汤、足球和上帝

旁白：努纳武特是加拿大最晚成立、靠近最北端的大面积领土。创建于1999年，是一个广袤却人烟稀少的地区，由苔原生物群落、崎岖的山脉和偏远村庄组成，只能乘船或飞机才能到达。它也是一小群复临信徒们的家园。今天我们将要采访其中一位复临信徒。请您介绍一下自己，好吗？

萨赫勒：我叫萨赫勒。我已婚并且育有一儿一女。我在大约有8000人口的努纳武特的首都伊卡卢伊特担任护士。我们是一年前从努纳武特北部一个1800人的小镇庞德因莱特搬来到这里的。

旁白：努纳武特地区面临着大量的流浪汉和家庭暴力的挑战。复临信徒能做什么呢？

萨赫勒：当我们来到努纳武特地区庞德因莱特时，有一个来自牙买加的复临信徒的家庭住在那里。当他们离开后，我们家就成了住在社区中心地带唯一的复临信徒。我丈夫在市政府工作，而我是镇上唯一的护士。如果我们不在我们的工作岗位上工作的话，当地的社区难以正常运转。我们的职位具有一定的影响力，这使我们很难做见证。有些人无条件相信我们所说的一切，但我们不想利用他们对我们的信任。我们也不想被误会为利用职位之便把我们的信仰强加于他人之人。所以我们行事为人非常谨慎。我们也开展了一些事工。我们成立了一个9至12岁的女子足球俱乐部。因为庞德因莱特没有任何女子足球俱乐部，所以我们的俱乐部在社区有很好的影响力。大人们开始注意到那些年轻女孩们不再漫无目的地游荡街头，而是有了新的目标。他们来到足球俱乐部接受训练，吃点心、建立友情。我们教女孩们为俱乐部筹款，比如卖烤蛋糕。同时还教导她们如何管理俱乐部，这样即使我们离开她们，她们仍然可以使俱乐部继续运营下去。

我们也通过我们孩子的朋友们对社区产生影响。他们要求在周五上和周六到我们家玩。我们就邀请了孩子们来加入我们的安息日敬拜。

旁白：与庞德因莱特相比，伊卡卢伊特有何不同？

萨赫勒：在伊卡卢伊特是有几个复临信徒家庭的，所以教会的友谊对我们的属灵成长有很大的帮助。我可以打电话给其他教会成员，请他们为我们祈祷。这让我觉得彼此之间有一个安全网。

在伊卡卢伊特，我教「少年安息日学课」，我也正在制定一个计划可以让孩子们参与协助老人的工作以及其他善行。

旁白：您对这里的复临教会有什么憧憬？

萨赫勒：我们需要一所自己的教堂。因为我们没有能力找到一所固定聚会场所，这限制了我们做见证的积极性。几年前，当我第一次来到伊卡卢伊特时，我们在一间别人奉献的场所举行安息日崇拜。在平时，我们在那里为无家可归的人提供汤品。但在安息日时，我们的厨房就不会开火了，可是那些无家可归的人知道安息日他们可以在大楼里和我们一起聚餐。但我们现在租的地方空间窄小到无法容纳很多人用餐。我负责的安息日学班是在我家的客厅里聚会，小学班在另一家的客厅聚会，然后第三班的孩子在另一家聚会，而成人班就在我们租用的教堂里聚会。如果我们可以同时在一个地方进行敬拜和举行聚会，那将是一件多么令人愉悦的事情。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2021年第三季

Soccer, Soup and God

Narrator: Nunavut is the newest, biggest, and most northerly territory of Canada. Nunavut, which was created in 1999, is an immense, sparsely populated territory with tundra, rugged mountains and remote villages that are only accessible by boat or airplane. It also is the home of a small

group of Seventh-day Adventists. Today we will meet one of those Adventists. Would you please introduce yourself?

Sakhile: My name is Sakhile. I am a wife and the mother of two children, a boy and a girl. I work as a nurse in the capital city of Nunavut, Iqaluit, which has about 8,000 people. We moved here a year ago from Pond Inlet, a small community of 1,800 people way up north in Nunavut.

Narrator: The territory of Nunavut faces challenges with high levels of homelessness and domestic violence. What can Adventists do?

Sakhile: When we arrived in Pond Inlet, an Adventist family from Jamaica l ived there. After they left, we were the only Adventists, and we lived in the heart of the community. My husband worked for the municipal government, and I was the only nurse in town. If we had not been doing our jobs, things would not have happened in the community. As a result, you could say that we held positions of influence. That made it difficult to witness. Some people were willing accept anything that we said as fact, and we did not want to take advantage of their trust. We also did not want to be seen as using our positions to impose our beliefs on others. So we were very careful. But there were certain things that we did. We started a soccer club for 9- to 12-year-old girls. Pond Inlet didn’t have any girls’soccer clubs, and our club had a good influence on the community. Adults started noticing that young girls were no longer roaming the streets aimlessly. The girls had a purpose. They came to the soccer club for training, snacks, and friendship. We also taught the girls to fund-raise for the club. It wasn’t just me baking a cake to sell. It was mentoring. We taught the girls to take ownership for the club so they could continue without us.

Another way that we had an impact on the community was through my children’s friends. Their friends asked to come over to our house to play on Friday evenings and Saturdays. We had our Sabbath worship at those times, and we invited the children to join us.

Narrator: How does Iqaluit compare to Pond Inlet?

Sakhile: Several Adventist families live in Iqaluit, and the fellowship has really helped us to grow spiritually. I can call other church members and ask them to pray for us. I feel that there is a safety net.

In Iqaluit, I teach the Junior PowerPoints Sabbath School class, and I am making plans for the children to get involved in helping the elderly and doing other acts of kindness.

Narrator: What is your dream for the Adventist Church here?

Sakhile: We need our own church building. Our witnessing initiatives are really limited by our inability to have a place that we can call home. When I first visited Iqaluit several years ago, we had a dedicated place for Sabbath worship where we served soup to the homeless during the week. Although we did not operate the soup kitchen on Sabbath, homeless people knew that they could come to the building on Sabbath for a fellowship meal. The smaller space that we now rent is not big enough for meals. My Sabbath School class meets in the living room of my house. The Primary class meets in someone else’s living room, and a third children’s class meets in another home. The adults meet in our rented church building. It would be wonderful if we could worship and have other gatherings in one place.

Please find the original article at: https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa21q3-18?_ga=2.57629610.1030261352.1630325425-177141024.1608701455