Life-Changing Ride

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, November 29.

It was an Uber ride that changed many lives.

Nineteen-year-old Varinnia took an Uber ride to Chile Adventist University, where she was studying. The driver was curious about the long metal poles that she had asked him to load into the car. Varinnia worked with the Pathfinders, and the poles were for Pathfinder flags.

“What are you doing with the poles?” asked the driver, who was in his mid-50s.

“I am helping prepare for a special week of prayer organized by the Pathfinders,” Varinnia said.

The driver looked puzzled.

“What are Pathfinders?” he said.

Varinnia explained that Pathfinders are a club similar to Boy Scouts but the focus is squarely on the Bible.

“We do a lot of evangelism as well as outdoor activities, but the outdoor activities are always combined with the Bible,” she said.

The driver wanted to know more.

“Which church do you belong to?” he said.

“Seventh-day Adventist.”

“Do you live on the campus of Chile Adventist University?”

“Yes, I live in the dorm.”

“Oh, then you are a missionary,” the driver said.

“No, I’m just a student.”

The conversation turned to God and then the Bible. Varinnia asked the driver if he had a Bible at home.

“Yes,” he said. “I read it often, and I like it.”

“Would you like to study the Bible with me?” Varinnia asked.

A short time later, the driver dropped off Varinnia and her flag poles at Chile Adventist University. Not long after that, Varinnia went to his home and began Bible studies with him, his wife, and their daughter.

One might think that the Uber ride changed only the lives of the driver and his family. But it also changed the lives of his passenger and her parents.

Varinnia’s parents were very protective. They had not wanted her to join Pathfinders or study at Chile Adventist University. They had said Pathfinders would distract her from her homework and Chile Adventist University was too far from their home in Chile’s capital, Santiago. The distance from Santiago to Chile Adventist University is about 650 miles (1,040 kilometers).

So, Varinnia had enrolled at Chile Adventist University without their support. She had only found tuition money by obtaining a scholarship. She had only begun to participate in Pathfinders at the university.

For several years, Varinnia had been praying for a better relationship with her parents.

When she told her parents about the Uber ride, they were shocked.

“How did you do that?” her mother demanded.

“It was all God and the Holy Spirit,” Varinnia replied.

Her parents didn’t say anything more, but from that day, their relationship with their daughter changed. Her parents began to give her more freedom when they saw that God had used her to convince the Uber driver to study the Bible.

Varinnia couldn’t be happier. It was an Uber ride that changed many lives.

“When I see the change in my parents, I can only say it is all God and the Holy Spirit,” she said.

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering, also known as the Quarterly Mission Project Offering, will go to Chile Adventist University in Chillán, Chile. The offering will allow 50 more students to live in dormitories on campus. Currently, the university has about 3,000 students, the vast majority of whom are not Adventist and live off campus. The expanded dormitories will be open to all but are especially needed by Adventist theology and education students who come to the university from far-off places and are studying to work in Adventist churches and schools. Varinnia lives in one of the dormitories that will be expanded with the offering. Thank you for planning a generous offering.