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“You Are the Curse of Our Family”, she was told.

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Aaliya was fortunate. She survived her prenatal condition and her birth. Nonetheless, her life as a child was miserable, primarily because she was – through no fault of her own – a girl. Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, Texas – Discussing when girls are considered to be a curse to their families. There’s just something about a brand new baby girl that can put a twinkle in her father’s eyes and a smile on her mother’s face. It’s a joyful scene when the new addition to the family arrives and is soon cradle in her mother’s arms. In just a few minutes, baby will be adorned in pink, and family members will be taking pictures of the newborn. Minutes later, those photos will be delivered to a myriad of family friends over social media. Those friends will post congratulations and add emojis, digital stickers and all other manners of online artwork to celebrate the occasion. Not so much in India, China and other Asian countries. To the contrary, in many Eastern cultures, women are rega...
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Gendercide: The Ultimate Violence Against Women

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Gospel for Asia (GFA World) , Wills Point, Texas – Discussing the topic of gendercide. Whoever dreamed up the idea of gender reveals was onto something fun. Have you seen them on social media? Sometimes, they’re baby shower games or scavenger hunts that bring the participants ever closer to finding out the big secret. Sometimes, they’re clever videos. One of the most bittersweet examples was for a military wife whose husband had been killed in action before meeting his new child. His fellow soldiers made a video of the big reveal with a shower of pink tissue paper and confetti descending as they cheered for the new baby girl. Gender reveals have surprise endings by nature: something pink or something blue. In America, we tend to cheer for girls and boys, alike. In parts of Asia, the happiness scale dips heavily in favor of boys. Many girls never have confetti, applause or even a chance at life beyond the earliest days of protection in their mother’s tummy. Selective Abortion Accounts ...
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Go Tell It on the Mountains

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Titus literally has to climb mountains like these to minister to people in churches in this area, as well as villages that have never heard the Good News. Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, Texas – Discussing Titus, who literally has to climb mountains on foot to minister to people. When Jesus told His disciples that His plan was for them to go into all the world, He meant ALL the world (see Matthew 28:19–20). Starting with the first 11 and Paul, followers of Jesus have been going wherever they need to go to share Christ’s love. Whether that’s to our neighbors or whether it’s to people living across the globe in a far, distant country, they all have one thing in common: They need to hear about Jesus. The Bible says that whoever chooses to believe in and follow Him shall be saved (see Romans 10:13). But that Scripture verse is followed by several questions that must be answered honestly by every Christian. Not the least of these questions is “How shall they believe in Him of whom...
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How Heroes Work Together to Solve the Global Water Crisis

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Gospel for Asia (GFA World) , Wills Point, Texas – Discussing what people can actually do to help resolve the global water crisis. “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.” — Ecclesiastes 4:9 We learn about the importance of working together when we’re children. As early as kindergarten, careful teachers share lessons about helping others. Moms and dads often start those lessons even younger. If everyone helps out around the house, chores get done more quickly with less of a burden on one person. The core messages are responsibility and finding strength in numbers. The most daunting and insurmountable obstacles aren’t so intimidating after all, not when everyone shares the load. For one person reading sad stories about the global water crisis , it might seem impossible to solve. How much of a difference can one person really make? Alone, it would feel like moving a beach, one tiny grain of sand at a time. But together, people can be heroes who move mou...
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The Miracle of the Mosquito Nets

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During the Christmas gift distribution program of the Gospel for Asia -supported church she attended, Hansini received a sewing machine. She began sewing and selling mosquito nets. That’s when the miracles began to happen in her family. (In 2017, GFA distributed more than 300,000 mosquito nets to people in Asia at risk of getting bit by malaria infected mosquitos). Gospel for Asia (GFA World) , Wills Point, Texas – How one Asian daughter used mosquito nets to elevate her family out of poverty and show them the love of God in the process. We should never underestimate what God can do with something we can hold in our hands. God can use anything to accomplish His purposes, and He uses ordinary people and ordinary things to bring honor and glory to Himself. Remember the story of Moses in Exodus and how God used a simple stick to reveal His power? Moses had only a walking stick in his hand, but when he dropped it to the ground, as the Lord told him, it turned into a snake. When he picked i...
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With Malaria, Even a Simple Kindness Matters

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Will malaria finally stop claiming innocent lives in this decade or this century? Maybe. Great strides are made every year toward infection prevention and disease cures. Still, since time immemorial, it remains one of the most stubborn diseases in the world. Malaria preventatives and cures work if the right medication is administered in time. That’s a blessing. A childhood vaccine that could protect against infection is finally on the horizon. Insecticides also attack the disease from the opposite direction by controlling the population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Yet, even with all these efforts, the insects as well as the parasites they host are notoriously resilient. It’s always an uphill battle. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes several countries could eliminate malaria by 2020. They refer to those locations as “E-2020” countries. Global organizations and medical research groups do great work toward eventual total eradication. South-East Asia, Africa and the America...
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Cowering in the Corner | One Boy’s Journey from Fear to Hope

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Cowering in the corner … children in Asia like Bijay are often in need of assistance at home and at school, to escape the cycle of poverty that plagues them. Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, Texas – One young child’s journey from cowering in the corner. Day after day, night after night, the scene was all too familiar. Bijay would withdraw to a corner of his home in an attempt to avoid becoming the object of the venting of his father’s drunken rages. It is a scene that is common in many homes where the family lives in abject poverty , and there seems to be no hope for today or all the tomorrows that will follow. At his tender age, Bijay could understand the poverty. His family was one of many in the village whose fathers worked in the rice paddies to provide an income upon which they could barely subsist. For Bijay, poverty was ‘normal.’ What Bijay could not understand was the indignity that a life of poverty had heaped upon his father. Kuwar had once been a young boy like Bija...
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