03/26/2016: All Things New

All Things New

Brazil

 

We have some exciting news we would like to share with you! On July 8, 2015, our newest SETI (Santo’s Evangelistic Training Institute) member was born. Sofia Ellen Miranda, daughter of Giancarlo and Tatiana Miranda, is happy and sound, bringing all the joy a little baby can bring to our SETI family!

Besides this great blessing, our new “babies” also started their journey studying with us. The course our new students are taking is Biblical Evangelism. Once more, they came from different parts of Brazil, and we also have one student from Colombia. Shortly before the Biblical Evangelism course started, it seemed it was going to be a very small class, with few students. But God brought His children to be here and learn of Him! Check out some of their encouraging testimonies:

“Everything happened really fast for me to come to SETI. I met a lady that knew a brother, Mauro Carnassale, who knew about SETI and both of them indicated the school as being [good] for my spiritual growth. All the preparation was done in a week. I could see God opening all the doors, from the space available to the airplane tickets. The first few days were a bit difficult, because I didn’t know anybody, and it was all new to me. But I am having such an amazing experience with God, learning so much about Health Reform and the Bible itself that I am enjoying being here.” Luciane Mesquita, from Curitiba, Paraná.

Flavio, Luciane, Cicero, students at SETI.

“I got to know about SETI in the ‘Congresso MV’ [a youth congress, similar to GYC] in the end of July where I went with my sister. I was offered two scholarships there, and I could see that this was the way that God was opening for me to come study here. Two weeks later I had everything ready to come. My experience here has been excellent! It’s very good to be in a Christian environment, having everybody turned to God’s counsels. Even though I was born a Seventh-day Adventist, I had never studied certain Bible subjects so deeply. The classes have been awesome!” Flávio Alves Moraes,from São Paulo.

“I got to know about SETI in the ‘Congresso MV.’ Studying to become a missionary was a dream of 20 years ago. I was with a friend that offered to help me to come, but because of family issues I didn’t accept. However, God had a purpose established! I was struggling with Him for a while. And He sorted everything out so that I could be here today. It’s been a great blessing from Heaven!” Cícero Alencar, from Rio de Janeiro.

So far, they have studied the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Daniel, the letters of Paul, conversion, and justification by faith. This has given them a great background to share the gospel within our community and they are doing so. Every Saturday afternoon they go to a small town nearby to give Bible studies. One of the Bible students, Leni, has visited our church on Sabbath and is very excited about learning all these wonderful truths.

As an institution, one of our goals is to reach out to those around us. And the Lord has impressed our hearts with the desire to have a lifestyle/health center. Many of the requirements found in God’s word are fulfilled right here!

“In the night season I was given a view of a sanitarium in the country. The institution was not large, but it was complete. It was surrounded by beautiful trees and shrubbery, beyond which were orchards and groves. Connected with the place were gardens in which the lady patients, when they chose, could cultivate flowers of every description, each patient selecting a special plot for which to care. Outdoor exercise in these gardens that get taken care by the professionals at https://bdrockeries.com/ was prescribed as a part of the regular treatment. Scene after scene passed before me. In one scene a number of suffering patients had just come to one of our country sanitariums. In another I saw the same company, but, oh, how transformed their appearance! Disease had gone, the skin was clear, the countenance joyful; body and mind seemed animated with new life.” Counsels on Health, 171, 172.

Just to help you see the big picture: SETI is located in the countryside. The houses and farms around us are mostly owned by agriculture families. Their background is Pomeranian. They cultivate different types of vegetable such as green peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, and some roots like sweet potato, yucca (also know as cassava), etc.

But the problem is that they are conventional farmers, which means they use a lot of herbicides and pesticides. Unfortunately, because of their lack of knowledge of how harmful these sprays can be to their health, they usually are barefoot and unprotected when applying them to their crops. Not only do they ingest some of the pesticides or herbicides when they eat their own produce, but their skin is constantly being poisoned. They absorb these chemicals and consequently their whole body is injured. Can you imagine the toxicity levels that their lymphatic systems have to deal with? Unfortunately, this is causing them to become ill. Depression is becoming very common among them.

Another factor that contributes to their maladies is their eating habits. Consumption of fermented foods and beverages, pork, and white flour contributes to an increase in the development of diabetes, cancer, depression, hypertension, etc.

With all this in mind, “We wish to build a sanitarium where maladies may be cured by nature’s own provisions, and where the people may be taught how to treat themselves when sick; where they will learn to eat temperately of wholesome food, and be educated to refuse all narcotics,—tea, coffee, fermented wines, and stimulants of all kinds,—and to discard the flesh of dead animals.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 281.

Constructing the new dorm and health center.

If you were able to read the previous report, you already know we started building a new dormitory in order to be able to accommodate more students. The construction is not done yet, but we hope, by the mercy of God, it will be done by the time you read this. With the lifestyle center in mind, we see that this new dorm could easily be transformed into a lifestyle center where we could help the community around us improve and restore their health.

Not only could we reach the the nearest community, but bigger cities like Vitória and Vila Velha, since there is not even one place in our state that offers natural treatments.

Certainly, “[God] wants His people to make the most of the ability He has bestowed on His servants. He did not wish the medical missionary work to be separated from the gospel work, or the gospel work separated from the medical missionary work. These are to blend. The medical missionary work is to be regarded as the pioneer work. It is to be the means of breaking down prejudice. As the right arm, it is to open doors for the gospel message.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, 310.

Please, join us in prayer so that the Lord can lead all the decisions and provisions that have to be made for this dream to come true!

By Silveli Teodoro, executive secretary of Santo’s Evangelistic Training Institute. secretaria@iceves.org. www.iceves.org.