June 12, 2013

His Name to All Nations

A Gospel for Asia (and Bethany) Update
Dear friends,
By the time Id written half this newsletter, I realized Id passed up some pretty big news! May 30 was my one-year anniversary at GFA! It has been such a privilege to play this role in reaching the world, and I want to thank you all for making this possible. I am immensely blessed to have you with me, and I pray we will continue on this journey for many more years to come.

My co-workers Katie (L) and Emily (M) started on the same day, so to celebrate, Emily photoshopped our faces onto this picture of mountain climbers. I mean, thats pretty similar to what we do, right?

In Our Spare Time, We Dress Up As Pigs

One of Gospel for Asias big concerns for its home staff is that we stay healthy so we have longer lives to give God. (And in support of that goal, the chocolate chips Im eating right now are only semi-sweet.) One of the ways they try to motivate us to work out is through the annual Hog Slog, an obstacle-laden bike/ foot race with a mud pit at the end. I thought I had put my racing days behind me when I outgrew the Awana Olympics, but I figured I should participate at least once. Plus, there was a costume contest. My partner, Sarah, and I dressed up as the GFA Christmas Gift Catalog Barnyard Bundle. It includes one sheep, one cow, two pigs, two goats and six chickens. We wore or carried all of them through the race (Sarah was a sheep, I was a pig, our bike was the cow, and the rest we carried) so while our physical performance was abysmal, you may now proudly say you support the winner of the 2013 Hardest Costume to Race In Award. Dont let it go to your head.
Our team photo (top) and our glorious descent into the mud pit.

A Red Light Mothers Day

This year for Mothers Day, we put together a web promotion that would ask people to sponsor Bridge of Hope children in honor of their mothers, with a (surpassed!) goal of 250 sponsorships. My role was to write a feature article about the impact Bridge of Hope had on one

woman and her adopted daughter, Tamanna. Tamannas biological mother was a prostitute in the local red light district, but she had to flee when the government bulldozed the district. As she fled, she sold her daughter to another woman for a thousand Rupees. This woman wasnt a believer, but Bridge of Hope came into the picture things began to change for the family!

Continue

Red Light (contd)

You can read the full story at gfa.org/news/ articles/she-sold-her-daughter. In order to fill in some of the details, I did a lot of research on this particular red light district and the controversy over its demolitionwhich continues now, years later. It got me thinking. Despite the scattering of the district, much of the prostitution continues because the women had nothing else to fall back on. If they went home, their families would likely reject them out of shame. I told one of my co-workers about this, and we discussed how vulnerable freed women are to being trafficked again, how women need alternative jobs already lined up if theyre to be successful outside the trade, how we would handle shutting down red light districts if it were up to us. But I kept coming back to this: There is no complete way to end prostitution except that people come to know Jesus. Until women have faith to leave their jobs, until families have grace to receive their daughters, until pimps are convicted of their sins and until
India alone has an estimated 2.3 million prostitutes across 1,000 red light districts. A quarter of them are minors.

clients are empowered to reject their lust, prostitution will continue. So, lets pray for the GFA missionaries providing new modes of income through our Christmas Gift Catalog, and for those who work to free them or promote legislation to restrict the trade. But pray, too, for the national missionaries who diligently share the Gospel in these areas. Join me in asking that men and women in the red light districts of Asia will know the Lordand in rejoicing as we see the change that brings.

Family Attacked Update

In my last newsletter, I told you about a family attacked at their dinner table by anti-Christians. This time, I am happy to tell you that the family is at home, still receiving medical treatment as of our last report, but ready to make full recoveriesincluding the mother, Bahulika, who was reported to have lost her hand. It turns out we had a translation issue with the report. The mother did have a deep cut in her right hand, but the doctors put it in a cast, and she should be fine. Praise the Lord! Fanatics have beaten us up just because we are called Christians and follow Christ. If we have suffered a little, Bahulika said, it is only for Christ, but well never leave Jesus. Of course, this good news brings up another prayer request: Pray for our correspondents and translators. For every report we use to write an article, letter or email to our supporters, there are many more that they have tirelessly collected from the field and translated into Englishfor them, a foreign language. Throw in differences of cultures and idioms, and its no surprise that mistakes, though rare, happen. However, we can ask God to prevent them.

Praise God . . . .
You prayed for my car, and with a simple fix, it is up and running again!

Ask God . . . .
Through the miracle of airline mile bonuses, cheap hostel rooms and friends to share expenses, Im going to see my dear friends wedding in Alaska. Please pray for safety as I travel June 16-24.

Please pray that God will grant our translators a solid understanding of our entire language and grant alertnesson both sides of the oceanto catch mistakes before they are published. Pray, too, that God will encourage these workers. Their behind the scenes job is easy to forget, but its absolutely vital to getting the word out to wonderful supporters like you. Pray that God will keep their calling before them at all times, and that they will rejoice to be a part of this work.

1800 Golden Trail Court Carrollton, TX 75010 (513) 519-4540 bethanygduval@gmail.com