How Can You Help?

The massive earthquake on May 12 in central China has killed tens of thousands with one report of over 220,000 injured. Many of the towns around the epicenter of the quake have been totally destroyed, reduced to mountains of rubble.

Our team in East Asia has been meeting with local contacts and assessing what can be done to help. We have been told that our involvement will be more effective after this first wave of efforts. So our team is currently identifying the best time to arrive on site and has developed a preliminary plan to provide not only physical assistance but long-term relationships to achieve the ultimate spiritual goal of spreading the good news.

The best plan now is to receive donations, to be used later for long-term needs such as medical supplies, housing, and schooling, when we can assess the true needs after the government’s efforts have been redirected elsewhere. We can also assure their most effective use for our spiritual goals.

Possible areas of assistance we foresee providing are:

Providing aid/schooling for the many orphans who have lost their families in the earthquake.
Providing housing/long-term care facilities for the many elderly whose family members were killed as a result of the quake and who have no one to take care of them.
Assisting in rehabilitation/procurement of prostheses for the many disabled by the quake.

As you pray for the needs in China, please consider helping with a donation. Perhaps part of your economic stimulus rebate could help meet the many needs of our neighbors in China as they recover from the earthquake.

You can help us make a difference in lives and for eternity.

Please send your gift marked “China Earthquake Relief: 0717191-001 (L0806)” to:

ABWE Donor Services
PO Box 8585
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8585

You may also give online at www.abwe.org/give.

* All gifts are fully deductible for tax purposes as allowed by law.

June 2008

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! —Psalm 46:10

China continues to undergo severe difficulties following the massive earthquake on May 12, as well as the many aftershocks. In the sidebar you can find information on how you may be involved, both in prayer and giving, if you so desire.

But even while such devastation goes on in one part of this great country, God’s work in the nation as a whole continues. P. W. Yeung, who leads our ministry to Chinese people around the world, recently sent me this story of how God worked through one of our short-term English teachers, a young lady named Jenny.

Jenny spent a year teaching in China. She was thrilled to find that the Chinese ladies in her class, who are all factory workers, not only loved learning English but also loved making friends with her. The ladies were very curious as to why Jenny prayed before she ate her meals, and they became even more curious when she explained that she was praying to a God who created the universe and who is also personally interested in each human being.

Before long, their curiosity led Jenny to begin teaching a Bible study. Her students had never seen the Bible before and were totally absorbed in what it said about God’s love for us and His provision of salvation by sending His Son to die on the cross. One by one, Jenny’s students came to trust Jesus as their Savior. She continued to teach them the Bible, and she mentored them in their walk with Jesus Christ until her year of service was finished.

Everyone was saddened when she left—Jenny, because she didn’t know if she would ever get to return, and the Chinese ladies, because they were left with no one to teach them the Bible.

About six months after she returned to the US, Jenny received a letter from her students asking her to return the next summer to teach them for two more weeks. So strong was their desire to learn more from the Bible that they included a check for her airline ticket. Jenny was moved to tears—these new Christians were so hungry for the Word of God that they had all saved money from their small income to help their teacher return.

This is just one small story of what God is doing in China, and your prayers and continued generosity play a large part in helping to reach the people there.

Grateful for your partnership in the gospel,

Michael G. Loftis
President