A media missionary from Mexico started volunteering in Estonia earlier this month. Mar Said Hernandez Castañońwill be assisting with filming and editing videos for the Baltic Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Ivo Käsk, president of the Baltic Union, said the idea of volunteering was based on the fact that in all three fields of their Union, there was a need to develop the field of media, but the biggest shortcoming was the workforce. "We decided to try to involve an international volunteer and we posted our ad in the Adventist Volunteer Service (AVS) of the Adventist Church,” Käsk explained. "This process can be quite fast; but in our case, it was slowed down by the Coronavirus pandemic.” Although the advert was posted in March, Mar Said was able to arrive only a few weeks ago. The initial plan for Mar Said was to live in Riga, but because of the strict restrictions due to the pandemic, he was not able to come to Latvia.
Mar Said's work should help the media ministry in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, but currently, there is limited movement between the three countries. Mar Said lives and works physically in Estonia yet also helps with video work elsewhere, using modern technical solutions. "His main job is to film and edit videos; he is primarily a technical worker. Mar Said has not been invited here to come up with our mission in the field of media or to lead this work, but to contribute to what takes up the most workload—filming and video processing," explained Käsk.
"I am happy to be here," said Mar Said as he was introduced at the Estonian Union office on Sunday, 18 October, adding that he wanted to contribute to the Baltic Union's media work so they "can reach people who do not yet know Jesus, do not know anything about Him." Mar Said decided ten years ago that he wanted to do media work and has been involved in it ever since.
He did not know anything about Estonia before seeing the advertisement in AVS, but he was curious about the country and decided to respond to the advert. "It's a good opportunity to put yourself and your knowledge to the test," he said.
Mar Said has grown up in an Adventist family and worked as a social media manager. He will remain a volunteer at the Baltic Union until the end of August 2021.
http://advent.ee/artikkel/166545/balti-unioonis-alustas-tood-misjonarist-videograafik/