“Lord,” Joseph prayed, “if it is Your will that I attend Hartland College, please show me tonight whether I should proceed with my application.” Joseph’s first application for a visa had been denied. What if he were turned down again? That night he had a dream in which a thin American man wearing long sleeves approved his visa application.
“When I applied for the visa the next day,” says Joseph, “I was surprised to see that the man whom I saw in my dream was the one interviewing me for my appointment. When he saw my application—to be a gospel missionary—he asked, ‘What are the teachings of Seventh-day Adventists?’ So I preached to him for five minutes about the Sabbath, the Law, and the health message! Then he told me my application was approved.”
Joseph Bruce Palange, from the Philippines, dreamt of studying nursing so he could train young people as medical missionaries. He enrolled in a nursing course, but when he began attending, he believed that this was not where God wanted him.
So God led Joseph to come to Hartland instead and gave him a visa, but the story doesn’t end here. “I had no money for a plane ticket, so I prayed that God would provide one,” Joseph continues. “I reserved the ticket, but was told that if I couldn’t pay for it, it would be canceled and given to another person. Ten hours from the deadline to pay, I received an unexpected call. Someone gave me $900 to pay for my ticket, and I hadn’t even asked him for help!”
Joseph arrived at Hartland in the fall of 2008 as a Pastoral Evangelism major. “I’m learning many things here. The subjects presented draw me closer to God. My Bible classes help me to be humble, to be like Christ, to die daily.” When he finishes at Hartland, he plans to return to the Philippines to establish a school similar to Hartland College. “When you have the spirit and character of Christ, you will be a successful worker. I believe the lessons I’m learning here are preparing me to train young people to be workers for God.”
“I praise God that there’s an institution like Hartland to train young people to be humble instruments of God in these last days, but I wouldn’t be able to study here if it weren’t for the Missionary Training Fund,” Joseph says. “I really thank those who support the MTF students. The Lord has made you instruments to support those of us who need training as laborers for God.”
