After months of planning, the day for the opening night of the series had arrived. While everyone was preparing for that first meeting, only a few were aware that a monumental problem existed.
By three o’clock Friday afternoon, the television crew had been unable to establish the uplink to their satellite. Williams Costa Jr., from Brazil and producer for our series, began to look feverishly for another resource. He contacted Cosmos, one of the local satellite companies, who indicated they were not busy at the moment and would be happy to assist.
The truck carrying the satellite dish and transmitter drove onto the grounds about an hour later. The crew worked feverishly to get all the connections made. The program was scheduled to begin at eight o’clock and, with just four minutes to spare, the uplink was established.
Santiago Frias, Cosmos president, began attending the meetings at the request of his wife. He was impressed with the Bible-based messages and told Todd Gessele, NPUC graphics creator, that the meetings could have been advertised better. When Todd asked how, Frias suggested a press conference and proceeded to make all the arrangements.
The next day, Cesario Acevedo, Dominican Union Mission president, Silvestre Gonzalez, communication director, Jere Patzer, series speaker, Garry Gregory, Spanish translator, and Robert Folkenberg, Carolina Conference global evangelism director, held a well-attended press conference to explain the purpose of the meetings.
It was amazing to see God’s plan unfold as He helped us work through each circumstance. He was there silently working and blessing our efforts to witness for Him.
