TESTIMONIES
Our missionaries experience powerful encounters every day. From angel stories to answered prayers, it’s clear that the God we serve “Him who “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). Amen!
We invite you to explore the testimonies below and imagine what God can do through you.
I had a dream…
Youth Rush student Linda Chavez had an interesting experience as she went door-to-door one summer. At one door, she showed the man a cookbook and started to explain its benefits. The man stopped her mid-sentence and said, “You’re doing this as a ministry, aren’t you?” She replied with an affirming “Yes!” He went on to ask her if her team drove buses and then started to describe the people on her canvassing team as if he had seen them before. Linda, awestruck, answered back and asked how he knew who was on her team. The man explained that he had just had a dream about Linda and the team the night before. Excited, Linda handed him a Steps to Christ and began to canvass when he interrupted her once more. “That’s not the one,” he said. He spread out the books in Linda’s hands and pulled out a DVD she carried on Daniel chapter 2. “This is the one I saw in my dream!” he exclaimed. Immediately, he ran inside for money and purchased the DVD. God had been paving the way for Linda to knock on this man’s door. It is so amazing to think that the Lord truly does go before us as we knock on doors. He has been working on their hearts long before we get there. In fact, He’s been working in their lives since they were born!
They’re reading them!
Rosalva Jacinto, a student working in the Panorama City area, had an encouraging experience happen to her! While she was working in Panorama City one day, she kept running into people who had already purchased our books! One man who saw what she had in her hand ran back inside and brought a stack of three books to the door. He had already purchased the Great Controversy, Steps to Christ, and the Desire of Ages. A closer look at the books revealed page after page of underlining and highlighting. This man had read them! Imagine how many books are in homes right now, that haven’t been picked up and read. Now, imagine people picking up those books and reading them. As a result, they find a deepening relationship with Jesus. This is what literature evangelism is all about: leaving books with families that will lead them to search the scriptures (Colporteur Ministry, pg. 7).
dump bag
A dump bag is when a student gets out of all the books in their bag. Most of the time families purchase 2-5 books, but on rare occasions, some families will purchase all the books. Angelica Perez (pictured to the left) experienced a rarity this summer as she was knocking on doors in Oxnard, CA. The man only wanted a DVD at the beginning of their conversation. He had just become Christian, and his family resented him for it. He even had a brother who wouldn’t talk to him because of it! He had taken in two kids whom he was trying to teach about the Bible and had an intense burden for his family. After Angelica shared all of the English books & DVDs available, the man decided to get the full English set of 11 books! Then, he asked if there were any books available in Spanish. He wanted to reach his mom, and that’s all she could read. In the end, he had come to the point where he was willing to give up some of the English set to have some Spanish books for his mother! He believed God wanted him to get books to share with her. Finally, he decided to not leave any book out, purchasing all 18 of our books (retail value of more than $280)! Then the honest truth came out. The man was about to ignore the knock at his door. He saw Angelica and wasn’t going to answer! In fact, the house they were at wasn’t even his own house! He had only been stopping by to pick something up. Both Angelica and the man realized that their meeting was no coincidence, but instead, it was divine providence. The man signed up for personal Bible studies!
What do I need to do to be baptized?
Aaron knocked on David’s door one summer. David had purchased all the books we offered several years before from a previous Youth Rush student. His favorite book was The Great Controversy. As David showed Aaron his well-read copy of The Great Controversy, Aaron could see that every page was highlighted, annotated and referenced to the Bible like he had never seen before! David shared with Aaron that he had studied the Bible with many different denominations, but he didn’t believe any of them were true because he believed the Sabbath was actually on Saturday! When Aaron shared that he was a Seventh-day Adventist, David immediately asked, “What do I need to do to be baptized?” After asking Aaron many more questions about the SDA church, David signed up for Bible studies. Aaron gave him more resources to read and study. After the summer, David began receiving Bible studies to be baptized.