By: Israel Johnson, student at UVA

When I first entered the canvassing program, I had no expectations or personal desires.  I was at a point in my life when all was lost. Being half-blind, struggling with engineering studies, and keeping a broken family together was enough to maintain. I was offered to do the Michigan canvassing program during the summer of my first year, but I decided not to. I just wanted a life of my own, obtain my engineering degree, and work as a rehabilitative engineer.  I did not want life to be more complicated than it needed to be for me.

During the midst of my second year in college, I made an appeal to be involved in the ANEW canvassing program for this summer. I had initially wanted to do an engineering internship, but I had a conviction in my heart.  I wanted to be involved in something that was beyond me and anyone else. One could say that I would have been foolishly leaving my troubles behind. I don’t think so. I have yielded my summer, my future, my life, and my character to Jesus Christ. Why would I want to invest any of that into anything else that is temporary?

Again, this was my first time doing literature evangelism and canvassing. I had no experience and no skill apart from the required preparation we needed beforehand. A lot was required in both training and in character. This was respectable, because colporteur ministry is no easy task. For the first week, we spent a lot of time in training for the canvassing field. However, the first week wasn’t all training, for we went canvassing in the evening on the first day. For the first day, I didn’t get one…single…book…out; not even a drop-down. Not only did I face rejections, but I faced personal insults as well at the door. It was more than enough to take in for the first day.

As I proceeded into the next few days, more training was done, which was very much appreciated. However, further rejections, insults, and failures really started to take its toll on me over time. I had never had to pray this much before, just to hold on to God’s character in me. After the first week, I couldn’t understand what was going on. I have made a declaration and yielded everything to my Heavenly Father before coming to the program, and now I’m only facing failure. Just in the first week, Satan has tried to turn every joy of life against me and every form of rejection upon me. I’ve started to have doubts.

During the beginning of the second week, I came across a Biblical verse that God revealed to me during my first year in college: John 4:34. In this one verse, Jesus’  mission was revealed to me as a whole. And Jesus said “my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work”. It was a reminder to me of why I chose to do this work in the first place. Colporteur ministry and literature evangelism is a work that needs to be done. It is the best form of ministry to have and the best way to touch the hearts of our neighbors, those who don’t know about the Advent message, and those who don’t know Christ.

As I canvass here, there is one house that I canvassed which I will never forget. A mother came to the door, and I started to canvass to her and inform her of the literature that I was distributing. While I was doing so, her daughter came to the door, and she was wearing something that looked quite familiar to me. She was wearing an eye-patch over one of her eyes. I found out later from the mother that her daughter had to wear the eye-patch in order to strengthen her eye muscles. For me, it was opportunity to share with her my story and how far God had brought me with my vision. It was definitely an uplifting story for her and an interesting encounter that blessed us both. I was able to give her a Happiness Digest, and she really appreciated the little pick-me-up. I know I touched hearts that day and I have learned a lesson myself.

I am not ashamed to do this work for my Savior. I praise God that I get to work with a Godly group of people here. My only regret is that I won’t have the opportunity to work with the same group of people again, whether it’s in a future career or now in college. God has blessed me with so much, and I am willing to “finish His work” for the rest of the summer program and until Jesus’ second coming.