Neena does what most dog owners do. She takes her dog out for a walk every day to enjoy the outside air. But things are a little different for Neena. She relies on Fargo to get her out the door and around the neighborhood safely. He’s her guide dog, helping Neena navigate the streets.

Neena and her husband, Kevin, are both blind, living in a Toronto high rise apartment building. This Canadian couple lives in many ways just like anyone else would. They cook, clean, and do household tasks. Neena runs an online business selling handmade knitted clothing, homemade soaps, and other accessories.

“Each of these things are an artistic outlet for me. I do the store because I like to have fun with crafts.”

Neena and Kevin met at Camp Frenda, an Adventist summer camp that opens its doors to the blind community for one week each year. It was sponsored by Christian Record Services at the time. Neena and Kevin’s love for Jesus grew and they both were baptized. During the same time, they fell in love and eventually got married.

Despite becoming part of a church family, the reality of their daily challenges still exist.

“I think a lot of people just don’t know how to relate to us and a lot of people are afraid to even talk to us. Sometimes they just don’t know how to approach us as people, and a lot of times we’ve felt left out.”

In 2007, they were part of the founding team to start a new Adventist congregation with the Ontario Conference. They rented a conference room in a local hotel in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, and began meeting once a month. This gathering came to be known as Hope Vision Fellowship and was designed to welcome the blind community. Momentum built over the years and they formed a core group, with new visitors coming through the doors regularly.

“There’s a lot of hopelessness throughout the blind community. I like the name of our church; Hope Vision Fellowship. That’s basically what we are. We hope, we do have a vision, and our vision is to see blind people be saved. Blind people come to know Jesus Christ and find healing and hope through His wonderful grace.”

In 2016, Global Mission helped support this group, and that same year Hope Vision Fellowship was recognized as the first Adventist church for the visually impaired in the North American Division!

Since then, they’ve started meeting in their own church building, opening the door for more possibilities. Members like Kevin and Neena are actively involved in sharing Jesus’ love with the blind community.

“There are a lot of blind people who really need this hope and this nice time away from the stuff they deal with every day. They need a slight refuge. That’s my heart, I want to make people feel that way, like they matter.”

Most of the people who attend are not Adventist, but come because they feel safe here. They come from different religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. This congregation is not just focused on meeting the spiritual needs of its community, they also are aware of the physical needs. Pat, one of the founding members, makes sure that people are well taken care of by creating food care packages for people to take home.

“Most of them can’t afford some of the basic necessities of life, let alone a little extra. Some of them have to rely on food banks anyway. So this is one of our reaches as well. This is sometimes the only way of getting their food. Knowing some of the stories of the ones going to food banks, they get pushed to the back, they can’t see, they don’t know what the cans of food are. One time I was helping a girl clean out her cupboard. She had 25 cans of expired spaghetti sauce and no spaghetti. So this is just helping.”

Thanks to your prayers and contribution to Global Mission, churches like this are planted in new areas and among unreached people groups.

“I want to thank God from the bottom of my heart for the Adventist Church. It was through the Adventist Church that I found Jesus, it was through the Adventist Church that I experienced His love, and it’s through the Adventist Church’s help that made me the man I am today.”

Thank you for supporting Global Mission!