Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220063A
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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 ♪ 00:25 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:58 ♪ ♪ 01:06 Hello I'm Shelley Quinn and we welcome to 3ABN Today. We want 01:11 to thank you for your prayers for this ministry. It is the 01:16 mending broken people network and we want to thank you for 01:21 your financial support. Today we have one of my favorite 01:25 people here. I interviewed her in 2004. I hadn't seen her 01:30 since but I never forgot her and as many interviews as you do 01:35 around here that's a lot of years from 2004. But sometimes 01:42 you meet someone whose trust in God, whose enthusiasm for the 01:47 work of the Lord is just special. And we have someone 01:52 special with 01:54 us today. But first, let me read this. In Matthew 21 and verse 22 02:00 Jesus said, Whatever things you ask in prayer believing you will 02:08 receive. Let me introduce you to somebody who believes that with 02:14 all of her heart. And she's got all the miracle stories to go 02:17 with it and that's Cheryl Erickson, Cheryl thank you for 02:21 being here again today. 02:23 Thank you so much for having me. Um it's been a few years and a 02:27 lot of water under the bridge, a lot of stories to tell but 02:31 it's great to be here, Thank You. 02:33 Well you know it's interesting Your ministry name is Pumpkin 02:37 People and Produce. What can you do with a pumpkin patch? You're 02:44 going to find out. God has done amazing things through your 02:48 ministry. Okay before we begin you like music. Well I know that 02:54 our audience does and we have somebody here that's one of my 02:59 favorite singers. Stephanie Dawn She has such a connection with 03:03 the Lord and she's going to be singing Day by Day. 03:07 ♪ ♪ 03:26 ♪ Day by day and with each passing moment ♪ 03:36 ♪ Strength I find to meet my trials here ♪ 03:43 Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment ♪ 03:55 ♪ I've no cause for worry or for fear ♪ 04:03 ♪ He whose heart is kind beyond all measure ♪ 04:11 ♪ Gives unto each day what He deems best ♪ 04:20 ♪ Lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure ♪ 04:27 ♪ Mingling toil with peace and rest ♪ 04:39 ♪ Every day the Lord Himself is near me ♪ 04:47 ♪ With a special mercy for each hour ♪ 04:54 ♪ All my cares he fain would bear and cheer me ♪ 05:02 ♪ He whose name is Counselor and Power ♪ 05:11 ♪ The protection of His child and treasure ♪ 05:19 ♪ Is a charge that on Himself He laid ♪ 05:26 ♪ As your days your strength shall be in measure ♪ 05:35 ♪ This the pledge to me He made ♪ 05:44 ♪ ♪ 05:59 ♪ Help me then in every tribulation ♪ 06:05 ♪ So to trust thy promises, Oh Lord ♪ 06:12 ♪ That I lose not faith's sweet consolation ♪ 06:20 ♪ Offered me within Thy Holy Word ♪ 06:27 ♪ Help me Lord when toil and trouble meeting ♪ 06:35 ♪ E'er to take as from the Father's hand ♪ 06:43 ♪ One by one the days the moments fleeting ♪ 06:52 ♪ Till I reach the promised land ♪ 07:06 Mm, thank you, Stephanie Dawn. One of my favorite singers. 07:12 There's such a purity to her voice and her messages all 07:15 the time. Well I'm Shelley Quinn We welcome you to 3ABN Today and 07:21 we have someone special with us here today. Her name is Cheryl 07:26 Erickson and I'm just going to give you the bottom line right 07:31 now. God began a ministry through Cheryl who's a farmer's 07:38 wife, a farmer herself but God began a ministry through her 07:44 that has allowed and provided the funds to build 22 churches. 07:51 Do you think there's something that God can do with you? She's 07:56 written this precious book. It's a devotional really and it's 08:01 called Missionary Pumpkins: Miracle stories from God's 08:07 pumpkin patch. And she's got the miracle stories. There's 31 08:10 chapters in here and they're just short little one or two 08:16 page chapters, but they're beautiful. And it's all about 08:21 prayer, trusting in God and making yourself available. 08:27 So Cheryl miracle stories from God's pumpkin patch. Tell us 08:31 again how you began this ministry. 08:35 Okay. Well like you said we're farmers in the year 2000 farming 08:41 was not good and my husband said to me, Why don't you take that 08:43 little seven-acre patch up on hill and see if you can 08:48 experiment with some specialty crops and see if we could make 08:50 some money that way. So I looked into lavender, I looked into 08:54 herbs, I looked into alfalfa. I finally decided to raise one 08:58 acre of pumpkins. So that year I harvested 1100 pumpkins and 09:03 sold them to the local grocery store. But we could easily see 09:09 that this was very labor intense and it would not work for making 09:14 a living. So my husband said to me you can just save the money 09:17 and give it to missions. So I didn't know what I wanted to do 09:21 with it that first year, so I just saved it and that winter 09:24 one of the conference workers came to speak in our church and 09:27 he just mentioned in passing the need for churches in India. He 09:32 said um India is only 2-3 percent Christian but at this 09:37 time people were coming to the Lord by the thousands and he 09:40 said, If they don't have a church they tend to fall away. 09:42 So the light came on and I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted 09:46 to build churches in India. And so over the years, over the 21 09:52 years I was able to earn almost $200,000 and build 25 churches. 09:55 There's actually 22 in India and two in Tanzania and one in 10:00 Nicaragua. 10:03 That is so amazing. So tell us about...I mean your book is full 10:08 of miracle stories. You know this book would appeal to anyone 10:12 from eight and beyond because it's one of these things that 10:18 it's written from your heart and it touches your soul to see the 10:23 lessons God can teach you through something like this 10:26 but some of the miracles. 10:27 Tell us about the miracle of prayer. 10:32 Okay. Oh boy! I had so many miracles happen. Let me just 10:35 start from the very beginning. The first year when I decided to 10:41 plant these pumpkins I had no market. And I just went ahead 10:45 and I planted 2000 plants and hoped for the best. So all 10:48 summer I was calling every grocery store, every convenience 10:53 store, every farmer's market whatever I could think about 10:56 and they all told me the same thing: We have a supplier. So I 11:01 got all the way to September almost time to sell pumpkins. 11:04 I still didn't have a market. And I had been to the local 11:08 grocery store in Jamestown and he called me one day the first 11:12 part of September and he said the Hutterites, they're similar 11:17 to Amish, who had been supplying their store, their crop froze. 11:21 And so he said do you still have pumpkins? And I said, Yes I do. 11:25 And he said I'll take your pumpkins this year. So we had a 11:30 verbal agreement that I would give him 1000 pumpkins by the 11:34 first of October and the only problem was I could maybe show 11:41 that picture of the pumpkin patch now and you could see. 11:43 This is an acre and a half of pumpkins and you kind of get an 11:47 idea of what an overwhelming task this is. So anyway the 11:57 only problem was in North Dakota frost comes early and you 12:00 want to pick your pumpkins by the middle of September or they 12:04 might freeze. And the problem was I only had 200 orange 12:08 pumpkins. And I didn't know what I was going to do and so I tried 12:14 several different things. I put them on a trailer and I hauled 12:20 them out in the sun. The only problem was that half the time 12:24 it was too cold during the night and they didn't warm up very 12:27 much during the day and I wasn't making any progress and I 12:30 couldn't fit all the pumpkins on the trailer, so I didn't know 12:34 what to do. So I called the extension agent in Jamestown and 12:39 an extension agent is somebody who helps farmers with their 12:42 questions and people like me who have a question about raising 12:46 crops and he said you can't ripen a green pumpkin. So I 12:50 called another extension agent, same thing, you can't ripen a 12:54 green pumpkin. And then I called the one in Fargo that was 12:58 supposed to know more than any of them and he said you can't 13:01 ripen a green pumpkin. Throw them over the hill. But I didn't 13:05 give up. I kept praying and those days the first thing I did 13:10 when I had a crisis was panic and the second thing I did was 13:13 worry and the third thing I did was pray. And thank the Lord 13:16 during the years I reversed that order and didn't get to worried 13:21 about things. So one day I was visiting with our neighbor 13:27 Auntie Carol and she is somebody I really admire. She's the best 13:30 gardener ever and I thought you know she probably knew all the 13:35 answers. I just mentioned to her this problem I had that you know 13:40 I have this agreement and I don't have enough orange 13:42 pumpkins. And she said bring them inside and they will ripen 13:46 She said pumpkins need the temperature to be 80 degrees 13:49 and they will turn orange. I said, you mean if I would bring 13:54 these pumpkins in the shop and turn the floor heat up to 80 13:58 they will turn orange? And she said yes I know they well. And I 14:03 did and within 24 hours I could see them turning orange. 14:06 That's amazing! (Yes) What's amazing is that none of the 14:09 extension agents knew that. 14:11 I know and you know I wrote back to him. I sent him an email and 14:15 he was very humble. He said I learned something. So if it 14:20 hadn't been for Auntie Carol there wouldn't have been a 14:22 second year. I had a picture of Auntie Carol and she is 95 years 14:27 old now. I just spoke with her last week. She's doing well and 14:31 I really thank her for her help. I did have another miracle 14:35 related to this. When I brought them in the shop and put them on 14:40 the floor and turned the floor heat up to 80 my husband said, 14:44 Well when we turned off the floor heat last spring it wasn't 14:47 working so you're going to have to crawl out into the slough, a 14:52 slough is a small lake and you know fiddle with this and see if 14:54 we can get it going. You know what? When we turned it on it 14:58 worked. So just so many supernatural things have 15:03 happened that I just have to believe. Now can I tell you 15:06 about my second year. (Oh please) Okay. So I thought 15:09 raising one acre of pumpkins went well and how about raising 15:14 two acres of pumpkins. So that sounded like a good idea at the 15:18 time but I had 5000 pumpkins. And I didn't know what I was 15:24 going to do will all of those pumpkins. And so I got on the 15:29 phone and I called every grocery store, convenience store, gas 15:33 station, hardware store. I even sold 225 to our bank. And all 15:40 the businesses had pumpkins but I still had 2500 pumpkins left. 15:45 And what was I going to do with these. And so I finally said to 15:49 the Lord I don't know who else to call. I've called everybody 15:54 within a hundred-mile radius. I just don't know who else to call 15:57 And the very next day the man from the Farmer's Market in 16:03 Fargo called me and he said, I hear you have pumpkins. And I 16:07 said Yes I do. And he said I'll take them all, 1000, 2000, I'll 16:11 take them all. And so like after Peter and John healed that lame 16:15 man, I went walking and leaping and praising God (Multiple 16:20 voices) Oh, I was so excited. So I have a picture of that big 16:24 pile of pumpkins that I hauled in. That's a lot of cargo. Yeah 16:29 that was a wonderful answer to prayer. And it taught me that 16:34 sometimes God waits till you are completely desperate, when you 16:39 have no way to turn. Kind of like in the Bible when they were 16:43 crossing the Jordan River and they had to stick their feet in 16:45 the water before it parted. I think we have to come to the 16:49 place in our lives that we give up on our own efforts and just 16:52 say God have mercy on me. And He will. 16:56 Well I think He likes to show us sometimes he will give us an 17:02 idea and we begin on it but sometimes we forget that we 17:06 should be day by day asking for His direction in it. And I think 17:12 He just likes to remind us that Okay, I'll just let you worry 17:17 yourself to death here for a minute till you pray to me and 17:19 you pray and then all of a sudden God shows up and does 17:23 something amazing. And He has with you...You told a story 17:29 before where...as I'm recalling it's probably just from the book 17:35 but there was a freeze and everything froze except...tell 17:39 us about that. 17:41 Yeah, this was incredible. In North Dakota we usually get 17:45 frost the middle of September or right around there. This year it 17:48 froze the middle of August. And all of the crops in the region 17:53 froze, all the soybeans, all the crops, all of the pumpkins, 17:58 except for my little pumpkin patch. 18:03 That was dedicated to the Lord 100 percent. 18:05 Yes, yes, and I just thought that was another supernatural 18:09 intervention. My faith was growing year by year. And I 18:15 remember one year especially it was really hot and really dry. 18:21 And I always walked in my pumpkin patch every day and I 18:24 would pray and I would talk to God and I could just feel His 18:27 presence there you know. And I looked down at the plants. It 18:31 was actually the fourth driest August on record. And I looked 18:35 down at those plants and they were all wilty and sorry looking 18:39 and I said to God you know these pumpkins could sure use a drink 18:43 of water. And He said to me, If I can make a pumpkin out of 18:47 nothing I can certainly make a pumpkin without water. And that 18:51 year I had 5000 pumpkins. It was another miracle. 18:56 Wow, that is a miracle. But didn't you have an invasion of 19:00 ...can you tell us about that. 19:03 Yeah, one year the cucumber beetles decided to hold their 19:07 national convention in my field. And I was walking in my field 19:11 one day and I go what's that? This little yellow bug and I 19:15 went and looked and I said, got a black stripe down its back. 19:19 That's a cucumber beetle. And the thing about cucumber beetles 19:22 they can destroy your crop. They can eat the whole green plant 19:27 plus they lay eggs to eat the blossoms in the fall. So it's a 19:35 very serious problem. So I looked and there was one and 19:39 there was two, and there was 20 and there was 2000 and they were 19:44 just everywhere. And so I was able to spray them and get rid 19:49 of them and I still had a great crop that year. You know I just 19:52 want to say that God is faithful and no matter what kind of 19:55 problem I had every year I had enough money to build a church. 19:59 And it was so wonderful. It really increased my faith. I've 20:04 got to tell one more story. This is one of my favorites. Um I had 20:08 a patch you know of three separate fields that I rotated 20:12 because if you don't rotate them you end up getting disease and 20:15 stuff. And so on the third year the patch was beside the slough. 20:20 And we, of course, have a lot of geese there and when we had 20:25 soybeans or corn or another crop they just walked up on 20:28 shore and ate them all. And it was just acres of the plant. And 20:35 so I said I was going to try and raise them there because I 20:39 couldn't think of any other option and my husband said that 20:44 would be suicide to plant your pumpkins there. There will be 20:46 nothing left of them. Do you know, not one goose ate one 20:52 piece of my plants. 20:53 So God had His hand over your pumpkins. 20:57 He did and it was just like in the Bible when God closed the 21:01 lion's mouth for Daniel. He closed those geese mouths and 21:04 they didn't eat a thing. So just time after time there was things 21:09 like that. One time all of the pumpkins froze. My pumpkins 21:13 froze. God let them freeze. And so I was all panic and worry and 21:18 pray. And so I went out and I put a pumpkin seen beside the 21:25 ones that had died because I thought well I'll still try. This is 21:29 freezing. I should explain this. In the spring I had just planted 21:33 them. Do you have any idea how much work that is. It is 400 21:36 deep knee bends. And I just got them all planted. They were just 21:41 up really nice and then it froze and so they're all level with 21:46 the ground. And so I went out and I just put a pumpkin seed 21:50 beside these plants which was a lack of faith because the old 21:54 ones grew and the new ones grew. So I had 8000 pumpkins that year 21:58 Are you serious? When it froze. 22:01 I always had so many people help me with pumpkin harvest. It was 22:04 so much fun. I have the best church in the world and they 22:07 would show up about 60 people and the neighbors and my friends 22:13 and they would all help us pick and we would have somebody that 22:16 would be picking and somebody would put them in a trough that 22:19 the Bobcat would take to the washing station. We washed 22:23 every pumpkin and dried them put them in bins then take them back 22:27 to the shop. It was like a factory. It was like the body of 22:31 Christ, just everybody working together. And so, yeah, it was 22:37 just a wonderful experience to see them all into the bins and 22:42 to the shop. 22:44 Okay we're going to get into this story of she actually that to 22:48 go to India to dedicate one of the churches you built, but 22:53 before we get there tell us some of the lessons that God taught 22:59 you through this. I mean you've dedicated to him. You're seeing 23:03 his hand move constantly. But He also...You've got some great 23:09 object lessons. The name of the book by the way is Missionary 23:13 Pumpkins and it's Miracle Stories From God's Pumpkin Patch 23:19 and this is the kind of book just builds your faith when you 23:25 see...any time it's you and God you're in the majority. You may 23:29 feel like you're all alone. But He taught you some really 23:35 valuable lessons. 23:36 He did. Well one of the first lessons I learned actually the 23:41 very first year. The name of my business was Pumpkin People and 23:46 Produce. And I had the idea that I was going to make pumpkin 23:50 people. So there would be like a snowman: A big pumpkin on the 23:56 bottom and a medium one and one on the top and I was going to 23:58 dress them up. So I went to the second-hand store and I bought 24:02 out this that looked like a pilgrim or a biker or somebody 24:11 really old-fashioned, little kid just different things, I would 24:15 dress them up. And they were going to sell like hotcakes. 24:18 And people were going to want to buy two or three of them, you 24:21 know. You know what? I did not sell one, not one pumpkin person 24:25 And so that was the last thing God taught me that we just have 24:30 to trust Him and that sometimes when He says no it's for a very 24:34 good reason. If I had gone that way instead of just selling 24:37 pumpkins. I wouldn't make $100 instead of $200,000. No so that 24:45 was a very good lesson. Another lesson I learned which I didn't 24:48 know...you hear the expression One bad apple will spoil the 24:52 the barrel. It's not so with pumpkins. No matter how hard you 24:57 try there are going to be some pumpkins that spoil. Sometime an 25:02 insect will eat a little bit and it'll start to spoil around that 25:06 or sometimes somebody picking the pumpkin will drop it and 25:11 it'll bruise it on the inside and spoil or if you knock the 25:14 stem off it'll spoil there. So you're going to have some of 25:17 that. And what you don't want to see when you go out to the shop 25:19 is flies buzzing around your bin and oozing on the floor because 25:24 that means one has spoiled. But the nice thing is that it can 25:30 touch all of the pumpkins beside it but they are unaffected which 25:33 taught me that relating to peer pressure, if you are put in an 25:38 ungodly environment you don't have to succumb just because the 25:45 people around you are dishonest or bad language or whatever you 25:52 want to say. You don't have to be that way. You can be this 25:57 clean bright shining pumpkin. 25:58 Amen, that's a great object lesson for all of us but 26:03 particularly this would be a good book for teenagers to read 26:07 because it's so sweet and written from the heart. Now 26:12 let's talk about 25 churches. That's amazing. 26:16 Yeah, it is amazing. 26:17 You began in 2001 or... 26:21 I started in the year 2000. 26:25 2000. So 25 churches and your last pumpkin harvest was 2020 26:29 Things move on. But what Cheryl's doing now is during 26:37 COVID she wrote the book. The book is titled Missionary 26:40 Pumpkins: Miracle Stories from God's Pumpkin Patch. And I'll 26:48 let you explain in just a minute why there's 31 chapters. But 26:50 it's really written for devotional where it starts off 26:54 with the scripture. Here's one Anchors: Which hope we have as 26:59 an anchor for the soul but sure and steadfast. And then she 27:03 tells the stories of how God led, how God answered prayers, 27:09 how God taught her patience and taught her these different 27:13 object lessons. This precious book. But you actually...what 27:20 year was it that you got to go to India (2006) 2006 to see what 27:29 your missionary work was doing. And you got to dedicate the 27:33 church. (I did) Tell us about it 27:35 Oh, it was so exciting. Every since I was a little girl I 27:38 wanted to be a missionary. You know we used to sing the song 27:41 about go sailing to the mission land and it seemed to be the 27:44 highest calling any Christian should have and I really wanted 27:48 to be a missionary all my life. But I've learned through this 27:51 you don't have to go across the seas to be a missionary. God 27:54 calls you to do your ministry wherever you are and He has put 27:58 something in your hand and you need to answer Him. But I did 28:02 get to go to India 2006. Several people has asked me you know 28:06 why don't you go to India and see your churches and I said 28:09 well I can build another church for the amount of money, it would 28:12 take me to go to India. And my Dad called my bluff. He said 28:15 well, I would pay your way. I said Oh and I didn't know what 28:19 to say. But I did get to go and I went on a Maranatha trip and 28:24 we had a 100 village campaign. Oh this was in Andhra Pradesh 28:28 just in case anybody wants to know. All my churches are in 28:32 Andhra Pradesh. And we had a team...My team had about 10 28:37 members on it and we were assigned 12 churches to go visit 28:41 and what we would do is we would go visit these villages every 28:44 day and invite them to the meetings. And the gospel workers 28:48 had been there for like three months with them and so they 28:51 kind of knew a little bit about it. I have a picture of some of 28:56 the homes they live in. It was like something that you would 29:02 picture in a mission story. I mean in a 1000 years ago they 29:06 say that India hasn't changed in a 1000 years but it will change 29:09 change you. It really did change my life. So we would visit these 29:13 every day and we would say are you coming to the meetings. And 29:16 then they would go (head side to side). See that's yes. It was 29:19 strange because you thought what are they saying and they would 29:23 all come. They brought them on these big trucks that looked 29:27 kind of like a grain truck only they're called lorries and they 29:31 would just be packed on there like cattle. And every evening 29:35 we had 1500 people and then on the last evening we had 5000 29:40 people. And it was in the open air and you could look up and 29:45 see the moon and I often would look up and just talk to God and 29:49 say, Are you seeing these people? Are you calling them to your 29:53 name? And so every night they would come just like I said by 29:58 the hundreds and I understood what it meant in the Bible when 30:01 it said Jesus couldn't move because of the press. That's the 30:05 way they were. A lot of them had not seen a white person and this 30:09 missionary thing was totally new to them so they would all crowd 30:13 around you and they would bow their head and they wanted you 30:15 to put your hands on their head and bless them and have a prayer 30:18 I probably said 200 prayers a night. There were just so many 30:21 people. And then they would sit on the ground and my job was to 30:26 tell the felt children's story. But they were all like children 30:31 They didn't even know the story of Adam and Eve. I mean they 30:34 didn't know anything. And so I really enjoyed doing that and I 30:38 had a little translator with me. I'll tell you about her in a 30:42 minute. But anyway when they would look at this video, this 30:46 movie of Jesus they were so touched. You know every time He 30:52 healed a blind person they would cheer and when He was baptized 30:57 they would cheer and they were just coming to the Lord. It was 31:01 so thrilling to see that happen. And at the end, I don't know how 31:06 many hundred were baptized. We weren't allowed to go because 31:09 they didn't want to excite any prejudice from the government 31:12 and stuff like that. But it was probably the top three most fun 31:19 things in my life going to India You know what people don't 31:22 realize is there's still a caste system in India and when you 31:29 are in the lower part of that caste system no one ever seems 31:35 to accept you. They don't want to touch you and they shun you 31:39 and so when missionaries come and they're showing the love of Christ 31:45 and they're touching...the idea of touching their head to bless 31:49 them that's so precious 31:51 to them. But they're not used to that acceptance and of course 31:56 they have thousands of Gods so it's interesting to find...I 32:03 mean when they discover that there is one true God who really 32:05 loves them they will come in droves. But they've got to have 32:10 a church. So you got some pictures to show us? 32:13 Yeah I want to show you first the ox cart. Ah we had a big 32:17 parade through the town and our team got to ride on the ox cart. 32:23 They had it all decorated up and all the town would come 32:26 because it was the nicest building in the town and very 32:30 excited and like I said before (the church?) the church. If 32:34 they didn't have a church they would say well you're God is not 32:38 very special and your God is not worth anything so it was really 32:42 imperative that they'd see it was a big deal and that they 32:45 would come. So it was really fun being on this ox cart and we got 32:49 there and then I had a picture of the dedication, the actual 32:53 plaque and so on that was written the date and you know 33:00 it was a pumpkin church and everything and so that was 33:04 really fun when I got to do that But probably the most fun thing 33:08 was the next Sabbath we got to have a communion service with 33:13 the new congregation. And so as I was washing the feet of this 33:21 lady that was my new sister in the Lord and I looked up at her 33:25 and I wanted to remember her face. And I can't wait till I 33:30 get to heaven. I'm going to look her up and I'm going to say 33:32 didn't we meet in India? It's going to be such a thrill. 33:36 (That's precious) So back to my little translator, I have a 33:40 picture of her too. She's in the middle here. She was 22 at the 33:46 time and just a precious, precious soul. She had a strong 33:52 relationship with the Lord. She was raised Hindu and when she 33:57 was in 7th grade her parents put her in the Seventh-day Adventist 34:00 school across the street from where she was raised. And that 34:06 year she met Jesus and she asked Him into her heart and she was 34:09 baptized. After that the people from Asian Aid sponsored her all 34:18 the way through high school (Praise God) and then she 34:21 went to a 34:22 state college. Well she took business at the state college 34:25 but because she was convicted not to take her exams on Sabbath 34:29 she couldn't receive her degree. So I was really impressed with 34:34 her level of dedication. And so later I had the privilege of 34:40 paying her way through Spicer Memorial College. She got her 34:43 MBA and she's married to a pastor and a history teacher at 34:48 Spicer. We still talk. In fact she emailed me this morning. 34:51 (How precious) Yeah it's a really fun... 34:55 You know what I love about you is you are reflecting, you 35:01 radiate the love of God and that's something that you'll 35:06 find in the book Missionary Pumpkins: Miracle Stories from 35:11 God's Pumpkin Patch by Cheryl Erickson. This is a precious 35:16 book. It's an easy read but there's a deep heart connection 35:23 and it shows you how God can use anyone, anyone. You could be in 35:32 a nursing home. God can use you in ministry. You can have a 35:37 ministry of prayer. But it's all about...It's not about the 35:42 pumpkins. It's about the things you built, God built through you 35:47 You've raised the funds for 25 churches. That's just so amazing 35:52 So when you were there with Maranatha were you doing... 36:00 usually, you've got some kind of a...that was yours was the 36:04 Sabbath School felts. 36:06 Yeah. We went to each village and we did a little program 36:10 every day. So I would do a felt story there and then I would do 36:14 it again in the evening, a different story in the evening 36:17 when they all came. 36:18 So tell us why you wrote the book. 36:22 Okay. Well this is interesting because October 22nd is kind of 36:27 of a famous day for members of our church. 36:30 Now you can't just drop that. There's people who are watching 36:35 that don't know...they don't know what October 22nd...why is 36:39 is it famous? 36:41 Okay October 22nd, 1844 many people were looking for the 36:46 return of Jesus. 36:48 And that's people of all denominations. It was a 36:50 world thing. 36:51 Uh-huh. And Jesus didn't come and so it was called the great 36:56 disappointment. They later discovered that they had 37:02 misinterpreted the prophecies. 37:05 But it was kind of...After October 22nd when they were 37:10 studying it out further that was kind of the beginning of the 37:14 Seventh-day Adventist movement because you had people from 37:18 Baptist, Methodist and all different kinds of churches who 37:22 came together to study this out figure out why and that's how it 37:27 started isn't it? So October 22nd... 37:32 Yeah. My pumpkin harvest was over, I had hauled in the last 37:34 pumpkins (This is 2020) 2020 and so I went up to my field 37:39 for the last time and it was very emotional for me. You know 37:45 I had been doing this 21 years. It was only... 37:47 And these were circumstances beyond your control that you... 37:51 Right. I didn't want to quit and it was something I had to do 37:54 So 21 years was almost a third of my life and it was just me, 37:59 you know, I'm the pumpkin lady. That's just how I identify. And 38:04 so it was really hard to quit. And I loved everything about it. 38:08 I loved planting and I loved weeding it. Actually weeding is 38:11 my favorite job. You saw the size of my patch...Yeah. I would 38:17 hoe until...I loved it and I loved picking them, I loved 38:23 washing them, I loved selling them. So it had to come to an 38:26 end and so I walked up to the patch for the last time, I have 38:29 not been up to the patch since. It's too painful. And I kneeled 38:34 down right there in the field and I looked up in the sky. 38:38 There was all these black clouds and then I saw them part and 38:42 there was a blue clear sky and I just looked up to God and I said 38:47 What now, Lord? I said I raised pumpkins for you, Oh I'm a crier 38:54 for 21 years and do you have an assignment for me now. And I 39:01 actually said here am I, send me And God put it upon my heart to 39:05 write this book and to hopefully glorify His name and share with 39:10 other people His power and His answered prayers and how He's 39:14 a personal God (Amen) He really is right there with us. And so I 39:22 wrote it and the winter of 2021 and if you remember that was the 39:26 peak of COVID. Everything was gloomy and dark and this is a 39:32 happy book. This is a book where things turn out right. This is a 39:36 book where God answers prayer and so I wanted it to be an 39:42 encouragement to people that would read it. 39:43 And what are you doing with the proceeds of this book? 39:46 Yeah I wanted to keep earning money to build churches in India 39:49 I guess the best way to describe me is addicted. I just cannot... 39:54 You're addicted to service, huh? 39:56 Yes I wanted to keep building churches and so I've sold $8000 40:02 so far and churches now cost $30,000. When I first started 40:08 they were $3500. And sometimes I could build two churches in a 40:13 year. But times have changed and so I have sold like 800 books so 40:21 far but I need to sell a lot more. So... 40:25 I want to just say you can... there are several ways that you 40:29 can get this book, but let me tell you one way right now. You 40:34 can...When you sell through a publisher no author gets much 40:41 money. Royalties are very tiny. But you can go directly to you 40:46 and that's CherylErickson@yahoo.com 40:51 You can order directly from her. She gets a much bigger portion 40:57 that she...100 percent of the proceeds are still going to 41:02 fund church building in India. And we've got a picture we're 41:06 going to show in just a minute and these precious faces, how 41:10 excited they are to be in a church. But you can get it on 41:15 Amazon.com it's call Missionary Pumpkins: Miracle Stories From 41:24 God's Pumpkin Patch. And boy it is...It's not trying to talk you 41:31 into going into the pumpkin business. But you know what as 41:35 you read in this book, because it is such a happy book, it is a 41:42 book that will cause your heart to overflow with hope as you 41:46 realize how close and personal God is and how if you will be 41:52 as Cheryl, as Isaiah, say Lord here am I, send me. He will give 42:01 you something, a purpose. God wants your life to be purpose 42:05 driven and He will give you a purpose. So you can also buy it 42:09 at the ABC store, the Seventh- day Adventist ABC if you want to 42:15 go online and look again the name is Missionary Pumpkins. 42:21 Put picture back up because it's a sweet picture, Missionary 42:27 Pumpkins: Miracle Stories From God's Pumpkin Patch. 42:31 I just want to say something here to about what I've done 42:37 here is just a drop in the bucket. You know it's so 42:41 insignificant. But if each one of us chooses a project...What 42:45 if each one of us would build 25 churches, you know. Pretty soon 42:50 the bucket is full. I wrote a story, the next to last story in 42:53 the book called What Is That In Your Hand? Remember the story of 42:57 Moses in Exodus 4 and God is calling him to lead the children 43:01 of Israel and he's arguing and he's giving his excuses and I 43:05 can't speak and I can't you know all this and God finally said 43:09 what is that in your hand? And when he threw it down it turned 43:14 into a serpent, you know in the story. So God says what is that 43:20 in your hand. Just stop right now and think a minute. What has 43:28 get out of your comfort zone and go door to door and you know all 43:32 this. Well I don't believe in that, I mean I love to go door 43:35 to door but if you're doing something you hate doing you're 43:39 going to burn out. You're not going to continue to doing it. 43:43 Pick something you love. I love to garden so this was a perfect 43:48 fit for me. They say oh that's so much work. No, cooking is 43:52 work. But and I love to sell and I love fall. It was just a 43:58 perfect fit. So just stop and think for a minute. What do you 44:00 like to do? You know like some men they like to work with wood 44:04 They can make these beautiful plaques for the walls and for 44:09 the entrance to your house, the welcome sign. If you make 44:13 bird houses and what if you like to cook. I know a lady who has a 44:17 cookie business and she sells most of her cookies. She makes a 44:21 lot of money. And I know another lady that has a bread business. 44:24 And she's made a lot of money. You don't have to sell something 44:29 to have a ministry. I know this 97-year-old lady who has a card 44:34 ministry. She has big tubs of things that she puts together on 44:38 a card writes and encouraging note to somebody every day. 44:41 I mean just stop to think what do you have in your hand that 44:46 you can use for God? 44:49 Amen. I had a little lady show, you'll love this story. I think 44:52 it was my very first year here and I answered the phone and 44:58 this little lady was talking to me. She was like 98 and she said 45:02 Oh honey I'm in a nursing home and oh honey I was a missionary 45:08 I was a pastor's wife and she said I can't do anything for the 45:13 Lord anymore and she said, but I want you to know I pray for 45:17 you every day and I pray for the people at 3ABN. And I said to 45:21 her Congratulations I said you have been promoted to the 45:27 greatest ministry there is. And she said what do you mean? 45:31 And I said what is the ministry of our risen and exalted Savior? 45:37 He is at the right hand of the throne of the Father and the 45:43 Bible says He intercedes for us day by day and He's able to save 45:48 to the uttermost. So sometimes when you feel that you've been 45:55 put on a shelf somewhere, God can still use you no matter 46:00 where you are. I mean would you have believed in your wildest 46:03 imagination...Farmers are not wealthy people. Would you have 46:09 believed in your wildest imagination that God could use 46:13 you to build 25 churches in India? 46:17 No. In fact, I have a picture a couple pictures I'd like to show 46:21 I took a picture of some pumpkin seeds in my hands because to me 46:27 it is such a miracle that a handful of seeds can turn into a 46:32 church. You know... 46:33 And we've got a picture of a church (two voices) So 46:37 that's a handful of pumpkin seeds. 46:40 But it's prayer and dedication. That's what it's all about. So 46:47 are you staying in touch with some of the people from India? 46:50 I am. Yeah actually the first 12 years I raised pumpkins I sent 46:56 my money to Elder Chuck Wilson in the General Conference. I 47:00 still, keep in contact with him. He was so fun to work with 47:03 because he went to India every year and did meetings and 47:07 dedicated my church. And he would make me a scrapbook of 47:12 all these pictures and he would keep a journal and it was almost 47:14 as if I was there. It was really fun. And then my last year I've 47:20 been working with Stanley Ponniah in the General 47:24 Conference. He is an Indian so he really understands this and 47:28 he went and did meetings and has really been influential 47:32 there too. So it has been really fun. But no I never would have 47:39 guessed that...Well I just did it year by year. I didn't say 47:41 well I'm going to raise pumpkins for 20 years or whatever. It's 47:45 just that I really didn't want to stop. Every year was more fun 47:48 than the year before. And it got so much easier. You know at 47:53 first I was constantly on the phone trying to get customers 47:56 and at the end, they were sold from the time they were picked. 48:01 I had major grocery stores in Fargo and in Jamestown, 48:06 warehouse in Jamestown they bought them all, all I had every 48:11 year. So it got a lot easier but it was fun, it was fun every day 48:17 I even was happy to clean up the spoiled pumpkins. 48:21 Okay so tell us about the price of your book and I mean you've 48:24 got like a package. Tell us about that real quick. 48:27 Okay the price of the book is $16.95 and if you buy 10 you get 48:35 10 percent off. And actually you can consider it a donation 48:38 because I'm giving every penny toward building churches in 48:42 India. Also if you don't want to buy a book but you want to 48:45 support the project you can give directly to Maranatha and you 48:50 just write on your check Pumpkin Churches or Missionary Pumpkins 48:54 and they have a fund set up and (Maranatha 916-774-7700) 48:56 when I finally get to $30,000 then they're going to build the 48:59 church. 49:01 Now don't you have like a craft project. There was a reason you 49:03 did 31 chapters. Tell us. 49:05 Yes I did chapter to counteract the 31 evil days of Halloween. 49:09 People think that's funny that I raise pumpkins and I hate 49:12 Halloween so much but my pumpkins...Actually, I'll tell 49:17 you something funny. I never said anything to the grocery 49:19 stores because I felt like once they bought them they were their 49:22 pumpkins. They could do with them what they wanted. But they 49:24 never decorated with Halloween. They always only had a fall 49:28 arrangement but it was really nice. And now I have a family 49:32 pack because my dream is for people to read this as a family. 49:36 One story a night during the month of October and in there 49:40 there's a craft called Pumpkin Prayer Craft and there is an 49:47 activity book for preschoolers and a Pumpkin Prayer Activity 49:50 Book and a Pumpkin Prayer Activity Book for 7-11 years old 49:56 So if they like that it is $19.95 Yeah. 50:01 Once again you can go to CherylErickson@yahoo.com 50:13 You can order a book from her that way or you can go 50:17 Amazon.com or you can go to the ABC Book Stores. So go online 50:23 there and order. But I never thought how...you know Jesus 50:28 said that the fields are ripe and you have been one of His 50:35 laborers in the harvest field to build all these churches and 50:41 I have to say that your enthusiasm you can see your love 50:47 for the Lord. So now Cheryl is speaking at...You're getting 50:51 ready to go to a women's ministry She speaks at churches. She 50:56 speaks for youth groups and by the way this book has been very 50:59 popular with the school system. There are schools that are using 51:04 it to teach their kids. It's a great little devotional for 51:07 family night. It only takes two or three minutes to get through 51:13 each story. But if you would like to get in touch with this 51:18 handmaiden of the Lord and invite her to come to your 51:22 church or to your women's ministry here's how you can get 51:26 in touch with Cheryl. 51:28 If you would like to contact or know more about Pumpkin 51:31 People and Produce you can do so in the following ways: You can 51:35 write to them at 2325- 68th Ave SE, Buchanan, ND 58420 51:42 You can call them at (701) 320-2685 51:52 or send them an email at CherylErickson@yahoo.com 52:00 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2023-07-18