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"If you have just a roof over your head and enough space,
you can work,
and the kids can learn."
"I get a great deal of pleasure when I see kids
who come from a family where no one has ever been to school
and they're the first ones to go through to grade 6,
and they're the first ones to finish year 12,
and they're the first ones to go to college."
Adventist Volunteer Services, or AVS,
is an opportunity for people to serve in a mission setting globally.
This can include a huge variety of jobs.
Helen Hall is an AVS worker,
originally from Australia,
now working at an Adventist school in Asia.
She runs this school that ranges from grades 1-12.
Her dedication and passion to the job has allowed hundreds of children to
graduate
and move on to opportunities they may not have had otherwise.
The mission at this school is for
the students to receive a quality Adventist
Education, both academically
and spiritually.
But most of the students here are not Christians,
making it hard to reach them spiritually.
"It's very difficult for a Buddhist
to become a Christian
and if they do it too quickly
it causes big problems in their family,
but if they wait and go a little more slowly then they can get by."
Helen's experience has taught her what works and what doesn't work in reaching
the students.
She has had quite a bit of success in teaching her students about Jesus.
"A normal day we
try to get everybody at worship by 8:30...
and then we just
go through the classes."
"We've got a lot of teachers here who when they came to us as students,
none of them were from Christian homes
and they're wonderful
workers now."
After students graduate,
they will usually go on to university.
After university graduation, some students agree to come back to the
school
and work a certain number of years.
This is how Helen is guaranteed workers to keep the school running.
She teaches right along with the other teachers.
Students pay close attention to the valuable lessons she gives in a variety of
topics including sciences, English, math,
and the Bible.
Atu (Ah-too) is a graduate from Helen's school.
He now works in villages telling people about Jesus.
Atu has helped start multiple churches in these villages.
The villagers love hearing stories from the Bible.
Most of them are hearing the name Jesus for the first time.
Atu knows that God has blessed him with the opportunity to do this.
He gained a strong grasp on the Bible while at Helen's school and is now passing on
his knowledge to others.
He is just one of many graduates using what they have learned in school
for God's glory.
Despite all the success from this school, the challenges are big.
In addition to religious barriers
things such as financial resources
shortage of education materials and even lack of space are constant challenges.
But when these challenges surface
Hellen looks to someone she knows can pull through the situation.
"When you get discouraged the Lord sends us
some blessing or something
and then you know that He's still with us."
"No man's got wisdom enough to know what to do.
Only God can know
and guide us as to how we should go."
As you can see, the work of an AVS worker has the power to change lives.
They can teach people about Jesus and set them on the right path.
Helen is just one of many AVS workers around the world facing the challenge of
mission daily.
Please pray for these workers and thank you for supporting the mission of the
Seventh-day Adventist church.