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Related topics The Neighbors Noticed Although the Adventist Church has experienced significant growth in Salvador, there are still unentered areas in this city. Global Mission is working to establish new groups of believers in areas where there is no Adventist presence, such as Josenildo’s neighborhood.
Salvador, Brazil, is known for its vibrant culture, architectural wonders, and beautiful beaches. With a population of some three million people, it’s the fourth largest city in the nation. Although the Adventist Church has experienced significant growth in Salvador, there are still unentered areas in this city. Global Mission is working to establish new groups of believers in areas where there is no Adventist presence, such as Josenildo’s neighborhood. Josenildo was known as a drunk whose bad habits disrupted his family life and the whole community.  Watch “The Neighbors Noticed” in action at m360.tv/s1921 . Arivaldo, an Adventist, lived nearby, and he encountered Josenildo on his way to work. He knew Josenildo was looking for a job, so he offered him a position building churches with his construction company. It didn’t take long for the two men to become friends. Arivaldo treated Josenildo with respect, which made Josenildo wonder why he was always so kind. Over time, Arivaldo asked Josenildo whether he was interested in Bible studies, and the two began reading the Bible together. “Before I met Jesus, I didn’t have happiness,” Josenildo says. “But when I came to know Christ, my life was transformed.” Josenildo was baptized, and he changed for the better. His family was so inspired by his transformation that they, too, gave their hearts to Jesus. Even the neighbors noticed the difference. When the usual loud music from his home stopped one day, everyone wondered whether he was OK. When they checked on him, they saw that Josenildo was a changed man. He spoke kindly to them and treated them respectfully, and they wanted to know what had inspired these changes in his life.  Please support Global Mission pioneers in their endeavor to reach those who don’t know Jesus. Ways to give Online Make a secure donation quickly at Global-Mission.org/giving. Call Call 800-648-5824. Mail a check In the United States: Global Mission General Conference 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904-6601 In Canada: Global Mission SDA Church in Canada 1148 King Street East Oshawa, ON L1H 1H8 Josenildo used this opportunity to minister to his neighbors. Every Friday night, they gathered in his living room to talk about their week. They shared their concerns, requests for prayer, and praises. Josenildo pointed them to the Bible, showing them a Creator who cared deeply about them. For the children, Josenildo’s daughter lead an activity in the hallway. This group has grown close, and as a result, 10 people have already been baptized, and more are studying for baptism! Small groups like this one are the core of church planting in Salvador. Small groups of new believers develop into congregations, and these congregations divide into more small groups that spread throughout the city. Five years ago, church leaders in Salvador’s state had an ambitious goal of building 1,000 churches in five years. They reached their goal, and every building represents an ever-growing congregation of believers who, like Josenildo, have been changed by Jesus. “Jesus is good,” says Josenildo. “He transforms lives. And just as He transformed my life, He can transform anyone’s life.” No matter the struggles someone may face, Jesus has the power to transform that person’s life. And more lives are impacted as churches are planted throughout the world. Thank you for helping us change lives by supporting church planting through Global Mission! More from Mission 360° Magazine Get to know the region Resources Topics From the front lines of mission—straight to your inbox

Although the Adventist Church has experienced significant growth in Salvador, there are still unentered areas in this city. Global Mission is working to establish new groups of believers in areas where there is no Adventist presence, such as Josenildo’s neighborhood.

The Neighbors Noticed

More from this quarter Related topics Baltimore Central Church Plant
Monday, July 1, 2019 A newly planted Adventist Church continues on planting  through small-group meetings and other activities.
 Full story Downloads Topics Get to know the region From the front lines of mission—straight to your inbox

A newly planted Adventist Church continues on planting  through small-group meetings and other activities.

Baltimore Central Church Plant

Related topics Myanmar Villagers Opposed Christians. Then Adventist Teens Gave Water
The simple gift of a water pipeline opens the way for an Adventist school. The simple gift of a water pipeline opens the way for an Adventist school.
By Andrew McChesney, adventistmission.org This is the story of how a small act of kindness paved the way for the opening of a Seventh-day Adventist school in a hostile village in Myanmar. A group of 32 student missionaries arrived on the Thailand-Myanmar border for a one-week visit in January 2016. The young people — from Hong Kong Adventist College and the Korean Advanced Preparatory Academy in South Korea — came to teach music to schoolchildren, install a cement floor in a kindergarten, and find other ways to help refugees at the border. At the beginning of the visit, a student missionary from Hong Kong joined two missionaries from Thailand and their photographer for a one-hour motorcycle trek into Myanmar. The four people wanted to assess the needs of a small village of 14 families, said Tranqui Vergara, one of the Thai missionaries who went on the trip. At the village, the visitors witnessed a daily struggle for drinking water. The nearest source of water was a reservoir located 1 mile (1 kilometer) away, and the villagers walked back and forth with buckets. The student missionary, Janiz Shuk Ching Li, felt compassion for the families. “She really pitied them, and her heart was touched by their condition,” Tranqui said. When Janiz returned to the refugee camp on the border, she told the other student missionaries about what she had seen. The students decided to donate 50,000 baht (about U.S.$1,500) to lay a simple water pipeline from the reservoir to the village. The money was what remained from the funds that the students had raised through bake sales and other fundraisers for the mission trip. The students were back home in Hong Kong and South Korea when work finished on the water pipeline a month later. Tranqui e-mailed photos of the pipeline to the delighted students. But the pipeline ended up providing more than water. It opened the way for the village children to receive the Water of Life, Tranqui said. “The villagers weren’t Christians, and they didn’t want anything to do with Christianity,” Tranqui said. “But when they saw this simple act of kindness by Christians, they wanted a school for their children.” At the invitation of the villagers, the Seventh-day Adventist Church opened a school in the village in June 2016. The school now has 40 students — every school-age child in the village attends, as do several children from neighboring villages. “Now this village is so happy,” Tranqui said. “They have a water system and an Adventist school through the kindness of those students.”  Tranqui Vergara, 44, does regular mission work on the Thailand-Myanmar border. He also is the physical education and art teacher at Adventist International Mission School – Korat, a K-9 school in Thailand that will receive part of the fourth quarter 2018 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. Thank you for your mission offering. Get to know the region More Stories Topics From the front lines of mission—straight to your inbox

The simple gift of a water pipeline opens the way for an Adventist school.

Myanmar Villagers Opposed Christians. Then Adventist Teens Gave Water

Related topics The Christmas Cookie Project
The children were curious to know what we had brought. Growing up as missionary kids, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we actually live in the mission field. Life here seems normal to us, just like life seems normal to you, wherever you live.
Growing up as missionary kids, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we actually live in the mission field. Life here seems normal to us, just like life seems normal to you, wherever you live. Last December our family decided to launch a small mission project in an area not far from where we live in Bangkok, Thailand. We have been helping a church planter who is working very hard to start a church in this neighborhood. About 100 families live in small shacks made of wood and tin, crowded together along the banks of a dirty canal. Our plan was to make 100 bags of Christmas cookies that we could give to these families. We thought that it would make them smile, and maybe it would give us an opportunity to tell them what Christmas is about. So we chose a day to make the cookies. We worked all day long and baked about 400 sugar cookies! Talk about a lot of rolling, cutting, and baking! We made a variety of large and small cookies, cutting them into star, Christmas tree, and gingerbread man shapes. When we lived in another country, before we moved to Thailand, our mom would make lots of sugar cookies. Then she would invite our friends and the student missionaries to come over to our house for cookie-decorating contests. Everyone always had fun decorating the cookies with different colors of icing. She would prepare the icing ahead of time and put it small plastic bags. We thought the people in the canal neighborhood would enjoy decorating cookies too. So we made up bags with one large decorated cookie as an example. Then we added two or three small plain cookies and several small plastic bags of different colored icing. All the kids would need to do is snip off a small corner of the bag to have fun decorating their own cookies! When we tied the last bow on the final bag, we heaved a sigh of relief and went to bed. On Sabbath we took them to the church plant. When we carried the baskets of cookie bags inside, the small group of Bible students and children were curious to know what we brought. But we waited until after church to show them. When church and potluck were finally over, we brought out the cookie bags. You should have seen the smiles—even on the adults’ faces! One of them, a grandma who is probably in her 50s, got so excited that she immediately put on her shoes and took us around the neighborhood, giving the cookies to the neighbors for us! She was so happy to have something nice to share with her friends and neighbors. We visited a lot of people that day. Some of them were sick, which gave us an opportunity to sing and pray for them. Even though it was a lot of hard work to make all the cookies and put them into the bags, it was worth the effort. We don’t know whether anyone will learn to love Jesus because of our cookies, but at least they will know that Christians care about them!  Tyler Whitsett , 16, moved to Southeast Asia when he was only three years old. He enjoys playing guitar, making homemade pasta, and producing videos. His younger brother Ryan is 13. To view more pictures for this article and to read more articles visit http://www.adventistmission.org/mission360mag More from Mission 360° Magazine  Did you know that your weekly mission offerings and world budget offerings help support more than 455 missionary families, such as Tyler’s, around the world? Thank you!  Get to know the region Resources Topics From the front lines of mission—straight to your inbox

Growing up as missionary kids, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we actually live in the mission field. Life here seems normal to us, just like life seems normal to you, wherever you live.

The Christmas Cookie Project

Related topics Faithful Renalto
story Renalto lives in a town in the tree-covered mountains of eastern Peru. Since he was little he has attended the Adventist church in town. Renalto loves learning about God.
Renalto lives in a town in the tree-covered mountains of eastern Peru. Since he was little he has attended the Adventist church in town. Renalto loves learning about God. But when Renalto was about 5 years old, his family had some difficult times. Father wasn’t working, and Mother had to work to help pay the bills. But her job required her to work on Sabbath. So the family stopped attending church. Renalto didn’t want to miss church. He asked his parents to let him go to church alone. It was close, so his mother agreed. Renalto walked to church every Sabbath. He often prayed that God would help his parents return to church. He continued to invite them to church, even though they would lose their jobs if they didn’t work on Sabbaths. Helping Mother When Renalto was 8 years old, he asked his mother to let him help the family earn money by selling homemade candies to tourists. Mother agreed, so every day after school Renalto sold the candy his mother had made. Sometimes Mother asked Renalto to sell the treats on Sabbath, when there were more tourists, but Renalto refused. “I can’t dishonor God that way,” Renalto said. Again he invited his mother to attend church with him. She sighed and said that she wished she could, but the family needed her income to buy food. Some New Friends One day Renalto met an Adventist couple. Renalto’s family and the Adventist couple became friends. When the couple learned that Renalto’s mother was a good cook, they invited her to open a restaurant in their home. Renalto’s mother was delighted. The couple rented Renalto’s family some rooms in their home in which to live and run the restaurant. Soon Father found a better job, and the family was earning enough to live comfortably again. Best of all, the whole family attends church again. Renalto is so happy! Sharing God’s Love Renalto enjoys sharing God’s love with his classmates. Two of his classmates were learning more about the Bible, so Renalto invited them to study the Bible at his house. He wanted the homeowner and his wife to teach the girls, but they said, “These are your friends. You teach them.” And they offered to help him start a small-group meeting for children. So Renalto started his own small group. Soon six children were attending. They studied a Bible course together, and when they were finished, two of the children asked to be baptized. One was Sandra. Another Small Group Renalto started another small-group meeting in Sandra’s home. Her parents aren’t Adventists, but they were happy to let the children hold small-group meetings in their home. Sandra’s parents even attended the small group and invited other adults to join them. Because of the children’s small group that met in Sandra’s home, her father accepted Jesus as his Savior. Now Sandra’s parents worship with Sandra in the little Adventist church. They have started their own small group for adults. The children’s group grew to 25 children—too many to meet in Sandra’s parents’ home, so they now meet in two separate small groups at the church. Renalto teaches the older children. “I’m one of the youngest in the group,” he says, “but they allow me to lead it.” Growing Through Sharing Renalto encourages the children in his small groups to invite others to come. And the small groups keep growing. “I’m glad that God kept me close to Him during the difficult times my family went through,” Renalto says. “I’m glad that my family came back to church and my Adventist friends encouraged me to start the small groups. Many are now coming to church because of this work. God is blessing my faith so much.” We can share our faith with others in our neighborhood and at school. And when we give our mission offering, we’re helping children and adults around the world teach others about Jesus.  Mission Post In many areas of Peru—and throughout South America—small groups welcome people to come and learn about Jesus in a friendly place. As more people come, these groups grow and multiply. Some even form new congregations in an area far from an existing church. The new believers become a new church. But often these new believers can’t afford to rent or buy a place in which to worship. Part of our Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help build several simple churches for congregations across northern Peru.  Get to know the region More Stories Topics From the front lines of mission—straight to your inbox

Renalto lives in a town in the tree-covered mountains of eastern Peru. Since he was little he has attended the Adventist church in town. Renalto loves learning about God.

Faithful Renalto

Related topics Crazy About God
story Half dressed and unwashed, Juan wandered the streets of Lima, Peru. He seldom spoke, and his eyes showed no glimmer of understanding. Most people kept their distance from this man they called Crazy Juan.
Half dressed and unwashed, Juan wandered the streets of Lima, Peru. He seldom spoke, and his eyes showed no glimmer of understanding. Most people kept their distance from this man they called Crazy Juan. Loving Friend and Family But Francisco didn’t avoid Juan. Instead he searched the streets for his friend. Often Francisco would find Juan only to lose him as he began to cry and ran down an alley. But Francesco didn’t give up. He’d search and find Juan and try to take him home to his family or at least to tell Juan’s wife, Maria, where to find him. But getting Juan home didn’t restore his sanity. Often he’d spend days lying under the bed, not even coming out to eat. Maria grew desperate, wondering whether she’d ever have her husband back. Francisco often visited Juan, and one Sabbath he even coaxed him out from under the bed. He washed Juan up as well as he could and took him to church. Juan sat in church staring blankly at the ceiling. But something happened that day that changed Juan forever. The next morning he crawled out from under his bed and said, “I need water.” Maria hadn’t heard Juan speak in two years. Hope fluttered in her heart as she hurried to get him some water. But when she returned, she found Juan unresponsive on the floor. Her shoulders slumped, and her spirits slid to despair. God, why don’t you just let him die? her heart pleaded. A New Man Then Juan stirred and sat up, shouting, “Jesus has healed me! I’m well!” Maria hugged her husband tearfully; and their children crowded into the room, hopeful but unsure about what had happened. “I’m hungry,” Juan said. “Bring me some of the food I prepared last night.” “Juan,” Maria spoke hesitantly, you haven’t made a meal in two years.” Juan’s eyes widened as he looked at his dirty clothes and smelled his unkempt body. He went to take a shower and scrub off years of grime. Later that morning Juan answered the door and found Francisco there. Juan exclaimed, “Jesus has saved me! I want to become a Christian.” Francisco hugged his friend and rejoiced with the family. Then he invited everyone to attend the Adventist church with him. Before long Juan and Maria and their older children were studying the Bible together. New Life, New Mission Juan bubbled over with new life and energy. One day he told Maria, “The church is too far away. We must start a small group here in our home. The couple invited their neighbors to hear how God had saved Juan. Francisco taught Juan leadership skills as he coached his friend in how to give Bible studies and how to preach. The formerly silent crazy man preached God’s praises with passion. Within three years the small group that met in Juan’s house grew to 30 members. It was time to move on. Juan suggested that the small group divide and plant another small group in a nearby community. The mother church, where Juan and his family had been baptized, provided outreach resources for the small group. Juan taught the children and youth how to give Bible studies, and everyone worked together to plant God’s love and truth in the hearts of others. The 30 members grew to 200 and started another church. Juan knew that when the group was small, everyone worked; but when it grew larger, it was more difficult to get people involved. The members agreed, and two more churches were planted, one nearby and the other farther up the mountain. God is blessing Juan, who has just a third-grade education. His children, who could not study while Juan was mentally ill, are now in school. A Passion for Souls Juan’s passion for leading others to Jesus continues. He and the members of one of the churches he helped found have bought land and are working to build a simple church as a base for further ministry. But the members are poor and find it difficult to buy the bricks they need for the church. Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help build a church for one of the congregations Juan helped establish. In turn, this congregation will help the other believers build churches of their own. “We must keep growing, keep opening new churches,” Juan says eagerly. “Small groups are the future of God’s work here in Peru.” We can help the church in Peru grow by giving our weekly mission offerings, and through our Thirteenth Sabbath Offering we can help build chapels for several congregations such as the one Juan helped start.  Fast Facts Peru lies on the western coast of South America between Ecuador and Chile. Most of the economic centers lie along the coast, including Lima, the country’s capital city. The Andes mountains divide the country north to south. East of the mountains the country is tropical jungle. Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest commercially navigable freshwater lake, lies in southeastern Peru. The Incan Empire dominated western South America until the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century. Armed with horses and guns, the small bands of Spanish conquered the Indians. Many of those who survived died from diseases brought by the conquerors.  Get to know the region Related publications More Stories Topics From the front lines of mission—straight to your inbox

Half dressed and unwashed, Juan wandered the streets of Lima, Peru. He seldom spoke, and his eyes showed no glimmer of understanding. Most people kept their distance from this man they called Crazy Juan.

Crazy About God

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