Inside Story for Friday 14th of March 2025

By Andrew McChesney

Pediatrician Colette Reahl hoped to bring the 13-year-old Alaska Native girl home before the Sabbath hours. She had told Matrona that she was a Seventh-day Adventist, but it seemed like a good idea to get settled at home in Anchorage before spending their first Sabbath together.

Alaskan adoption authorities, however, had other ideas. They told Colette that she could take the girl on Sabbath.

Image © Pacific Press

The day before the big move, Colette called Matrona at her facility in Anchorage. “I usually go to church on Sabbath,” she said. “Would you like to go with me?”

“No,” Matrona said.

When Matrona arrived the next morning, she announced that she wanted to watch television.

“On Sabbaths in my house, we watch Christian-themed shows or nature videos,” Colette replied.

Matrona was surprised. She asked if she could watch an animated tele­vision show about wild animals instead.

Colette and Matrona got to spend two months of quality time together in Anchorage before moving to Bethel, where Colette had a new job at a hospital. During that time, they developed routines and built their relationship. They had morning and evening worship, and Matrona grew spiritually.

Today, Matrona is 15, and she loves living in Bethel, where she goes to homeschool, takes piano lessons, has many friends, and is actively involved in the life of Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church.

“God just orchestrated everything,” said Colette, who, in addition to working as a pediatrician, serves as a Bible worker and coleader of the church.

“The sassy Matrona whom I first met on the phone is very different from the Matrona now,” she said. “She is a leader for the kids at church and in the community. I see God working in her life and maturing her faith.”

Matrona expressed gratitude for Colette’s persistent phone calls and now her persistent love as a mother. “If she hadn’t tried and tried to get through to me, I wouldn’t know who God is,” she said.

She said God used Colette to change her life. “How she found me was no coincidence,” she said. “I feel that God led her to me and God led me to her. God has brought me to a good place and given me peace.”

This mission story offers an inside look at Bethel (Alaska) Seventh-day Adventist Church, which received part of a 2024 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. Thank you for helping spread the gospel with this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering on March 29.

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