Gospel for Asia: News and Features Digest – Reaching the Most
Unreached – Tuesday, 28 January 2014
This week, GFA workers are once again gearing up to show Christ's love in celebration of World
Leprosy Day on January 26. One-day programs will be held in communities
from January 26 - 30.
In addition to distributing food and holding formal programs,
GFA missionaries will clean local leprosy colonies and bring in doctors to
provide medical care. Pray that the programs will bring healing to their bodies
and hope to their hearts.
The message was short and should have been common knowledge, but
by the end of the speech, people had begun to cry.
World Leprosy Day: A Love They Can See
“Earlier, the lepers were considered as untouchables, but in
this generation and time, there is no such discrimination . . .” Gospel for
Asia pastor Vagish had said. “Our Creator, the Lord Jesus, loved all the sick
people, including lepers.”
Such sentiments were repeated across South Asia last year as GFA
missionaries recognized World Leprosy Day with special programs. They sang
songs and danced, dressed wounds and distributed food, blankets and candy. For
leprosy patients, who are generally reviled by society, it was unlike anything
they had experienced before.
Although leprosy is easily treated and not highly contagious,
the disease’s stigma is so great in certain parts of the world that a diagnosis
means a lifetime of isolation.
“My husband and I both are affected with leprosy,” said
Baishali, who lives in a leprosy colony with 24 other families. “These four
sisters [missionaries] are coming and visiting us. It gives us inner peace
because our relatives have never visited us.”
A man who heard Pastor Vagish speak said, “I am so happy, and I
can see the love of people through the gift [food and a blanket] provided to me
at this old age.”
The man added that he hoped the missionaries would stay in touch
with him, “so I can share with you my feelings and pain.”
A Day to Serve
This week, GFA workers are once again gearing up to show
Christ’s love in celebration of World Leprosy Day on January 26. One-day
programs will be held in communities from January 26 to January 30.
In addition to distributing food and holding formal programs,
GFA missionaries will clean local leprosy colonies—including patients’
homes—and bring in doctors to provide medical care. Certain teams will also
provide gifts like blankets, shoes and even goats.
For at least 260 leprosy patients, the day will mark the
beginning of GFA’s leprosy ministry in their areas.
“They have shelter and other basic facilities provided by the
government, but they are not getting proper medical care,” said a GFA
correspondent of one community.
Now, groups of specially-trained women missionaries will serve
in the leprosy colony full time, offering medical care and sharing the love of
Jesus.
Please pray for our missionaries as they show Christ’s love to
hundreds of leprosy patients next week. Pray that the programs will bring
healing to their bodies and hope to their hearts.
You can also help GFA-supported missionaries serve leprosy
patients.
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Compelled by Love for Those with Leprosy
ahula Rajal couldn’t ignore the woman lying on the ground in her
own vomit. Other people walked past her, careful to keep a safe distance.
Bahula could tell the woman had leprosy; even so she wouldn’t be like the
others who looked away and pretended the woman didn’t exist. In Bahula’s heart,
this woman was her family.
Bahula and her two companions helped the sick woman to her feet
and brought her back to their home. After they washed her and gave her clean
clothes, they fed her and then prayed for her.
The following morning, the woman overflowed with love toward
Bahula and the other Gospel for Asia women missionaries, profusely thanking
them for helping her in her most desperate time of need.
“God sent you to me,” the woman said. “No one was there to take
care of me. No one was there to give me even one drop of water, but God sent
you to me.”
Compelled by Love Despite their differences, Baisakhi formed a
sisterly relationship with the two missionaries, but when she became ill, she
kept it a secret.
Indifference Turns to Compassion
“No one was there to take care of me. No one was there . . .”
That’s something most people affected with leprosy can repeat over and over
again. The chronic infectious disease has left them shunned, cast out of their
homes, without family, without friends, clustered in colonies with others
suffering from the same disease.
Bahula herself grew up in a leper colony. One of her relatives
lived with the skin disease, but Bahula never had compassion on those who were
affected. She had been just like the others who had walked past the woman, not
caring to help or get involved in their lives. But after she surrendered her
life to Christ, Bahula found herself being sent to serve among leprosy patients
time and time again. She wondered why God kept bringing her back to the same
place—and especially to her own village—but now she sees it as His perfect
purpose for her.
“Now, when we clean their wounds and I see the swelling and the
blood, I feel like I am really doing God’s ministry,” Bahula says. “This is
where God is present, and I feel that through this ministry, I’m really serving
the Lord. I have peace in my life.”
A ‘Great Thing’ in His Life
Bahula works alongside Gospel for Asia pastor Jiva Giri, who
pioneered the leprosy ministry. The first time Jiva witnessed people cleaning
leprosy wounds, he thought to himself, I could do a work like that. That would
be a great thing in my life.
He could have easily turned his back, never again to set his
eyes on the repulsive sight of decaying flesh. Instead, he found himself
wanting to wash and bandage the mutilated hands and feet of these people. This
desire grew in his heart, and he began asking the Lord when He would give him
an opportunity to take care of those who had no one else to care for them.
With burdened hearts, Pastor Jiva and 12 others traveled to the
different leper colonies, ready to minister. They washed the clothes of leprosy
patients, cut their hair and nails and gave them baths. With each wound they
dressed, they poured on the healing balm of Christ’s love. They witnessed of
His grace, counseled, encouraged and prayed for them. They brought more than
just physical healing—they brought a wellness to hearts and minds that comes
from the knowledge one is cared for and loved.
Compelled by Love Baisakhi had faithfully followed her gods all
her life. Even at 14 years old, she had no problem firmly defending them to the
new missionaries in town.
Growing Ministry
That was the start of what is now Gospel for Asia’s leprosy
ministry called Reaching Friends Ministry. Pastor Tarik Paul oversaw Reaching
Friends Ministry when it first began in 2007. He thought it would only be a
small effort to help a few people with whatever resources they had, but today,
it has become one of Gospel for Asia’s largest ministries in Northeast India.
“We never thought our ministry would expand so large or it would
become so big,” Tarik says.
With a growing team of men like Pastor Jiva and women like
Bahula who serve with committed hearts, hundreds of people suffering from this
disease are finding healing and wholeness to their once-marred lives.
“It is because of God’s grace that we have the strength, courage
and motivation to work among these people, to share with them, to hug them, to
love them and to care for them,” Pastor Jiva says.
Compelled by Love Despite their differences, Baisakhi formed a
sisterly relationship with the two missionaries, but when she became ill, she
kept it a secret.
Receiving Smiles in an Atmosphere of Love
As the missionaries persisted in their care, it became clear
that long-term treatment was greatly needed. It was simple to clean and bandage
the infected area, but this wasn’t ridding patients of the disease. These
people needed medicine and professional care. So after years of praying, Gospel
for Asia opened a hospital in this region.
Those with leprosy would often stay away from hospitals because
of the unfair and unkind treatment they received from the doctors and medical
staff. Sometimes they were neglected, left lying on the hospital floor. Other
times medicine would get thrown at their feet without any instructions. Doctors
would say the only remedy to their disease is amputation, leaving them
terrified. As soon as they stepped inside the hospital staffed by GFA workers,
however, they felt a huge difference.
“When they go to a hospital, it’s all formality. No one is there
to smile at them, care for them or help them. It’s a business,” Tarik explains.
“But when they started coming to our hospital, they saw the care that we give,
the readiness of our people to help them, and that we provide them with the
best treatments. . . . Our sisters talk with them, smile at them and encourage
them.”
People travel from neighboring states to get treatment at GFA’s
hospital for all sorts of maladies. Tarik says it’s not only for the medical
care they receive, but also to enjoy the atmosphere of love. The medical staff
encourages each patient, telling them their sickness is not a big problem for
their God who heals.
“Don’t worry!” they say. “We will be praying for you.”
Compelled by Love When God allowed her to walk again, Baisakhi
put her full trust in Him and continued to grow by meeting with her missionary
friends for prayer and Bible study.
And with people like Pastor Jiva and Bahula faithfully
ministering to them and taking care of them as if they were their own mother or
father, brother or sister, they know it’s true. They know they have family that
cares for them, given to them by a God who loves them.
Learn how you can pray for those with leprosy and the
missionaries working among them.
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Bahula Rajal couldn't ignore the woman lying on the ground in
her own vomit. Other people walked past her, careful to keep a safe distance.
Bahula could tell the woman had leprosy; even so, she wouldn't be like the
others who looked away and pretended the woman didn't exist. In Bahula's heart,
this woman was her family.
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Ashley's Visit to a Leprosy Colony
Watch Ashley's Visit
http://www.gfa.org/news/articles/my-visit-to-a-leprosy-colony/?cm_mmc=GFA-_-Email-_-2903832-_-140128%20Digest%20199%20WB41-G400%20(1)
Ashley took a journey to South Asia and had the opportunity to
visit a leprosy colony. See how the Lord used this trip to open her eyes to how
the leprosy ministry is a testimony to God's love.
Pray for Those with Leprosy
Pray
Let's join together in prayer for those with leprosy and the
people who take care of them every day. Find out ways you can pray.
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Share about Veil of Tears Movie
Share Veil of Tears
"Veil of Tears: Hope is on the Way" will be in
theaters March 28 – April 3, 2014! We need your help to share about the release
with those in your social group. Find out how you can help out.
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Gospel for Asia
1800 Golden Trail Court
Carrollton TX 75010 United States
(800)WIN-ASIA
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