A Gift of Goats
Dr. Abdul Messiah of New Hope Mission shared the remarkable story of how two goats donated to a missionary impacted his entire family.
Ajay received some literature from a New Hope Mission (NHM) missionary. The article from NHM publications touched his heart so intensely that he accepted Jesus as his Savior. He was mentored and trained by a pastor of a nearby church. Eventually, Ajay became the assistant pastor of that church. When he married, the church gave Ajay gifts, allowing him to buy a small parcel of land. However, as his family grew, he could no longer support them on his meager salary. He returned to the New Hope Ministry and asked to join the team as a compensated missionary.
Working for New Hope Mission
Ajay became an evangelist for New Hope Mission, working with other NHM missionaries in the church. He had land and a primitive home constructed with leaves and mud floors. Ajay would visit NHM monthly to receive the support funds to care for his family. On one such occasion, he shared his fears with Dr. Messiah. He expressed concern that snakes and scorpions were getting into his house. Because Ajay’s wife was blind from a medical condition, she could not protect their two young children from the dangerous creatures. Ajay hoped to build a solid house so his family would be safe.
Help from New Hope Mission
Dr. Messiah understood and happily reported that NHM had funds from Advancing Native Missions to help Ajay get started. He gave Ajay $400 to begin building a house and helped him with a plan to use recycled bricks and steel sheets to construct it. Ajay created a substantial two-room building with one room for the family and another space for people to worship and pray. He also built a shed.
Goats Make the Difference
A team from NHM came to see what Ajay had accomplished. They brought funds for him to buy a pair of goats, which came from a donor’s response to the ANM Gift Catalog. The goats produced milk for the family to both consume and sell. When the goats gave birth, the kids were sold for extra income. With the two goats and the shed to house them, Ajay now had a sustainable income.
Ajay established a home church in the house that ANM enabled him to build. It is incredible how the gifts of $400 for a home and two goats changed this family’s situation. Now that Ajay can care for his family’s needs with his income from pastoring and raising goats, the money that NHM had previously provided him is helping another missionary.
You Can Make a Difference
If you want to impact a missionary family and further the spread of the Gospel, you can give toward missionary support or one of the many projects from the ANM Catalog, such as goats.
