f in focus {How your partnership is changing lives} C H R I S T M A S G I F T C ATA L O G A NEW KIND OF CHRISTMAS A fter receiving a special gift, Ambika has a “smile on her face and hope in her life,” a Gospel for Asia correspondent says. For a Christmas present, that is quite a significant response! Ambika is part of a community in South Asia where a Gospel for Asia Christmas gift distribution recently took place. She received a sewing machine, a gift that has the potential to change her entire family. Ambika has to earn the family income because her husband lost his leg in a train accident. After his injury, the couple struggled to provide for their young child. Ambika took a training course to learn how to make and tailor clothes. But with no sewing machine, she had no way to use her newly learned skills and make money. Now, with her brand-new sewing machine in hand, Ambika is starting her own business. She is gratefully trusting the Lord to provide for her family through her Christmas gift. Gifts Filled with Life This wonderful blessing was only one of the stories at the gift distribution that day. Besides Ambika, 339 other families received a gift from GFA’s Christmas Gift Catalog to help lift them out of poverty and set them on the track to a future filled with hope—the hope of Jesus. 16 | send! | www.gfa.org “It is such a big relief for me,” said Chameli, another woman who also received a sewing machine. “With this gift, I am confident that I can at least support my children’s educational needs.” Chameli had been filled with despair. Her husband was addicted to alcohol and spent all the family’s earnings on his destructive habit. Chameli and her two daughters were left to find a way to survive on their own. Like Ambika, Chameli had learned to tailor but didn’t have a sewing machine. When she received one from Gospel for Asia, it meant she could provide for her daughters without being dependent on her husband’s earnings. Chameli was so thankful to Jesus for helping her in this way. These Christmas gifts were a display of the Lord’s love and concern for both of these women. GFA workers are praying for them to stand firm and trust in Him through whatever lies ahead—including prayers for their husbands’ situations. Each of the 340 families who received a gift that day had their own story. And each gift, given by someone around the world in the name of Jesus, will impact their lives for years to come! Under the Christmas Tree At the Christmas gift distribution program where Ambika and Chameli received their sewing machines, other families in deep poverty also received these gifts: > 100 goats – provide milk to drink and sell, as well as baby goats to sell > 16 rabbits – to raise litters for food and income > 50 chickens – provide eggs for food and income > 13 sewing machines – to start a tailoring business > 100 sets of masonry tools – to earn a livelihood without needing to rent materials > 70 blankets – to keep poor families warm in wintry weather And this is just one of many gift distribution programs that take place across South Asia, thanks to the generous kindness of GFA friends around the world.