May 2022 – Being a Neighbor

Hearing God’s voice and Responding to others’

“A miracle that I witnessed in the last six months was in the life of an old woman named Junu, aged 58. Junu was also my neighbour. She was very nosy and talkative, but whenever I talked to her about the Gospel or my testimony, she’d get really upset and start shouting at me. Since the last year, she’d gotten really sick and was unable to leave her house. She was always sunbathing and either cutting vegetables, peeling garlic or doing similar kind of household chore all alone. I always prayed for her in my personal prayers and even in church. I helped her with her chores while I talked to her about the Gospel. She would listen and sometimes apologize for how she treated me in the past. I told her that it was nothing to worry about. Then she accepted Jesus as her Lord and saviour after listening to the Gospel I shared with her, and she cried tears of happiness that even when she was getting old, she had found peace.

Then one day, God spoke with me to stay with her all night and take care of her. I went and saw she was all alone, so I stayed company with her that night and she told me things about life and how it had been good. Then the next morning, she left us and went to her heavenly home. It was really a miracle that God asked me to spend the last night of her life talking to her and making her feel loved, even if it was for a short time. We held a funeral and memorial in her remembrance. Even if she had accepted Jesus at the end of her life, she was still saved at the end and left with God.” 

~ Amrita*, Nepal-Tibet Border

Jesus: “Which one of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by the robbers?”

The teacher of the law answered, “The one who helped him.”

Jesus said to him, “Then go and do the same thing he did!”

In word and In Deed

Amrita’s testimony is another beautiful example of the culture and M.O. of many of our partners – hearing the voice of God and responding to the needs of their “neighbors”. This is also an example of how we as the church can be a neighbor like the Samaritan… like Amrita… like Jesus.

Priya* from the Gypsy and Tribal Empowerment (GATE) ministry in India is dreaming about building toilets in gypsy colonies. Why? Because she believes the we must do ministry like we do family. “In our homes, if there is a health need we respond, if children need to be fed we provide, if there are marital problems, we must take care of it. Same with ministry, we see the need around us, and we care because God has entrusted them to us.” Darpan* from Bangladesh also highlighted how “when Jesus was alive in the world when he used to speak the Gospel, after the Gospel, Jesus said to them, please feed them. So, as a ministry, we can preach the Gospel. And side by side we need to feed them.” He also believes that feeding them is not just about giving away commodities like rice packs, but we go further and “train them – we can give some other vocation in how they can lead and how they can live their life.”

Sarah* runs trainings for women in Kashmir to be skilled beauticians. Pastor Shalva* and Jandi* are partnering to help pastors and believers in their network in Nepal to be financially better-off. Pastors Pan* and Thang* in Myanmar are finding ways to support families in poverty with food and make sure the children in their regions are not missing out on education because of the military coup. Children need to resume their education after two years in Myanmar. In some regions, going to school is still dangerous due to war. Thanks to the support and ongoing partnership of all of you, and the labor of love of our partners, Harvest Bridge as a collective is able to fulfill its mission to see the Good News shared in word and in deed.

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