The Story of Soo
Soo had three visits from an angel who told her what church was Yahweh's true
church and that He was coming very soon. The below can also be found at :
http://www.bibleplus.org/Soo/NoOneLeftBehind.htm
No
One Le
-Ethel
Price
When
the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them
in common, shall influence
the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will
Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy. Then the true
church will be assailed by persecution, as were God's ancient people.
{SR 381.2}
The
original article I wrote about Soophaphone Sirivongsack (Soo) was entitled
“Will I Find Faith" because it is an important question from Jesus. It
certainly is my choice to let Jesus change me and renew my mind in His image. I want
to have faith!
But
there is another aspect to Soo’s story that I want to direct your thoughts
to—whom will you take to Heaven with you? Did an angel do my
work—your work—that we neglected to do? How many more “Soo’s” are out
there searching and longing for the love of Jesus—and dying without it?
There
is no other reason to discuss Soo’s story than to uplift Jesus, His Power, His
Love, His salvation, and His sure and soon coming. This is not about Soo, or
you, or me. It is about Jesus.
Loren
and I recently had the pleasure of getting personally acquainted with Soo in
Sacramento during a visit there the last week of October 2004. I say pleasure,
because Soo is a happy, friendly, loving Christian woman. I enjoyed seeing her
open inquisitive mind soaking up truth from God’s Word, and seeking His
direction often with us in our conversations and work together there. She talks
so naturally about her Father.
On
one of the days of our visit, we videotaped a conversational interview with Soo.
Our mutual good friend, Lottana Silafau, joined in to help should the
occasion arise that either Soo or I had difficulty understanding the other. So
now, I will retell the story of Soo with the added background and detail I have
learned.
Soo
was born prematurely at seven months to Vietnamese parents who lived in Laos and
was just 40 days old when her mother died. Her father later died from cancer and
another Buddhist family adopted Soo. Growing up, she was often sick and although
she attended school for ten years, that wasn’t always steady. It sometimes
took more than one year to finish one grade.
Wanting
to learn more about her religion, Soo became a “nun” and lived in the temple
on several occasions to study the Buddhist history. [She tells me Buddhists can
be married and live in the temple— just not at the same time! If a married man
decides to become a priest, he must leave his family and go through purification
before coming to live in the temple as a monk, or priest.]
It
was during this time that Soo learned from her “second father” (a Buddhist
priest – see next paragraph) of a God who had come down from Heaven, who had
marks in His hands, His feet, and His Side and Head…one that forgives sins and
will come again to take His children to live in Heaven with Him. She learned His
name as the “Second God.”
Soo’s
adoptive parents moved to Australia when she was in her late twenties. Soo
traveled back and forth from Laos to Australia. There was a cousin of the
parents whom Soo also “adopted” as her father and she calls him
“godfather” or “second father” and sometimes “dad.” He is now a
priest in a Buddhist temple in Chicago, Illinois. When she was about 28, Soo’s
never-strong body developed cancer of the breast that spread through her body to
her liver, kidneys, and skin. She was in pain and weak. The doctor she saw in
Australia, who took x-rays of her body, did a biopsy of her right breast and
determined she did have cancer. The doctor said whether they operated on her
liver and kidneys or not, that she would die. Her uncle, also a doctor, warned
her not to let anyone operate on her.
The
early morning of October 10, 2000 found Soo finishing her packing and getting
ready for a 9 am flight to America. Since she was a child, Soo had longed to see
the land she could only dream about from the pictures she had seen. She was
grateful to her adoptive mother for helping to raise the $2500 she needed for
the vacation trip that would include Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, and Washington
D. C., finally ending in a visit with her “second father” in Chicago,
Illinois.
As
Soo prepared to go to sleep, she saw something strange reflected in her
window—her bedroom door was opening and shutting. Three times it happened. Her
hair stood on end; she got goose bumps on her arms. She was frightened that an
evil Buddhist spirit was visiting her. So Soo prayed to the “Second God” [PRA-MA-XI-ANN
in her language] and the manifestation
stopped. Relieved and at peace, she turned off her light to go to sleep.
Instead
of darkness, there soon appeared a light in her room that grew brighter until
she was blinded for several minutes. Once able to see, she saw a tall man in a
long white robe with flowing sleeves. [No wings, she tells me!] His garment was
not made of cloth, but rather was like a glowing light about him. She had no
fear of him even before he told her not to be afraid. She was fascinated by his
white skin and hair, and beautiful countenance.
In
a kind, melodic voice he told her about Jesus, the God of Heaven that made her,
loved her, and died to forgive her sins and save her. He said Jesus had marks in
His Hands, Feet, Side, and Head and told her Jesus holds the keys of Heaven and
of Hell.
This
shining being talked with her in her native tongue for about one hour telling
her about Jesus, telling her she could trust Jesus and giving her directions of
how to learn more about Him. The
angel directed Soo to go to the Seventh-day Adventist church when she arrived in
America, saying, “It is the true church.” He told her when she visited their
church she would hear the song “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and that at
a big Bible conference she was to attend, she would hear the song “Rock of
Ages.” The angel said those songs were sung in Heaven. [Enoch, Moses,
Elijah, and those resurrected with Jesus are in Heaven for this choir.]
Then
he gave her the names of five men to see in America. She was to contact Mark
Finley, Ron Halverson, Kenneth Cox, Doug Batchelor, and give a message to John
Carter to teach her about Revelation, the time of trouble, Matthew 24, the
Lord’s Prayer, and Leviticus 11.
[Soo
has met these men, I have photographs of them with her to prove it, but the
language barrier and her lack of understanding of the angel’s message about
coming events may have prevented her from giving them the full story and them
from truly understanding about the angel’s visit. She has still not been able
to study all the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist church from the Bible,
as there is no SDA literature printed in Laotian. There are some New Testaments
in a few of the major dialects, but nothing for the majority of people. She has
slowly learned to read an English Bible and sometimes uses an English/Thai
Bible.]
Soo
asked the angel to write down the names of the church and the men she was to
contact, because she spoke and wrote no English. The angel told her he would
spell them for her, but that she must write them herself. Soo was directed to
study the King James Bible and to translate three books she had never heard of
before—Steps to Christ, The Great Controversy, and Desire of
Ages—into her native tongue and take them back with her to Laos. She was
to take care of the orphans and those with “no hands and no feet” [War
casualties] in Laos, and to “go back to your country and tell your people
everything you have learned...Jesus is coming very, very soon.”
As
the angel talked to her, he told her to write down some of the
information...even spelling words and names she had never before heard. She was
to contact Roger Coon from the “Ellen G. White Conference” [as she told me]
for which he gave her not only the name, but also the phone number of the White
[Estate] in Silver Springs, MD. [The White Estate has confirmed the phone
number.] She was to ask him for 9,000 copies of the books to take back with her
to Laos: three thousand of each book. As of this date she has not yet contacted
Roger Coon.
Soo
was told to find a school that would teach her the health message and after that
to go to Sacramento to find her own people that would help her with the
translations into Laotian. As the angel began speaking to Soo, she noticed the
pain in her breast, from the operation that was not fully healed, in her
kidneys, and in her liver—was gone! She felt strengthened—her cancer was
healed! [Soo still has a visible scar under her right breast and a quite large
patch of apparently healed lighter colored skin on her left leg where she says a
skin cancer used to be. Perhaps she bears these marks as a reminder of God’s
mercy to her.] When she wanted to go tell her mother the good news about her
cancer the angel said it would have to wait...she needed to move forward. He
also assured her she would see her real mother in heaven. [Soo knew about the
“Second God,” perhaps her mother did, also.]
The
angel then gave Soo information that to her was puzzling. He told her when she
went to America that something bad was going to happen. However, the angels were
going to hold the winds and the gospel would spread to the all world. He said
that in 2005 something bigger would happen in America and that the Sunday law
would come in after that. Soo asked him “What is Sunday law?” His answer
made it no clearer to her; “Good people work in government, but they work for
evil. Watch the news.”
In
all the angel appeared to her three times (twice here in America.) The second
visit was just as she was landing in California. He told her she would hear a
sound like wind whistling when he came. She heard the sound and saw him through
her window of the plane. As she said “hi.” A woman nearby asked if Soo was
speaking to her! The angel told her she was in America now, and that God would
take care of her. He told her to remember to read the Bible, pray the Lord’s
Prayer every night, and to trust, surrender, and obey. Then he told her he had
to go with Gabriel to New York—that people there need Jesus—and “after a
big problem there had passed, the gospel would spread to all the world.”
Soo
spent the next few weeks attending the wedding of a friend in Washington, D.C.
and vacationing, as she was scheduled, in Canada, Guatemala, and Mexico, ending
up in Chicago, Illinois. Her “second father” and a "step-brother"
met her at the airport and she shared much of the angel’s visit and message
with the man she loved as her father. He was still too concerned about possible
“Y2K” threats to take her seriously. He insisted she become a nun again and
live in the temple. He didn’t want her to leave her religion. Soo refused, and
two years would pass before he would speak to her again. [He flew to Uchee Pines
in May of 2004 because of a dream that directed him to go to Soo there for
treatments for his own cancer.]
Soo
went to Wisconsin searching for the “big Bible conference” the angel told
her to find. Her “step-sister” mistakenly took her to the Seventh-day
Baptist church, but an old woman from a Sunday Baptist church finally came up to
her and said she had been directed to help Soo and took her to the Seventh-day
Adventist church! Soo attended and there she finally heard the song “What a
Friend We Have in Jesus.”
Then
followed a time of seeking the “big Bible Conference” and Soo traveled from
Elgin, Illinois to Kissimmee, Florida to Phoenix, Arizona! Always the kindness
of strangers—Pastors and others—sent her along in her search, but they
hadn’t heard of a “big Bible Conference.” Then, in Phoenix, the angel told
her she needed to be baptized. She hadn’t yet been able to study the “27
points of doctrine” and the angel gave her directions if the Pastor was
reluctant to baptize her because of her lack of full knowledge of the Bible’s
teachings. He said to ask the Pastor; “Do you love Jesus?” two times.
Soo
was baptized in June of 2002. Her angel was there clapping his hands with joy.
What a precious memory Soo has of that time. Every time she thinks of it, her
eyes well up with tears as she remembers the song “Love Lifted Me” that the
angel gave her for her baptism. In the time we spent with Soo, she was often
humming that song. [An organist from Soquel told me she came up to him and asked
him to play this hymn for her. He was delighted in her appreciation of the
beauty of the organ music.]
Finally,
in Phoenix, the angel said the Bible Conference was going to be held in San
Diego. Then he told her “not to rely on him, but to rely on Jesus.” His work
for her was done...he was going back to Jesus. [As we spoke of this last week,
Soo turned to me and asked “What does rely mean?” Soo has a bright mind,
continually questioning and soaking up information as she begins to understand.]
Soo
attended Mark Finley’s Bible Conference in San Diego in 2002 and was able to
meet him there and share a bit of her miraculous conversion. She showed him his
name written in her book as the angel had directed. He then took her to meet Ron
Halverson and she is radiant in her picture between the two of them.
At
the end of the conference, a local Laotian Pastor contacted Judy Aitken at the
Adventist Southeast Asia Project to seek advice of where to direct Soo for a
“school where she could learn about health.” Judy directed them to Uchee
Pines (www.UcheePines.org) and Soo
spent nearly two years there learning many things: English, massage,
hydrotherapy, and life lessons. Soo told me when she got too busy trying to
study in English for her tests and neglected her personal time with God, that He
drew her back to spend more time with Him. Something told her “rely on Me,
rely on Me, rely on Me.” So she asked Jesus to teach her and said that He
began waking her up at 3:00 am every day to study.
In
her time there, Soo finally began to learn enough English to share her testimony
with those to whom she was giving treatments. She learned many good things while
there and thanks both Uchee Pines and Judy—and holds them up in her prayers. [Soo
shared parts of her story there, and in surrounding areas, as the opportunity
arose and was sensitive to whether people believed her story or not, tending not
to share more if she felt disbelief. She doesn’t force herself on people.]
Soo
has worked with others to begin the translations she was directed to do.
Translation of the book “Steps to Christ” has been completed and she
is working on chapter 17 of The Great Controversy, which she is
translating from Thai to Lao with the assistance of a local elder at the
Japanese SDA church in Sacramento. It will need to be verified by comparing the
English to Lao to assure its accuracy. [Any volunteers out there?]
She also is just beginning to
understand what the “Sunday law” is, as a new friend in the Sacramento area
just shared with me. She is thrilled to have finally read up to the chapter on
the Time of Trouble in The Great Controversy.
So
again I say yes, I believe Jesus will find faith when He returns.
He will find it in Soo, who is now understandingly following the “Second
God” Jesus, the Son of God and looks joyfully for His soon return. On
November 15, 2004, Soo will return for a few months to Australia to renew her
visa and passport and begin the process of laying the groundwork for her mission
in Laos. Keep her, her family, her project, and Laos in your prayers.
Time
is indeed very short. Jesus
is coming very, very soon. I’ve known since 9/11/01 that the angels were
holding the winds. We have all the information we need at our fingertips in the
Bible and the writings of Ellen G. White. Early Writings and Great Controversy
are filled with truth and lead us to the Bible and its prophecies again and
again.
In
the early spring of 2002, God awakened me at 3:00 in the morning and the Holy
Spirit spoke to my mind. He said, “Do you want to live to the Second Coming or
do you want to die? With that I was shown the enormous difficulty of either
path. I said, “I can’t choose, Lord, You choose for me.”
I’ve
come to trust Him with my life. When that window closed, what immediately came
to my mind were the children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, cousins,
friends, in-laws, ex-laws, church members, and all whom my life touches that I
wanted to be sure are ready to meet Jesus.
Our
daughter wanted to stay home from her full-time job after her third child was
born last year, and be a full-time mom. She was worried there wouldn’t be
enough money for health insurance and other necessities of life. I said to her
“It won’t matter anyway for long, because Jesus is coming soon.”
She
replied “Mom, our grandparents and their grandparents all said the same
thing!” I looked at her in astonishment—was she joking—quoting Peter to
me—or was she serious? I shot up a quick prayer for the right words. Finally I
said, “That may be, but God never woke me up at 3:00 in the morning before and
asked me if I wanted to live to the Second Coming or die.” She was silent. She
stayed home to train her children for the Lord and now also believes His coming
is very near!
What
about you, friend? You and I don’t need an angel to tell us about God. We have
the knowledge of the great love and sacrifice of Jesus for us. Please, listen to
the pleading of the Holy Spirit today. Seek Him, pray for the outpouring of the
Latter Rain, shout it from the housetops, and work like the night was coming!
Jesus
truly is coming soon. Let there be “No One Left Behind!”
-Ethel
Price
Loren
and Ethel Price
THE OMEGA PROJECT MINISTRIES
“No One Left Behind” Seminars
P.O. BOX 2169,
CLACKAMAS, OR 97015
email:
lorendprice@ccwebster.net
This
article, as well as Ethel's interview of Soo taped October 26, 2004 and an
interview with Jim Doss taped April, 2004, can be obtained/viewed at www.BiblePlus.org/Soo.