Imagine growing up in a family with 8 brothers and sisters. Your dad is addicted to drugs, which makes him uncontrollable at times and unsafe to be around. There isn’t much money and definitely not enough to go to school, especially since school is so far away that you’d have to board with someone. No, definitely not enough money for that. The only option is for you to go work in the opium fields. Maybe that way there will be enough money to feed the family. And living in a rural village that believes in animism, maybe that’s the best way to sacrifice and appease the spirits. This is your lot in life, the same as the generations before you.
Praise God for your mom who wants a better life for you so when an evangelist, Steve,* comes to your village, she takes you to meet him and beg him to take you to be his own son. She knows that this way you will get to go all the way through school, learn about God and have a hope and a future. The evangelist accepts and brings you into his home. God has smiled on you.
This is Luke’s* story and Steve* and April,* the local GNI leaders and houseparents, are requesting our prayers for this 11 year old as he lives with them and studies in grade 4.
*Names changed to protect identity.
