Thailand
(MNN) — OneHope has a new partnership with Operation Blessing Foundation,
which distributes Books of Hope in conjunction with its medical ministries in Thailand.
Operation Blessing has distributed almost 13,000 Books of
Hope to children through its Kids Only Club, and many are coming to know the
Lord.
Some of them are children in Lamphun Province,
like Niranya and Pimhatai. Niranya read
the magazine form of the Book of Hope, and it changed her life forever. "Now I desire to know Jesus more and more,"
she said.
Another little boy also expressed gratitude for the
book. "Now I believe that God is real,"
he said.
Only 1 percent of the people of Thailand are Christians, even
though the ties between Buddhism and the state relaxed in 1998. The country suffers from the fallout of the
2005 tsunami, as well as from pervasive sex trafficking that impacts even small
children. OneHope has a goal to
distribute 800,000 copies of the Book of Hope in the country this year.
Economic troubles are making the ministry's goal more
difficult to reach. OneHope has had to
minimize expenses as much as possible and even lay off some staff.
"For the past four months, giving has been lower than these
same months a year ago," OneHope President Bob Hoskins explained. "This means a shortfall in the funds needed to
print and distribute the Book of Hope if we're to reach 70 million children and
youth this year."
Some generous friends of the ministry have donated a
$500,000 matching gift, named the Faith Walk Matching Challenge Fund. They will match every donation to the
ministry until May 31, up to the amount of $500,000.
This means that every dollar donated will send Books of Hope
to twice as many children as it normally does. It costs 33 cents to donate one book, so one dollar normally reaches
three children. The matching gift
doubles the donation, so every dollar will now reach six children.
If you would like to contribute to the challenge fund, click
here.
OneHope has already distributed over 580,800,000 books around
the world this year.
