The Cost of Sharing Christ

The Cost of Sharing Christ

Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org) News Release – For Immediate Release

WILLS POINT, TX (ANS – October 21, 2016) -- Flip flops squish the mud as raindrops splatter on the tops of trees and the heads of the four young women. For three months out of every year, it is rainy season in the Himalayas, and the GFA-supported film team ladies trek and climb and slip and slide up and down the mountain range.

As the four walk through forests and grassy stretches, leeches cling to their skin. Even though the girls hate leeches, they peel them off and press on. One of the girls smiles. She’s carrying on her back a cone basket full of materials the film team needs—that the people in the next village need.

‘It Is Not Easy to Serve God’

Pasha, 23, leads this film team. She’s been serving the Lord and her people through film ministry for four years.

“Through these years, what I’ve realized is that it is not easy to serve God,” Pasha opens up.

Once, after the team traveled hours in the rain, struggling past fallen trees strewn across the mountains, with equipment in tow, the people in the village of Langdairo told them they couldn’t show the film—a film the women knew would bring hope to many, if only the villagers would watch it.

The people scattered across these mountains have a distinct subculture. Many are afraid Christ will strip them of the cultural heritage that makes them who they are, so many reject Him. Still, one kind soul offered the film team a place to stay.

The women settled in the village of Langdairo and began what would be five months of ministry in that region.

The Story That Breaks Barriers

First thing when the girls wake up, they have personal devotions. Then one of them cooks breakfast, squatting near a fire. They sit together and ask God to bring hope to those in desperate need. They travel to a nearby village, where local authorities have already given permission for them to show the film, and tell people about Jesus. In the late afternoon, they pound posts in the dirt and stretch the projector screen across the posts. Night falls and people gather.

Then the screen lights up, and for a few potent hours, the villagers’ preconceptions about the Christian God fall, and many see Jesus as He is.

The story ends and Pasha walks to the front of the crowd. This is why she serves in film ministry.

Joy pulsing through her veins, she shares about her God. She tells the souls, some questioning, some crying, some glad, but all needy, that she and her friends are available to talk and pray.

Except for on freezing winter nights, the team and the crowd will stay for a second film. Near midnight, having talked and prayed and torn down the equipment, Pasha and the ladies return to Langdairo and collapse into bed, hungry but too tired to cook dinner. Many of their days are like this.

Opposition Draws Her Closer to God

As the women continued ministering in Langdairo and praying for an opportunity to share the film there, the Lord answered, and the villagers gave them the chance to screen the film.

But when they did show it, no one opened their hearts to the grace of God -- not one person did during the entire five months they were living in Langdairo.

Opposition is normal. In one village, a man went around before the team arrived, telling everyone not to listen to the women. He threatened them with a stick but didn’t beat them because they were women. Sometime later, they found themselves in the same public transportation as the man. He sat in the front and, pretending not to notice the women, ridiculed them, even saying the villagers needed to chase the team out of the village.

Pasha sat silent. The man’s words felt like blows to her ears and her heart.

“Being young, when that man humiliated us before people and opposed me, I was so hurt,” Pasha tells us honestly. “But when I read God’s Word, it says, ‘He who rejects you rejects Me.’ It encouraged me a lot. When people were against me, it made me closer to God. I faced a lot of opposition, but God was with me always.”

When people oppose her, Pasha’s burden for them only increases, and God gives her the encouragement she needs to move forward.

All for Precious People

After the women left Langdairo, they heard great news. Gospel for Asia-supported pastors had gone to the village to follow up, and two families trusted in Jesus.

“We were filled with joy!” Pasha remembers. “We thought, Our labor is not in vain. … We were really thankful to God.”

These sisters, who cook and cry and laugh together, are deeply burdened for their people. They know the cost and they see hope, so tomorrow again they will gladly climb up and down the mountains, peel leeches off their skin and endure persecution so precious people can see Jesus in all His humanity and, someday, know Him in all His glory.

Note: Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org) has – for more than 30 years – provided humanitarian assistance and spiritual hope to millions across South Asia, especially among those who have yet to hear the Good News. Last year, this included more than 75,000 sponsored children, free medical services for more than 180,000 people, 6,000 wells drilled, 11,000 water filters installed, Christmas presents for more than 400,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry.

To schedule an interview with a Gospel for Asia representative, please contact pressrelations@gfa.org .

Photo captions: 1) These women are serving Christ. (GFA). 2) Hearing the Good News. (GFA). 3) Local children. (GFA). 4) Watching a Christian film. (GFA).

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