Mai [my] lives in a jungle village in a country in southeastern Asia [locate southeastern Asia on a map]. We can’t say which country she lives in, but we can say that most of the people living there don’t know who Jesus is.
Mai [my] lives in a jungle village in a country in southeastern Asia [locate southeastern Asia on a map]. We can’t say which country she lives in, but we can say that most of the people living there don’t know who Jesus is. They worship idols in temples and touch their heads to the ground when they pray. They bring gifts to their gods—gifts of flowers and food and sweet-smelling incense.
Some Adventist believers live in this country. Some worship in churches, such as we do, and others worship in small groups that meet in houses in the countryside. The believers try never to miss a worship service. They are hungry to know more about God.
Discovery
One day Mai saw a group of people sitting in the shade of a thatched building. They were listening to a man standing under a nearby tree. He held up a large picture. Mai slipped to the front of the gathering and sat down on the warm dirt.
Mai looked at the picture the speaker held. In it she saw a man holding a lamb. The man looked so kind! I wonder who he is, she thought to herself. As she listened to the speaker, she learned that the man was named Jesus.
Mai had never heard of Jesus before. The speaker told the people that Jesus is the Son of the living God, that He loves them and wants them to live with Him forever in a place called heaven.
The speaker told stories of how Jesus healed people just by touching them or speaking to them. Mai listened as she stared at the picture. She wished she could meet Jesus. But then the man said something that made Mai sad. “Jesus came to this world to show people what God is like, but cruel people killed Him.”
Now I’ll never get to meet Jesus! Mai felt a lump of sadness in her throat.
Hope
“But Jesus is God,” the speaker said. “Jesus rose from the dead and returned to His Father in heaven. And He’s still there, telling His father how much He loves everyone on this earth—you and me and everyone! He wants to make you into a new person, pure and clean.”
A flame of hope glowed in Mai. I want to know more about Jesus! I want to be clean and live with Jesus forever.
A Gift of Love
Mai can read, but she doesn’t have a Bible. Few people in her village have a Bible. This quarter part of our Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help provide Bibles for children such as Mai so they can learn about Jesus and share what they are learning with their parents and friends. Let’s give a large offering on Thirteenth Sabbath so that Mai and many others in her country can learn that Jesus loves them.
