wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] 'The fruits of our mission'

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Note #8615 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05037
January 21, 2005

'The fruits of our mission'

A PC(USA) missionary letter from Bangladesh

by Les Dr. Leslie Y. Morgan
Christian Mission Hospital
Rajshahi, Bangladesh

RAJSHAHI - One of the hardest things about being a missionary is that I don't
often get to see the results of my efforts. Although the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) invests a lot in sending me here to advise health programs and treat
the sick, it's not always clear in the end if the church's efforts actually
affect people's lives in a long-term, sustainable way.

	Occasionally, however, God shows us that what he has called the
church to do is indeed worthwhile. He encourages us by giving us a glimpse of
the fruits of our mission.

	God gave me such a glimpse a few days before Christmas when a young
man named Milon Hasda dropped by my home in Rajshahi to show me his new
sewing machine. He had brought it on the bus from Savar, where he had just
graduated from a two-year training course in tailoring at the Church of
Bangladesh Nazareth Centre Trade School. Each student who finishes the course
receives a brand new manual sewing machine.

	Since Milon was an orphan with no family support, his new machine and
the skills he had learned at the Nazareth Centre were the means to his future
livelihood. As he was on his way back to his rural village of Komlapur to set
up shop, he stopped in Rajshahi to tell me about his accomplishment in
becoming a tailor.

	I first met Milon when he was 14. He had just been admitted as a
patient in bed five in the male ward at Christian Mission Hospital in
Rajshahi. Tuberculosis had destroyed his left lung, and he was about 30
pounds underweight. Although the hospital is not free - it	      has to
charge fees in order to pay staff salaries, purchase medicines, and pay its
electricity and other bills - Milon's poor cousin had sent him anyway, with
hope that the hospital could help him.

	Milon doesn't remember his father, a landless peasant who, when Milon
was an infant, died from diarrhea, a preventable disease easily treated if
proper care is available. But he does remember his mother, who died of
tuberculosis when he was eight.

	He then moved in with his cousin and continued going to school, but
he had to quit after fifth grade in order to work as a day laborer in rice
fields. That was the only way his cousin could afford to feed him.

	So, at 14, Milon was an orphan, out of school, impoverished, and
dying of tuberculosis and malnutrition.

	God has called the church to care for persons like Milon. The
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has tried to be faithful to that calling by
harnessing its resources of people, money, and know-how; working
cooperatively with indigenous churches in other countries; and reaching out
to people in need.

	As a medical missionary working on behalf of the church, I have
opportunities personally to care for sick people with special needs. I took
responsibility for managing Milon's care, because I knew he needed special
attention in order to survive. I arranged for him to receive all the
medicines and nutritional supplements he needed, with help from the
hospital's Malakar Memorial Fund. Individuals and congregations of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have contributed money to this fund, designed to
help sick people who cannot afford the medical care they need.

	Milon recovered from his tuberculosis, gained back all his weight,
and then kept growing as a teenager. He came to me regularly to complete his
TB treatment, and then I continued to see him on my occasional visits to his
village near Rajshahi.

	As his lung condition did not allow him to do the vigorous work of
rice farming, he needed to learn a trade that was physically less demanding.
So I helped arrange for his admission to the tailor's training course at the
Nazareth Centre, about 120 miles away in Savar.

	He became one of their star pupils, and he was proud to show me the
new sewing	       machine he received upon graduation. I told him I
would enjoy helping him get a table for the machine, as he was eager to start
his own business and begin supporting himself.

	Even though the results of mission work are not always evident, the
fruits are real. When the church uses its gifts to reach out to others, it
can change their lives. And it changes ours as well.

	Once when I was attending a large church fellowship gathering in a
neighboring district, Milon traveled 40 miles to attend with a group from his
village. As the nearly 300 people chose their places on the ground for the
initial worship service, Milon came over and sat next to me. God had given
him to me as a friend, and as a brother in Christ - one of the greatest
fruits of our mission.

	I am grateful to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for the opportunity
to receive those fruits - God's gifts of goodness and love, even to me.

	Information about Presbyterian Church (USA) mission personnel around
the world as well as correspondence from them about their ministries can be
found on the web site: www.pcusa.org/missionconnections.

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