On January 13, the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti and leveled much of Port-au-Prince rang across the news. What can a person do, if you’re not a doctor? What does an ordinary citizen thousands of miles away have to offer? However, when it became obvious that the disaster in Haiti called for help from all who were willing, the El Monte Vietnamese SDA Youth felt that its talent could be put to use for a good cause.
It was a simple text message on a Thursday night that ended with, “… we should do something.” It was an early morning prayer on a Friday asking, “Lord, what can I do for You?” From there started the planning and putting together of an endeavor only God could have carried through.
At 7:48 am on January 15, texting back and forth were the ideas on how to set up a classical benefit concert to raise funds which could be sent to help mobilize the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to work in Haiti.
Ideas were limited as resources were slim. An event to advocate for an unexpected disaster meant unanticipated needs on a short notice. Can we find a music facility in time? Can we find enough performers to make a full program? How to let the community know? At the early stages the rough ideas had been drawn. Perhaps the nearby school gym could be rented, and hopefully a grand piano could be wheeled in. For sure, there were 5 capable pianists that we could ask. We could invite other local churches to participate. God had slightly bigger plans.
We decided to bring into the planning Pastor Miles Yu of the Alhambra Chinese SDA Church. Suddenly, our idea began to take flight. Within moments, we had a facility with a capacity of 400, with a grand piano, and sound system available for our use. The stage was set for January 23rd at 2 pm: a classical concert with a $5 door admission, where all the proceeds would go to ADRA to help Haiti. It was now a matter of finding talent and getting the word out – the deadline: 6 days.
Before even the first day passed, the idea was meeting resistance. Church leaders were taken aback by the short notice for an event that normally takes more than a week to execute with high quality. If it weren’t for much prayer and humble wisdom the event might’ve ended before it even started. By God’s grace, much of the problems dissipated by the next morning.
By Sunday afternoon, friends of Miles and El Monte Youth filled up most of the planned two-hour program. On Monday evening, a professional flyer was put together by El Monte’s Vuong Doan and 600 copies were passed out to the San Gabriel area and around Alhambra. By Tuesday, the program so was filled and overflowing with talent that it was 20 minutes over. Even on Thursday, other performers offering their talent for the concert had to be turned down.
At 2 pm on Saturday, January 23rd, around 350 people attended the concert. Musicians from Loma Linda to Ventura including the Heralds of Hope and Stephen Adetumbi came all the way out to perform. Local members such as Christine Dao, Daniel Quach, and even Pastor Miles himself also happily offered their talents for the cause. What a blessing the concert was, with such wonderful, quality talent! From the graceful Waworoendeng trio playing “O I Want to Know You More,” with Phillip Pitcher’s dynamic Sciabin, that all ended with Adetumbi’s powerful rendition of “No More Night” are only bits of the packed program.
The only element that overshadowed the musical talent was the way God poured His blessings through the generous donations of the audience. At the end of the night, the final count of the donations was $4,501 to be sent to ADRA. To God be the glory! The group of youth that started the simple idea never imagined the ending result. But this is the God in whom we believe, who “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
Jessica Trinh
