then you move on. Well she said okay 46:40 and they got all signed up and all the paperwork done and then 46:45 her father takes her to the dorm where she meets her roommates. 46:49 And they're not just like one or two roommates. They're more like 46:52 10, 15, 20 kids in a room. And they were all way younger than 46:57 her and she's like really embarrassed. I don't want to be 47:01 in this class. If I'm in this class, I'll feel strange and I 47:04 don't want... 47:06 But he'd put her in the 8th grade because she didn't speak 47:07 English. 47:08 So she went to her dad and he says okay let's go talk to Dr. 47:11 Singh, Uttersingh. So they went back. She says I want to go to 47:16 9th standard. Please put me in 9th standard. He said but you 47:18 don't speak English. She says but I can do it. I learn fast. 47:22 He says okay we'll try it. We'll put you in 9th standard and if 47:25 you can make it you can continue Guess what? She made it. She 47:29 spoke English and speaks English so well. I got to meet her about 47:32 what a month ago, two months ago and she speaks really well and 47:36 she's now in 12th standard going to be graduating and her dream 47:41 is to become a teacher so she can educate children and have 47:46 them get to know Jesus. 47:47 Praise God, praise God. Okay was there anything else on 47:51 PowerPoint that you have, graphics? So let's talk about 47:58 you've got a special project. Tell us about the Bloom School. 48:01 Okay, there's the school in the state of Tripura which is in the 48:06 Northeast part of India and the principal there Mina Rhonchal 48:09 went to Spicer College and she got her Master's degree and all 48:14 and she is from that area and so she went back and started a 48:19 school. And it was very basic and small to begin with, 35 or 48:26 so. And it got a good name and people started coming from 48:30 farther and farther away. And I think Nancy says that sometimes 48:33 they ended up having to you know stay at night because it was 48:38 just too far away. Then she got the idea maybe let's open some 48:42 classrooms... 48:44 She put them in classrooms. She said you can't go home at night. 48:46 It's too dangerous. People may hurt you or animals, wild 48:49 animals. You cannot go. So you start staying in the classrooms. 48:52 So they started staying in classrooms. Now they had two 48:55 rooms, one for the boys that they are so crammed that the 48:59 bunkbeds are about I would say maybe a foot apart and they're 49:03 three-story bunk beds and all the children are crammed in 49:06 these rooms and they never complain. They never complain 49:10 which to me is like I'd complain if I had to be crushed with 49:14 everybody. 49:15 Well, there's 240 kids... 49:16 Two hundred and forty. Two of them are day students. Most of 49:21 then are at school, they're boarding. 49:23 Yeah but how many children do we have in boarding school? 49:26 What? Our children that are going. 49:29 There are about 30. 49:31 So there are not that many but they were there and so she 49:34 approached Bill and says, Bill we really need your help. We 49:36 would like to get a dorm and a cafeteria and a kitchen and a 49:42 room for our dean. So can you help us? So Bill says we've 49:49 never done this big of a project before but we talked about it 49:52 and we decided we would do it. How long is it? 49:57 It's a hundred feet long, 50 feet wide so that's a big you 50:00 know perimeter there and it's the ground floor and the first 50:04 floor and its strong enough foundations to go one more 50:07 higher up than that. 50:09 So essentially you are wanting to build the cafeteria, the dorm 50:14 and the dean's room. And how much do you think this project's 50:17 going to cost? 50:18 It's like $250,000. We've raised about $175,000 and so we need 50:24 about $75,000 more. So it's a big project. But it's already as 50:29 money comes in we've been building, she's been building it 50:33 so it's not just nothing there. It's already you know well on 50:36 it's way. But we still need that much more to finish. So if 50:39 someone's out there or a few of you, this is a great project 50:43 that will really turn around that school tremendously then. 50:45 What will happen is the dorm will be second floor for the 50:49 girls and third floor, hopefully later on, they'll be able to do 50:53 for the boys and the down is a cafeteria as well as a study 50:56 hall as well as chapel or church And then we have the girl's dorm 51:00 I mean dean's house and the kitchen. 51:03 Well I'll tell you it's exciting to see how, again, $39 a month 51:10 can change a child's future and give them hope and then you are 51:17 building up the kingdom of God because these kids are coming 51:22 back to serve again. We're going to have to take a break because 51:28 we're going to go to the address roll right now and maybe the 51:33 Holy Spirit is moving on your heart that you say I want to 51:36 help one of these children. I want them to learn, learn 51:41 English and learn more about the Lord or maybe you can help with 51:45 the Bloom School. Here is how you can get in touch with Nancy 51:50 and Bill. 51:53 If you would like to contact or know more Adventist Child India 51:57 you can do so in the following ways. You can write to them Care 52:02 Of Southern Asia Division of SDA PO Box 2, HCF, Hosur 635110 52:09 Tamil Nadu, India. You can call them at (208) 805-2193. You can 52:17 visit their website at AdventistChildIndia.org or send 52:21 them an email at ChildCare@AdventistChildIndia. 52:25 org. 52:29 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2023-07-17