Gabriel approached this remote Indian village for the first time. He didn’t know what he was getting himself into. But he had heard a still, small voice impressing him to go.

Gabriel had taken a year off school because of health issues. But a friend told him about a mountain village where people had never heard of Jesus. Even though his health was getting worse, Gabriel felt compelled to go.

“I told God, ‘Since you have sent me here, you have to make me all right, you have to take care of me. I’m completely focusing and depending on you with all my health issues.’”

After arriving in the village, Gabriel rested and prayed for a week. Then he had to travel a long distance to see a ­­­doctor. A blood test revealed that his health had been restored! His prayer answered, Gabriel returned ready to put all his energy into serving this community.

But he quickly realized the challenges facing him. The high altitude made it cold, he had to hike to get water, and the villagers knew nothing about basic health principles.

“We see a child, the face is so dirty. He’s playing in the mud. Here we see a lot of wounds. I don’t know how I’m going to support him with medicine. He’s feeling so cold, it’s so cold here.”

Although Gabriel had permission from village leaders, many opposed his presence. But the children loved him. There was no school in the village, so Gabriel turned his home into a classroom.

“Here now most of them are beginning to write. They are writing, they know how to write already ABCD and they know how to read. Some of them are writing 1 to 100 and also spelling.”

“It was very difficult for them to accept me. It took almost four months to become friends with them. When they finally accepted me as part of their village, that made me very happy.”

The villagers started inviting Gabriel to spend time with them.

“He is cutting the banana. We are going to eat the banana flower tonight. We are running short on money and out of vegetables so we’re going to eat the banana.”

Soon Gabriel was having conversations about health principles. Sometimes they even talked about faith.

“When they began to ask me, ‘What do you have in your life that makes you so happy?’ Then I began to share the love of Jesus Christ.”

The villagers enjoyed hearing about his hope in Jesus. It was a liberating concept they had never heard before. Many accepted Jesus and started meeting together on Sabbath.

Wonderful doors were opening. But Gabriel still got discouraged at times. He felt lonely.

One outlet was to visit a market nearby from time to time. But even this came with challenges.

“They are smoking, this old lady. I can’t bear the smell anymore but I just have to adjust. I don’t know, sometimes I get confused why God sent me to such a place. This is the place of a mission field.”

But Gabriel never gave up. He began hiking to other nearby villages, as far as he could walk, to spread the good news.

“Even though I’m feeling tired, I won’t give up. I’ll go and meet and tell them about the love of Jesus.”

After this year of ministry, Gabriel knew that he only wanted one thing—to follow God’s will for his life. His desire to delve deeper into the Bible led him to enroll in the school of theology at Spicer Adventist University.

“When I went to the village, I knew my health was very poor and I might possibly even die. But I have a passion to take the gospel to the unreached.”

Today, Gabriel is happy to be studying at Spicer, a school dedicated to teaching and training students for a higher purpose. His dream is to become a full time church planter. And thanks to a missionary family sponsoring his studies, that dream is set to become a reality.

Not far from the Spicer campus, a community had no school. Just like Gabriel taught his village children, the university has reached out and opened a classroom. The gratitude of parents shows that so much more is needed. This quarter a portion of your 13th Sabbath Offering will help build a new school building for this needy community.

Please pray for this opportunity near Spicer Adventist University. Pray that more people will find hope in Jesus, just like the villagers Gabriel ministered to. Thank you for supporting the 13th Sabbath Offering and the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church around the world!

Title on screen:

“Special thanks:”

“William and Nancy Mack”