Mission

YOUTH & ADULT

2018 • QUARTER 3 • NORTHERN ASIA-PACIFIC DIVISION

AdventistMission.org
 Contents
O n the Cover: Bumchin Erdenebat converted a Sunday church when he was in the eighth
grade in Mongolia. Today, he is a Global Mission pioneer. Story, page 18.

SOUTH KOREA MONGOLIA

4 Possessed by 20 Spirits | July 7 18 Eighth Grader Converts Church | Sept. 1
6 Loving Two Pastors | July 14 20 World’s Best Job | Sept. 8
22 I Don’t Want to Teach | Sept. 15
8 Converting an Adventist | July 21
10 Sabbath Fills Emptiness | July 28 CHINA
26 A Second Life | Sept. 22
JAPAN
TAIWAN
12 Forgive Me, Father | Aug. 4
28 Thirteenth Sabbath Program | Sept. 29
14 Jesus Catches Fisherman | Aug. 11 30 Future Thirteenth Sabbath Projects
16 Mother to Hundreds | Aug. 18 31 Leader’s Resources/Masthead
18 Stranded at Adventist College | Aug. 25 32 Map

= stories of special interest to teens

Yo u r O f f e r i n g s a t W o r k
Part of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in 2015 helped the Tusgal School, the only
Seventh-day Adventist school in Mongolia, expand its classrooms and open a library in
Ulaanbaatar. This photo shows fifth-grade students in an expanded classroom.
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

© 2018 General Conference of

Seventh-day Adventists ® • All rights reserved
12501 Old Columbia Pike,
Silver Spring, MD 20904-6601
1-800-648-5824 • AdventistMission.org

2
D e a r S a b b a t h S c h o o l L e a d e r, Andrew McChesney
Editor

This quarter we feature the Northern member plan in late 2015.

Asia-Pacific Division, which includes “‘We must work the works
China, Japan, Mongolia, North and South of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day;
Korea, and Taiwan. The region is home to night is coming when no man can work’
1.6 billion people, making it the church’s (John 9:4).”
largest in terms of population, but also This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath
among the least reached with the gospel, projects were chosen to help reach that
with only 3 percent identifying themselves goal of 1 million members.
as Christian. The other 97 percent are
Buddhists, Shintoists, Muslims, Shamans, Special Features
Taoists, and atheists. If you want to make your Sabbath
The Northern Asia-Pacific Division School or church come alive in a new
has an Adventist membership of about way this quarter, contact me directly
704,000. That’s a ratio of one Adventist at [email protected] for
for nearly every 2,292 people. Division high-resolution photos to accompany
president Jairyong Lee has set a five-year the featured stories. You could show the
goal of increasing membership to at least 1 photos on PowerPoint, your computer,
million by 2020. That’s an ambitious goal or a mobile device while you read the
for a territory that grew by 77,841 members mission story, or you could print the
over the previous five-year period, from photos to decorate your Sabbath School
2010 to 2015. “We still have many mission room or church bulletin board.
opportunities in our territory. However, This adult and youth Mission quarterly
the opportunities will not always remain,” contains just a sampling of the thrilling
Lee said in announcing the 1-million- mission stories that we have collected
from the Northern Asia-Pacific Division.
For more great stories, visit bit.ly/
Opportunities nsd-archive, which will take you to all
the division stories. At this link, you
The Thirteenth Sabbath Offering
can also search for stories based on
this quarter will help provide:
country. You can download the PDF
 A holistic inner-city church plant in an version of the Mission quarterly at bit.ly/
unnamed country adultmission and like us at Facebook.com/
missionquarterlies. Download Mission
 The first Adventist church in Sejong,
South Korea Spotlight videos at bit.ly/missionspotlight.
The Leader’s Resources are on page 31.
 A boarding academy in Ulaanbaatar, If you have found especially effective
AdventistMission.org

Mongolia
ways to share these mission stories, please
 A youth evangelism training center at let me know at the e-mail address above.
Tokyo’s Setagaya Church in Japan Thank you for encouraging church
 Six city health centers in Taiwan
members to be mission-minded!
3
 Possessed by 20 Spirits
SOUTH KOREA | July 7
S i - Wo o N o h , 5 5

Si-Woo [pronounced: SHE-oo] suffered

chronic headaches as a child in
because he had died before her birth. Back
at home, her mother confirmed that her
Daegu, a large city in South Korea. brother had died of a head injury.
She completed college, got married, Si-Woo returned to the shaman to seek
and had a baby daughter. But life was advice about the headaches. The shaman
a constant struggle because of the said Si-Woo had to be possessed by a spirit
headaches. Doctors didn’t know what to and become a shaman. If she refused, the
do. She visited Buddhist temples, hoping shaman said, her young daughter would be
to become a nun and find relief, but the tormented by the spirit.
monks always sent her home. Si-Woo became a shaman. To be
Then Si-Woo visited a shaman, a possessed, she was required to recite a
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

person believed to communicate with 100-day prayer and make a pilgrimage to

good and evil spirits. The shaman told the mountains where she, her husband,
Si-Woo that a ghost child had entered the and the shaman were born. She also had
room right before her. The shaman said to pray three hours every night and two
the spirit was Si-Woo’s brother and she hours early every morning and to take
was suffering headaches because he had cold-water baths to purify her body.
died of a head injury. Si-Woo ended up being possessed—not
Si-Woo did have a brother who had by one spirit but by 20 spirits. She opened
died, but she knew little about him a shrine for the 20 spirits and spent the
4
next 20 years offering to tell fortunes, heal “Why can’t the gods that I served for

KO R E A
diseases, and be possessed by the spirits 20 years protect me?” she thought. “If
of the dead. By all appearances, she was these gods can’t keep me safe, how I can
good at her job. If someone came with trust them?”
a stomachache, she diagnosed it by also Si-Woo prayed for her faith to be
having a stomachache. If someone had strengthened, but nothing happened.

S O U T H
heart trouble, she had heart pain. She Frustrated, she set fire to her shrine and
prescribed amulets, prayer, and exorcism, announced that she would not serve the
and the symptoms vanished. gods anymore. The 20 spirits left her.
Si-Woo made a fortune, but she wasn’t Without the shrine, Si-Woo felt empty
happy. Her headaches were gone, but she and afraid. She wondered whether a more
suffered continual body pain and growing powerful God existed than her former
psychosis, a mental disorder where gods. She remembered a Seventh-day
thoughts are so impaired that a person Adventist woman who had once told her
loses touch with reality. Her husband and about Jesus, and she called for help.
her children deserted her. She tried to The Adventist woman introduced
commit suicide several times. Si-Woo to a retired pastor. As they studied
Then someone hit her car from the Bible together, Si-Woo learned about
behind in an accident that left her the true state of the dead and realized
hospitalized for a month. The accident that she had been serving Satan. She was
perplexed her. She wondered why she baptized in 2016.
could foretell other people’s futures but Si-Woo is determined that Satan won’t
not prevent her own misfortune. have a foothold on her life ever again. She
has taken to heart Luke 11:24, where Jesus
said, “When an evil spirit comes out of a
man, it goes through arid places seeking
Fa s t Fa c t s rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I
will return to the house I left’” (NKJV).
 Koreans love kimchi, a traditional She prays and reads the Bible every
fermented Korean side dish made of
morning. She is experiencing peace and
vegetables. From cabbage kimchi and radish
kimchi to cucumber kimchi, there are joy for the first time.
about 250 different types of this delicacy. When Jesus cast demons out of a man
 Instead of air heaters, South Koreans
in Mark 5, He commanded, “Go home
have heated floors. Called “ondol” to your friends, and tell them what great
(warm stone), the heat is passed through things the Lord has done for you, and how
pipes under the floor. It’s an ancient He has had compassion on you” (verse
technology, but more than 90 percent of
Korean houses still use it today.
19). Likewise, Si-Woo is proclaiming all
that Jesus has done for her at Adventist
AdventistMission.org

 The number “4” is considered very churches across South Korea. And all who
unlucky in Korea. In elevators, the
button for the fourth floor is often shown
hear her story are marveling. 
as the letter “F” or is missing altogether. By Byung Ju Lee, Sabbath School and Personal Ministries
director of the Korean Union Conference.

5
 SOUTH KOREA | July 14

Loving Two
Pastors
H e e - S o o k Ki m , 6 4

[Ask a woman to read this Genesis. I explained how God had

first-person testimony.] created the world in six days and then
rested on the seventh day, Sabbath, and

T wo literature evangelists and I made it holy. I gave the couple a Bible

were going door to door in a town correspondence lesson and promised to
near South Korea’s capital, Seoul. As bring them a second lesson in a week.
we walked down a street, we saw a As we spoke further, I realized that the
large banner advertising a retreat for man, Ki-Jo Moon [pronounced: kee-jo
seminary students from a Sunday-keeping moon], knew a lot about the Bible. Then
denomination. We decided to see what I learned that he had served as a pastor for
was going on. about 30 years and his wife had pastored
The address printed on the banner led us for about a decade. So, I didn’t bring a
to the home of a married couple who both Bible lesson the next time that I visited.
served as pastors for one of South Korea’s Instead I presented the couple with the
largest Sunday-keeping denominations. “Conflict of the Ages” series by Adventist
But we did not know that when they Church cofounder Ellen G. White. The
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

opened the door. attractive boxed set of five books—

“We are from the Korean Publishing Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings,
House, and we are here to share some The Desire of Ages, Acts of the Apostles,
literature,” I said. and The Great Controversy—usually costs
To my surprise, the husband recognized 300,000 Korean won, or about U.S.$265.
the name of the Seventh-day Adventist But I told them that they could have the
publishing house. He immediately asked, books for free.
“Why do you go to church on Saturday?” The pastor expressed a special interest
I related the story of Creation from in the book of Daniel and asked whether I
6
could share any information about it. On

KO R E A
the next visit, I brought commentaries on Fa s t Fa c t s
the books of Daniel and Revelation.
Sometime later, the pastor sent me a  South Korea has 715 churches and
a membership of 247,143. With
text message. “It seems that I have been a population of 75,916,000, that
studying the Bible on a very superficial

S O U T H
means there is one Adventist for
level for my whole life,” he wrote. “Would every 307 people.
it be all right if I visited your church?”
 More than 50 percent of people in
The pastor seemed to enjoy the church Korea do not claim membership in any
services, and he returned a few times. But organized religion, while 28 percent are
then he stopped. I wondered what was Christian and 16 percent are Buddhist.
going on. Every time I called to ask, he
 Seoul’s metropolitan area known as the
gave various excuses about being too busy Seoul Capital Area is home to more than
or not feeling well. Later I found out that 25 million people, making Seoul the
his wife had forbidden him from going to world’s third-largest city.
the Adventist church. She had scolded
him, saying, “You are a pastor. Shame on
you! You should not be doing this.” Still, I
kept inviting him to church. February 2017, the husband and wife
About seven years after our first were baptized together into the Adventist
meeting, I called the pastor and invited Church. The Word of God and our health
him to attend a series of health seminars message changes lives! 
at an Adventist church. The seminars By Hee-Sook Kim, as told to Andrew McChesney
included special detox sessions where
attendees could sip various freshly made Hee-Sook Kim [pronounced: hee-sook
juices aimed at cleansing their bodies. kim], 64, is a full-time literature evangelist in
When I told the pastor about the detox South Korea. We’ll read the husband’s side of
sessions, he said, “It would be better if the story next week.
you spoke with my wife about this.” So,
I called his wife, and she agreed to come Hee-Sook Kim with Ki-Jo Moon and his wife.
with her husband. This was the first time
that she had shown any interest in the
Adventist Church.
Then the couple accepted an
invitation to attend an evangelistic
series. The husband seemed convicted
by the message, but he still wasn’t sure
that he wanted to join the church. So,
I invited him and his wife to a second
AdventistMission.org

evangelistic series. They came every

evening and declared, “We are melting
into this message.”
Eight years after we first met, in
7
 Converting an Adventist
SOUTH KOREA | July 21
Ki - J o Mo o n , 7 1

know much about those books.”

As I sought answers, I engaged in a fight
against religious cults. Most Christians in
South Korea categorize three groups as
cults: Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Seventh-
day Adventist Church, and a South
Korean group called New Heaven and
New Earth. I knew a young man who had
joined New Heaven and New Earth and
couldn’t be persuaded to leave, so I went to
their headquarters and gave them a Bible
lecture. Then I tried to convert a group of
Jehovah’s Witnesses. After that, I decided
[Ask a man to present this first- to learn more about the Adventists so I
person report.] could refute their teachings.
It was then that an Adventist literature

M y interest in the Seventh-day

Adventist Church started long
before an Adventist literature evangelist
evangelist, Hee-Sook Kim [pronounced:
hee-sook kim], visited my home. When
she introduced herself as a representative
knocked on my door in South Korea. of an Adventist publishing house, I
As a pastor with a major Protestant immediately prayed, “Thank you, God!
denomination, I sought to understand I am curious about Adventists, and you
religious viewpoints other than my have brought one to me.”
own, and I compared literature from the Ms. Kim gave me a pamphlet, and I
Presbyterian, Methodist, and Adventist usually throw away such things. But this
churches. I noticed that all the Adventists
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

time I thought, “Maybe there’s an inkling

books seemed to have been written by of truth in there. If there is, I want to
Ellen White. I wondered why so much learn it to connect with her spiritually and
attention was given to a woman who had then convert her.”
died long ago.
At the same time, I felt like something Is This a Cult?
was missing from my church. I asked a Afterward, I wanted to visit Ms. Kim’s
prominent pastor why we didn’t teach church to see if Adventists really are
seminary students about Daniel and a cult as my denomination teaches. I
Revelation. He replied, “Because we don’t went secretly for a while, but somehow
8
 we attended evangelistic meetings about

KO R E A
Mission Post Daniel and Revelation. I thought to
myself, “This is so different. We have a lot
 With a population of 51 million and of fluff in my church, but the Adventist
a land area of 38,000 square miles
(100,000 square kilometers), South pastor is serving me a hot spiritual meal.”
After the meetings, the evangelist

S O U T H
Korea has one of the highest population
densities in the world at 1,300 people recommended that I consider baptism. But
per sq. mile (500 people per sq. km.). my wife urged me to wait. She reminded
Compare this to the United States,
which has a population density of 86 me that I was not only a pastor but also a
people per sq. mile (33 per sq. km.). senior church leader. I heeded my wife’s
advice to serve out my term as president of
 In Korea, when you are born, you are
considered to be one year old already. my denomination’s local union and then
get baptized.
 Sahmyook University was founded in
The Sabbath after I decided to
1906 as a small school called Euimyung
College by American Adventist postpone my baptism, my wife skipped
missionaries to improve the education church services because she wasn’t
of church workers in Korea. It had to feeling well. That afternoon, a church
close twice, once during Japanese rule of member came to our home to encourage
Korea and again during the Korean War.
Today it has 5,787 students, 86 percent my wife. As we spoke, he told us, “You
of whom are non-Adventist. need to be baptized!”
I looked at my wife warily and replied,
“I’ll pray about it. If it is God’s will, then
my wife found a church bulletin among
I’ll get baptized.”
my possessions, and a conflict erupted
My wife, however, was looking at the
between us. I was pondering how to
calendar. “Feb. 4 looks like a good date to
attend church without angering my wife
get baptized,” she said.
when Ms. Kim invited me to health
I couldn’t believe my ears! My wife
seminars at her church. I thought the
had dissuaded me from being baptized
seminars might interest my wife, so I
just a week earlier and now she wanted
suggested that Ms. Kim speak with her.
to be baptized!
I knew that my wife would never agree
My life has been filled with joy after our
to go to a sermon, but a low-key seminar
baptism in February 2017. I look forward
seemed like a good way to introduce her to
to hearing the sermon every Sabbath.
the Adventist Church. I wanted my wife to
I wanted to convert the Adventist
see that Adventists are friendly and always
say, “Hello.” I wanted her to observe the literature evangelist, but she ended up
fellowship meals. In my denomination, the converting me. 
pastors always sit at the head table and are By Ki-Jo Moon, as told to Andrew McChesney
served at lunch. But the Adventist pastors
AdventistMission.org

carry their own plates and have to look Ki-Jo Moon [pronounced: kee-jo moon],
around for a place to sit. 71, served as a pastor with a Sunday-keeping
The health seminars softened up my denomination for 37 years. We’ll read his
wife toward the Adventist Church. Later, wife’s side of the story next week.
9
 Sabbath Fills Emptiness
SOUTH KOREA | July 28
Soon-Ae Byun, 64

[Ask a woman to read this first- church. At first I thought he was going
person testimony.] to another Sunday church, and I found
it odd that he was gone on Saturdays.

G od has helped me plant churches Once while cleaning his office, I found
in South Korea for years. I would an Adventist church bulletin and realized
preach to a small group; it would grow what he was doing.
to about 40 people and become a I didn’t say anything that day. The
congregation; and then God would lead next day was Sunday, so I remained silent
me to start a new church elsewhere. again. On Monday, I confronted my
But even as I was doing God’s work, husband. “You are a minister!” I told him.
I felt something was missing from my “How can you go to that cult?”
heart. Joy filled me while I preached or “You don’t understand,” my husband
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

participated in revival meetings, but it was replied. “They are not a cult. They have
followed by a deep emptiness afterward. the truth.”
Hoping to fill that emptiness, I studied After hearing those words, I secretly
theology and became a full-time pastor began to read the Adventist books that
just like my husband. But I still felt empty. my husband had lying around the house.
Then one day a Seventh-day Adventist We had received several Ellen White
literature evangelist showed up at our books from the literature evangelist.
home. She gave us some literature, and Reading the books hurt my pride as
my husband began attending an Adventist a pastor, so I read them whenever my
10
 Korean woman was baptized. She became

KO R E A
Mission Post my first convert to the Adventist Church
even though I wasn’t a member!
 The first Adventist missionary to After the health seminars, I attended a
Korea, Son Heung Cho, was actually a Sabbath service for the first time. I wanted
Korean who had been converted while
to find something—anything—that would

S O U T H
living in Japan in 1904.
allow me to declare that the church was
 The Korean Union Conference a cult. But I couldn’t find anything. I was
oversees the church’s work in South
Korea and is comprised of the East surprised to see that Adventists follow the
Central Korean, Middlewest Korean, Bible closely.
Southeast Korean, Southwest Korean,
and West Central Korean conferences. Message From Jesus
I wanted to be baptized, but I had been
baptized with my husband years earlier. I
prayed, “Why do I need to do this again?”
husband wasn’t home. I quickly returned God seemed to reply, “You need to figure
the books to the bookshelf when I heard this out for yourself.” Finally, I decided
my husband’s car pull up outside. I should be baptized again because I had
sinned by not keeping the Sabbath.
Interest Grows Around that time, an Adventist
My interest in Adventist teachings church member was visiting our home
grew. Then the literature evangelist on a Sabbath afternoon. As we spoke, he
invited me to attend health lectures at an told my husband and me that we should
Adventist church. I thought, “This is my be baptized. My husband said he would
opportunity to see whether Adventists pray about the matter, but I didn’t see
really are part of a cult.” any reason to pray anymore. I suggested
The health seminars lasted several that we get baptized together in February
days. On the third day, a Chinese-Korean 2017—and we were!
woman approached me and said, “Pastor, My dream now is for my seven siblings
people say this church is a cult. What do to accept the Sabbath. I also want to
you think?” travel into the deep countryside where
I wanted to say, “This is a cult.” But people don’t know the Adventist message
I found myself saying, “No, this is not a and teach them about the Sabbath.
cult. This church has the truth, including Please pray for us and our hope to plant
the biblical Sabbath.” I had no idea why I Adventist churches.
said that. Nowadays, I no longer feel empty. What
The Chinese-Korean woman was was missing from my life was the Sabbath
impressed. “In that case, I want to come to truth. My heart is filled with joy in Jesus! 
your church with my daughter,” she said. By Soon-Ae Byun, as told to Andrew McChesney
AdventistMission.org

“No, no, my church is far away,” I said.

“Just come to this church. They’ll take Soon-Ae Byun [pronounced: soon-a
care of you here.” p-yun], 64, served as a pastor with a Sunday-
I later found out that the Chinese- keeping denomination for 15 years.
11
 JAPAN | August 4

Forgive Me,
Father
H o r i t a Ri s a , 2 4

[Ask a young woman to read this first- They invited me to go to church on

person testimony.] Sabbath, and I really liked it. This was my
first time in a Christian church.

Ilikewasn’t raised a Christian. I never even But I didn’t have time for church after
thought about God growing up, just I started studying. For six months, my
many of the 127 million people in cousins asked me whether I had found
my home country of Japan. But I had an Adventist church in Los Angeles.
many thoughts about my father. I didn’t Finally, I went to the Glendale Filipino
like him. Seventh-day Adventist Church. My
My parents divorced when I was young. plan was to listen to the sermon and
I ended up living with my mother but then go home to talk to my mother on
visited my father on weekends. When I Skype. But the church was filled with
was 14, my father fell ill, and I had to care young people like me, and they stopped
for him on weekends. I didn’t want to be me when I tried to leave. We ate lunch
his nurse. It was very stressful, and I was together, and they invited me to hang
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

young and had many other things to do. I out with them in the afternoon.
complained, “Why me?” Whenever I saw My new friends called me the next day
my father, I told him, “I hate you.” I cried and wanted to hang out again. They called
a lot. I think that my father cried, too. every day. I wondered why they were so
After a while, he died. kind to me. After a while, I realized that
I decided to move to the United States God shows His love through Christians,
to study animation. Before I started school and my friends were showing me God’s
in Los Angeles, I visited some cousins in love. I wanted to know more, so I asked
Chicago who are Seventh-day Adventists. many questions about God and the Bible.
12
One of my friends was a Bible worker, and
she gave me Bible studies. Fa s t Fa c t s
I loved my friends and wanted to be
baptized, but I couldn’t forget how I had  Japan is an archipelago, or string of
islands, on the eastern edge of Asia.
treated my father. I wished that I could There are four main islands: Hokkaido,
ask his forgiveness. Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. There
One night, I had a dream. I saw my are also nearly 4,000 smaller islands.
father lying on the floor. His face was  Three of the tectonic plates that
very white, as if he were close to death. form Earth’s crust meet near Japan
He stared at me and didn’t say a word. I and often move against each other,

J A PA N
causing earthquakes. More than 1,000
was stunned to see him looking at me like earthquakes shake Japan every year.
that, and I thought, “Oh no, he will never Japan also has about 200 volcanoes, 60
forgive me.” of which are active.
The next night, I had the same dream.  Shinto is the largest religion in Japan,
Again, I saw my father lying on the floor. practiced by nearly 80 percent of the
But this time he smiled at me and said, population, yet only a small percentage
of these identify themselves as
“Thank you.” I thought, “My father has Shintoists in surveys.
forgiven me, and this is what God does for
us! Even though we don’t always act the
right way, God forgives us and loves us.”
When my father said, “Thank you” in
the dream, I sensed the joy of salvation
for the first time. The heaviness in my
heart disappeared. I knew I was forgiven. mostly for video games in Japan. I don’t
When I woke up, I prayed, “Thank you, want to make video games. So, I work
God. Jesus has forgiven me. I can feel as an art therapist for children. My
Jesus’ love.” organization uses art therapy to help
The dream eliminated the last barrier to children overcome trauma such as a 2011
baptism. I realized that God could forgive, earthquake in northern Japan.
and I felt His love through the people at I am praying for my mother to accept
church. I understood 1 John 4:12, which Jesus. I also am praying for my church in
says, “If we love one another, God abides Tokyo. The Setagaya Church is training
in us, and His love has been perfected in Japanese Adventist young people like
us” (NKJV). me to spread the gospel across Japan.
My cousins flew from Chicago to Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath
celebrate my baptism three months after Offering will help the church expand its
the dream. They were surprised but happy work with young people. 
about my decision. By Horita Risa, as told to Andrew McChesney
AdventistMission.org

Now I am 24 years old and working

for a nongovernmental organization Watch a 50-second video of Risa
near Tokyo. I decided not to work in sharing her testimony at the link: bit.ly/
animation because animation is used forgive-me-father
13
 Jesus Catches Fisherman
JAPAN | August 11
Ku r i h a r a Ki m i y o s h i , 3 9

Seventh-day Adventists on the island

when we arrived seven years ago.
Sadayuki tapped on my car window,
startling my two young daughters and me.
“Could you give me a cigarette?”
he asked.
[Ask a man to present this first- I immediately replied, “I’m sorry. I do
person report.] not have any cigarettes.”
That is how I usually respond to such

M y heart filled with joy as I saw

Sadayuki [pronounced: sada-YUKI],
a 48-year-old fisherman, get baptized on
requests. But the stranger looked so sad
and hopeless. As he walked away, I told
my daughters that we should pray for him.
the remote Japanese island of Tsushima After praying, I thought, “What if I gave
[pronounced: tsu-shim-a]. the man an Adventist tract?” But I didn’t
After working as a fisherman since he have any tracts left in the car after passing
was 15, he had just been caught by Jesus. out a pile two days earlier. So, I prayed
I first met Sadayuki when he asked again for God to do something.
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

me for a cigarette in a supermarket When I opened my eyes, I saw a lone

parking lot. My wife and I live with our tract lying on the car floor. It was tattered
two young daughters on Tsushima, an after having been stomped on by my little
island of 30,000 people located partway daughter’s feet. But the words were legible,
between Japan and South Korea. We are and I had nothing else to share. I grabbed
Global Mission pioneers—lay people who my two daughters’ hands, and we ran after
volunteer at least a year to establish a the man.
congregation in an unentered area within When caught up with the man, a
their own culture. We were the only Bible verse popped into my mind. It was
14
 come to my home for Bible studies.
Fa s t Fa c t s Sadayuki showed up the next day, and
we studied together for three months. I
 Japanese cuisine includes lots of rice,
fish, and vegetables, but little meat. learned that Sadayuki had struggled with
With little fat or dairy, this diet is depression and alcoholism. He had tried
very healthy, which may explain why to commit suicide twice by overdosing
Japanese people live, on average, longer on pills, but doctors had saved his life
than any other people in the world.
miraculously both times. I told him
 Sumo wrestling is Japan’s national sport. that God would never allow him to die
To win at sumo, the wrestler must either
force his opponent to step out of the
without first knowing Jesus’ love.

J A PA N
ring or force him to touch the ground Sadayuki was baptized in 2015—
with any part of his body other than the becoming the second of three people
bottoms of his feet. who have accepted Jesus through baptism
 Christianity was first introduced into since my family moved to this island. He
Japan by Jesuit missions in 1549. Today, doesn’t drink anymore, and he dreams
1 percent to 2.3 percent are Christians. about opening an Alcoholics Anonymous
 There are 97 churches in Japan, with program to help other people suffering
a membership of 15,151. With a from alcoholism.
population of 125,310,000, there are Some days, my wife and I are tempted
8,270 Japanese for each Adventist.
to feel discouraged about the great
difficulties we face in sharing the gospel
the words of the apostle Peter, when he among a population that follows Buddhist
told a beggar, “Silver or gold I do not and Shinto traditions. But Sadayuki and
have, but what I do have I give you” his smiling face remind us that God’s ways
(Acts 3:6, NKJV). are not our ways and He can direct us to
I told the man, “I’m sorry. I do not have people who are seeking truth. 
a cigarette to give you, but I do have this.” By Kurihara Kimiyoshi
I wondered whether the man would
accept that tattered tract. He took it Kimiyoshi, known to friends as “Kimi,”
without hesitation and read it as I stood is among more than 2,500 Global Mission
there. Then he thanked me profusely. “To pioneers who have established more than
tell you the truth,” he said, “I was just 11,000 new Seventh-day Adventist
preparing to visit a nearby church to ask congregations since 1990. Kimi never
what hope is left in life. But you came to planned to be a Global Mission pioneer.
me before I could go there.” He has a pilot’s license and wanted to be a
When I heard this, I was shocked. It flying missionary, but God had other plans.
was as if our meeting had been divinely Still, he plays with airplanes. Watch Kimi
arranged. I invited the man to study the play with a paper airplane in his classroom at
AdventistMission.org

Bible with me every day and asked whether the link: bit.ly/praying-for-students1. Read
he needed something to eat. We could two more stories about Kimi in this quarter’s
give him food every day, too. The man Children’s Mission quarterly, which can be
introduced himself and happily agreed to downloaded at: bit.ly/childrensmission
15
 JAPAN | August 18

Mother to
Hundreds
Ma y u m i N a g a n o , 5 8

M ayumi [pronounced: may-UMI] is

one of the most influential Seventh-
day Adventist women in Japan. But she
had found a way forward,” Mayumi said.
“I could not change my past, and my
scarred skin would never be the same as
nearly wasn’t. She nearly died twice before. But I realized that I could give
before the first grade. to other children the love that I wanted
Mayumi grew up with an alcoholic from my parents.”
father and a mother who suffered mental It was then that the idea began to
illness. Neither kept an eye on the little form in her mind that she would take
girl, and she twice knocked a kettle filled care of children.
with boiling water off the stove—first at But several difficult decades passed
the age of three and then again at age five. first. She married at the age of 21 and
Both times, hot water drenched her body, divorced 10 years later. She became an
leaving her with permanent scars. alcoholic and a heavy smoker. She tried
“God saved my life twice,” Mayumi said. to commit suicide. Then she remarried at
When she was nine, her mother 38 and began to build a new life. She was
disappeared, never to be seen again. horrified at what she saw when she began
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

Mayumi’s first glimmer of hope came working at a day-care center. The day-
in the sixth grade. An American moved care center set strict rules, and desperate
next door and taught her to speak English parents had to work around them.
and read the Bible. She couldn’t believe A turning point came when the day-
her ears when she read the Golden care center rejected a one-year-old baby
Rule in Matthew 7:12, where Jesus said, with a fever. The mother was desperate to
“Therefore, whatever you want men to do return to work because she wasn’t allowed
to you, do also to them” (NKJV). time off. The next morning, the mother
“When I heard that verse, I know that I returned and pronounced the baby
16
 The music teacher once struck her on the
Fa s t Fa c t s head with a tambourine.
Mayumi looked for other school options
 It was customary in ancient Japan for and found an Adventist school nearby.
women to blacken their teeth with
dye as white teeth were considered “The Adventist school was like
ugly. This practice persisted until the paradise in comparison to the public
late 1800s. school,” Mayumi said. “The teachers
 There are three Adventist nursery were very nice.”
schools in Japan, all bearing in Her daughter quickly adapted to the
their name the word Saniku. The new school and, several years later, was

J A PA N
name “Saniku” (三育), is a combination baptized. Soon Mayumi, her husband, and
of 三 (san, “three”) and 育 (iku, “to
nourish, to bring up”), means “to make their other daughter were baptized as well.
people whole” in physical, intellectual, After being baptized, Mayumi began
and spiritual attributes. to change. Once overweight, she became
trim and fit. She was happy all the time.
Friends, parents, and even former day-care
well. Mayumi couldn’t understand how children asked her what had happened,
the child had recovered so quickly. She and Mayumi boldly told them about Jesus.
found the answer when she changed the Because of her influence, about 30 of her
baby’s diaper. The mother had inserted a former day-care children, now teens and
suppository to keep the fever down. young adults, are studying in Adventist
“I thought, ‘No, it should not be this schools today.
way,’” Mayumi said. “So, I started my own “I advised my former babies to go to
day-care business with a customer-first Adventist schools long after they had left
policy. I would take children without any the day-care, and many agreed!” she said.
conditions, even those with a fever.” About 45 of her former day-care children
The day-care center, located in and their parents have been baptized over
Mayumi’s home, was open 24 hours a day, the past four years. That’s more baptisms
year-round. Five hundred families flooded than many pastors have had in Japan!
her with applications for the 10 available Today, Mayumi and her staff run a large
spots. It was 50 times the number she Tokyo day-care center with 50 children,
could handle. If a child had a fever, she mainly from non-Christian families. Next,
sent a babysitter to the child’s home so the she plans to open a lifestyle center for
other children wouldn’t be infected. children with mental challenges such as
While Mayumi was taking care of other ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome.
people’s children, she was having trouble How do we use our influence?
with her own. She had two daughters, Let’s pray for a gentle boldness, like
and the younger child refused to go to Mayumi’s, to win people to Christ. 
AdventistMission.org

her fourth-grade classes. The daughter By Andrew McChesney

complained that the public school
teachers called her “stupid” and punished Watch a 16-second video of Mayumi at the
her by hitting her on the shoulder or arm. link: bit.ly/mother-to-hundreds
17
 Stranded at Adventist College
JAPAN | August 25
Ya s u k i A o k i , 4 2

A oki [pronounced: AO-ki] had never

met a Christian or opened the
Bible when he enrolled in the Seventh-
“Everyone knew the hymn except
me,” he said. “Everyone knew how to
find the Bible verses except me. I did not
day Adventist Church’s sole college understand anything.”
in Japan. He didn’t even know that When worship ended, Aoki was ready
Saniku Gakuin College was a Christian to go home. But then he remembered that
institution when his parents paid upfront his parents had paid for his tuition for two
for two years of tuition. Aoki just knew years, and he resolved to wait it out.
that he wanted to learn English, and the “This was my very first contact with
college had a good reputation. Christianity,” Aoki said.
Eighteen-year-old Aoki was surprised Many Japanese people, like Aoki, have
when he heard the loudspeaker never met a Christian. Just 1 percent
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

announcement on his first night in the of Japan’s population of 127 million are
men’s dormitory. “It’s time for evening Christian, and of those only 15,151 are
worship,” a voice said. “Please gather in members of the Adventist Church. The
the meeting room.” country is largely Buddhist.
Aoki followed the other students to the Aoki was not a Buddhist when he
meeting room. He had never seen a Bible or entered the Adventist college. He just
hymnal in his life and certainly didn’t own didn’t have any interest in spiritual things.
either. He listened awkwardly as the other But his classmates and teachers were
students sang and then opened their Bibles. kind. They explained Christianity to him.
18
“And because they befriended me, my
impression of Christians became good,” Mission Post
he said.
 The Japan Union Conference comprises
He enjoyed attending church and
the East Japan and West Japan
conversing with his new friends. He began conferences and the Okinawa Mission.
dating an Adventist woman. But he saw
no reason to be baptized.  There are 97 churches in Japan, with
a membership of 15,151. With a
After two years, he received an English- population of 125,310,000, there are
language teaching license and decided 8,270 Japanese for each Adventist.
that he wanted to teach at the Adventist

J A PA N
 Japan’s literacy rate is almost
college. But he knew that he would have 100 percent.
to become a Christian first—and that
meant that he needed to study the Bible.
Aoki promptly signed up as a theology
major. He didn’t want to become a pastor;
he just wanted to study the Bible so he
could teach. As soon as he filled out the
paperwork to study theology, the college’s
chaplain called him into his office. “What one free day over the next few months, so
are you thinking?” the chaplain asked. Aoki made that his baptism day.
“What is your plan for the future? Do you Today, Aoki is 42 years old and a leader
want to become a Christian?” of the Japan Union Conference. He also is
“Maybe I will become a Christian the pastor of the country’s only Adventist
someday,” Aoki replied. “But not now.” youth church, Tokyo’s Setagaya Church,
The chaplain looked at Aoki closely. “If which trains young people to be gospel
you are going to be baptized someday, you workers. Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth
must be baptized now,” he said. “Why put Sabbath Offering will help the church
it off? No one know what the future holds. expand its youth work.
You must be baptized now.” Aoki said the secret to introducing
He and Aoki discussed the issue for Japanese young people to Christ is love—
several hours. Aoki understood the the same principle that attracted him to
chaplain’s stance. He finally said, “Please Christ at the Adventist college.
give me more time. I need to think.” “It wasn’t the Bible that first taught
The chaplain wouldn’t let Aoki off me that God is love,” he said. “My
easily. “When you come back next week, friends and teachers taught me that
you must decide the date of your baptism,” God is love through their loving words
he said. and actions.” 
Aoki called his Adventist girlfriend, By Andrew McChesney
AdventistMission.org

who was teaching at an elementary

school in another city, and explained the Watch a 40-second video of Aoki sharing
situation. He asked when she would be his testimony at the link: bit.ly/stranded-at-
able to attend his baptism. She had only adventist-college
19
 Eighth Grader Converts Church
MONGOLIA | September 1
Bumchin Erdenebat, 27

Ulaanbaatar. Bumchin realized at the

conference that missionaries were needed
in Mongolia, and after moving to the new
town, he wondered how he could be a
missionary. As Bumchin pondered his next
move, he began climbing up a mountain
near his home every morning. At the top
of the mountain, Bumchin sang Christian
songs and prayed to God to guide him.
“Please, God, use me,” he prayed.
One morning after prayer, he charged
down the mountain and went straight
to the Sunday church. He felt a little
E ighth grader Bumchin [pronounced:
BUM-chin] wanted to go to
church when his family moved to a
awkward when he walked inside and saw
that he was the only child in a room of
20 adults. But he soon forgot about his
mountainous town in rural Mongolia.
discomfort as he listened to the adults talk.
But his new town didn’t have a The church was about to close forever.
Seventh-day Adventist church. Many of “This is the last meeting of our church,”
the 10,000 residents were Buddhist, just a church member said. “Why go on with so
like his parents. He found one Christian few members?” said another one.
church that met on Sundays—in the The church members were
home of his new math teacher. discouraged that many people had
Bumchin was scared to go to his math stopped coming to worship on Sundays.
teacher’s home. Bumchin stood up and opened his
“I was a bad student in math, so I was
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

Bible to 1 Corinthians 15:58. He read,

worried to go to her church,” he said. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be
Not many people in Mongolia have steadfast, immovable, always abounding
heard about the Adventist Church, in the work of the Lord, knowing that
but Bumchin knew the church well. your labor is not in vain in the Lord”
He had worshipped at the Adventist (NKJV). He then gave a Bible study on
church in his old town at the invitation how Christians shouldn’t lose hope. The
of an Adventist relative. Then the church members listened intently as the
pastor had taken him to an Adventist boy spoke, and when he finished, they
youth conference in Mongolia’s capital, exclaimed, “This is no longer our last
20
 and Bumchin’s classmates also began to
Fa s t Fa c t s attend the services.
At the end of the year, all 27 church
 The traditional Mongolian home is members traveled to the Adventist
known as a “ger,” better known in the
pastor’s church to pray with the Adventist
West by the Russian term “yurt.” The
ger is a tent-like structure made of a members at a special Christmas program.
wooden frame covered with felt; the When the church members returned
materials are very lightweight so that home, they voted unanimously to turn
they are easily transported.
their church into an Adventist church. It
 Mongolia is known as the “Land of is the only time that a whole church has
the Horsemen,” and horses outnumber been converted in the Adventist Church’s
people in Mongolia. Horses are used
for transportation, milk, and meat. 27-year history in Mongolia.
The new church grew to 40 members
 Russian missionaries began the
Adventist work in Mongolia in
by the time that Bumchin moved to
1926. Following communist rule, Ulaanbaatar as an adult. But Bumchin,

MONGOLIA
Adventists returned in 1991. now 27, hasn’t stopped planting Adventist
 The first Adventist publications in
churches. Today, he is a Global Mission
Mongolian consisted of a hymn, pioneer and the leader of Mongolia’s
mimeographed at the Russian Mission only Pathfinder church, which he and
press at Harbin, Manchuria; and his wife opened in 2012 in their home, a
sometime later, four small tracts.
traditional Mongolian yurt. The Khutul
Seventh-day Adventist Church has an
meeting! This will be our first meeting as average Sabbath attendance of 60 people,
we start out new!” including 45 Pathfinders. The Adventist
A few days later, several church Church in Mongolia recognized it as an
members joined Bumchin in climbing up official church in March 2017, and its first
the mountain to pray. 10 baptisms took place in June 2017.
Bumchin contacted the pastor of his old Bumchin’s eighth-grade math teacher,
Adventist church and invited him to preach meanwhile, still teaches math. But now
Adventist beliefs at the Sunday church. she lives in Ulaanbaatar and teaches at
The pastor agreed if Bumchin helped him, Tusgal School, the only Adventist school in
and the two gave Bible presentations once a Mongolia and a recipient of the Thirteenth
month for the next six months. Sabbath Offering in 2015.
“I didn’t try to convince the church What does Bumchin want to do next?
members to become Adventists,” “I want to plant churches around
Bumchin said. “I just joined them in Mongolia,” he said. 
worshipping and praying.” By Andrew McChesney
But he changed his mountaintop prayer.
AdventistMission.org

Instead of only asking God to use him, he Watch Bumchin Erdenebat sing a Christian
prayed, “Please use me to turn the church song that he loved to sing on the Mongolian
members into Adventists.” mountaintop when he was in the eighth grade.
The church’s membership grew to 27, Video link: bit.ly/eighth-grader-converts-church
21
 MONGOLIA | September 8

World’s
Best Job
Ma n d a k h B o l d , 2 8

of punishment from God. I thought that

God had blessed me for seven years and
now was going to punish me for turning
my back on Him.
A year passed, and nothing happened.
Instead of punishing me, God loved me
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is and blessed me more than before. I got
young in post-communist Mongolia, with a well-paying job as an editor with a
a married couple from Adventist Frontier Mongolian television channel.
Missions becoming the first Adventist This shocked me. My thoughts
missionaries to enter the country of 3 million returned to God, and I wondered,
people in 1991. The church’s membership “What is the point of life if all I do is
of 2,177 also is young, and most members earn money and spend it, earn money
are the first in their families to be baptized. and spend it. The only person who is
This has led to several challenges, including benefiting is the television channel’s
member retention, as illustrated by the story owner, who is getting richer. What is the
of a 28-year-old Global Mission pioneer in best job that I could have?”
Mongolia’s capital. Mandakh [pronounced: I concluded that the best job would be
maan-dakh] was baptized as a teen but left a missionary. I rededicated my heart to
the church seven years later. This is his story. Jesus and prayed, “If You want me to be a
missionary, I am ready to go.”

Ialways
was a very hard man and judged After several months, the leaders of the
people. If someone made a mistake, I Adventist Church in Mongolia offered me
let him know what he had done the position of Global Mission pioneer. I
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

wrong. I wanted him to be punished. I would lead a dying house-church on the

thought that God likes to punish us. first floor of an apartment building in
I grew unhappy and eventually decided Mongolia’s capital and teach English at a
that believing in God was pointless. nearby public high school. My wife would
Something was broken in my life. I stopped oversee the children’s Sabbath School and
going to church. I stopped keeping the teach Chinese. I prayed for a week and
Sabbath. I stopped giving tithe. then quit my television job.
My wife was sad, and she prayed for me. I’ve only been a missionary for six
In the back of my mind, I lived in dread months so far, and I love it! There is
22
nothing more thrilling than seeing a life
change through God’s power. Fa s t Fa c t s
The first Sabbath, a former member
who hadn’t attended in three years  The vast Gobi Desert takes up much
of southern Mongolia, but rather than
showed up for Sabbath School. I didn’t sand dunes, it is mostly a barren, rocky
know him, and he didn’t know me. I tried wilderness and temperatures range from
to connect with him, and I encouraged minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40
him to return the next Sabbath. He didn’t degrees) Celsius in winter to 104 F (40
C) in summer.
seem happy about the invitation. I found
out why when he called me during the  The Mongolia Mission is located
week and said he wanted to talk. I went in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar.
It comprises six churches, with a
to his workplace and learned that he was membership of 2,177.
cheating on his wife. He said his wife had
found out and wanted a divorce. He said,  Mongolia has a population of
3,095,000, so there are 1,422 people for
“What should I do?”

MONGOLIA
every Adventist in the country.
I asked him, “What do you want to do?”
He didn’t know. I shared with him
the biblical principle that divorce is not health. He told me that the government
allowed except in the case of adultery. would give him two months’ payment at
I told him to ask God’s forgiveness and once that month. I said, “Please, give your
to stop cheating on his wife. I said, “Tell tithe. If you want to see God’s power, test
your wife the truth and then promise her, him. In Malachi 3:10, God says, ‘Test me
‘From now on, I will be a man of God. I be with your tithe money.’”
faithful to you.’” The next Sabbath, the man came to
We prayed together, and I left. church and gave tithe for the first time! A
A week later, the man told me that he week later, he called me and said excitedly,
had ended the affair by announcing to the “I gave this tithe last Sabbath, and today
other woman that he had recommitted his I got a letter from the government saying
life to Christ. He also told the truth to his that my monthly payment has been
wife and, fortunately, she had forgiven him. increased by 50 percent!”
Today, the man comes to church every I’m not an emotional person, but I
Sabbath and is an active church member. become so happy when I see God’s love
Another miracle happened with transforming lives. I cannot express this
a disabled man whose only income feeling with words. I want everyone to
is a disability payment of 160,000 know about God’s love, and that’s why
Mongolian togrog (about U.S.$65) a I’m a missionary. Being a missionary is the
month from the government. best job in the world! 
One Sabbath, I said to him, “Please, By Mandakh Bold, as told to Andrew McChesney
AdventistMission.org

give your tithe to God. He will bless you.”

The man refused. Watch an eight-minute video of Mandakh
Sometime later, the man called me, and sharing his testimony at the link: bit.ly/
we spoke on the phone about his life and worlds-best-job
23
 I Don’t Want to Teach
MONGOLIA | September 15
Tserenpil “Ogie” Otgontuya, 40

My husband asked me, “What do you

want to do in this small town?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “But I don’t
want to teach.”
After university classes, my husband
invited students to our home, and I
cooked simple, healthy food for them. In
Mongolia, meat is a vital part of every
meal, and the students were surprised to
see our table filled with dishes made of
grains, fruits, and vegetables. They asked,
“What kind of food is this? Why don’t you
eat meat?” I found myself teaching them
Today’s mission story is a first-hand the biblical health message.
testimony by Ogie [pronounced: Oj-i], the At the same time, I made friends with
40-year-old principal of the only Seventh-day other mothers in the neighborhood, and
Adventist school in Mongolia. when they visited, I told Bible stories to
their babies. I thought I would never teach,

W hen I had to choose an area

to study at the university in
Mongolia, I immediately thought, “I
but I seemed to be teaching all the time.
My husband planted a church in
the town, and then he was asked to
will never be a teacher.” My mother was further his education at the Adventist
a kindergarten teacher, and I had no University of the Philippines. I prayed to
patience for noisy children. God, “Please help me. What should I do
At church, the pastor asked me to in the Philippines?”
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

teach the children’s Sabbath School I was still praying that prayer several
class. I said, “No, I don’t like children.” months later when a university professor
He encouraged me to try and showed visited our new home in the Philippines.
me some felts of Bible stories. The felts He asked me what I wanted to do for the
intrigued me, but then I saw the children. 2 ½ years that it would take my husband
“No, no, I can’t teach them,” I said. to complete his studies.
I married a university professor, we “Maybe study accounting or nursing,”
had a child, and we moved to a small I said.
Mongolian town to work as missionaries. “Let’s pray together, and maybe God
24
 suggested that I visit a kindergarten run
Fa s t Fa c t s by the university. I was surprised by what I
saw. The children seemed calm and happy.
 Among Mongolians aged 15 and
above, 53 percent are Buddhists,
The female teacher looked so comfortable.
while 39 percent are non-religious. I made further inquiries and learned
Christians make up only 2.1 percent of that I could obtain an education degree
the population. in three years because I had taken general
 Mongolia is a landlocked country education classes in Mongolia.
between Russia and China. Nearly half My husband and I had a long
the population of Mongolia live in the conversation that night. The Adventist
capital, Ulaanbaatar.
Church didn’t have a school or even an
 Mongolia is mountainous, with an Adventist teacher in Mongolia. I wasn’t
average altitude of 5,183 feet (1,580 sure what to do.
meters) above sea level, which makes it
one of the highest countries in the world. My husband said, “Maybe it’s God’s plan
for you to become a teacher for Him.”

MONGOLIA
“Hmm, maybe,” I said. But all my
distaste for teaching had disappeared.
will show you His plan,” he said. I graduated in 2 ½ years—at the same
I checked out the university’s nursing time as my husband. Back in Mongolia, I
program and learned that it would helped establish the first Adventist school.
take five years to graduate. I went to A few years ago, I became the school
the business department and found principal. I love children and teaching!
out that an accounting degree would Today, the Tusgal [pronounced: TUS-
take four years. I was thinking about gal] School has 124 students, mostly
taking accounting when I passed by the from non-Adventist families. They
education department. study from kindergarten to 12th grade.
An education teacher and I began to Thank you for giving to a Thirteenth
talk, and we immediately established a Sabbath Offering in 2015 that helped
connection when I learned that he had us expand our classrooms. Enrollment
been to Mongolia. He was the first person is growing fast, so we plan to open a
whom I had met in the Philippines who boarding academy for the ninth- through
had visited Mongolia, and I was eager to 12th-grade students. This quarter’s
talk with him! After a few minutes, the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help
teacher suggested that I study education. build that boarding school.
“Hmm, maybe,” I said. I didn’t want Looking back, I really praise the Lord.
to give an emphatic “No” because he Sometimes relatives ask, “But you said you
was so kind. would never be a teacher. Why are you
The teacher said, “Since you a teacher?” I tell them, “You never know
AdventistMission.org

have a daughter, why not try who you will become. Only God knows.
elementary education?” When we are patient and obey, God plans
We talked and talked. Eventually, our lives for us.” 
the teacher had to go to a class, but he By Tserenpil “Ogie” Otgontuya, as told to Andrew McChesney
25
 A Second Life
CHINA | September 22
Peter, 40
Pixabay

When the medical results came back,

the students learned that two people had
not passed—Peter and another young
man. But Peter remained confident that
he was in good health and took a second
medical checkup at the college’s request.
This time, the hospital found that only
one of the two young men had failed—
Peter. The doctor said Peter had a serious
liver ailment that likely was untreatable.
The college disqualified Peter
from teaching.

P eter spent the first 24 years of his life “At that moment, I lost everything,”
pursuing a single goal: to become a Peter said. “I had worked very hard for
math teacher so he could care for his many years to rise above the poverty of my
impoverished parents in a village in parents. It seemed that I had finally reached
rural China. my goal, but everything disappeared in an
But then a health crisis upset his plans. instant. I felt so hopeless.”
Peter lost everything in one moment. That night, Peter stood on a bridge and
“Without such a situation, I would shouted into the dark sky, “Laotian!”—
never have come to God,” Peter said. [pronounced: LAO-tain], which in Chinese
“This is the way that God guided me to means, “Higher Power”— “Laotian! You
Him and to the truth.” are so unfair to me!” He wept bitterly and
Upon graduating from college, Peter briefly considered committing suicide by
was assigned to teach math at a middle jumping off the bridge.
school. His new future and the hope At his parents’ insistence, Peter
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

of financial security excited him. But checked into the village hospital for
before he and the other students in his treatment. The hospital conditions were
graduating class could teach, they needed poor; the family could not afford to send
to pass a medical checkup ordered by the Peter to a better-equipped city hospital.
provincial education department. After three days, Peter’s mother went
“I played a lot of basketball and soccer to church to ask the pastor to pray for
in college, so I thought it wouldn’t be her son. She sometimes attended the
any trouble to pass the medical checkup,” church on Sundays, and she thought in
Peter said. her grief that it was Sunday. But it was
26
 to provide healing, he would leave the
Fa s t Fa c t s hospital. He rejected his mother’s appeals
to take his medicine home.
 More Christians live in China than in
Italy, and China is on track to become “We trust God,” he said. “Let’s leave
the largest center of Christianity in everything here.”
the world. The elderly Adventist told Peter about
 The population of China is 1.387 billion a church-owned sanitarium in another
people. This makes up 18.47 percent of village, and he decided to go there. The
the world’s population.
sanitarium staff welcomed him warmly.
 According to Christian tradition, “When I was sick and hopeless, I needed
Christianity was first brought to China
by the apostle Thomas, but the first
comfort, but everyone left me,” Peter said.
historically authenticated evidence of “But when I reached that sanatorium, all
Christianity dates from the middle of the people there knelt with me and prayed
the seventh century.
for me. When they prayed, they cried,
‘God, please help this young man.’ They
Saturday, and the Seventh-day Adventists accepted me and loved me.”
who shared the church with the Sunday Peter had never experienced such
worshippers were startled to hear her love before and sensed that it was more
wailing in the sanctuary when they than human. It was divine. He stayed at
arrived for Sabbath School. An elderly the sanitarium for two months, praying,
woman asked, “Why are you so sad?”

C H I N A
studying the Bible, and learning a healthy
Upon hearing about Peter, the woman
lifestyle. “I forgot that I was sick,” Peter
said, “Don’t worry. Ask your son to trust
said. “I was very happy.”
God. God will save him.”
Later that day, the elderly woman After two months, he asked the
visited Peter in his hospital room and sanitarium director for permission to
offered him the same advice. “Young man, return to the hospital for a checkup. The
trust God,” she said. “God will save you.” results shocked him—and his doctor.
The advice was difficult for Peter to He received a bill of clean health. The
accept. His teachers had taught him since doctor couldn’t understand how the poor
first grade that God does not exist. medicine that he had prescribed had
At that point, two paths lay before cured him. But Peter had not taken the
Peter: to stay in the hospital, spending medicine. He had trusted God.
money and putting a bigger burden on his Peter’s was baptized, and his parents
parents, and finally to die, or to trust God. and grandparents also were baptized.
“I didn’t want to put a bigger burden Today, Peter is a 40-year-old Bible
on my parents,” Peter said. “So, I said, ‘I
worker in China.
AdventistMission.org

will try to trust God. I choose to trust God

“Since God gave me a second life, I
rather than the doctors.’”
That afternoon, Peter decided that have devoted this life to Him,” he said. 
since God exists and could be trusted By Andrew McChesney

27
 Thirteenth Sabbath Program

 Congregational Song “Don’t Forget the Sabbath”

Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, No. 388
 Welcome Superintendent or Sabbath School teacher
 Prayer
 Program “Sabbath Over Bicycles”
 Offering While the offering is being taken, ask the
children to sing “Jesus Loves Me” in Chinese
(see page 34 in the Children’s Mission
quarterly, which can be downloaded at: bit.ly/
childrensmission).
 Closing Song “I’d Rather Have Jesus”
Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, No. 327
 Closing Prayer

Participants: Narrator and a speaker to present the story.

[Note: participants do not need to memorize their parts, but they should be familiar
enough with the material that they do not have to read everything from the script.
Practice so that participants can feel comfortable adding inflection where appropriate.]

Sabbath Over Bicycles

Narrator: This quarter we have met Jin Rong Gao [pronounced: jin rong
people from South Korea, Japan, gow] and his wife joined the 16-member
Mongolia, and China, which are all workshop team when they moved to the
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

countries within the Northern Asia- town of Shih-kang [pronounced: shih-

Pacific Division. Today we will meet a kang] several years ago. The married
man from Taiwan. couple, who left their previous jobs
because of a Sabbath conflict, started off
Speaker: Grinding and polishing metal with a combined monthly income of about
bicycle frames doesn’t command a high 15,000 Taiwanese dollars, or U.S.$500.
salary at a factory workshop in central “At that time, there wasn’t much work
Taiwan, but it comes with a major benefit: to do,” said Jin Rong. “But we were happy
no Sabbath work. because we didn’t have to work on Sabbath.”
28
 After a few months, he began to think
about his brother, four sisters, and other
family members, who still faced Sabbath
work conflicts. He asked his boss to hire
his relatives, but his boss refused, saying,
“We don’t have enough work.”
Jin Rong persisted, and eventually
seven relatives received jobs.
Jin Rong struggled with the small salary
for the next three years and considered
looking for another job. But he feared that Jin Rong Gao standing beside bicycle frames in
he would be forced to work on Sabbath his workshop in central Taiwan.
elsewhere, so he stayed. “I wanted to keep
my faith more than I wanted a higher our jobs,” he said.
salary,” he said. The boss was furious. More than half
God must have seen Jin Rong’s needs his workers were at church instead of
because suddenly the workshop saw a filling an urgent order. He angrily told the
spurt in bicycle frame orders from the seven other employees to take the day off.
factory that assembled the bicycles. Jin He said they had to work after sundown
Rong and his wife began to earn up to Saturday and on Sunday as well. He told
70,000 Taiwanese dollars, or $2,300, a them to share the new work schedule
month. Jin Rong also was promoted to with Jin Rong. The Adventist employees
workshop foreman. He was grateful for the gladly worked after sunset Saturday and
additional money, but he worried that he on Sunday.
might be required to work on Sabbath to Three days passed before the boss
keep up with the orders. returned to the workshop. On Tuesday,
His fears were realized on a Friday he went straight to Jin Rong and asked,
afternoon when the boss announced at a “Would you like to earn more money?”
workshop meeting that all 16 employees Jin Rong was shocked. “Didn’t you say
would need to start working on Saturdays. that I would lose my job if I chose the
Jin Rong immediately declared, “I can’t Sabbath?” he said.
do this.” The boss said demand for bicycle frames
The boss replied, “It depends on you. had grown so large that he had decided to
If you want to keep the Sabbath, you will open a second workshop. Jin Rong would
lose your job.” be placed in charge of the new workshop,
Jin Rong had trouble sleeping that a promotion that included hiring and
night. Not only his job was at stake, but training new employees and a significant
so were the jobs of his wife and the other pay increase. The only catch was he would
AdventistMission.org

seven relatives at the workshop. He told be required to work on Sabbath.

God about the situation. In the morning, The job offer represented a promising
he and his relatives went to church. “We opportunity, but Jin Rong remembered
decided that we would keep our faith, not Psalms 37:5, which says, “Commit your
29
 way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He it any other way.
shall bring it to pass” (NKJV). He decided “Although it’s tiring, we thank God
to commit his way to the Lord and reject that He allows us to keep our faith,” he
the offer. said. “I thank God for listening to our
Rather than being upset, the boss
prayers and allowing us to live peacefully.”
announced a permanent change to his
workshop’s schedule. He didn’t want to lose
a good worker like Jin Rong, so he said the Narrator: People across the Northern
workshop always would close on Sabbaths Asia-Pacific Division are praying to be
and operate after sunset and on Sundays. faithful and for help to share the good
“No one works on Sabbath, not even news that Jesus is coming soon! Let’s give
my boss,” Jin Rong said. a big Thirteenth Sabbath Offering so
Coworkers are impressed by Jin more people can learn the good news.
Rong’s strong faith, and four of them
By Andrew McChesney
have been baptized.
Jin Rong sometimes grows exhausted
working weekends, but he wouldn’t have [Offering]

Future Thir teenth Sabbath Projec ts

 A health center in Lahore, Pakistan  An Adventist international mission

 A health center in Cambodia school in Nakhon Ratchasima,
 A language school in Laos Thailand

L e a d e r ’s R e s o u r c e s

Be sure to download your free Mission Spotlight video, featuring video reports from around the Northern
Asia-Pacific Division and beyond. Download or stream from the Adventist Mission website at bit.ly/
Adventist Mission Northern Asia-Pacific Division

missionspotlight.

Children’s Mission contains additional material that can add flavor to your mission presentation. Find the
Children’s Mission online at bit.ly/childrensmission.

Online Information
Following are sources of information that may be helpful in preparing for the mission segment of Sabbath
School. For more information on the cultures and history of the countries featured in this quarterly, visit your
local library or a travel agency, or visit the websites listed on the following page.
China: government website english.gov.cn
Travel China Guide bit.ly/TravelChinaGuide
30
 Mission
YOUTH & ADULT

Japan: government website japan.go.jp

Lonely Planet bit.ly/LonelyPlanetJapan
Korea: government website korea.net/index.jsp E D I TO R I A L
Visit Korea bit.ly/VisitingKorea Andrew McChesney Editor
Mongolia: government website zasag.mn/en Wendy Trim Editorial Assistant
Emily Harding Layout and Design
World Travel Guide bit.ly/TravelMongolia
Taiwan: government website taiwan.gov.tw OFFICE OF ADVENTIST MISSION
Rough Guide bit.ly/RoughGuideTaiwan Gary Krause Director
Rick Kajiura Communication Director
Seventh-day Adventist:
Homer Trecartin Study Centers Director
Northern Asia-Pacific Division: nsdadventist.org
Chinese Union Mission: bit.ly/ChineseUnionMission
CO M M U N I C AT I O N S TA F F
Japan Union Conference adventist.jp
ndrew McChesney Editor, Mission
A
Korean Union Conference adventist.or.kr Laurie Falvo Projects Manager
Mongolia Mission bit.ly/SDAMongoliaMission Ricky Oliveras Video Producer
Taiwan Conference twcadventist.org.tw Earley Simon Video Producer

An offering goal device will help focus attention on world

Website: AdventistMission.org
missions and increase weekly mission giving. Determine a goal for
your class’s weekly mission offering. Multiply it by 14, allowing a Mission (ISSN 0190-4108) is produced and
double goal for the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. copyrighted © 2014 by the Office of Adventist
Since this quarter features the Northern Asia-Pacific Division, you Mission, General Conference of Seventh-day
might want to use a drawing of a panda, China’s symbol, from page Adventists®, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver
31 of the Children’s Mission quarterly, which can be downloaded at Spring, MD 20904, U.S.A.
the link: bit.ly/childrensmission. Enlarge the drawing to fit the largest Printed in U.S.A.
paper available (11 x 17-inch paper would require a 400 percent
enlargement). In pencil, make 14 marks along the side, one for each
week, and two for Thirteenth Sabbath’s offering. Then each week Fourth Quarter 2018
after Sabbath School, color in that portion of the panda to indicate Volume 107, Number 3

the progress your class is making toward your goal.

Remind your Sabbath School members that their regular weekly ADVENTIST® and SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST®
mission offerings will help the missionary work of the world church are the registered trademarks of the General
and that one quarter of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will go Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®.
directly to the projects in the Northern Asia-Pacific Division. On
Permission is granted to reproduce material
the twelfth Sabbath, report on mission giving during the quarter. from this quarterly for use in local Sabbath
Encourage members to double or triple their normal mission giving Schools and children’s ministries programs.
on Thirteenth Sabbath. Count the offering and record the amount Permission to reproduce any portion of
given at the end of Sabbath School. this material for sale, publication in another
periodical, or other commercial use must
Get your FREE Thirteenth Sabbath Offering Bank. Send an be authorized in writing by the editor at the
e-mail to: [email protected]. Please indicate above address.
the number of offering banks you need and include a complete
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mailing address.
For subscription inquiries, e-mail Veronica
Ceniceros at Veronica.Ceniceros@pacificpress.
NKJV. Bible texts credited to NKJV are from the New King com or call 1-800-447-7377 or 1-208-465-
James Version ® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by 2560. Annual subscription rates per edition:
Permission. All rights reserved. domestic, U.S.$7.50; international, U.S.$14.50.

31
 Russian Federation

Kazakhstan Ulaanbaatar
3

Mongolia

Kyrgyzstan
Beijing North Korea
Pyongyang
an
Seoul Japan
2 South Korea
Tokyo
China 1 4

Nepal
Bhutan

Bangladesh 5 Taipei
Taiwan
Macao Hong Kong
Myanmar
(Burma)
India Laos

NORTHERN ASIA-PACIFIC DIVISION PROJECTS

Thailand Philippines
1 Holistic inner-city church plant, China
UNION CHURCHES COMPANIES MEMBERSHIP
Cambodia POPULATION
Vietnam
Chinese 1,195 3,121 433,449 1,386,040,000 2 First Adventist church in Sejong, South Korea
Japan 97 51 15,151 125,310,000
3 Boarding high school in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Korean 715 147 247,143 75,916,000
Mongolia Mission 6 5 2,177 3,095,000 4 Youth training center at Tokyo’s Setagaya Church in Japan
Taiwan Conference 56 29 6,296 23,499,000 Palau
TOTAL 2,069 3,356 704,216 1,613,860,000 5 Six city health centers, Taiwan
Brunei
Sri Lanka
Malaysia