The Mission field with Rick Riehman from Su Refugio Ministries

[00:00:00] thanks for being here this evening my name is Kevin Conor I’m your host on educate for Life radio we’re broadcasting down here in Southern

[00:00:06] California on kpra 1210 a.m. and FM 106.1 in North County and um you know my

[00:00:12] family just recently my my wife and my son uh over the summer got the opportunity to go down to Peru uh pretty

[00:00:20] incredible um and they came back with all kinds of photos they they were serving um doing some missionary work

[00:00:27] down there and um I got to meet Rick frean um who works with suru fujio and

[00:00:34] um and I just thought it was so awesome I just wanted him to be able to have the opportunity to share his story he has an incredible testimony of how God has

[00:00:41] brought him to Christ and then just the the work that they’re doing down there I I had no idea the amount of poverty down

[00:00:47] in Peru and U in different parts of Peru and uh just the pictures and and so

[00:00:53] forth that my wife brought back and just the great need um if you’re living in

[00:00:58] you know um western civilization and and many parts of the world we have an overabundance of goods it’s amazing the

[00:01:06] amount of resources we have and it’s so important that we’re aware that so many parts of the world um don’t have these

[00:01:13] resources are and are in desperate need of help and um The Gospel the good news

[00:01:19] of Jesus Christ uh Rick thanks for being with us this evening well you are welcome it’s a pleasure to be here and

[00:01:25] thank you for offering me this opportunity absolutely absolutely I

[00:01:31] wanted to start off just by people having an opportunity hear a little bit about your story um just how you came to

[00:01:37] Christ a little bit of background about you I think a lot of times um people are

[00:01:42] um intimidated by missions you know they might be thinking to themselves ah that

[00:01:47] that that’s too hard that’s for somebody else that’s not for me um I’m not I’m not spiritual enough to be that kind of

[00:01:53] a person um you know I don’t have the resources or I don’t want to be uncomfortable whatever it is and and I

[00:02:00] think a lot of people have these questions about missions that go unanswered and they’re just not aware of because they don’t get to speak to

[00:02:05] somebody um with the amount experience so how long now have you been um involved in

[00:02:11] missions well for the last 15 years I’ve been on three continents 10 countries uh

[00:02:18] 15 trips and I it’s been the love of my life Kevin I uh my my story is one that

[00:02:26] 28 years ago um I was a prodal and I came back to the Lord Jesus Christ

[00:02:31] having been in the world uh doing many things in the world that just took me to the depths of Despair and as I looked up

[00:02:39] into the hills from whence cometh our help uh the Lord was there for me and so

[00:02:44] he is re he renewed me he regenerated and he actually retooled me in a way

[00:02:51] that I hope I can tell that story tonight uh because you know God is a god of Second Chances third chances and he

[00:02:59] has certainly given me many opportunities and chances now I’m a late bloomer I I did not get started in the

[00:03:07] missions field until I was 60 and I was retired uh in 2008 from public education

[00:03:14] and teaching but my heart was always to save the lost my heart was to save the

[00:03:20] children and my background in teaching was health education and so what it enabled me to do is to protect defend

[00:03:29] educate and be an advocate for children and sud fuyo Ministries meets that need

[00:03:37] like you mentioned you know and I’ll elaborate on that a little bit more later but uh that’s my heart my heart

[00:03:44] was to serve the Lord all the days of my life and um we never know when those

[00:03:51] days will end but uh I’m going to give my best to the glory of God for all that

[00:03:57] I have in as many days I have left yeah yeah you’ll probably live to like 120 or

[00:04:04] something you’re you’re I’ve met very few people that are as optimistic and

[00:04:10] have as big a smile as you do so thank you you know if if it’s true

[00:04:15] that uh that uh uh what is it that that scripture that talks about uh joy joy uh

[00:04:22] brings healing to the heart a joyful word or whatever the case well yeah laughter brings Joy to the heart yes so

[00:04:29] share with us the scripture that surf fujio’s um Ministry is based on well you

[00:04:34] know the ministry which is about 15 16 years old goes back to uh the scripture

[00:04:40] in James 1:27 that pure and undefiled religion is

[00:04:46] serving the widows and the orphans in their time of need and that’s the basis

[00:04:53] of sud fio Ministries that that scripture always struck me when I first read that I I

[00:04:59] just was like whoa um there’s such a a a particular focus on widows and orphans

[00:05:06] James says religion that God our Father finds is pure and faultless is helping widows and orphans um can you speak to

[00:05:14] that like why is God so specific there in his word about widows and orphans

[00:05:20] well you take a look at widows and orphans and they’re the most vulnerable I think you know the the orphans in

[00:05:27] South America is it’s amazing you know with the covid outbreak and the loss of

[00:05:33] parents in um uh in Peru for instance um

[00:05:39] it has left 93,000 children parentless and so uh the statistics are

[00:05:46] just 150,000 children are orphaned in Paraguay Alone um so you see that more

[00:05:55] probably in the South American countries and those that were kind of hit hardest

[00:06:00] with covid but even before that you see a loss of parenting in all three

[00:06:07] countries Paraguay Peru and Argentina and many times the uh the mother of the

[00:06:14] children are left without an income and that’s something also that Su fuo helps

[00:06:20] in equipping widows uh to be self-sufficient and self- sustaining uh

[00:06:26] because there’s usually not two parents uh in a in a home in uh in paguay

[00:06:33] particularly yeah I I noticed from the photos um that when my wife came back from the trip and also um her stories um

[00:06:41] really were that there was not many men around um or they were off in the city

[00:06:47] having to try to find work to be able to provide so the the mother is at home with the kids and she doesn’t have the

[00:06:54] help of of the husband hoping that you know he can’t comes back and gives money or resour sources but a lot of these

[00:07:01] women are really fending for themselves uh and it it it definitely looks like a

[00:07:06] dire situation in in many of these cases um and so how many um Mission uh how how

[00:07:14] many buildings or or organizations does SU fujio have set up currently to be

[00:07:20] able to help these widows and orphans well let me give you a little breakdown of what that looks like because um our

[00:07:28] emphasis is resc doing um and particularly girls who have been

[00:07:33] abducted abused and maybe are out on the street so in paguay we look to go

[00:07:39] through the courts and rescue girls to bring them to our TOA

[00:07:46] suio uh home and on the grounds of that home um we are able at this point in

[00:07:53] time to house 20 uh plus we are building uh some additional homing so that we

[00:08:00] would be able to home 20 26 total girls at at this point in time full facility

[00:08:07] dining room kitchen you know dormatory accommodations and full grounds it’s a

[00:08:13] beautiful facility and the Lord blessed us greatly with that uh in Peru it’s

[00:08:19] it’s a hunger issue primarily Uh Kevin and uh we find that there is a

[00:08:25] tremendous amount of of Orphans or children that maybe have one parent and

[00:08:32] so our our focus is really to be able to feed the children and and your um your

[00:08:39] wife Marissa took part in that feeding process and uh there are about 34

[00:08:46] million people in Latin America that go hungry about every

[00:08:52] day and then thirdly um is equipping and as I mentioned to you we want to equip

[00:08:58] women with widows as we as we say uh certainly with skills and so that

[00:09:03] skilled training goes about um in all three actually uh Paraguay Peru and

[00:09:11] Argentina and with that uh many of these women are unskilled and so we we teach

[00:09:18] them simp simple things business principles and uh how to take your Bak

[00:09:23] Goods which they probably do well and be able to make a living off of that as

[00:09:30] well yeah so you’re not just going down there and giving them um you know resources you’re actually equipping them

[00:09:36] to be able to do that on their own that is correct absolutely self-independence

[00:09:43] self-reliance you know most importantly of course in each of the three countries

[00:09:48] we are sharing God’s word and his love and we come in there with God’s love and that’s why we are there is because the

[00:09:55] Lord has led us to the poor to the hungry to those that are incapable of

[00:10:02] caring for themselves and so we are equipping uh the Widow and caring for of

[00:10:08] course the the orphans yeah uh you know it’s it’s amazing um I was reading the the uh it

[00:10:15] was a oped by uh an atheist I I can’t remember his name offand but it was

[00:10:21] amazing uh oped he basically said that the most significant impact made in

[00:10:27] Africa among those in poverty was by Christian missionaries and he said he hated to admit it even but the fact was

[00:10:36] that many other organizations um government Nos and and these sorts of things um would go in and try to bring

[00:10:43] about change but they just couldn’t do it because they didn’t change the way the people think the way the people

[00:10:50] thought and uh I think that’s what’s so incredible about uh Christianity and the

[00:10:55] Bible and Jesus Christ is that the Bible says be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may be able to

[00:11:02] assess God’s will his good pleasing and perfect will and I think that’s so important and and that’s a lot of a lot

[00:11:08] of I hear it you know here here too I had a friend was at a a local high school he was in the counseling dep

[00:11:14] department and he said he said Kevin listen I sit in these meetings and they’re desperate to figure out how do

[00:11:21] we help these kids I mean this is here in America right at the public school and he said and I want to scream out

[00:11:27] it’s Jesus Jesus is what changes people and yet I can’t say it I can’t say Jesus

[00:11:35] and he said they want they’re trying to throw money at the situation they’re trying to do all this behavioral change but the problem is is that you don’t

[00:11:41] have the heart change and that’s what Jesus Christ does and uh and so that’s what you’re doing uh in in Ministry

[00:11:48] you’re you’re you’re providing resources you’re providing skills but you’re also providing Jesus Christ the opportunity

[00:11:55] to know Christ which brings about that Heart Change Is that isn’t that right you are absolutely right you know and in

[00:12:01] South America the door we found that the gospel door is really wide open um in my

[00:12:07] opportunities to go door Todo and door Todo evangelism people will sit with you for an hour or even longer and listen to

[00:12:16] the stories of Jesus uh most of the uh the people in South America have a

[00:12:22] cultural religion and that cultural religion isn’t a relationship with Jesus

[00:12:27] Christ and so consequently they want to know who Jesus is and I always uh you

[00:12:33] know start my conversations by by asking them you know we are all going to die at

[00:12:39] one point in time in our lives and if you were to die today do you know where

[00:12:45] your Eternal Destiny would be and many people in the world whether it be the United States South America or other

[00:12:52] parts of the world thinks that it’s by works and not by the grace of God by a

[00:12:57] relationship with Jesus Christ and so we’re there to share that that you know

[00:13:03] that uh Salvation comes through Jesus he said I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father but by me

[00:13:10] and for gra by Grace you’re saved through faith not of yourselves not any

[00:13:16] any Works least anyone boast and so yeah how how true that is that there is a

[00:13:22] hunger we’re able to go into the schools in paguay Peru and of course we built a

[00:13:28] school in Argentina uh which is a Christian School which is a light you know to the community and we’re able to

[00:13:36] open the gospel open the Bible talk about a person’s testimony and share the

[00:13:42] gospel and right then and there uh lead uh children adults uh to Jesus Christ so

[00:13:50] we want to take advantage of that opportunity I’ve heard something on the in the notion that there are about

[00:13:57] 85,000 Miss Aries I don’t know if that’s full-time or shortterm of course we’re

[00:14:02] talking about short-term missions work which you know I’m a part of but uh you

[00:14:08] know when you take a look at the seven and a half billion people on the Earth uh 885,000 uh people doesn’t sound like

[00:14:16] very many are sharing the good news and the great joy of who Jesus is that’s

[00:14:22] right that’s one of my favorite scriptures the Harvest is plentiful but the workers are few pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into the

[00:14:28] Harvest field right amen amen that’s what we’re praying for so so

[00:14:35] um if you’re listening suio uh it’s suio I that that g kills me but uh

[00:14:42] s fgo.org if you want to get involved um

[00:14:48] this is a great opportunity if you just want to get your feet wet and um you’re like you know there there’s not this

[00:14:54] gigantic expectation that you’re going to go on the mission field for a month for a year for five years you know um

[00:15:01] who knows how God will move your heart but uh if you want to the opportunity or or to be a support here back home um

[00:15:08] there’s all kinds of ways to be involved um uh isn’t that right Rick yeah most

[00:15:13] definitely you know I started with the uh rescue program which we have in paguay and it is a holistic Residential

[00:15:21] Care Center really uh for the suffering abused and neglected and primary and and

[00:15:28] it is for for girls and a full scholarship uh or sponsorship would be

[00:15:34] $300 a month to sponsor one one child but there’s also this partial

[00:15:40] sponsorships of $50 a month uh the feeding program as I mentioned to you in

[00:15:48] uh uh Peru we have 15 Child Care Centers there and of course we know that if a

[00:15:55] body is nurtured then the mind and the soul can also be nurtured as well and

[00:16:02] these are vulnerable children and families and you can sponsor a child for $30 a month um or you can also in

[00:16:11] Argentina as we built this new school and need supplies and of course uh

[00:16:16] educational materials and such there’s the opportunity for $40 a month of being

[00:16:22] able to sponsor and support uh the work that is being done and uh lastly

[00:16:29] equipping uh women uh for $25 a month you can help us in equipping women to

[00:16:36] become self-reliant and self-sufficient we have an outstanding uh music program also uh in

[00:16:44] paguay that um certainly a sponsorship of funds can go to to enhance and enrich

[00:16:51] young children’s lives um that’s fantastic tell us about um you mentioned

[00:16:57] uh testimony from a or a story you had of a a guy you were able to minister to

[00:17:03] I believe his name was Oscar can you tell us uh some of these stories of impact yeah I sure can you know this was

[00:17:11] my very first trip to paguay in uh 2010 you know I was I was a rookie sort of

[00:17:18] speak right going out in the mission field I mean I had shared the gospel here in the United States but not to the

[00:17:24] degree that you can you know over uh six 7day period of time and so we were in uh

[00:17:31] the uh the bario or the community of luuk and uh we were just going door too

[00:17:38] and We Came Upon um to what I found out to be two sisters that were cooking on a

[00:17:44] fire pit I mean that was the extent of their gas range or oven you know because

[00:17:50] most people there all they have are the very Basics like a fire pit and so I

[00:17:55] started sharing um The Gospel with them and they were very uh intuitive and they

[00:18:01] um responded well like tell me more about Jesus and tell me about how to

[00:18:07] come to Faith uh in Jesus and so we introduced Jesus to them LED them to

[00:18:14] faith in the Lord Jesus and their father was in a small room uh kind of off to

[00:18:22] the side and and they said we want our father to hear about Jesus name was

[00:18:29] Oscar and come to find out Oscar was an alcoholic he had been Al an alcoholic

[00:18:35] for probably 35 40 years his liver was failing and they knew it and yet they

[00:18:42] couldn’t get any kind of health care for him and so they went in to look upon him

[00:18:48] while he was sleeping so they came back out and they said can you come back uh

[00:18:53] tomorrow and I said most assuredly we can come back and uh and we did and I

[00:19:00] had a translator with me um as we went into this very dark it couldn’t have

[00:19:06] been more than a 10 by10 room Uh Kevin and there was an essence of and I’ve

[00:19:12] been around death before and so I know a little bit of what that feels like and there was an essence of this dark Death

[00:19:21] feeling that just the room was dark there was a little small window and so I went in and and the

[00:19:29] daughters were there with me in a translator and I started just sharing with them why I was there you know that

[00:19:36] God loves you and I’ve come to share his love with you and there was very little M movement at first I thought he was uh

[00:19:43] he was sleeping but um come to find out there was he was listening and so as I

[00:19:50] shared more and more um his eyes began to open and with that there was just the

[00:19:56] essence in him going from this uh kind of uh accountant of though he was just

[00:20:04] giving up on life to there might be some hope and so the more I shared the the

[00:20:10] his eyes became open and wide and then we I got to the point I said you know

[00:20:16] Oscar uh this could be the very last day of your life and I would not want to see

[00:20:23] you for all eternity be separated from God would you like to come to God

[00:20:30] through his son Jesus Christ and experience the joy The Hope in the life

[00:20:38] eternal and uh he did not mumble anything but he shook his head and his

[00:20:44] countenance was um it was there was life you could tell there was life in his

[00:20:50] bones and so we prayed to him and as I was praying I was noticing there was a

[00:20:56] light or illumination in the room and there was this little window and by the grace of God I believe it was through

[00:21:03] the holy spirit that this light came into his room as he accepted Christ as

[00:21:11] his Savior and acknowledged him as Jesus the Lord of his life and that was a

[00:21:19] joyous moment uh for all of us his liver was failing we were able to get a uh get

[00:21:26] some medical attention for him to help him get to a hospital I I don’t know

[00:21:32] Kevin how much more life he had or whether he was able to get to the

[00:21:38] hospital but the one true thing that I look forward to is seeing him in heaven one day as his eternity was sealed by

[00:21:46] the Holy Spirit that’s so fantastic uh praise God you know and that’s the that’s the

[00:21:52] awesome thing is that this is an opportunity uh if you’re listening and you’ve never been involved in missions this is an opportunity to see God work

[00:21:59] um through you around you uh to be involved in making an eternal difference

[00:22:05] uh if you look around at your life and you think to yourself wow you know I’m not really making that big of a difference or I want to make more of a

[00:22:12] difference I want to make more of an impact uh this is a wonderful Ministry to be involved with uh Bible believing

[00:22:18] Christians that um are there to provide uh physical help to Pro to provide um uh

[00:22:24] the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to really nurture people into a long-term um uh you know healthy

[00:22:32] situation and healthy spiritually and physically and um so Rick um tell us a

[00:22:39] little bit more about your own testimony because I think some people you know they they think they might be thinking

[00:22:44] you know I’m just not a good enough person or I’m not on track or my background is awful if you knew my

[00:22:50] background you’d know I’m not I’m not good for the mission field and um it’s always encouraging to hear that hey um

[00:22:57] every body falls short of the glory of God it’s not us that that it the the

[00:23:03] good things that happen aren’t dependent on us it’s God working through us can you share more with us about your background and encourage some people

[00:23:09] that they too can get involved well yes Kevin and I think I mentioned earlier you know that I walked with Jesus for 13

[00:23:17] years I walked away from the gospel for 13 years till I hit rock bottom and that

[00:23:23] was actually living out of my car and being homeless and the Lord in his grace

[00:23:28] and mercy never let go of me and with that I came back to Jesus and it was

[00:23:34] actually through my sister who brought me into her house loved on me and said you know the god that we serve and the

[00:23:41] god that we love is one that gives Second Chances so with that coming back

[00:23:46] to the Lord the Lord had to retool me and I had had careers in the YMCA and uh

[00:23:52] financial services but my heart was always in teaching and so I went back

[00:23:58] and uh began um uh going through training for teaching and got into the classroom taught for 25 years so about a

[00:24:05] year before I was to uh retire and I had totally um submitted myself and

[00:24:11] surrendered my will and my ways to the Lord for the rest of my life I said Lord how would you have you how would you use

[00:24:19] me you know and and he equips us we’re don’t always come into this thing

[00:24:25] equipped you know although I had teaching experience and was an educator

[00:24:30] the one thing I had never been is certainly a missionary in any kind of way and so he took my gifts and talents

[00:24:38] but more importantly Kevin he took my heart because my heart was to see that

[00:24:44] the Lost were saved that the hungry were fed that the orphan had an advantage of

[00:24:52] Hope in their lives and it was in 2008 as I mentioned uh once before

[00:24:58] that um I I was able to retire and my first steps were actually with Samaritans Pur and Operation Christmas

[00:25:06] Child and I had the opportunity to go to Ecuador as my first missions trip of

[00:25:13] which we uh distributed uh gospel opportunity shoe boxes and that’s where I really saw um

[00:25:22] life as it really is you know our lives here in the United States are and God

[00:25:28] bless you know America for what the Lord has given to us but when you see the

[00:25:33] physical poverty and the social injustices and the emotional traumas and

[00:25:39] the widespread spiritual emptiness in children as well as adults hearts and

[00:25:46] lives God touches you in that in that soft spot and he touched me uh in my

[00:25:53] heart for the things that he breaks his heart and that’s when I started on my

[00:25:58] journey and we were in a small group uh and at mirath the chapel actually at

[00:26:04] that time and Scott and Michelle cavando who are the founders of suguio ministry

[00:26:10] were our group leaders and so we watched and it was that 15 years ago as the Lord

[00:26:16] put together subar fuo and the more we could see how God was at work and the

[00:26:23] faithfulness of Scott and Michelle the more my heart became tender and that’s

[00:26:29] when I stepped into the story of su fuo that’s wonderful and um you know

[00:26:35] just for those people who I I it’s funny because um not too long ago I was

[00:26:41] looking into um I don’t know if you know this the testimony of this guy uh Robert Robinson he wrote Come Thou Fountain of

[00:26:48] every blessing and um this is ages ago but he he was a young man when he um got

[00:26:55] saved around 20 or so he became a pastor but then he completely fell away from

[00:27:01] God and he had already written a song he wrote the song while he became a pastor he completely walked away from God and

[00:27:09] it’s it’s a a crazy story but basically um he was in a in a carriage with a

[00:27:15] woman and she started to talk to him kind of like a taxi cab carriage and she

[00:27:20] started to talk to him about this song Come Thou Fountain of every blessing and she didn’t know that he wrote it and uh

[00:27:28] she said isn’t this such a wonderful song and he tried to change the subject U because he wasn’t walking with the

[00:27:34] Lord and she she kept persisting what do you think about this song isn’t it a

[00:27:39] great song and finally he said I’m the poor soul that wrote that song and I wish I could get back to where I was and

[00:27:47] she says to him um sir God’s mercies are never ending and and he turns his heart

[00:27:54] back over to the Lord and then continues following the Lord and um and I’m sure

[00:27:59] um you know you’re not the only one that’s that’s gone through that but um what would you say to the person right

[00:28:05] now who who was walking with the Lord but they’re kind of a prodigal at this point they’re they’re they’re in that

[00:28:11] part where they’re not walking with the lord they’re walking away from God and um they haven’t you know for whatever

[00:28:17] reason they’re they’re in a place uh where they’re just not in tune with the Lord uh is there anything that you can

[00:28:24] that you can share to encourage that person um thinking back to where you were at that at that point in time in

[00:28:30] your own life you know we we serve such a gracious God that uh that if you have

[00:28:36] been saved by his grace that you he never leaves you of course and uh and

[00:28:41] you really never leave him you know I found in my prodal years that the Lord

[00:28:47] continued to hold on to me and bring bring me signs and wonders that I would acknowledge for a short period and then

[00:28:54] go back into the ways of the world the where the world is not attractive at all but I thought at that time well my

[00:29:01] failure in my faith of course in in my walk away from the Lord was that I

[00:29:06] stopped reading the word of God which is the nourish nourishment for your soul I

[00:29:13] stopped fellowshipping and worshiping and I I walked in a way that

[00:29:18] was just really contrary to all the things as Christians that we should do

[00:29:23] you know praying reading his word in Fellowship uh going to church and being

[00:29:31] of service to him I think one of the things Uh Kevin that I really learned in those years of being a prodal is that um

[00:29:39] and I think what struck me was a quote by Jim Elliott you know we we know Jim Elliott was martyred uh in Ecuador

[00:29:47] actually and um gave his life um for the gospel and uh I’ll never forget that

[00:29:54] quote I’ve hung on to it all my life and he he said he is no fool who gives what

[00:30:00] he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose to give means to serve and I think

[00:30:07] uh in my life I have really that’s really resonated in me is that service

[00:30:14] unto the Lord will keep you humble right it come it kept me humble after the

[00:30:21] devastation that I experienced in losing everything because I lost my family my

[00:30:27] finances in my future during that time but praise God for a God that revives

[00:30:34] restores renews and we can rejoice in and so for those you if you have walked

[00:30:41] away from the Lord my encouragement this day is come back now don’t wait another

[00:30:48] moment don’t waste another moment don’t give up on the Lord or give up on

[00:30:55] yourself but you need to ful surrender I think one of the things Kevin that I’ve

[00:31:00] really really learned in mission’s work is the full surrender um philosophy or the full

[00:31:08] surrendering of yourself I struggle with that all the time you know and we struggle uh with pride as uh you know

[00:31:16] living I think here in America as well because we have so much so what are you going to give unto the Lord well I’m

[00:31:22] going to give my all I’m G to give everything that I have in terms of my

[00:31:28] time my talents and my treasures and if you haven’t done that

[00:31:34] my encouragement is you do that because I’ll tell you there is so much joy that

[00:31:40] the Lord has in store for you as you humbly walk with him and serve him as he

[00:31:47] would call you amen amen thank you for sharing that

[00:31:53] I think that’s something that more people need to hear you know I think um because we can condemn

[00:31:59] ourselves uh we can be condemned by the devil we can be condemned by our peers but Jesus Christ said in John 3:17 I did

[00:32:07] not come into the world to condemn the world but to save the world and uh it’s very easy to lose sight of God’s mercy

[00:32:12] and grace and the fact of the matter is is that the Bible says that our righteous acts are as filthy filthy rags

[00:32:18] so so the reality is is it doesn’t matter whether you you thought you were perfect or not or you you think you’re

[00:32:25] you’re doing good morally you think you’re doing bad morally the reality is is that we need Christ regardless of

[00:32:30] where we’re at but but what we have to do is have the mental attitude the mindset uh uh to think like Christ that

[00:32:38] our that our sufficiency is in him not in ourselves and on our own moral you

[00:32:43] know our own moral accolades uh and uh I just I think that’s a wonderful

[00:32:48] testimony you have um as painful as it probably was for you but um I’m sure that when you get the opportunity to

[00:32:55] share that that’s a big blessing to the people to know hey God can move in me and it’s all throughout the scriptures

[00:33:01] too right it’s in the stories are all over the place for us and yet we forget

[00:33:07] them so easily and end up feeling uh guilty shameful and and worthless and we

[00:33:13] just have to put our worth in Christ so that’s wonderful um you know something you mentioned you mentioned the um Jim

[00:33:20] Elliot quote and I think earlier when I was speaking to you you you said that actually one of the uh natives that came

[00:33:28] to Christ through um Jim and Elizabeth Elliot’s Ministry they actually were one of your

[00:33:35] leaders can you share with us about that yeah on our last night there in Ecuador

[00:33:41] we had the opportunity to meet uh Min Kai uh who is who was one of the W Rene

[00:33:49] Warriors and actually um he is the one that threw the spear and killed Nate

[00:33:55] Saint one of the five gosh that is crazy yeah but you know the

[00:34:01] story is that Elizabeth Elliot followed her husband Jim um after his death right

[00:34:07] and lived there uh along with I think uh some of the other wives of the U the

[00:34:14] killed uh missionaries and uh you know her quote is is miraculous because there

[00:34:21] is nothing worth living for unless it is worth dying for is what she said so when

[00:34:27] we had the opportunity of hearing M Kai and the transformation of what God had done in

[00:34:35] his life it was just lifechanging I I’ll tell you you saw the mercy the love the

[00:34:42] grace and the Redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ as he talked about the new

[00:34:48] life that he had in Christ leaving old things behind straining for things as

[00:34:54] Paul said ahead you know I press on towards the goal and you could really see in his heart his life his speech um

[00:35:04] the the the fact of the matter that he had been born again of the spirit and

[00:35:10] now he was working in the Amazon jungles to spread the gospel and to share the

[00:35:17] good news gospel opportunity shoe boxes with children and it was just such a

[00:35:24] delight and uh just like changing to see a man who was on the opposite end I mean

[00:35:30] his life was in darkness and the Lord came to him through the missionary the

[00:35:36] women missionaries that were there and he was redeemed and that’s such a

[00:35:42] blessing that just spoke to me that no one is ever too lost for the Lord to

[00:35:49] redeem wow so if if you’re listening and you haven’t heard that story before it’s a pretty famous story um Jim Elliott uh

[00:35:57] and his uh a few of his friends um went to reach uh a tribe that was isolated

[00:36:05] completely from the outside world and they thought they were making progress as they were dropping gifts from a plane

[00:36:12] and when they went when they touched down and went to go and for the first time meet the people in the tribe um

[00:36:19] they were killed uh they were they were Spears were thrown at them and they were killed and so um so what Rick is talking

[00:36:26] about here is he actually had the opportunity to talk with one of the men who actually killed one of the

[00:36:31] missionaries who became a Christian because the wives of those men who were

[00:36:37] killed went back and continued the missionary work they weren’t killed and they were able to lead many people to

[00:36:43] Christ and now this this man is now sharing the gospel in the Amazon that

[00:36:50] that story is is so mindblowing it is

[00:36:55] truly the the the power of God the power of Christ um to take something so

[00:37:02] dramatically painful and evil and devastating and turn it turn it around

[00:37:07] for good um and yet this is what God has been doing throughout history um with

[00:37:13] people all over the world and that can only come from a supernatural love um

[00:37:18] because how can a woman love somebody who murdered her husband right um that’s

[00:37:24] just unreal uh it pretty amazing yes sir it surely

[00:37:31] was and I I think each and every one of us that was there to experience that saw

[00:37:37] his humility um which really was an expression of his servanthood unto the

[00:37:45] Lord and uh there were many weeping including myself uh as he made that

[00:37:51] presentation because it’s the spirit of God working in and through you that to

[00:37:56] really feel that touch of the Lord and we certainly felt touched that night wow

[00:38:04] um and then tell us about the Martinez girls yeah be delighted to tell you about the Martinez girls they are some

[00:38:11] of our favorites uh on our first uh trip to U on my first trip actually uh to

[00:38:18] pter uh my wife and I looked at sponsoring and a group of well a or children and

[00:38:27] this happened to be three the Martinez girls at the uh that time I think were

[00:38:33] ages 85 and three and they came from a very neglected home life uh there might

[00:38:40] have been some abuse there you know uh along the way as well but they were

[00:38:45] given to us by the courts of course and and through the courts of course we have

[00:38:51] a psychologist and a social worker we work with attorneys you know so we

[00:38:57] really do the vetting and make sure that these girls um are in the best of care

[00:39:03] and bringing them to Su or fuo Ministry so 2008 after starting to sponsor them I

[00:39:09] had the the chance of meeting them and uh to my delight you know they were they

[00:39:15] were a bit shy because uh strangers and particularly men probably were not their

[00:39:22] favorite uh at that point in time favorite people to to meet but one of

[00:39:28] the things that we were able to do for them is of course provide an

[00:39:33] enriched um safe environment that word safe is very

[00:39:39] critical uh nurturing and a gospel opportunity for

[00:39:45] them to live in a home where they did not have to live with fear right and we

[00:39:51] know so many of the children that come to us through suo have come fearfully

[00:39:57] because of the abuse the abduction being sex trafficked or whatever that you know

[00:40:03] whatever that would look like in their lives but they were both on a uh first

[00:40:09] grade uh uh educational level and of course we had the wonderful opportunity

[00:40:14] of having a woman there a former teacher from Powe California that lived there at

[00:40:20] se fuo and she started in the educational process with them and

[00:40:25] accelerated program in which uh to this day they are now of course that’s 13 years uh later

[00:40:35] right yeah uh they have graduated uh from school high school and are now um

[00:40:43] earning psychology degrees um at the University um there in

[00:40:50] asion so the life changing and life uh you know the other one wonderful thing

[00:40:57] is that their conditions changed at home and so the girls in actually

[00:41:03] 2015 uh went back to live with their biological mother uh that doesn’t always

[00:41:09] happen but when that H you know when that does happen we applaud and thank God for being able to restore the family

[00:41:17] unit back together uh that’s when they started attending he Heaven’s Kingdom

[00:41:22] Christian School and uh what a joy it is to see them you know one of the the

[00:41:27] great Joys too Kevin was that in two 2016 it was my wife’s first and only

[00:41:35] missions trip and she chose to go to uh paguay to see our God children and uh

[00:41:43] they they look at us as being their god parents right and uh they didn’t speak

[00:41:49] very much English at that time my wife doesn’t speak Spanish I don’t speak very much um and and one of the the moments I

[00:41:58] will never forget is when we got on the bus and the three girls were on the bus

[00:42:03] at the time and uh one of the oldest uh her eyes caught my wife’s eyes and it

[00:42:11] was just like a heartstring heart to heart my wife went to sit with her and

[00:42:17] not a word was spoken nor did a word need to be spoken because there was joy

[00:42:23] in both hearts and the joy of the Lord connect Ed them together and it was just

[00:42:29] an amazing and wonderful opportunity for my wife to be touched by God and uh to

[00:42:36] be touched there with their with our God children so yeah they are doing well and

[00:42:42] it’s a very big success story and I’m so pleased to report you know do kids do

[00:42:48] kids Rick um ever grow up and then begin to uh invest in the ministry themselves

[00:42:55] do you ever see see that happening is it has been around long enough yeah yeah we we most definitely do that the children

[00:43:03] that grow up in fact they we’re doing a kind of a transitioning program now for those that are still and around uh Su

[00:43:11] fuya we’re trying to find that place of housing where they can be of H benefit

[00:43:17] as well to sura fuo and Paraguay um and continue to grow of course in their

[00:43:24] fifth uh Christian faith as well as their education and so uh that is transitioning and happening and we’re

[00:43:31] delighted to put our efforts in that direction now now if somebody wants to

[00:43:36] actually be involved in Mission work if they want to actually go with you on a trip are there opportunities that are

[00:43:42] coming up uh sometime soon for people to get involved there are always opportunities to get involved in fact Uh

[00:43:50] Kevin if you probably know that we have a a Christian unified uh trip coming up

[00:43:56] just for Christian unified students 15 students I think four or five teachers

[00:44:03] uh that’ll be going to paguay uh it will not be one of our design trips they’ll

[00:44:08] be actually going on their own uh but we’ve got accommodations for them and

[00:44:14] they’ll be working in the schools they’ll be being mentored and they’ll have it an opportunity to go and meet

[00:44:20] and work with the children at sub fuo but we do have three trips coming up

[00:44:26] this summer um you can go on the website and take a look at those um the one to

[00:44:33] paruay will be uh late June into July they’re usually eight day trips uh the

[00:44:39] next one will be to Peru in August I think around August 1st for through the

[00:44:46] 9th and then the other trip to Argentina will be um in October um so there is uh

[00:44:54] yeah there’s ample room we are doing a informational meeting in February uh

[00:45:00] which is also posted U on our website and so we just encourage encourage

[00:45:06] everybody and we’ve had families go on these trips as well and see the amazing

[00:45:11] things God’s done in the hearts of children who come with their parents and

[00:45:17] what a lifechanging experience it is for the family as well so that’s that

[00:45:24] encouragement I do too and I I hope to see you on a trip you know now that your wife has been there your son has been

[00:45:31] there it’s time to get you there right yeah yeah I got my two daughters my two daughters they they uh I’m sure that

[00:45:38] they would love to be able to do that too so um God willing that is going to happen so yeah for those of you

[00:45:45] listening sufio su.org is the website if you want to check out more information a

[00:45:52] fantastic opportunity to get involved and um really to see God God work in wonderful ways and

[00:45:58] um and are there longer term Mission opportunities also um or is it just the

[00:46:05] short-term mission trips right now it uh to my knowledge uh but you might inquire

[00:46:10] about that Scott Michelle cavando could help you in that way um to take a look

[00:46:16] you know as I mentioned to you one of uh our our good friends uh short-term

[00:46:22] turning into a long-term uh missionary with Charlotte micheller who retired

[00:46:28] from public education and then went to live there um at Su fuo and a teaching

[00:46:34] capacity ministering to uh the girls and and youth at large as well so there

[00:46:41] could be other opportunities you know we never contain God in any kind of way we

[00:46:46] just keep the door open and explore his will is always better than our will his

[00:46:53] thoughts are always better than our thoughts so we like that and we keep the

[00:46:58] door open for that that’s great well Rick I’ve really enjoyed U this opportunity to talk to you and just hear

[00:47:05] your story and everything you’re doing it’s it’s so fantastic and I just feel

[00:47:10] blessed um to know you and and uh to know about Su fujio so uh thank you so

[00:47:16] much well you are so welcome and like I said it’s been a privilege to be able to

[00:47:22] uh share a little bit of su fuo there’s so much more more and that’s why I encourage people to get involved uh

[00:47:30] because once you look at getting involved God will touch your heart but the first step has to be yours as we

[00:47:36] know unto salvation our first step was towards the cross right behold I stand

[00:47:43] at the door you know of your heart and knock and we see that and and say that

[00:47:48] in short-term missionary work is that God is knocking on Hearts he know like

[00:47:54] you said you you know the Harvest is plentiful but the workers are few so we

[00:48:01] are looking of course as uh in these short times right uh make the most of

[00:48:06] that every opportunity because the days are evil and we know that in these times

[00:48:12] we live we need more gospel missionaries

[00:48:18] going out and being equipped by the Lord and that’s I think the biggest thing

[00:48:23] Kevin is that I see a lot of people feel like they have to come into this thing equipped no it’s God that does the

[00:48:30] equipping not ourselves we bring our talents and gifts and treasures but it’s

[00:48:36] him and him alone and you know the the scripture says that we are to go and

[00:48:41] make disciples right and you can do that in your own little Judea here in San

[00:48:47] Diego or you can go to the Far Corners of the Earth but you as uh as you well

[00:48:54] know that we are to go go or we are to be senders or we are to be givers of

[00:49:00] people that do go and you know I have to just thank my support team over this

[00:49:06] last 15 years because they have been my prayer supporters and they have been

[00:49:12] supporters that have gotten me there um to paguay Peru and Argentina I’ve been

[00:49:18] blessed to go to each one of those countries the most um most of my visits

[00:49:24] have been to paguay well that is wonderful okay well thanks for those of

[00:49:30] you who have uh tuned in and been able to hear Rick’s story I I hope you are blessed and encouraged I hope you do get

[00:49:36] involved we’ve got a lot of uh shows coming up scheduled uh in the rest of uh December and on into uh January here in

[00:49:44] 2024 we’ve got Dr Douglas petrovich he’s a Biblical archaeologist we’re going to be talking about Nimrod in the Bible

[00:49:50] this is pretty incredible he believes he knows what the first language ever spoken was before the Tower of Babel

[00:49:57] pretty unbelievable we also have Chloe Cole who’s going to be on this whole

[00:50:02] huge uh sad uh tragedy of people um getting involved in um

[00:50:10] transgender operations she’s somebody who went through that and regrets it and shares why it shouldn’t be happening um

[00:50:18] so that’s a big social issue that’s going on that we’re going to be discussing and uh just talking about um

[00:50:23] so that you can share with your friends and then we’ve got some other great shows coming up with uh we’re going to

[00:50:28] have Dr Russ humph on again we’re going to have Dr Tim Clary on again talking

[00:50:34] about the Ice Age and dinosaurs and also Dr Ron neller from uh creation

[00:50:39] Ministries International so thanks for being here um there’s all kinds of resources on my website educate

[00:50:45] forlife.org and please visit su.org also for more information on um

[00:50:52] the ministry and how to be involved thank you so much for your time time and God bless you I hope you have a wonderful evening thanks when you need

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[00:52:32] Team hom loans a branch of synergy1 lending I just want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Conover for

[00:52:37] the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher while our

[00:52:43] kids were his students his knowledge and passion have taught us all how important it is to be Defenders of our faith it’s

[00:52:49] our honor and privilege to support Kevin and his show it is our sincere hope and prayer that you will continue to learn

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[00:53:01] Kevin from the hall family and team home

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