BY REGINALD ALEXANDER, director of Youth 4 Change

Gessy
and Hongkara Desir, students from the Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md., were
among the five students who recently participated in Allegheny East Conference’s (AEC) Youth 4 Change
literature evangelism program. The students spent a week canvassing the
Virginia Beach, Va., area and accumulated nearly 70 community interests,
touched the lives of countless others and were blessed with examples of God’s
providence.

One
day the Desir sisters entered Sporty’s Perfect Gentlemen Barber Salon in
Chesapeake, Va., and shared with customers copies of the book Bible Answers. Three
out of the four purchased Bible Answers, including Anthony
Harrell, the owner of the shop. Immediately afterward, the gentleman in
the chair getting a hair cut started a conversation on God’s grace for
sinners. This led to the sisters giving them a Bible study right there on
the spot.

Harrell
later sent a text to Reginald Alexander, the program director, which said, “It
was record low temperature today, but the ladies came in the shop and set the
shop on fire with a good Word. They are truly representatives of Youth 4
Change.”

The
sisters were also an answer to prayer for Sylvia Smith who leads a local
church. Smith had just visited a local Christian bookstore seeking a devotional
book and a Scripture-based book that could help her answer some difficult
questions. When she didn’t find what she was looking for, she turned to God in
prayer.

“[Four
days later], two young ladies walked into my office,” Smith said. “There is a
‘No Soliciting’ sign on the door but I knew I had to speak to these two young
ladies. When the girls told me they had a book called Bible Answers,
I was so excited that I yelled to my friend on the phone, ‘These young ladies
just walked in with the answer to my prayers!’”

The
sisters also shared with her Lessons for Living, a devotional on the
parables of Christ. Hongkara said of this minstry, “One thing that continues to
motivate me in this ministry is my total trust in God and His awesomeness
upon my ministry; knowing that God will provide at any given time. … I
don’t ever know how, when or where but He does come through because
He has people in need of His encouragement and message.”

The
first baptisms at the new Coastal Shores mission, which opened January 18, were
also a result of Youth 4 Change. Pastor Keenan Tyler credits these baptisms to
the work of the Desir sisters who first made contact with all three.

“Thanks to their hard work, Coastal Shores
held its very first baptism in February and two souls went down into the watery
grave,” Tyler says. “Another accepted the gospel through profession of faith.
All three souls were new to the Seventh-day Adventist message, and were first
ministered to after God ordained a knock on their doors. God has already moved
on Coastal Shores behalf, and we know by the grace of God, greater is coming!”