"Whole Man" Lunch

By Doris Borg

In the cafeteria at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, literature evangelist Nester Villanueva and I noticed a couple seated next to us. The wife was close to the delivery date for their baby. We commented that they must be excited about the upcoming event. They nodded and the husband said, "We love to come here, but you are the first people who have spoken to us."

When we told them that we had Christian literature for families, he said, "That's what I like about Adventists, they include the whole man." He placed a large order including children’s, health, Bible reference and other family materials. Outside, by our car, we concluded with a prayer.

The man invited us to come to his law office the next day for his deposit. When we met him there, he again mentioned that he was so thankful that we had spoken to him.

First Call, First Time

By Brian Hamilton

For my personal witnessing, I am doing literature work in my few spare hours. The first “lead” that I received was a small request form cut from a paperback Steps to Christ. It had taken awhile to get to me because the form was originally directed to the publisher, Review & Herald, in Maryland.

The person processing the request noticed the California address and sent it to the Pacific Press in Idaho. An individual there saw the San Fernando Valley address on the form and sent it to me since, in addition to being the SCC undertreasurer, I serve as a part-time literature evangelist for San Fernando Valley.

Doris Borg, Pacific Press field director, accompanied me on my first call. The address led us to a consignment shop. Wondering if my lead were the owner or an employee, we introduced ourselves.

Learning who we were, owner Zach Alcala exclaimed, “I am so glad to see you guys! I had just about given up!” Then he told us his story.

“My mom was a Pentecostal preacher. We lived in Santa Barbara and she sent me to the Adventist School there for grades 1-8, so I knew about Adventists. When I found a paperback copy of Steps to Christ, I thought it was the best book ever written on how to know Christ.

"Since reading it, when I sense that a customer has a spiritual need, I introduce him or her to Christ. Then I tell them about Steps to Christ and check it out to them for three months. Lately, I’ve run into problems, because I have a waiting list for the book, but someone still has it.”

By the end of the visit, he had purchased five Desire of Ages magabooks and received my promise to return soon with copies of Steps to Christ. Reluctantly, he checked out his lone copy of the book to me so I could show it at a Literature Ministry Awareness event scheduled a few weeks later. In the meantime, I delivered more copies for his shop ministry.