Rejoice!

Source Used: Destined to Soar, Chapter 20: What’s the One Thing?

From the Archive of the Founder, K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan)

When Zacchaeus saw Christ, he saw the pearl of great price. He saw in Him everything, all things, completion. He realized, “If I have Him, I can easily give away everything. What else do I need?”

But when the rich young ruler saw Jesus, he focused on what he would be giving up more than what he would gain in Christ.

We very often make the same mistake as the rich young ruler. We truly want to follow Christ and experience His abundant life, but we focus on what we may have to give up and are afraid to let go of those things we have relied on for so long.

I believe the Lord looks for that “one thing” we grasp so tightly and depend on. As long as we hold on to it, we will never be able to surrender fully to Christ. That one thing will be a constant hindrance for the rivers of living water to flow freely out from us and give life to others.

But if “our riches,” that which we value most, are the Lord and what we have in Him, then no raging storm can disturb us.

Those whose life is full of the unhindered presence of the Lord are the ones who experience a continuous feast on Him.

Will you believe that He is truly the pearl of great price? Step out. You will not regret it, I guarantee you.

In the Himalayas, many herdsmen eat something called churpi—aged, hardened yak cheese! A bite-sized piece is so rock-solid that you have to gnaw on it for hours. But when you’re so desperately hungry that you feel like your stomach could eat itself, anything tastes incredible.

A scene I will always carry with me is watching already malnourished families choose to go hungry so they could offer their handful of food to their deity. They were so desperate for a breakthrough in their lives. Their longing for peace was even more intense than their physical hunger. In their shoes, we can imagine how life-giving it would be to hear that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son—for them.

This transformative news is what drives so many of our missionaries to deny themselves and embrace a life of discomfort and misunderstanding. Servants of the Lord like Pastor Immanuel, Pastor Jay and so many others whom you’ll read about in this issue of Rejoice! are driven by a yearning to offer the love of Christ to all those around them.

Christ, too, experienced hunger, and He understands our fundamental human needs. When He said, “This is My body which is broken for you” (1 Corinthians 11:24), He knew that He alone could satisfy the most core and universal need of a hungry soul.

As His Body, we are charged with carrying that Bread of Life into every corner of the earth. Whenever we ask the Lord to “give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), let us remember all those who still go without. Through your faithful partnership with us, many people today are finally satisfied with the true and living God. Thank you for your prayers and sacrifice!

Bishop Daniel
President

Family of Five Embraces Christ’s Love

Widowed, 45-year-old Sia relied on daily-wage labor to support her four children. Two of her daughters also worked, having dropped out of school. But in 2025, diabetes left Sia unable to work or walk. Her children worried, and she felt helpless.

Concerned, a local believer asked GFA pastor Fabian to visit Sia and pray for her healing. Pastor Fabian and the church prayed faithfully, and Sia improved. By April 2025, she could walk to church! Now, Sia and her children know Jesus and attend church regularly.

New Fellowship Established

Last year, a pastor and some Bible college students visited a church member and 12 others who were gathered at her home about four miles from the local church. As the pastor prayed and shared Christ’s love with the group, people experienced healing and encountered God’s presence. As a result, 15 people began meeting weekly for worship.

Pastry Course in Liberia

In December 2025, GFA missionaries in Liberia launched a pastry training program for 25 mothers, many of whom struggle to find job opportunities. During the two-month program, the women learned to bake bread, cakes and pastries—products in high demand at local markets. The program also taught basic business principles, including pricing and marketing.

God Answers a 5-Year-Old

In October 2025, a teacher approached Pastor Mazzi as he walked his five-year-old daughter, Naomi, to school. The teacher knew of their family’s strong faith and asked the pastor to pray for her relative, a two-year-old boy who was fighting for his life due to kidney failure and blood cancer. Pastor Mazzi did pray, along with his family. Naomi especially took the need to heart and prayed earnestly for the boy’s healing. In answer to prayer, the boy recovered in the first week of November!

Medical Check-Ups in Rwanda

Last year, child sponsorship staff organized medical camps for children in four Rwandan communities. Offering free check-ups and nutrition awareness, the camps helped 1,417 children.

Faramund and his family had likely never had the chance to hear about the God who loves them. They came from a nomadic community, migrating from place to place in a region where very few people know Christ. As the family herded sheep and goats for their livelihood, they traveled season by season to find plenteous fields for their flock.

Then, one day, their travels brought them to a village surrounded by meadows, good grazing grounds for their animals. Little did they know that this new location would also lead to a new friendship.

In this village, only about 25 people out of 200 families knew Christ. But GFA pastor Immanuel faithfully shared God’s love with the community, visiting families and praying for them in Jesus’ name. Compassion filled his heart for the nomadic people who sometimes spent winter and spring in the village, so Pastor Immanuel started a tutoring program for some of the nomadic children, much to their parents’ joy.

When Faramund and his family arrived in the village, Pastor Immanuel personally welcomed them, reaching out in friendship. They were delighted to hear the pastor speak their own language.

Pastor Immanuel continued to visit Faramund’s family, sharing with them about Christ’s love, and he gifted them a Bible in their language. They listened attentively as Pastor Immanuel spoke about Jesus and prayed to Him.

Over time, Faramund’s family began to believe in Christ and read Scripture. Then Pastor Immanuel began leading prayer meetings with them in front of their tent each Sunday evening. Soon, Faramund and his family were singing songs to Jesus and reading along in the Bible as Pastor Immanuel read aloud.

When summer came that year, it was time for Faramund’s family to move away to find different grazing grounds for their animals. But this family left as transformed people.

“Wherever me and my family go, we will read the Bible and pray to Jesus,” Faramund said.

Because Faramund and his family met a GFA pastor who reached out to them and spoke their language, they learned about and experienced the love of Christ. Now they have hope for “a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:16).

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” —Matthew 4:4b

God’s Word reveals to us who God is and who we are. It invites us to fellowship with Him and to receive the abundant life that our Savior Jesus Christ came to give us. Thanks to partners like you, many of our brothers and sisters in Africa and Asia are hearing and reading God’s Word for the first time. Praise God for the many lives that are being transformed through His Word!

—Your GFA family

“Since the church people came, my child is no longer the same. She eats better, she laughs again, and now she will learn.” —Mali

What pained Mali most was not her laborious job; it was watching her daughter go to bed hungry. Despite Mali and her husband’s endless toil, survival was a struggle. Malnutrition caused Janice, their 6-year-old daughter, to look much smaller than her age and frequently become ill. Deeply worried, Mali often whispered prayers for help to come. Then, one day, it did.

When GFA World began a child sponsorship program in Janice’s area to help impoverished families, Janice was enrolled. This enabled her to receive help with things such as nutrition and education. Additionally, through the program, Mali had the opportunity to attend pastry classes, opening a pathway to sustainable income for the family.

Through the child sponsorship program, Janice also received school supplies and a pair of shoes. Mali could hardly hold back her tears as she watched her daughter smile in awe as she clutched her new school bag. For the first time in her life, Janice was ready to start school.

Mali proudly shared, “Since the church people came, my child is no longer the same. She eats better, she laughs again, and now she will learn.”

Today, God has answered Mali’s prayers. He has replaced their hunger with hope and their despair with possibility. Through the child sponsorship program, Mali’s family now has a reason to dream of a brighter future.

“He has such a love for them that is just unfathomable.” —Terri

There are moments in our lives when God opens our eyes to see certain things, moments that change us forever. Over a decade ago, after giving to GFA for some time, Doug and his wife, Terri, had a similar experience while watching GFA World’s documentary Veil of Tears. It opened their eyes to the plight of widows, leprosy patients and other hurting and marginalized people. After Doug and Terri saw the suffering faced by these people, they could no longer unsee it. Their hearts broke.

That day, Doug and Terri fell deeply in love with the people on their screen, and this love motivated them to get out of their seats to do something about it.

Since then, Doug and Terri have wholeheartedly invested in the hurting people whom God had placed on their hearts. One way they do this is by supporting GFA World. Doug explained, “GFA offers a connection to people … that we would have no way of helping on our own.”

The couple’s love is evident in the way that they daily pray for the national missionaries and children whom they sponsor. Doug also intentionally keeps a picture of two Sisters of the Cross helping a leprosy patient as his desktop wallpaper. When others see it, Doug can tell them about GFA’s leprosy ministry. To him, this picture is one of the greatest sermons he’s ever heard, one that is worth sharing.

If Doug and Terri ever met these widows, children, and leprosy patients in person, Terri says she would wrap them in her arms and tell them “they are not invisible. They are seen and loved by a God that knows and recognizes their pain, their hurt, their feeling of abandonment, and that He has such a love for them that is just unfathomable.”

Scan to watch “One of the Many Leprosy Colonies” video.

Larea woke up tired. But she hadn’t forgotten the words she’d cried out in her dream the night before: “Help me, help me! I, too, want to come!”

She hadn’t forgotten the response either: Only she had the power to help herself. What had it meant? And how could she help herself?

From Resistance to Curiosity

Larea, a farmer’s wife and mom of two, had faithfully followed her traditional faith. So when she met the local GFA pastor, Jay, she ignored his words about Christ, even as he explained that God’s Word could fill her with peace and joy.

Pastor Jay shared Christ’s love with Larea whenever he had the chance, and one day, he invited her to a showing of a film about Jesus.

Despite her earlier reservations, Larea was curious about who this Jesus was. On the appointed night, she joined a gathering of people and watched scenes of Christ’s life play on a large screen. Questions filled her mind. Had she been missing something all these years? Was Jesus the way to new life?

Eventually, Larea gathered courage and told Pastor Jay of her questions. He prayed for her and assured her that if she genuinely sought to know the truth of God, He would reveal Himself to her. Pastor Jay also offered her something to aid her search for answers: a New Testament.

Larea’s hunger to know God drove her to keep seeking Him. Whenever Larea found time, she read Scripture. She also began attending church services. One Sunday, the songs particularly moved her heart. She found herself humming one of the hymns later at home, and that night, she even dreamt about a time of worship.

A Dream

In Larea’s dream, she found herself inside a hall surrounded by a group of people singing worship songs. Then, a Man clothed in white appeared—a Man who filled the crowd with such adoration that everyone bowed down and approached Him.

When Larea tried going to Him, though, something held her back: A chain bound her foot. “Help me, help me!” she cried out. “I, too, want to come!”

A voice responded that no one could bring her; Larea alone could help herself. But in the dream, Larea held a New Testament, a tool that she had in real life, too.

An Answer

A few days after Larea’s dream, she happened to read Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

That was the key to her dream—she could approach Jesus by opening the door to her heart. Larea realized that He was the eternal God. She decided to worship Him the rest of her days and became an active member of the local church.

God used a New Testament to enlighten Larea’s heart and show her how she could come before Jesus. Now, she can experience His love, peace and joy, and His Word will continue to guide her on her journey of knowing Him.

From the earliest days of the Church, believers have worked together to transform communities with Christ’s love in word and deed. In fact, the Church has endured and grown throughout generations partly because of believers who prayed for and helped missionaries like the Apostle Paul. As you partner with believers across Africa and Asia, you, too, are impacting generations for eternity. The Lord has not forgotten your “labor of love” for His people (Hebrews 6:10). He sees, and He is honored!

—Your GFA family