Faith Ventures, Spring 2000: World Missions Course

I Knew After I Got There Why the Lord Sent Me

By Alisa Reinoehl

[Alisa Reinoehl]

I graduated from Eden Valley Institute’s World Missions Course in October of 98. When I got home after being at Eden Valley for a year, naturally things were at first a little slow because nobody knew about me. I vowed to myself that I would never advertise, and I’m so glad I never did. I never dreamed—I never had any idea—what the Lord had in store for me, and I’m so thankful that our instructors taught us medical missionary work because it has great value. I also learned that I’ve got to ask God to help me through every day, because I never know what’s going to happen, who’s going to walk in, who’s going to have a problem, or how sick they’re going to be. It’s very humbling. Sometimes it’s, "Oh Lord, what did you bring me this time?" I never dreamed I would do what I’ve been doing.

A text that has really proven valuable to me is Isaiah 41:10. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." That’s the way I get strength for my day. In February of ’99, I went up to Black Hills Health and Education Center, where one of my daughters was (since then my other daughter has been there). They needed a massage therapist for the women. The only person doing massage then was a young man, taking care of both men and women. He asked me if I would like to help and I declined since I had so much to do at home. When I went back to visit the next time he said, "I need to talk to you." He came to visit us that evening and said, "Would you like to go to Hawaii?"

I said, "Well, I’ve never wanted to go to Hawaii, I’ve never dreamed of going to Hawaii, and I’d have to pray a lot about that." I’ve never flown but maybe thirty minutes. Hawaii is a long way to fly. So, I went home and I prayed about it. I told the Lord that this was a lot. Plus, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I got over there. So, I tried to pass it off onto Cindy Blake, a good friend and fellow WMC student. I also tried to get out of it in many other ways. The Lord would absolutely not let me out of it!

They called me three days before they had to know and said, "Look, we can’t find anybody. You have got to come!"

I said, "Okay, Lord. If you really want this to work out, and you really want me to go, I want to fly with that young man up at Black Hills." I knew I shouldn’t make ultimatums, and that I shouldn’t do this, but I was afraid of flying that many hours by myself alone. And so, I called him up and said, "Okay Eddie, I will go—if I can go with you."

He said, "Let me do some calling. I’ll call you back." In twenty minutes he called back and said, "You’re on."

I just said, "Oh well, Lord. I guess I’m going to Hawaii!"

I got to meet Dr. Sang Lee and work with him for two weeks in Hawaii. It was a fabulous experience. I knew after I got there why the Lord sent me. There have been many times since that I’ve been able to use what I learned there.

Also, between graduation and October of ’99, I did six cooking schools at our church. I will do more. I’ve worked on a lot of Spanish people, and they have asked me to come to their church to give cooking schools. And my Spanish isn’t real good. The Lord worked miracles for Paul. I’ll speak it in English and maybe they’ll hear it in Spanish! Actually, I have a translator, and what she doesn’t know is that eventually she’s going to be giving the cooking schools! That is my goal.

I also taught a lady to help me because I was having from twelve to fourteen massages per week, and it was just too much sometimes. After six in a day, I’ll tell you, I was exhausted, and I realized I just had to teach somebody to fill in and help me out when I got tired.

This same lady helped me with something else. We did Net New York ’99 in the town of Arnold! Many of the people had met me and since I wasn’t a stranger to them, it was a good place to start.

I shared some of the following experiences with students who came to Arnold to give a natural health seminar.

A Spanish man came with a translator. At thirty-five his hair was totally white and he looked the color of chalk! I learned that he’d been working with asbestos for quite a number of years. He had prostate trouble. I thought, "It’s never too late." He’d been having the prostate problem five years. The doctors had given him antibiotics (we could only assume, for infection—I knew his problem was not due to infection). He got really sick after taking the antibiotics. The doctors gave him more antibiotics. After getting sicker and still sicker, he decided he wasn’t going to take the antibiotics anymore. I advised that he should quit eating all meat and meat by-products. I told him he could substitute soy products for these. I told him to increase his vitamins. Basically, he was like an AIDS patient, since he had no immune system.

Meantime, his wife was studying the Bible and wanted to go to church. He told her that there is no God. He felt God was a figment of man’s imagination.

Surprisingly, he was serious about his new health regimen and faithfully followed it. I saw him two weeks later. He came over to the Spanish church in Lexington to see me. I couldn’t believe what I saw. As soon as he walked in the door I could see the color in his cheeks. I said, "Praise the Lord!" Later still, he told the translator, Patty, to tell me that if it weren’t for me he’d be dead.

I told her to tell him, "No. If it were not for God really caring for him and loving him, then he’d be dead! After all, I really didn’t have anything to do with it. All I did was tell him things that might help. The Lord did the rest."

He finally had to acknowledge that maybe there was Somebody up there Who cared. He said, "That was the first time I’ve ever gone to anybody for help who really cared."

They called me the other day and said, "You’ll never believe what happened to Ephraim."

I said, "Oh no. What this time?"

He’s going to have twins! I guess the Lord really did perform a miracle. He was so excited.

To see the Lord work like that—to see Him heal people has been a real blessing to me.

Another man came to me. He fell with his horse and twisted and hurt his leg very badly. After I was through working on him, he saw my study Bible lying open on the table. He asked, "What sort of Bible is that?"

I quickly prayed, "Well, Lord. What do I do here?" I said, "Well it’s a special Bible with comments written by Ellen White in the margins."

He said, "When was she born?"

I said, "Well, she was seventeen in 1844." I was reading Life Sketches, the story of Ellen White’s life, which was also lying on the table.

He said his billfold was in his pickup and needed to go out and get it so he could pay. As he headed out the door, he said, "1827." I thought that was what he wanted to pay.

I said, "That’s all right."

He said, "No. That’s when she was born!"

I got out a Great Controversy and when he came back in I asked him, "Have you ever read this book?"

"No."

"Have you ever read any of her writings?"

"No."

"Well, if you would like to take this book and read it, I’d love to share it with you. I’ve read it three times and it’s a fabulous book."

He said, "I’d love to."

I don’t know what happened, but it should be interesting to find out!