Generation. Youth. Christ.

“To The End: Will You Go”

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

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Series Code: GYC

Program Code: GYC180005A


00:32 I would invite you to join us in standing
00:34 as we sing our theme song, "This Witness I Will bear."
01:00 Have you heard the story told
01:05 Of the Man whose heart was sold
01:09 To save my dying soul?
01:13 Oh, what love untold
01:18 To the end He's always sought me
01:22 To the end He's always loved me
01:27 To the end I long to follow
01:31 For He bore my cross of sorrow
01:35 I will stay here in the hollow of His care
01:42 And I will go anywhere, to the end
01:49 This witness I will bear
01:54 To the end
02:03 In the grove I heard Him say
02:07 "Oh my Father please just stay"
02:12 Through broken hearted pain
02:16 He did pave the way
02:21 To the end His heart is faithful
02:25 To the end His hand is able
02:29 To the end I can now follow
02:34 For He bore my cross of sorrow
02:38 I will stay here in the hollow of His care
02:44 And I will go anywhere, to the end
02:52 This witness I will bear
02:57 To the end
03:05 As they took Him off to die
03:10 There His friendship I denied
03:14 Forgiveness in His eyes
03:18 He did not despise
03:23 To the end His love constrains me
03:27 To the end He has restored me
03:32 To the end I will still follow
03:36 For He bore my cross of sorrow
03:41 I will stay here in the hollow of His care
03:47 And I will go anywhere, to the end
03:54 This witness I will bear
03:59 This witness I will bear, to the end
04:17 Happy Sabbath.
04:21 Isn't it a blessing for us to spend this Sabbath together
04:24 singing, praying, and learning from God's Word?
04:27 I've been blessed today.
04:29 As we begin this afternoon's service,
04:32 I would like to read the scripture
04:33 that will go with our message
04:35 and it's found in Romans 10:13-15.
04:40 Romans 10:13-15,
04:43 and I will be reading from the New King James Version.
04:46 It reads,
04:48 "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
04:53 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
04:57 And how shall they believe in Him
04:59 of whom they have not heard?
05:02 And how shall they hear without a preacher?
05:05 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
05:09 As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those
05:13 who preach the gospel of peace,
05:16 who bring glad tidings of good things!"
05:19 Amen.
05:21 Hello everyone, my name is Karisse McLarty.
05:24 I have the great opportunity
05:26 of introducing the speaker for this evening.
05:29 Her name is Tara.
05:30 Now Tara, she was born and raised in California.
05:35 She was born to a family that had to flee
05:38 from overseas as refugees.
05:41 And they came over here about 50 years ago.
05:43 And this built in her resilience and persistence.
05:47 Though her family did not know what they were gonna do
05:50 or where they were going to live,
05:52 they continued to persevere.
05:55 After college, Tara went over to Loma Linda
05:58 to get a degree in public health,
06:01 with a concentration on health education.
06:03 Now this is where I met Tara.
06:05 Tara and I had to take a class called epidemiology.
06:08 If any of you who've had that class,
06:10 it's not the easiest one.
06:12 Now one day, I decide and sit next to her,
06:15 and we started to talk
06:16 and then after that she couldn't get rid of me.
06:18 We were in class together,
06:19 vespers, church, cafeteria, everywhere.
06:23 If you saw her, then you saw me.
06:25 And she didn't know at the time,
06:27 but she came into my life in a time
06:29 when things were a little difficult,
06:32 and she into being a prayer,
06:34 and to an answer to prayer that I never did actually pray.
06:37 Now if you know Tara, then you know that
06:39 she is a loving and caring person.
06:41 She's reliable, passionate, and she is someone that
06:45 wants to serve God with all of her heart.
06:48 When she left Loma Linda,
06:50 she went back to northern California,
06:51 and she began to help out with GLOW.
06:54 With GLOW, she was able to help translate
06:56 some of the tracts into Hmong.
07:00 She was able to help people
07:01 all around the world to be able to understand more about God.
07:05 And with GLOW she also led out on 10 different mission trips,
07:08 and one of these was to Pennsylvania
07:11 when the pope came to America.
07:13 She was able to see
07:15 a prophecy fulfilled in front of her.
07:17 She also went to Romania
07:18 to help out with the mission trip there.
07:21 With GLOW she was able to help them to pass out
07:24 eight million GLOW tracts.
07:26 That's amazing, right?
07:28 Now, even though
07:30 she has been involved with those other things,
07:32 she continued on, now she is involved with GYC.
07:36 Her passion for winning souls for Christ
07:39 and showing God's love
07:40 is what drives her from day to day.
07:43 Now, Tara is someone that wants to show God's love to everyone.
07:47 One of her favorite verses is,
07:49 "My little children, these things I write to you,
07:53 so that you may not sin.
07:54 And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father,
07:57 Jesus Christ the righteous."
07:59 That's from 1 John 2:1.
08:02 And one thing that Tara said for anyone that want to grow
08:06 and have a stronger relationship with God,
08:08 she recommends that they go on a GLOW mission trip,
08:11 that they have a Bible study
08:13 with at least one person for the year,
08:15 and also that they go canvassing.
08:17 And these are different ways that people can try
08:19 to venture out to have a deeper life with God.
08:23 Now after the special music,
08:25 the next person that you'll hear
08:27 will be none other than my best friend Tara Vang.
08:31 Now, let's bow our heads
08:33 so that we can open up with prayer.
08:37 Dear, Heavenly Father, thank You so much
08:39 for allowing us to be able to come together, God.
08:43 Thank You for just being here in this place,
08:45 and just touching us in many different ways,
08:47 and speaking through all the different people
08:50 that are here, God.
08:51 I'm asking that You please prepare our hearts,
08:54 forgive us for the many times that we have gone astray,
08:56 and done things and our hearts have been hardened, God.
09:00 Asking that You please lead us in the right direction,
09:03 make our hearts of flesh not of stone.
09:05 Let our hearts be open to whatever You have for us,
09:08 the truth and the way that You want us to go.
09:11 God, help us, today we're asking that
09:14 You just take our hearts and our minds, and all of us,
09:17 and just take over, God.
09:19 We're asking You to lead us through this world, God,
09:22 and be our light to this community.
09:25 We love You and we praise You. Amen.
09:44 My peace I give
09:48 unto you
09:52 It's a peace that the world
09:56 cannot give
10:00 It's a peace that the world
10:03 cannot understand
10:08 Peace to know,
10:12 peace to live
10:15 My peace I give
10:20 unto you
10:31 My love I give
10:36 unto you
10:39 It's a love that the world
10:43 cannot give
10:47 It's a love that the world
10:50 cannot understand
10:55 Love to know,
10:59 love to live
11:02 My love I give
11:06 unto you
11:10 It's a love that the world
11:15 cannot understand
11:21 My love
11:25 I give
11:30 unto you
11:40 Good afternoon and happy Sabbath, everyone.
11:43 I'm so glad that you decided to spend your Sabbath afternoon
11:46 to hear me share my testimony.
11:48 My name is Tara Vang,
11:49 and you might know me as the VP of Evangelism for GYC.
11:55 You might even know me as Miss GLOW
11:58 because I do love GLOW tracts and testimonies.
12:02 But today I have something else that I wanna share with you.
12:06 First, I'd like to teach you something.
12:09 I want you to say and repeat after me.
12:12 Zoo Siab.
12:17 Hnub Chib So.
12:21 Turn to your neighbor and say, "Zoo Siab Hnub Chib So."
12:29 You just learned how to say Happy Sabbath in Hmong.
12:34 The Hmong people are an indigenous people group
12:39 from the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia.
12:43 If you look on the screen
12:44 you'll see a country that my parents are from.
12:48 It's the country of Laos.
12:50 Hmong people live in China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
12:54 My parents were born and raised
12:56 in the northern villages of Laos, a landlocked country.
13:01 I'm so happy to share about
13:02 how God has mightily worked in my life.
13:06 But this afternoon,
13:07 I'm gonna share about my family's refugee story,
13:11 and how we became Seventh-day Adventist.
13:15 I'm also sharing how one dedicated young person
13:19 going into the 10/40 Window,
13:22 and going into unreached foreign fields,
13:25 has changed the life course of my life,
13:29 my family, and generations to come.
13:33 How one young person has made an internal impact
13:38 on an unreached people group, the Hmong people.
13:42 Before I start my testimony,
13:44 let us begin with a word of prayer.
13:48 Dear, Heavenly Father, if there was ever a time
13:51 I needed the Holy Spirit, it is right now.
13:55 Lord, I pray that Your Holy Spirit
13:57 would be poured upon our entire group here at GYC.
14:02 I pray that everybody would hear Your voice,
14:06 hide me behind the cross,
14:08 and help me to speak words from Your throne room.
14:11 All this I ask in Jesus' name, amen.
14:16 The title of my testimony is
14:19 "To the end, will you go?"
14:23 I'm going to start off with a testimony.
14:27 Do you guys like testimonies?
14:30 I'm going to start off with the GLOW testimony actually.
14:33 So I received a call from a sweet 91-year-old lady.
14:38 It was May 2017.
14:41 I had no idea who she was until she told me her name.
14:46 As soon as she told me her name, I froze,
14:51 and I just couldn't speak.
14:54 The reason why is because I knew who she was.
14:58 I had never met her, but I knew her name.
15:03 I wasn't prepared for this call.
15:04 I silently froze because
15:06 on the back of every Hmong GLOW tract
15:10 is my phone number.
15:11 But don't tell anyone.
15:15 I was in disbelief
15:16 when she told me her name was Jean Hall,
15:20 and that her husband's name was Richard Hall.
15:24 I couldn't believe that,
15:26 I would be reconnected with this special couple.
15:29 You see, at 32 years old,
15:31 Richard Hall was a pilot missionary.
15:36 He was the first Seventh-day Adventist
15:39 to step foot into the country of Laos.
15:43 He truly believed in the literal fulfillment
15:46 of Revelation 14:6.
15:49 Let's turn there. I want us to read that.
15:52 Please turn with me to Revelation 14:6.
15:57 If you need some time say, "Have mercy."
16:01 If you're there say, "Amen."
16:05 Revelation 14:6.
16:10 I still hear Bibles turning, I like that sound.
16:16 Elder Richard Hall believed
16:18 in the literal fulfillment of Revelation 14:6.
16:22 And it says,
16:23 "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
16:26 having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them
16:29 that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,
16:33 and kindred, and tongue, and people."
16:36 See, he was a pilot missionary.
16:40 He wanted to fly, literally, to these places,
16:45 and teach the people about Jesus.
16:50 The purpose of private plane travel in his work
16:53 was to provide the missing link
16:55 of swift transportation in areas where
16:58 near impenetrable distances hinder the spread of gospel,
17:04 where hauled any medical aid
17:06 to those who desperately need it.
17:08 This mission would have been virtually impossible
17:11 if he did not go with an airplane.
17:16 Brothers and sisters, it is past time for the church
17:20 to get up in the air in more than one way.
17:24 In 1958, he baptizes the first Laotian converts.
17:29 Converts most who are Hmong people.
17:33 In 1959,
17:34 he establishes the first church in Laos.
17:41 Thirty two years old.
17:45 Brothers and sisters, we have a choice
17:47 to go to the ends of the earth, just like he did.
17:52 GYC, God is calling you and I to fly in that...
17:56 To the ends of the earth. I truly believe this.
18:01 As soon as Elder Hall buys land and build the church,
18:04 he is soon replaced by a 25 year old,
18:08 Abel Pangans, a single Filipino pastor.
18:12 At 25, he was not the ideal candidate.
18:17 He was single.
18:19 And that was actually why they didn't want him.
18:22 But God still calls single people
18:25 to the mission field.
18:27 Amen?
18:28 But the work was growing and they needed somebody
18:32 to shepherd the new established church.
18:35 He receives the telegram from Elder Hall.
18:38 Get married now, wife follows.
18:43 Basically get married as soon as possible,
18:46 show up to the mission field, then she can come afterwards.
18:50 By God's grace, that's exactly what happened.
18:54 He received the call.
18:55 He was like, "All right, I gotta get married."
19:00 Let me show you some of the things
19:03 that Pastor Pangans did when he showed up to Laos.
19:06 I have some videos that I want you to see.
19:11 If we could show the videos, the first video...
19:13 Pastor Pangan there in the jungles of Laos,
19:16 and let's see if we can roll that beautiful photos.
19:18 Take us through what we're seeing here?
19:20 All right, what we see here is this man went hunting.
19:24 And then he pulled his gun.
19:26 When he pick it up, it went off and hit his shoulder there,
19:32 the bullet went through the front side of his shoulder,
19:36 and then to the back.
19:38 And asked me if I could help him?
19:41 And here going to the village helping them
19:45 with their medical needs.
19:47 This man was bitten by a wild boar,
19:51 and I was asked to help him.
19:53 So I was suturing here in a primitive way.
19:57 But by God's grace, he used the medical missionary work
20:01 to reach the people.
20:03 I have another video I want you to show you
20:05 about what it's like to built jungles in Laos.
20:10 And did you build a school on a flat plane somewhere?
20:13 Did you bring in heavy equipment?
20:14 Did you bring in the large bulldozers?
20:18 Tell us a little bit about how you did that
20:19 and tell us while this film is rolling?
20:21 Well, we had to use
20:23 whatever materials were available,
20:26 so in that village we gathered bamboos
20:30 to split them and use them as roof.
20:33 And then we had to cut down timbers
20:36 to use as post.
20:37 And here are the Hmong people helping me
20:40 to gather this material,
20:42 so we could build a school for them.
20:45 And this, the village chief leading out,
20:49 leading his people to help us
20:51 build a school in their village.
20:54 Now, in a minute we'll see a man with...
20:57 If my memory serves me correctly, there he is.
20:59 A man with a... Gunshot wound.
21:02 With a gunshot wound, so tell us
21:03 a little bit about this man?
21:04 Well, this gun...
21:06 This man with a gunshot wound said,
21:08 "I am well enough.
21:10 I cannot just stand by without helping."
21:14 So he himself started helping us
21:17 to gather materials for the school.
21:20 Amen.
21:22 So was the school ultimately built?
21:23 Tell us just a little bit about how the project was finished?
21:27 Well, the school was completed not long after that,
21:32 but in gathering the materials like this,
21:34 we're to go through a jungle trails
21:38 infested with bloodsuckers.
21:41 So, if you would see there in one of the scenes,
21:46 I was bitten by a bloodsucker.
21:49 By God's grace, at 25 years old,
21:53 he was doing medical missionary work,
21:56 as well as building schools, and building churches
22:00 for Hmong people in the jungles of Laos.
22:03 My final video is a video of,
22:06 what it's like
22:08 to experience the first church that's built.
22:12 The first Seventh-day Adventist Church in Laos
22:15 was established with more than 40 members,
22:20 mostly Hmong people.
22:21 That's right.
22:22 And there we see, we see that,
22:24 that picture, that first congregation.
22:25 Yes, that's the first
22:27 Seventh-day Adventist Church in Laos,
22:30 in 1959.
22:34 Brothers and sisters, can I get an amen?
22:37 Young people, you can go to the ends of world,
22:41 and do simple things, and just spend time with people
22:44 who do not know Jesus.
22:46 My family was living in the northern parts of Laos,
22:51 and by God's grace
22:53 the two missionaries that would step foot in Laos
22:56 would be able to impact my family.
23:00 My family,
23:01 it took 10 years before they became
23:04 Seventh-day Adventist, but it was not an easy journey.
23:10 My paternal grandfather,
23:12 his name is Gehsing Vang.
23:16 He began seriously considering Christianity
23:19 in the early '70s.
23:22 It was because my dad a young man at that time
23:25 about 21 years old, he was under spiritual attack.
23:31 Every known solution
23:34 to address his spiritual attack in the culture
23:38 led to the idea that he had very little time left to live.
23:42 So my paternal grandfather was not at peace over the fact
23:45 that his one and only son, my dad,
23:50 had such a short time to live.
23:51 He began searching for answers,
23:53 and he decided he must become Christian.
23:57 But he needed time.
24:00 He started out by observing all the missionaries
24:03 in the villages, all the groups of every walk of Christianity.
24:09 He observed for six months.
24:13 And his observations
24:14 and his decisions were based on three things,
24:18 friendliness, faithfulness, and effectiveness.
24:23 Can you repeat that?
24:24 Friendliness, faithfulness and effectiveness.
24:29 Exactly.
24:30 My grandpa, paternal grandpa was looking
24:34 at all the missionaries
24:35 from every Christian denomination,
24:38 looking to see
24:39 whether they were friendly, faithful and effective.
24:42 Did this church or the people representing this church,
24:45 do they really believe in what they taught?
24:48 Were they friendly?
24:50 Were they faithful?
24:52 Because he was facing a life or death situation with my dad,
24:59 his choice would be a life or death situation.
25:04 After six months, by God's grace,
25:06 he chose to be a Seventh-day Adventist.
25:10 The Adventist missionaries genuinely loved
25:13 the Hmong people.
25:14 The Adventist missionaries believed in their teachings,
25:17 they kept the Sabbath, as they taught it.
25:20 When the Adventist missionaries prayed,
25:22 God answered their prayers.
25:25 Their faith worked.
25:28 Immediately when a Hmong person became a Seventh-day Adventist,
25:32 they had to get rid of all the idols,
25:35 and all the altars within the home.
25:38 Immediately, within 24 hours of conversion,
25:43 there was spiritual healing in the home.
25:46 Amen?
25:49 And they began keeping the Sabbath.
25:53 Many other Christian groups did not offer these things,
25:57 they offered community,
25:58 but they did not offer the things
26:00 that my grandfather was wanting.
26:06 After six months, he became a Seventh-day Adventist.
26:10 Amen.
26:12 But this was not just the only issue
26:16 they were facing at that time.
26:18 You see, at this time, there was a war going on.
26:22 It was called the Vietnam War.
26:24 And during this time,
26:26 my family had just become Seventh-day Adventists.
26:30 The Vietnam War was raging in Southeast Asia
26:33 from 1961 to 1975,
26:37 and America was losing the war.
26:41 The Hmong had been recruited by the Americans
26:43 to fight as guerrilla fighters.
26:46 The CIA funded this special operation,
26:48 and they called it the secret war in Laos.
26:52 Because of the operation,
26:54 the Americans needed expert jungle fighters.
26:59 They hired over 300,000 Hmong fighters,
27:03 men and boys,
27:05 50,000 died fighting for the US.
27:09 On April 13, 1975, Saigon fell,
27:13 and America lost the Vietnam War.
27:16 And genocide was declared upon Hmong people
27:20 because we helped Americans.
27:24 As a medic supporting the Americans
27:26 in the Vietnam War
27:27 my dad knew that he would be in danger.
27:30 He, along with my paternal grandfather decided,
27:34 "What are we going to do?"
27:37 But there was one thing they did know what to do.
27:40 And they had just learned how to do it,
27:42 and that was to pray.
27:44 Amen?
27:46 Brothers and sisters, when we don't know what to do,
27:48 we can pray. And God will open doors.
27:51 Well, it was a very raining night.
27:55 It was monsoon season.
27:57 They decided they had to go on foot
28:01 when it was monsoon season because it would be harder
28:05 to trace the trail that you walked on,
28:09 and it would be...
28:11 You wouldn't hear
28:12 the leaves crackling under your feet
28:15 because genocide was after them,
28:19 people, soldiers were after them.
28:22 After praying, the Lord revealed to them,
28:25 "Go. Go tonight."
28:29 They packed up what they could carry,
28:31 and they were on foot, and headed towards Thailand.
28:35 They came to the Mekong River,
28:39 which borders between Laos and Thailand.
28:44 To get to Thailand, would have been freedom.
28:49 But during this exodus,
28:52 they could hear soldiers in the distance.
28:55 They kept praying.
28:56 Eventually, my family reached the Mekong River
28:59 and there was a boat keeper.
29:02 My dad decided to hire this boat keeper,
29:06 so that they could carry their group of people
29:09 across the boat, across the Mekong River.
29:15 As they were all scared and drenched in water,
29:20 they all got in the boat.
29:21 There was about 20 people on this exodus with them.
29:26 But as soon as they got in the boat,
29:27 it started to sink.
29:29 There was too many people and the boat was too small.
29:33 Somebody has to stay behind.
29:37 No one wanted to get off the boat.
29:40 If no one gets off the boat, everybody dies.
29:44 No one volunteered.
29:47 Eventually,
29:49 my grandfather Gehsing Vang decides,
29:55 "I'll get off so you can live."
29:59 He along with two others decided to get off that boat,
30:03 so that the first boat trip can make it.
30:06 On that first boat trip with my mom and dad,
30:08 and my oldest brother, they made it safely.
30:12 But on the second trip,
30:14 they heard gunshots
30:16 and that boat never made it.
30:19 My grandfather died, drowning.
30:22 In the horror my parents,
30:26 they lost my grandfather.
30:30 But they went to the Thailand refugee camps.
30:33 They tried to pick up
30:35 what they could do.
30:37 And they waited at the refugee camps.
30:40 They were not allowed to cook for themselves.
30:43 They were not allowed to leave.
30:44 It was like jail.
30:46 They went hungry for days,
30:48 but for two years
30:50 they would be in this refugee camp.
30:52 And then asylum would be granted to them,
30:55 and they would come to America.
30:58 Two years later, another brother of mine,
31:01 my second oldest brother, is added to the family.
31:04 They get asylum to America,
31:07 and they fly to America in 1978.
31:11 And by God's grace,
31:12 they are the first Hmong Seventh-day Adventists
31:16 in America.
31:19 They came to America with no idea
31:22 how to turn a doorknob.
31:23 They did not know a single word of English.
31:26 They didn't know what a toilet was.
31:28 They didn't know what a grocery store was.
31:30 They didn't know what bread was.
31:32 They didn't know anything about this culture
31:35 or this country.
31:37 They didn't know and they were hungry.
31:40 They found friendliness at the hotel
31:43 that they were staying by an African-American janitor,
31:48 who spent more than $19 of his own money
31:51 so that they can have food.
31:54 Amen.
31:56 As soon as my parents landed,
31:58 they settled in the city of Santa Barbara, California.
32:01 My dad wrote a letter
32:04 to the Thailand Adventist Mission.
32:08 He said, "This is where I live.
32:10 Where is the Seventh-day Adventist Church?"
32:12 You see at that time,
32:14 there were other newly arrived Hmong refugees,
32:17 and they were all deciding,
32:19 "Why don't we gather together
32:22 and start a fresh together?"
32:24 But the problem was that
32:26 these refugees were not Christians,
32:29 they still held on to the traditional faith.
32:33 And my parents, they had left the faith.
32:36 So they were at a standstill, what do we do?
32:38 Do we go back to the people we know,
32:40 the culture we know,
32:43 and the people who understand our struggle,
32:46 or do we continue to be Seventh-day Adventist
32:49 as best as we can.
32:51 But by God's grace,
32:54 two weeks after that letter was sent out
32:55 to the Thailand mission,
32:58 there was a knock on the door.
33:00 And there was a pastor, it was the Sabbath day.
33:04 The pastor of the local seventh...
33:06 Santa Barbara Seventh-day Adventist Church
33:08 was knocking on my parent's door
33:11 to pick them up to go to church.
33:14 Amen?
33:15 And they would continue to do this.
33:17 This church would continue to do this for six months,
33:21 picking up my parents every Sabbath, to go to church.
33:26 Brothers and sisters,
33:28 love covers a multitude of sins.
33:32 But love for newly arrived refugees
33:35 help us overcome unimaginable grief,
33:39 unimaginable trauma, and loss.
33:44 I pray our church is still that loving church
33:47 that can do that for refugees.
33:50 We need to do that.
33:53 Refugees long for community.
33:57 They have lost everything that is familiar to them.
34:02 So then this brings in my story.
34:04 I grew up in public school all my life.
34:08 I grew up in public housing all my life.
34:11 When I graduated high school,
34:13 I left
34:15 and went to a secular university.
34:17 I also left the church.
34:19 There were so many unanswered questions.
34:22 Why did I grow up refugee?
34:24 Why did I grow up with all these issues,
34:28 trauma?
34:30 I remember attending my first GYC
34:33 and thinking,
34:35 "Wow, there's a biblical reason for godly relationships."
34:40 No one had ever taught me that.
34:43 I didn't grow up with that truth.
34:45 But they convicted me and I purposed in my heart,
34:48 that I would do
34:50 what God would want for me to do for my life.
34:54 Until I graduate school,
34:56 I didn't know
34:59 that God had a plan for my life.
35:00 I went to Loma Linda University.
35:03 And during that time,
35:05 I heard God audibly speak to me for the first time,
35:08 and it changed my life.
35:10 I started praying,
35:11 "Lord, where do You want me to go?
35:13 I'll go to any young adult church service."
35:17 I just asked for two things.
35:19 One, that they would have
35:20 a convicting present truth message
35:23 because that was what I was longing.
35:25 And two,
35:26 please send somebody to invite me to potluck.
35:31 Come on.
35:33 Please, if there is somebody new
35:35 in your church,
35:37 invite them to eat with you.
35:40 Well, I went to Sabbath,
35:42 that first Sabbath while I was at Loma Linda.
35:47 And the speaker was incredible.
35:50 I went home, I was thinking,
35:52 "Oh, I need to go home and study my Bible."
35:54 I was so convicted.
35:56 But then I was, I told the Lord,
35:58 "Well, it was a great message, but no one,
36:02 and there's no one here to talk to me."
36:04 And I'm just... So I started walking away.
36:07 On my way out,
36:09 there was a young lady that stopped me,
36:11 and she asked if I was new, and I said, I was.
36:14 And she said,
36:16 "Would you like to go to potluck
36:18 with my friends and I?"
36:20 Amen.
36:21 God answers very specific prayers.
36:26 This girl would come to teach me
36:29 the sanctuary message.
36:31 Personal Bible studies, young people.
36:34 There's somebody around you that needs to know the Bible,
36:38 personally, one on one, not just Friday's vespers,
36:42 not just on the Sabbath, go some other day of the week,
36:46 and just hang out at Starbucks,
36:48 and study the Bible with somebody.
36:52 When I got home for the first time,
36:54 I stopped my whole family and I told them,
36:56 "You guys, we are Hmong
36:58 and Seventh-day Adventist for a reason.
37:02 There's a reason why we were raised
37:04 in this church."
37:08 I was so thankful for that.
37:13 Then I graduated,
37:15 I went to start working
37:17 in the secular jobs of public health.
37:21 And I remember having a dream,
37:22 and in the dream
37:24 I was standing kind of like on a stage like this,
37:26 and in the crowd was an endless sea of faces
37:29 representing all kindred, all nations,
37:32 all tongues, and all people,
37:34 kind of like this, actually.
37:36 And in my dream though,
37:39 I realized not a single Hmong person
37:42 was in the crowd.
37:43 In the dream, I knew I was preaching
37:45 the three angels' message.
37:47 But not a single Hmong person was in the crowd
37:51 and I knew they were not hearing the message.
37:54 I was devastated.
37:55 I woke up crying from the dream
37:57 and in that time was when I met with the GLOW tract ministry.
38:02 And when I was introduced to this ministry, I was like,
38:06 "We got to translate some tracts into Hmong.
38:08 I can't wait anymore."
38:10 So that's what happened.
38:11 And as I translated, my family and I,
38:14 we all edited the tracts together.
38:18 And suddenly we realized
38:21 this is the most beautiful thing
38:24 we have ever read in our own language.
38:28 And we could share it.
38:29 And as we started sharing, people started calling.
38:33 I wanna come to church on Saturday,
38:35 I want to join you.
38:37 You see, Hmong people, we get together,
38:39 and when we get together, everybody gets together.
38:43 We have festivals,
38:44 and there's 50,000 of us, 100,000 of us,
38:47 and I used to go to be entertained.
38:50 Who doesn't want to be in their cultural attire
38:54 and go to the festivals,
38:55 but now I was going out there to give GLOW tracts
38:59 in every single hand
39:01 and so were my family members.
39:04 We've all...
39:05 We're all trained to pass out GLOW.
39:10 If there's anything that I've learned
39:12 about literature evangelism,
39:13 it is this,
39:15 that outreach is in reach.
39:19 When we go, we are blessed.
39:22 That's why I want you all to go and outreach tomorrow,
39:25 be here at 12 o'clock.
39:27 I remember going on my first GLOW mission trip
39:30 in Philadelphia,
39:31 and it was scary,
39:35 it was devastating, actually.
39:39 I didn't know what I was doing,
39:42 but I knew that there were so many people
39:47 all in the downtown streets of Philadelphia.
39:51 And, there were, all I saw prophecy fulfilled
39:54 right before my eyes,
39:56 and it convicted my heart.
39:58 "Lord, I have not done anything to advance Your kingdom,
40:03 take me from where I am and put me where I can be
40:08 because I want to win souls.
40:11 There's too many out there."
40:14 And after that I went canvassing,
40:18 I couldn't go back to my secular job.
40:20 I don't know about you,
40:22 but I need to do something that changes lives.
40:25 That's my kind of...
40:27 I have to be in that field,
40:29 where I know I'm making a tangible impact.
40:31 So I left my secular job and then I went into ministry.
40:35 I went canvassing for the first time,
40:38 and it was the hardest thing I've ever done,
40:40 but it was such a blessing and God was so good to me
40:43 because He even let me experience dump bags.
40:46 Do you guys know what dump bags mean?
40:49 That means they took everything in my books,
40:52 and I was doubting God the entire time,
40:54 and He just kept affirming, affirming, and affirming.
40:59 It's amazing what happens when you put God first.
41:03 GYC, my time is coming to a close,
41:07 but I just wanted to share
41:09 that as I start closing my testimony,
41:12 I wish I could talk to you guys forever.
41:15 I want to read something very special.
41:19 And I titled it, "Thank you."
41:22 You see, as a refugee,
41:25 you don't get to grow up with much.
41:28 But you remember everything that people have done for you.
41:32 So, I just want to read this to you,
41:34 Mom and Dad,
41:35 thanks for raising us around loving church families,
41:39 who spent time with us
41:40 and treated us as their own kids.
41:44 Bill Callidus for knocking
41:45 on my parent's doors every Sabbath,
41:47 to pick up the family every Sabbath for church,
41:51 the first six months of our arrival to America.
41:55 To Mr. and Mrs. Hemorite, for being our second parents,
41:59 driving us everywhere, introducing us
42:01 to the first ever vegetarian burger.
42:07 And Mr. Hecht, sharing with us your favorite topic,
42:11 evidence of God's creation.
42:13 To the Garners for faithfully transporting us
42:16 to church programs, Revelation seminars,
42:19 choir practice, vespers, gym nights and youth church.
42:22 NET 96 with Mark Finley changed our lives forever
42:27 and you took us to every meeting.
42:29 Rachel Vesara and Debbie Nichols
42:31 for your hours of driving us across town
42:34 in a church van to homeless feedings,
42:37 vespers, gym nights, and teaching us about Jesus.
42:41 The Palm family, you're the first family
42:44 that invited us to Thanksgiving dinner,
42:47 and you're the first family
42:48 that brought us kids presents for Christmas.
42:51 We've never forgotten.
42:53 Akiva and the late Babatunde for opening your hearts
42:57 and home for the youth,
42:59 we'll never forget your living room
43:01 on Eucalyptus Drive.
43:04 Tim Bray, Adam Bray, and Tim,
43:06 you for adding humor into our lives,
43:08 and teaching us all how to drive a stick shift.
43:12 Milder Davis for being our Sabbath School teacher,
43:15 and teaching us everything we learned as kids,
43:19 and how to sing Sabbath School songs.
43:22 The list goes on and on and on.
43:26 I wish I could go through it all,
43:27 my time is coming short.
43:30 But I just wanted to share
43:31 that all of us can reach refugees.
43:35 Every single one of us, you know God,
43:38 God allowed us to come to this country
43:40 because as I was reading in the book of Evangelism,
43:44 God in His providence has allowed foreigners
43:48 to come to our land,
43:50 to hear the truth for this time.
43:52 And upon hearing the truth,
43:54 they will be able to communicate it
43:55 to their friends, their family, their community in this country
44:01 and in the country at home.
44:03 That's what's going on right now.
44:05 I have family in Thailand that's helping to share.
44:09 I could share the finances and the blessings
44:12 that God's given me.
44:14 And I can bring Bibles
44:16 to Hmong people across the world.
44:19 What an awesome God I serve,
44:22 to allow me to do such a thing.
44:24 I also want to invite a friend
44:27 that I want you to meet.
44:29 Pastor, please come and join me.
44:32 Friends, I want you to meet someone
44:34 that I met along my journey in ministry.
44:37 Pastor Abel Pangans,
44:40 stand right here.
44:43 Retired, but not tired of the ministry.
44:47 He left everything he knew and was the 25 year old
44:52 that went into the missionary field
44:54 to reach my village.
44:56 His influence has changed my life forever.
45:00 Thank you very much. It's all because of God.
45:05 When you love the Lord supremely,
45:08 when you have a passion to tell others
45:11 that God loves them more than they can understand,
45:15 that passion will give you
45:20 that desire to answer a call whenever you are called,
45:26 you will find it.
45:28 You'll count it not a sacrifice,
45:32 but a joy and a privilege.
45:36 Someone asked me when you were 25 years old,
45:40 why did you choose to go to Laos?
45:43 Well, I said, "Because I love the Lord
45:45 with all my heart."
45:47 And as I read Isaiah 6:8.
45:53 When I say I was called us a young man,
45:56 he said, "Here am I, Lord, send me."
46:00 And I responded, when God called me.
46:04 When you love the Lord with all your heart,
46:07 your passion will make you
46:11 to get even married,
46:14 when you are not ready.
46:17 Thank you so much, Pangans.
46:18 When the call was called, was passed on to me.
46:22 A telegram was sent,
46:24 get married now, wife follows.
46:30 I was not engaged.
46:32 But the Lord made it possible
46:34 that after a long, long struggle,
46:39 my girlfriend finally consented
46:43 that we would get married 60 years ago.
46:47 Amen.
46:49 Then 10 days after we were married,
46:52 we were separated.
46:54 I left her to finish her college.
46:57 One more semester,
46:58 I went to Laos and learn to love the Lao,
47:03 the Hmong people,
47:04 although I did not speak the language at the time,
47:07 but your passion for the Lord will make it possible for you
47:12 to learn a language.
47:15 Your passion for the Lord
47:16 will help you to be even a jungle doctor,
47:20 to be a jungle dentist.
47:22 I didn't have any training
47:24 but as a fine instrument in God's hand,
47:27 God made it all, to give...
47:31 I mean, to God, be the glory, the honor,
47:35 the praise for what young people can do
47:38 when they respond to God's call.
47:40 Amen.
47:41 And I just wanna make an appeal.
47:44 Even at this time,
47:45 I'm gonna invite my family on stage.
47:49 And I'm gonna make an appeal for young people.
47:52 This message was not just a message
47:55 to make you feel inspired,
47:57 but we still have so much work to do,
48:00 there's so many people unreached,
48:03 so many in this world.
48:06 I remember getting an email
48:08 from Adventist Frontier Missions.
48:10 Have you guys heard of that ministry?
48:12 I was reading at all the unreached groups,
48:15 and I was crying.
48:17 And the Lord just reveals me,
48:19 "You were once on that list."
48:24 But a young person came,
48:27 he came to reach us.
48:30 Why can't we go, GYC?
48:33 Why can't we go all the way
48:36 so that Jesus can come home?
48:38 You know, we could go home to Jesus.
48:41 Turkey has 76 million people
48:44 and 28 Adventists.
48:49 Mali is the size of California and Texas combined
48:53 and there's only one church.
48:56 Why can't we go?
48:58 What's holding us back?
49:00 Some of you need to change your priorities.
49:02 And as I want,
49:03 I just wanna make an appeal to you, young people,
49:05 if you been touched by my testimony,
49:08 I want you to come forward.
49:10 I want you to say "God, use me, allow me."
49:16 Have you even let God ask you the question?
49:21 If you will go,
49:24 as my family sings this special song of appeal,
49:28 and you feel convicted to come forward
49:30 we wanna scan you, scan your badges,
49:33 and get you connected.
49:35 Please come forward.
49:37 We want to connect you
49:39 and we want to send young people.
49:42 We need to go.
49:54 I dreamed I went to heaven
49:58 And you were there with me
50:02 We walked upon the streets of gold
50:06 Beside the crystal sea
50:10 We heard the angels singing
50:14 Then someone called your name
50:18 You turned and saw the young man
50:20 He was smiling
50:23 as he came
50:26 And he said, "Friend you may not know me now"
50:32 And then he said
50:33 "Wait You used to teach my Sunday school
50:39 When I was only eight
50:43 And every week you would say a prayer
50:47 Before the class would start
50:51 And one day when you said that prayer
50:54 I asked Jesus
50:56 in my heart"
51:00 Thank you
51:04 For giving to the Lord
51:09 I am the life
51:11 That was changed
51:16 Thank you
51:20 For giving to the Lord
51:25 I am so glad you gave
51:31 Then another man stood before you
51:36 And said, "Remember the time"
51:40 A missionary came to your church
51:42 And his pictures made you cry
51:47 You didn't have much money
51:50 But you gave it any way
51:55 Jesus took the gift you gave
51:58 And that's why I'm here today
52:04 Thank you
52:07 For giving to the Lord
52:12 I am the life that was changed
52:19 Thank you
52:23 For giving to the Lord
52:28 I am so glad you gave
52:35 One by one they came
52:38 Far as the eye could see
52:42 Each life somehow touched
52:45 By your generosity
52:50 Little things that you have done
52:53 Sacrifices made
52:57 Unnoticed here on earth
53:00 In heaven now proclaimed
53:06 And I know up in heaven
53:10 You're not supposed to cry
53:13 But I'm almost sure
53:17 There were tears in your eyes
53:21 As Jesus took your hand
53:24 And you stood before the Lord
53:28 He said my child look around you
53:32 For great is your reward
53:39 Thank you
53:43 For giving to the Lord
53:48 I am the life that was changed
53:55 Thank you
53:58 For giving to the Lord
54:03 I am so glad you gave
54:10 Thank you
54:13 For giving to the Lord
54:18 I am the life that was changed
54:25 Thank you
54:29 For giving to the Lord
54:34 I am so glad you gave
54:45 I am so glad you gave


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Revised 2019-04-08