Participants:
Series Code: MMS
Program Code: MMS011031S
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00:01 Hi, I'm Dustin Comm with the Maranatha Minute.
00:03 Maranatha recently launched a water program 00:06 in the African nation of Cote d'Ivoire. 00:08 Maranatha started working here in 2019, 00:11 building churches and schools near the city of Abidjan. 00:15 As the work began, 00:16 it became clear that clean water 00:18 was an issue for many in this country. 00:20 In some parts of the Abidjan area, 00:22 water is delivered by the government, 00:24 but it's inconsistent and costly for residents. 00:28 In other places, existing wells 00:30 are uncovered leading to contamination. 00:33 Moving away from the city, 00:35 the situation is even worse 00:36 with no drinkable water in many areas. 00:41 So far, Maranatha has drilled five wells 00:44 in Cote d'Ivoire, 00:45 and local Seventh-day Adventist leadership knows that 00:48 clean water will help 00:49 in reaching the community with God's love. 00:52 To support Maranatha's well drilling efforts 00:54 around the world, 00:55 visit maranatha.org/donate 00:57 or call the number on your screen. 01:27 This is the Camp Fire Shed Project 01:30 in Paradise, California. 01:35 For Maranatha, Paradise has become a familiar place 01:38 and this works out a familiar scene 01:40 as it is the third installment 01:42 of a project to provide storage sheds 01:44 for survivors of a devastating wildfire. 01:49 In November 2018, the campfire raged 01:52 through Northern California's Butte County, 01:54 burning through 95% of the structures 01:57 in the city of Paradise. 02:04 Most of the 26,000 residents lost their homes, 02:09 85 people lost their lives. 02:17 Among the structures lost 02:18 was the Paradise Seventh-day Adventist Church. 02:21 The fire left the congregation homeless, 02:25 yet the church's first response 02:26 was to serve their community with food, 02:29 clothing, furniture, water... 02:35 And storage sheds, 02:37 a place for survivors to store their things 02:39 as they rebuild their lives. 02:42 Paradise Church asked Maranatha to partner in building sheds, 02:46 the church would find the funding 02:48 and Maranatha the volunteers. 02:51 So in November 2019, 02:53 The Campfire Shed Project launched 02:55 welcoming nearly 400 volunteers, 02:59 202 sheds, media attention, 03:04 immense accolades. 03:07 The project was a total success, 03:09 a success that called for an encore. 03:12 For campfire survivors. 03:13 So after the first project that we completed in November, 03:17 we received over 900 applications 03:19 of requests for sheds. 03:21 We only had 200 to give out. 03:24 So we obviously saw that 03:25 there was still a huge need in the community. 03:28 And during the first project, it had been suggested to us, 03:32 "Maybe you should try for more." 03:35 Joelle overseas outreach programs 03:37 for the Paradise Adventist Church. 03:39 She worked closely with Maranatha 03:40 to organize the shed project. 03:43 You know, we were really blessed the second time 03:45 because we had experience. 03:47 So it was good and bad. 03:50 We knew more what to expect, but at the same time, 03:55 we weren't as naive. 03:57 And so we worked really hard. 03:58 We were able to get a lot of other people 04:01 helping in the process. 04:02 And so going through the second round, 04:05 we were obviously better prepared, 04:07 had everything gone normally, 04:09 had everything gone according to plan. 04:13 My fellow Americans, 04:15 tonight I want to speak with you 04:17 about our nation's unprecedented response 04:20 to the coronavirus outbreak 04:22 that started in China 04:24 and is now spreading throughout the world. 04:27 Today, the World Health Organization 04:29 officially announced that this is a global pandemic. 04:34 With the president's announcement 04:35 came travel bans and restrictions. 04:37 One by one, Maranatha volunteer projects 04:40 were canceled or postponed 04:42 including the Paradise Shed Project 04:44 scheduled for the spring. 04:46 We were planning to be here in April, 04:47 but instead because of COVID and the virus, 04:50 anyway we postponed the project 04:54 and now we're here in, what was it, August. 04:56 So shed project number two now set in summer 04:59 started with fewer volunteers which meant less production. 05:03 The original scope 05:05 to build 400 sheds dropped to 150, 05:07 but even that goal was being threatened. 05:10 So the first challenge 05:12 that we have here on the project 05:13 was dealing with the coronavirus 05:15 and the regulations that there are about distancing 05:17 and wearing masks and things like that 05:20 because we have volunteers 05:21 coming from many different locations 05:23 and we let them know what the regulations, you know, 05:25 whether requirements are in California 05:28 and working with those, 05:29 we're eating outdoors, 05:31 we're having our worships outdoors, 05:33 and, you know, the places where we're staying, 05:35 we're trying to keep everybody separated 05:38 so that we all stay healthy. 05:41 The second challenge that we face, 05:43 that was a large challenge, 05:44 was the fire nearby in Oroville. 05:48 There was a large fire in the area 05:50 and we got to work here on Wednesday morning 05:53 getting ready to set up and the sky was dark. 05:56 We were using flashlights and headlamps to see. 06:00 With the smoke and potential danger, 06:02 Maranatha decided to cancel work for the day 06:05 and asked volunteers 06:06 to temporarily leave town as a precaution. 06:09 The power also went out 06:11 and the team scrambled to find generators. 06:13 All the hurdles hindered progress on the project 06:16 and left Joelle feeling defeated. 06:20 I think I always had a sense from this 06:23 from the first project that I knew the next project 06:26 wasn't gonna go as smoothly as the first one had. 06:29 I had no idea that was gonna 06:32 this many challenges in it though. 06:35 But God, had it been my prayer from the very start, like, 06:40 Lord, I know there's gonna be challenges. 06:43 And I know that You are bigger than those. 06:47 Just help me to have the faith to hold on. 06:51 And God sent her faith in the form of 185 volunteers 06:57 who pushed through and completed 118 sheds. 07:01 Then Maranatha quickly organized 07:03 a third project in November. 07:06 This time, 216 volunteers 07:08 arrived to build 132 more sheds. 07:13 In total, over the course of one year, 07:15 780 volunteers constructed 452 sheds 07:20 for the survivors of the campfire in Paradise. 07:24 The experience has been a triumph of the human spirit 07:27 and evidence of God's leading. 07:30 For Joelle, the experience has always been personal. 07:34 While her home survived, 07:36 she lived through the horror of the fire. 07:39 The sheds had been a way for her to build hope 07:41 for a community she loves, 07:43 but this time around, 07:45 it was about more than helping others. 07:47 It was about growing her own trust in God. 07:50 I learned that my faith wasn't as big 07:52 as I thought it was. 07:56 I regret to say that 07:57 there were times of my faith I questioned, 08:00 I questioned how God was gonna pull this off. 08:04 I couldn't see how He was gonna do it 08:07 and yet He has 08:10 and He's provided more abundantly 08:11 than I ever thought He could... again. 08:16 When we come back, 08:17 we meet some of the shed recipients 08:18 and how this project has impacted their lives. 08:34 Although the pandemic limited travel in 2020, 08:37 Maranatha Volunteers 08:39 still served 1,210 times last year, 08:42 with 446 first timers. 08:45 The first wave of volunteers came between January and March, 08:48 when 506 people served in 6 countries, 08:52 then COVID-19 brought travel to a halt. 08:55 It wasn't until June when volunteer trips 08:57 started up again 08:59 but only in the United States and Canada. 09:01 In all, 660 people volunteered on 12 projects 09:05 in North America in 2020. 09:08 Then in December, volunteers returned 09:10 to the International Mission Field 09:11 on a project in Cote d'Ivoire, 09:13 our first overseas project in nine months. 09:16 A total of 332 volunteers 09:19 served on 10 overseas projects in 2020. 09:23 When you're ready to serve internationally again, 09:25 join us on one of our upcoming projects 09:27 around the world. 09:29 Go to maranatha.org/volunteer to learn more. 09:37 Some companies spend millions of dollars 09:39 to bring you these sounds and images. 09:45 These sounds and images 09:46 are created from the dollars you give to Maranatha. 09:50 Your support of our well drilling efforts 09:52 is bringing clean accessible water 09:54 to communities in Africa, India, and Brazil 09:58 because while this sells soda, this saves lives. 10:07 Camp Fire Shed Project volunteers can attest that 10:11 there is great joy in building sheds, 10:14 but there is even greater joy in seeing them delivered. 10:38 More than a year 10:40 after the fire ravaged Jamie Johnston 10:42 and Rick Clark's home, 10:43 they have a new house in Paradise. 10:45 The only problem, no garage. 10:48 Well, there has been a lot of theft. 10:53 You know, and when you don't... 10:55 You know, if you've got 10:56 your little plot of land, you know, 10:58 or your place where you want to be 11:00 and it's just land 11:04 and your house won't be delivered 11:06 for a year or, you know, nine months. 11:11 In our case, I guess it was, you know, about a year. 11:14 You know, the shed 11:16 is the most important thing, really. 11:18 I knew that we would be 11:19 able to afford after all of this, 11:21 after having to, you know, 11:24 put out so much money to come home, 11:28 we wouldn't be able to afford a shed. 11:30 And, you know, you just can't keep shovels 11:34 and things in your bedroom. 11:37 It's just not... 11:38 It's not very homely. 11:42 You did the honors. Wow! 11:44 Oh, man! I'm moving in. 11:46 Oh, wow. You could live in this. 11:50 Wow. Wow. 11:52 Wow. 11:53 We build all kinds of shelves and stuff. 11:55 Okay, let's go in, hop in. 11:58 I'm really honored and blown away 12:01 by the generosity and the thought, you know, 12:05 that went into this 12:06 because you knew that people would have nowhere 12:11 to put things like that. 12:12 And a lot of people actually had sheds on their land 12:14 before they had anything else. 12:16 So it tells you how important it is. 12:19 And I appreciate it so much. Thank you. 12:24 For some of the shed recipients, 12:25 Maranatha's project inspired them to do 12:28 more than receive, 12:29 some were inspired to give back. 12:31 This is Karen Smith. 12:34 She's been working on the third installment 12:36 of the shed project. 12:37 I heard about this project through social media. 12:45 I'm here because just recently, 12:50 about a month ago, 12:52 I received my shed, and I was overwhelmed with... 13:01 Sorry, happiness. 13:04 I wasn't expecting that, 13:08 which was my same reaction, 13:12 by the way, when the shed came. 13:19 So for all, I'm so thankful, just so thankful. 13:25 I just really felt the need to help out. 13:27 And so that's why I'm here. 13:31 Karen, who lost her home in the fire, 13:33 says her shed has already been a big blessing. 13:37 Now the Maranatha project is offering her 13:40 a different kind of blessing through her fellow volunteers. 13:44 It's been wonderful, really, really wonderful. 13:47 And just I had no idea 13:49 how many helpful people 13:51 in the organizations that there are. 13:55 It's been overwhelming 13:58 with kindness from people, 14:03 extremely good for my health. 14:06 And I just wouldn't feel right 14:09 without giving of myself 14:14 to help others in need. 14:17 Retired veteran Curtis Smith 14:19 is another Paradise resident who received a shed. 14:22 He's now also a Maranatha volunteer. 14:25 Well, I'm choosing to do something, 14:28 and something good. 14:31 Being alone, with all the COVID and so on around, 14:35 I'm locked in my house. 14:37 And depression was setting in. 14:40 So I know that I had to get out. 14:42 And when this came along, 14:44 I came down here 14:45 and it just felt everything was good. 14:48 I like the people here. 14:50 I mean, it's almost like going to church, 14:53 good people, good religion. 14:56 Just a great place to work, great people to work with. 15:00 You got to go down. 15:01 Carrie Max is also a survivor of the campfire. 15:06 So I heard about getting a shed last year 2019. 15:09 And I think I saw it on Facebook 15:12 or something like that. 15:14 And it also as if we wanted to help. 15:17 Well, I used to be a flooring contractor. 15:19 And so also this whole fire 15:25 has created a lot of depression 15:30 and sadness. 15:32 And a lot of us that have decided to stay 15:34 are in our places all alone. 15:36 And we're not even in a place... 15:38 Like I'm in a trailer. 15:40 And it just helps to be around other people 15:44 and to be of service. 15:48 So Carrie started coming to the job site to help. 15:53 Then she eventually received the shed. 15:57 It's a space that she's put to great use. 15:59 What's more, 16:00 it's a space to remind her of the good in people. 16:04 And there's a sign on it too saying all the people 16:08 that were involved, so that's even like, 16:10 when I'm having a bad day, 16:12 it's like, all those people love me. 16:16 From building sheds to receiving them, 16:19 Carrie has loved being 16:20 part of the Maranatha experience. 16:25 Act of service has been mandatory 16:29 to help us heal. 16:31 If we stay in our little story, 16:35 we go tumbling down 16:37 this little hole of sadness and depression. 16:42 And so it's just very important to be of service 16:44 and to see things lifting and coming up and coming out. 16:49 I'm still in a trailer, 16:52 and don't know 16:54 where that's gonna go, 16:56 but it's given us the opportunity 17:00 to just be still 17:03 and just see everyone and be seen. 17:09 It's just been a gift them showing me 17:12 what love is, and what love looks like. 17:17 When we come back, we meet a volunteer 17:20 who fell away from his church, 17:22 but found his way back to God in Paradise. 17:40 For more than a decade, Maranatha Mission Stories 17:43 has taken you around the world, 17:45 showing you the need 17:47 and challenging you to get involved. 17:50 Now we're introducing new ways for you to stay informed 17:53 and inspired about the mission. 17:57 Watch your favorite episode of Maranatha Mission Stories 18:00 as well as other Maranatha videos on your Apple TV. 18:04 Visit the App Store, 18:06 search for The Maranatha Channel 18:08 and hit Install. 18:11 You'll have access 18:12 to all of our latest video content. 18:14 And you can watch any time. 18:16 Our videos are available on demand 24 hours a day. 18:21 Our content can also be viewed on Roku and Amazon Fire TV. 18:26 The Maranatha Channel 18:27 bringing mission adventures to your living room. 18:39 People are drawn to Maranatha Mission trips 18:41 for all sorts of reasons. 18:43 Volunteers love the act of service 18:45 and making new friends. 18:47 Many times people also go in search 18:50 of the deeper connection with God. 18:54 But volunteer Randy Purviance wanted none of those things. 18:58 He wasn't even looking to volunteer. 19:00 Randy spent years doing humanitarian work 19:03 for the church in the mission field. 19:05 Then an event pushed Randy out of his job and into trauma 19:09 and separation from his church and God, 19:13 but all that changed in Paradise. 19:17 Doing humanitarian work, especially field based, 19:21 there's a constant exposure to trauma, 19:26 other people's trauma, 19:28 and it can be traumatic, 19:31 you can experience traumatic things yourself. 19:35 We felt abandoned, we felt completely isolated 19:39 from any sort of support. 19:42 And so when I came home in 2006, I thought, 19:47 "Well, you know, things will get back to normal. 19:50 We're living here in Idaho. 19:52 We'll enjoy the life here. 19:55 And those things will just disappear." 19:57 Well, they didn't disappear. 19:59 Those things don't just leave your mind. 20:02 And I began having increasing difficulties 20:08 with, I mean, even going to church was a trigger. 20:12 It would leave me with intense anxiety. 20:17 So I found it was easier just to stop going. 20:21 My faith did collapse. 20:23 I felt isolated. 20:26 I was traumatized. 20:30 I was eventually diagnosed 20:34 with PTSD, debilitating with PTSD. 20:38 I would say that God and I 20:40 were not on close speaking terms 20:43 for quite a while. 20:45 He may have been talking to me, but I couldn't hear Him. 20:48 My wife decided it was time to do something. 20:52 And that something was to convince me 20:55 to go to the Weimar Institute 20:58 in Northern California near Auburn, 21:02 where they have an 18-day program 21:04 called NEWSTART. 21:06 I was very quickly overwhelmed 21:09 by the empathy and the love 21:13 and the care that I experienced there. 21:16 So when I came home 21:18 after the first Weimar experience, 21:23 I vigorously pursued those things that I learned, 21:27 and then after about six months, 21:32 I suffered a head injury that left me in the hospital. 21:35 And after that, 21:41 my wife thought, 21:44 you know, the one cure was to go back to Weimar. 21:47 I went back in September of last year. 21:52 And during the last weekend, 21:54 I was there, my friends of many years, 21:58 David and Susan Woods from we first met in Malawi 22:04 in Central Africa, came to visit me. 22:08 They've told me while I was at Weimar, 22:11 about the project, he just very briefly said, 22:13 "We're building storage sheds to distribute to the people 22:19 who are returning to their homes 22:21 after the fire that destroyed Paradise," 22:26 and that in three weeks, 22:28 they had built nearly 200 sheds at that point. 22:32 So I thought, "Well, 22:34 this is something I maybe should see." 22:36 I said, "Dave, you know, I'll drive through, 22:38 I'll spend 15 minutes and, you know, 22:41 I'll see what you're doing." 22:42 I wasn't prepared at all 22:45 for what I saw when I got there. 22:46 When I drove into Paradise, I got directions to the church, 22:51 where the church had been, and... 23:00 It's hard to put it to words, 23:02 but maybe 23:04 the most amazing act of worship 23:10 I've ever seen. 23:14 In that burnt down church parking lot, 23:22 those Seventh-day Adventists were... 23:33 despite their own losses 23:37 were helping their neighbors. 23:46 It's hard to just say 23:49 how powerful that impacted me. 23:52 And I was so moved by what I saw, 23:58 that even before I saw David and Susan, 24:00 I decided I needed to stay, 24:02 I needed to be part of that, 24:04 there was something there that I wanted. 24:06 And I ended up staying three days 24:09 to help deliver sheds in Paradise. 24:11 And that was quite an experience. 24:14 I got to hear people's stories 24:20 and soaked it in. 24:24 I decided that 24:29 Paradise was a place 24:30 where I could put my feet back into the water, 24:34 so to speak, where I could go to church. 24:37 I mean, what better place for a troubled person 24:42 to go than to a church 24:46 where everybody had experienced loss. 24:51 And I felt at home there. 24:53 How does Maranatha build people? 24:55 How does Maranatha change people? 24:57 Each of us come with different backgrounds. 25:00 Each of us have different experiences, 25:03 but there's something in the act of service 25:07 that it makes us vulnerable. 25:10 It draws us together. 25:12 And it changes 25:17 deep within us. 25:19 How we look at the world, how we look at God, 25:21 how we look at our faith community, 25:24 we aren't bystanders, 25:26 we are participants, fully immersed. 25:31 In February, when I returned to Paradise 25:33 for the second time to help, 25:36 prepare for the next shed build, 25:41 I arrived earlier than I had anticipated. 25:47 So I once again drove directly to the church 25:51 and it was in the evening. 25:53 And so I got out and walked up those stairs again. 25:59 And I stood there thinking about 26:03 how I had found a place back in the church, 26:11 at a burned out church, 26:14 the church that no longer stood there. 26:17 And I felt like I'd found a place 26:22 for my own burned out heart 26:27 that I could call home. 26:31 And so, you know, 26:33 that was really a profound experience, 26:39 profound sort of cementing the direction 26:44 I've been going 26:48 for the last several years, 26:51 just piece by piece, 26:55 argument by argument, 26:57 but my resistance was melted down. 27:02 And so I knew standing there that I was coming home. 27:11 Randy's story along 27:13 with everyone else's testimonies 27:14 heard on today's program offer evidence 27:17 of how the simple act of service 27:19 can change your life on multiple levels. 27:25 It can provide security and shelter. 27:29 It can give new purpose. 27:33 It can reveal our vulnerability while boosting our faith. 27:38 It can reconnect us to the things we've lost 27:41 and remind us of the mission that belongs to us all. 27:45 Service is God's love in action, 27:49 changing lives, even yours. |
Revised 2021-01-27