When a Muslim Rescheduled an Adventist’s Sabbath Exam

The remarkable story of a medical missionary’s efforts to serve God in the Middle East.

By Melanie Wixwat, news writer, Middle East and North Africa Union

Camila dreamed about becoming a missionary doctor. She studied medicine for seven years and, shortly after graduating with her medical degree, moved with her husband, Mateo, to the Middle East.

But finding work proved difficult. Obstacle after obstacle kept popping up, preventing her from being hired by a public hospital. The authorities gave preference to physicians with previous experience, but Camila had none to offer. She pleaded with officials at the Health Ministry to give her a chance. She traveled between her home and the ministry building for weeks, even suggesting that she work under their supervision. This situation seemed impossible.

Camila had a second option: enrolling in a specialization training program. But first she would need to pass a national exam that was only scheduled on Saturdays. Camila decided to appeal to the authorities, and she sent an e-mail explaining that she observed the biblical seventh-day Sabbath. The return e-mail said, “No.”

The married couple grew very discouraged. For two years, they had struggled to find a way to find work. They questioned why Camilla had studied medicine and why they had traveled to a country with such an impenetrable health-care system.

In early February 2017, Camila and Mateo decided to take a month off their job search to pray and to study the biblical account of the last week of Jesus’ life. As they observed Jesus in His last days, their hearts began to change. They slowly laid their dreams, fears, and sins at Jesus’ feet. It was a life-changing experience.

Stone of Disbelief

On the morning of Feb. 22, Mateo and Camila read the story of Lazarus’ death and resurrection. When Martha expressed disbelief that her brother could be resurrected, Jesus replied with words that struck deep into the readers’ hearts. Jesus said, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40, NKJV).

“The miracle only happened when people moved the stone of unbelief away from the tomb,” Camila said in an interview.

In that instant, Camila and Mateo recognized their own lack of faith and asked God for forgiveness. Getting up from her knees, Camila wrote to the person in charge of the exam, asking to take it after sundown on the last day of the exam this year. She explained that she followed the Tawrah and Injeel (the Old and New Testaments) and believed that the Sabbath is the only day of worship to God.

After sending the e-mail, Camila took one more step in faith. She signed up for the exam. She had never done anything like this before and had no idea what would happen. But she and her husband firmly believed that God can do anything and changing the time of the exam would be a small matter for Him. They asked friends and staff members at the headquarters of the Adventist Church’s Middle East and North Africa Union in Beirut, Lebanon, to pray.

A Complete Miracle

Soon Camila received an e-mailed reply. It said, “Dear Dr. Camila, I understand very well your situation, and we, as Muslims, tolerate and respect everyone’s beliefs. I have instructed the exam center to give you the exam immediately after sunset Saturday.”

For a Muslim country, this was a complete miracle.

“We just began to cry with happiness and joy, praising our God Almighty,” Camila said. “He was willing to perform the miracle if we were willing to move our stone of unbelief. In an hour, God solved a problem that we hadn’t been able to fix for two years.”

But that wasn’t the end of the story.

Camila had only eight days to study for the big exam. Again, she asked friends and church employees to pray.

When she arrived at the exam center, the officials were waiting for her. They ushered her into the room where a group of mostly Arab doctors from various Middle East countries were taking the exam already. She had three hours to answer 120 questions about the subjects she had studied during her seven years of medical school.

Four days later, Camila received the results. She had passed the exam!

More applications, interviews, and other potential obstacles lie ahead for Camila. But she is not worried.

“How can we forget what Jesus has already done?” she said. “‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’”

Camila and Mateo are pseudonyms. Adventist Mission is not publishing their real names or extact whereabouts to protect their work in a challenging region of the world. Your Sabbath School mission offerings support people like Camila and Mateo in the Middle East and North Africa.