I'm back! No, not to post the remaining days of our Oliverio Road Trip Across America ( which, by the way, I will once someone coerces me by taking me out to lunch, including a Shirley Temple and dessert! ); rather, I'm posting to keep you, dear family, informed to the happenings of your brother/uncle/cousin, Edgar, and his family's upcoming move to the country side. Yes, you heard it right, we're gonna be country folks, y'all!
Okay, Atelei may have emailed you our testimony but in case you didn't receive it and/or didn't read it, I'm reposting it here. If, once you're done reading this rather long but seriously interesting narrative, you feel so inspired to let God lead you, please please please get down on your knees and pray. God is listening. He wants to direct your paths. Just let Him in!
All right, here we go!
question: WHERE are we moving?
answer: where GOD Himself has lead us! =)
now the details:
hi again everyone!
i pray that this letter finds you all under the good care of our Lord and Savior. and i pray that God may speak to you individually and lead you all to a close and awesome walk with Him! as i shared in the earlier email of WHY we are moving to the country...it is all in obedience to God. He said to flee to the mountains. and this email is a testimony of HOW God truly can and will lead us in following Him! He is amazing! and sooo good!
after accepting the message of moving out of the cities, jason and i began to share with our friends and families this message. of course, there is a lot of resistance when you start shaking the boat and moving people out of their comfort zone...but God has called us to be a peculiar people! to be salt and light in the world, right? i praise the Lord for His working in our families' hearts who (through prayer and their own walk with God) are also poised to leave by next year. God is so good! as i said earlier...we really didn't have any direction as to where to move to. Every time someone asked me where we were going...i said, "i don't know...but God does!" the Bible is clear as to moving to a wilderness (low population) and mountains. jason and i have been at odds as to the definition of mountains. in fact, our whole family has been in discord as to where we should move to.
my sister jennifer wanted montana or idaho. mom wanted washington or oregon or maybe even idaho. i wanted a place with at least a 4000 feet of elevation. jason wanted arkansas. christine was for the northwest or tennessee, i think! (she's very easy-going and not picky! praise the Lord!) so...we were not in agreement at all. jason and i were suppose to leave on wednesday (9/16/09) to start looking at all these states to find the land God has prepared for us! well...that was a lot of travel. i didn't even know where to start. my plan was for us to start in oregon, then washington, idaho, montana, dip down to arkansas, and then tennessee. meanwhile, jason kept saying that elijah fled to the wilderness. and hid in caves. he kept telling our family of how arkansas is full of caves and rivers and has no restriction on what you can do on your property! you can build whatever you want. no permits needed! but i've been to arkansas...and there are no super high mountains there! just a lot of rolling, green hills.
all this time i knew we were about to move to the country...but i honestly had no idea how to live in the country. in august, my mom came up to me and showed me an ad in the loma linda trading post about a country-living seminar up in redding at the beginning of september! jason suggested that we should all go and bring a representative from each family so that we can learn how to live in the country: grow our own food and live off the grid! during the trip to redding, a realtor brought the group around northern California to look at potential lands to buy...we specifically asked him about the zoning. ideally, we would like to have property with lots of acreage to build as many little cabins as we can so that we can accommodate anyone who needs a place when the time comes (God willing). the realtor said the only state who has free zoning like that was arkansas. and of course, jason was happy about that and again proceeded to tell us how great arkansas was with all its rivers and caves and free zoning. agh! but i just kept remembering mountains, mountains, mountains. "...he who is in judea, flee into the mountains." what about mountains? arkansas was pretty...but just green hills. hills! not mountains (although, i was willing to look at it because they do have the ozark mountains...but it is no where as tall as the northwest mountains of montana, washington, oregon, etc!)
jennifer (my middle sister) saw us in our typical "discussion" during the country-living seminar. jennifer prayed and God lead her in His Word to lead our family to pray and fast over this issue of where we should move. we decided to pray and fast as a family the Sabbath before jason and i were to start looking for property. this was on september 12, 2009; 4 days before jason and i were to move. so, we met friday night to have worship and ask God's blessing on our fasting. on Sabbath those who were able fasted and prayed from sunrise to sundown. and we met up again Sabbath evening for worship and prayer and sharing of what God had told each of us. and here is what happened that day. God is good. He is sooooooo good!!! and He is faithful. to Him be all the glory for what He has done for us and what He will do for you if we are willing to give it all to Jesus...nothing is impossible for Him! =)
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(this is the order in which we shared what God's leading was: christine, mom, jenn, me, jason. but i'm going to put my testimony first to lead up to the other testimonies...just remember, my testimony was after christine, mom, and jenn's...)
Fasting and praying: September 12, 2009/Sabbath (sunrise to sundown)
Where to move?
Leilani (me):
Jason and I had been at odds with each other over where we should go. I’ve been trying to go with what the Bible says…mountains. Fasted in the morning and did my regular readings. Go to church and then spend the afternoon reading country living and reading the Word and singing hymns and praying. Meanwhile Jason is still talking about Arkansas. I’m at odds because what about the mountains??!
I’ve been praying and fasting and asking God to please help me with my definition of mountains. If it’s wrong…please correct me and give me Your definition and Your guidance.
I went outside to ask God to speak to me. Trying to listen. All I hear is “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1). Cannot really concentrate because jenn is yelling for me to place my order for our dinner at maria’s. and I can hear dad yelling out for his grandson gian! just so much noise!! So I go back inside. Jason asks me what God told me. I said God hasn’t spoken to me. It’s just random thoughts. I was frustrated.
No one is here yet…so I spend more time outside alone with God. I ask God to speak to me. “Please speak to me God. I’m listening.” I’m trying to listen. So many thoughts in my head, trying to stay quiet and listen; “LORD, please speak to me. Your servant is listening.” Trying so hard to listen. So many thoughts, but I hear that verse again…
No one is here yet…so I spend more time outside alone with God. I ask God to speak to me. “Please speak to me God. I’m listening.” I’m trying to listen. So many thoughts in my head, trying to stay quiet and listen; “LORD, please speak to me. Your servant is listening.” Trying so hard to listen. So many thoughts, but I hear that verse again…
GOD: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1)
I look to the hills and mountains. The lights on the mountains start flickering and I think to myself hills? Arkansas?? NO! hills? Is that Arkansas? NO! this is just because Jason has been talking about Arkansas so much! is it Arkansas? It cannot be?! is it? If it is huntsville, arkansas someone else besides Jason has to say it tonight. Someone has to say the place. but it doesn’t seem to fit the criteria. Can it be? it doesn’t seem right?
I hear, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways…for My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. And My ways are higher than your ways…” (Isaiah 55:8)
I think to myself: “but is that safe? Is that mountain enough? “
I hear again: “my help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth.” (psalm 121:1). And: “my God shall supply all your needs” (philippians 4:19)
I think to myself maybe this is all in my head because Jason has been talking about Arkansas so much. I go back inside not really sure if I had made up my own conversation…
(after i came back inside the house...everyone was there...so we had our sundown worship. prayed and sang some hymns...and then proceeded to share what had happened that day. when asked to share, christine was the first one to volunteer what happened to her that Sabbath)
Christine (youngest of the 3 oliverio sisters, who is 8 months pregnant):
The message of moving to the mountains is spreading rapidly throughout the Loma Linda Indonesian Church. So far three families have been impressed to sell their comfortable homes for a more simple life. Yesterday, after church potluck, Brandon and his dad were sitting and talking about those particular families. I just so happened to sit down at the tail end of the story, missing out in most of the details. Of course, being my nosy self, I ask, “What happened?” and Brandon’s dad starts this amazing story all over again…
Leo, a nurse, has been living a luxurious life. He has a “mansion” in Highland, drives a BMW, and lives quite lavishly. Recently, he’s been moved by the Holy Spirit to give up his worldly possessions in lieu of a simple life. Problem is, he’s racked up a whole lot of debt, so much debt that it totaled 1.3 million dollars. With his small claims court case soon approaching, Leo doesn’t know what he can do to get out of this mess. But instead of running away from his debt collectors, he decides to face his fate in court.
It’s the day of his court case. Leo’s very nervous. As he waits in the courtroom, he notices that no one on the opposing side is there to meet him. Five minutes, ten minutes. No one shows up. As a result, the judge throws out his case. He no longer owes a majority of the 1.3 million dollars. What a miracle!
Now he’s planning to join the rest of the Indonesian families that have moved east. Guess where they’re all at – Arkansas!
(after she said arkansas i started freaking out, laughing, and i just couldn't believe my ears! jason was asking me what was wrong with me?! but then mom went next and shared her experience that day)
Mom:
Friday evening, 9/11/09 our family had worship. We also discussed about fasting and praying to ask God’s guidance and direction to what State God will lead us for country living. We decided to start sunrise to sunset. Then on Saturday evening at 8pm, we will share our testimony during worship.
I read my Bible and prayed to God to give Lei and Jason direction on what state they are going to look for properties so that they can save time and money.
9/12/09, during second service, the whole family attended second service at Indonesian Church as Brandon was the second service speaker for the youth. After the service, Edgar was talking to Martin. Then Edgar left and I talked to Martin. Martin mentioned to me that Edgar told him that I was retiring. I said yes I am retiring and my last day of work is Oct 30 and we are going to look for a property in the country. I asked Martin whether Brandon shared with him my testimony. He said no, so I told him I will let him know next time we see because I thought he was in a hurry and Edgar was waiting for me at the parking lot. However he lingered and he walked with me to the parking lot. So I asked God, “do I have to tell my testimony now?” So I shared my testimony; how God used Matt 24, a co-worker, Mark 13 and the internet to let me know that it is time to move to the country. Then he shared some information that there are three families in his church that wanted to move to the country, in fact 2 already purchased properties and moved to Arkansas. After I said my good-bye to Martin, I asked GOD, do you want us to move to Arkansas? Is it Arkansas Lord? Then I know that God has sent Martin, a godly man to tell me that the state we are going is Arkansas. I really don’t want to go to Arkansas, I prefer Oregon, Washington, or Idaho. I felt that Arkansas is too far from Calif. but Arkansas? God is good.
(i couldn't believe it! wow! this was amazing! praise the LORD. i was just speechless…no one understood why i was practically freaking out on the couch next to jason. even jason was wondering what was wrong with me! all I can say is God is so good. He was the One talking with me! wow! and then jennifer went next…by this time i was really excited to hear what God had told her…)
Jenn (middle girl of the 3 oliverio sisters):
Allan let me sit inside the LLFC gym so I could study my Bible and pray while he took little G to Sabbath School. Before I began reading I asked God what He wanted me to do and He said, "Just read your Amazing Facts Bible Reading Plan. I have it all planned out." So I began reading. I opened my Bible and discovered that I was to read the story of Elijah found in I Kings 17-19 and I knew that it wasn't coincidence { refer to the story of the three Elijahs }. As I read, the following verses stood out: I Ki 17.2 { move eastward to wilderness with a brook/river}; I Ki 18.1 { hiding from the world for 3.5 years }; I Ki 18.4 { hiding in a cave }; and I Ki 19.9 { other prophets of God hiding in caves }. Three points were important to note the location of our exodus: eastward, brook/river and caves. I knew God wants us to move to a place that encompasses all three. And according to Jason, Arkansas has all three components.
As I continued reading into the NT, the Gospel reading plan led me to Luke 4. And what did I find? In Luke 4.25-26 Jesus relates the story of Elijah hiding in the wilderness and the miracle of the meal and oil. Coincidence? No. At that moment, God solidified my belief that He wants our family to move to Arkansas and prepare for the last days.
Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow. He is good and faithful and He will see us to the end. He that has begun a good work in you, shall perform it EVEN to the day of Christ Jesus. Ph 1.6
(by this time i was fully convinced of WHERE God was leading us...it was unanimous! and only God and God alone could do that! praise the LORD).
Leilani (me…oldest of the 3 oliverio sisters): (see above...1st testimony)
Jason:
(Jason still has to write his testimony…but basically, he has always been talking about how Arkansas fits the bill because their property (his sister moved from hawaii to arkansas in 2007 by the Lord's leading) has a river, caves, hills…and population is low. And you can do whatever you want on your property. plus during that day the Lord had still been impressing upon him how arkansas was the place to go. in fact, i can remember before we fasted...jason had said he already knows where we are going to end up! boy! did that make me upset! but i guess jason was right! hehe!).
so as you can see...God is good! He lead us all to a specific state. and God can do that for anyone who is willing to heed His warnings. not only will He do that…but He will also make your path smooth and straight. i had bought a condo in Hawaii in 2005. The market has been crashing over there too. And after realizing I wasn’t going back to Hawaii…I went ahead and put it on the market a couple months ago. Within a week, it sold! Praise the LORD! satan never likes it when we start moving in the direction God wants us to…so…of course I had a major roadblock 10 days before closing the condo. it got appraised super low. The buyer couldn’t cover the contracted price. So I had to come up with 11k! I didn’t think i had that kind of cash…but after rearranging my money around…there it was! God knew I would need that amount! It was hard to part with it…but hey! God WILL provide for all my needs! I think I was going to use that money to survive for the next few months while we were looking for a place to buy for my family. But…God has already seen this from beginning to end. He must have a job waiting for me around the corner! Or money from somewhere else! Whatever is His plan…this is what I know: my God shall supply all my needs! My faith and trust is in Him!
may God continue to bless us all as we seek out His will for our lives...and thru His strength and power, obey Him and His guidance. it is humbling to say that we are moving to arkansas. and the more i think of it...the more scary it feels. but...God knows something we don't know. and He is the one who picked that state for us. that is my assurance. anywhere with Jesus i can safely go...even arkansas! =) God bless and may you all continue your daily walk with the Lord...reading His word, the Bread of life, daily. and praying without ceasing! =) He is coming soon! you are more than welcome to join us in arkansas if you have no place to go...we will keep you posted!
"knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts, saying, 'where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all this continue as they were from the beginning of creation.' for this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. but the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition (destruction) of ungodly men. but, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." 2 peter 3:3-9
God is in the business of saving souls. He has given us all the inheritance of being sons and daughters of God. it is the devil who has deceived so many to sell back that inheritance for the passing pleasures of sin. just like jacob with esau. using our appetites and immediate gratification to lure us to a deceitful trade of gaining the whole world, and yet losing our own soul...eternal life is our rightful inheritance. God paid the price. keep up a daily walk with God through reading His Word daily. and praying daily. draw near to God and He WILL draw near to you. get to know who God really is...personally. not what so-and-so says, or the pastor says, but who God really is. all His beautiful characteristics! taste and see that the Lord is good!!! may God continue to help us all to see the unseen. to see Him. to know Him. and to know how much He loves us! God gave us His one and only Son. that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. that life is yours and mine. we must wait just a little longer. here is the patience of the saints. but He who promised is faithful. "and behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with me to give to every one according to his work." (revelation 22:12)
God bless always...
love,
jason and leilani
Isn't God amazing? I've read miraculous stories in the Bible but never experienced the greatness of God until now. And you know what's the best part of this whole experience? God wants to create miracles in your life too! It is His desire to awaken us from our slumber and prepare for His second coming. We're getting ready... how about you?
