The Seventh-day Adventist Church in eight South American countries held Hope Impact, a campaign to distribute free literature throughout its territory, on Sabbath, April 1, 2023. Students, teachers, and employees of Central Adventist University of São Paulo (UNASP) went to Campinas, São Paulo, to hold Life and Health Fairs and share the book The Great Controversy.

The project, which has been going on for 16 years, aims to encourage reading and spread a message of hope. The distribution was made at various points of the city.

About 920 students and employees left the Engenheiro Coelho campus in 20 buses, while 2 buses left the São Paulo campus for the distribution of copies. The work delivered is a condensed version, written in current language, of the classic volume by Ellen G. White, considered a prophetic voice by Seventh-day Adventists.

The president of the institution, Dr. Martin Kuhn, participated in the action and emphasized how this book can change someone's life: "The core value is that you take a book to help someone. When you think that someone may be going through a very difficult day, and someone's visit, someone's prayer, the book, the message in that person's life can have a total changing impact. That is the main goal: to bring a message of hope to people," he declared.

Planning

Notwithstanding, an action of this nature requires prior planning. For this reason, months before the event, the church on the UNASP Engenheiro Coelho campus, for example, distributed the books to the students to prepare them for the day of delivery. It is done by a team that gathers several sectors, such as the university pastoral, academic, and administrative areas.

The internal director of the Engenheiro Coelho campus, Carlos Ferri, told about all the preparation and impact it has on the lives of the students and the people who receive the book. "We have been praying for a long time, and we were already preparing ourselves. Now we are leaving with a transformed and changed spirit to take the message of hope. The impact is twofold. God be praised for all of this," he said in a celebratory tone.

The delivery has made a difference in the lives of both those who receive and give. Psychologist Airton Ferreira has participated in the project for nine years and always seeks to get involved. "I believe that today people are very sensitive and in need of some kind of shelter. UNASP has been engaged year after year in this project. Since 2012, I participate in the project whenever I can. It makes me very happy because the act of bringing hope to other people motivates and drives you to be a better person," she pointed out.

Service to the Community

Besides the book delivery, eight Life and Health Fairs were also held by the undergraduate students of the health courses. People who visited the fair were able to use services such as blood pressure, glycemia tests, dietary guidance, and even relaxing massages. The intention was to attract people to the book distribution, alerting them and making them aware of the care for their body, mind, and spiritual life.

Dr. Lanny Burlanny, coordinator of one of the fairs, explained that the expectation was to attend to 200 people. "We made a partnership between UNASP and the Central Paulist Association [administrative headquarters of the Adventist Church for the Campinas region]. The coordination was all done by UNASP, and I was in charge of helping. It is always great to participate in the health fair because here we teach life. We want people to live well with quality of life and, above all, to learn simple habits that have a great impact on our health," she explained.

Psychology student Thiago Milhomem participates every year in Hope Impact. This year, he was at the book delivery and the Life and Health Fair. "I like to participate because I believe that it is a way to bring Jesus to people through books. We are here helping people through health, just like Jesus did. He first healed people and then spoke about the message," he said.

Teacher Luciane Akemi participated with her whole family in the fair at the invitation of the Adventist School of Campinas - Castelo unit and shared her impressions and how the fair helped her to want to change habits. "The orientation was very nice because some things we didn't know. The explanations of each thing were very interesting! We are adapting to a healthier life," she said.

The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Portuguese-language news site.