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Over the years, thousands of people have helped change the face of Asia through GFA's Christmas catalog. If you're one of them, and have an interesting gift giving story to tell, we would love to hear from you.
You can share your experience through a photo. Simply fill out one of the forms below.
GFA may use these stories for publication. By uploading, you are agreeing to release all rights to the content and media.
For Heidi's 6th birthday she wanted to not receive any gifts. She wanted money to use to buy animals for people in Asia. She also wanted to give money so kids could go to VBS like she does. She raised $54 and her mommy and daddy couldn't be prouder or happier.
Last Christmas I passed out the GFA Christmas Gift Catalog to every family in our congregation encouraging them to consider giving a gift to Jesus though the many opportunities presented. As my family and I also browsed through the Christmas Catalog, I was prompted with the idea of our congregation blessing a body of believers in India with a new church building. It was only $11,000 for this. I presented this challenge to our church at the end of January 2010 and by August we had received enough funds to pay for the new church building, provide a "Jesus Well" that is to be placed in front of the new church, and a year's support for the pastor! What great things God can do through willing hearts! The picture you see is of our rented church facility. Some day, God will also provide us a permanent building.
The Lord has blessed us to be able to give to GFA in many ways throughout the years. We love to be able to give gifts through the GFA Christmas Catalog because there are so many gifts that provide poor families resources on a continuous basis. This year my oldest two boys decided to give 25% of whatever they earned through recycling old bottles and cans. My wife and I decided to match whatever they gave. They collected over $1300 this year and made it possible to provide for many families since so little goes a very long way. We thank GFA for standing in the gap to allow us to be a part of sharing the gospel message!
Last year when I was ten years old. My mother asked us if we would do without a christmas tree and use the money instead to donate through Gospel of Asia. We donated money to purchase chickens. I asked my family to hide the presents through the house like an Easter Egg Hunt since we had no tree. It was fun. Then a few months later my class at school decided to incubate chicken eggs. We were one of the few classes who did this because so many chickens are born deformed the teachers felt it was bad for the kids to see. My teacher decided to hatch them anyway. There were 12 and I prayed they would all be fine. We had a raffle to see who would take the chickens home for the weekends. I was upset since I had missed the first weekend raffle. I put my name in for the second one and won. The chickens were hatched by the time I took them home. It was also a three day weekend. I was so happy I won that weekend. For three days I had twelve perfectly healthy baby chickens in my room. I was glad to give them back because they were allot of work. My mother said God gave me the chickens to inspire me to give more.
My niece Emma (older girl in the picture) requested that instead of recieving a gift for Christmas that we give to others who really have need. For Christmas this year she picked out items from the GFA catalog as her gift. What a great example she is to her little cousins who look up to her.
A friend of mine was getting married and said we could give gifts this way. I really, really, wanted to give her a physical gift, but after looking at your website, I saw the wisdom in her request. I really do feel that my dollars are going to much better use here and am thankful that my sister in Christ chose this as one of the ways we can fulfill our Christian duties. God bless you!
A few years ago my wife and I decided that we were no longer going to exchange Christmas gifts, instead we would spend our entire Christmas budget in the GFA Christmas catalog. Our Christmas morning activity these days is to get up, have our devotions eat some breakfast and then go to gfa.org and pick out our gifts. It's such a blessing having this opportunity to give gifts that make an eternal difference in the lives of so many, rather than spend the money the Lord has given us on things that won't last. Thank you for giving us such a wonderful avenue to do this!
This year the children of our church all worked together to sponsor a gift of livestock trough the GFA Christmas Catalog. Through this gift, we all had the opportunity to learn about sharing God's blessings with others. Even the little ones were so excited to find out that they could give animals as a Christmas present!
I've always wanted to raise goats and love how useful and resourceful this animal is for a family, so I was excited when Gospel for Asia presented me with the opportunity to buy a goat for a needy family. It is a small sacrifice and a great joy to know that through the money God has blessed me with I am able to give a goat.
My mom was confined to her room and bed for the last two years of her life ... She loved the Lord and had a real burden for the need for clean water, asking me to give to dig wells once she was in Heaven. She was 92 when she stepped into Heaven. "If people could have clean water they could be told of the water Jesus gives that is for eternity." We are privileged and excited to find your ministry to give this to with the hope and prayers this will not only provide earthly life giving water but the eternal truth that Jesus gives to the precious, needy people of our world. We will be praying for your ministry and particularly those who are ministering to the specific villages receiving this water. God bless you abundantly.
Did you ever wonder why we give out wasteful Christmas gifts or how doing so honors Jesus Christ, the Savior whose birth we are supposed to be celebrating? What eternal Kingdom value does that have anyway? Instead, why not give gifts to those who desperately need them and truly honor our Lord in the process? It's not just 10% of our money that belongs to God; it's 100%! This year, let's be great stewards of God's resources and shop in a whole new way from the GFA Catalog instead of the JC Penny Catalog!
I love the GFA Catalog! I've been using it for the birthday gifts of my loved ones over the past year. They love it too! This is so neat because it's available for year-round shopping and you can give gifts in honor of someone else. In other words, instead of giving your husband a new tie for Christmas , you can give a goat to a family in Asia in his honor and that would be his Christmas gift. It's so cool. And at 200 tracts for $1 and Bibles for $3, what wonderful stewardship of our donations. I was already cheap and trying to be a good steward by researching bargains for everything, but now when I look at dollar signs I just see "tracts!" Think about this: a $ 5.99 banana split at Baskin Robbins equals 1,200 tracts being delivered to people in their own language who have never heard of Jesus. Praise God for GFA!
Last year I had a vision that I would sell homemade blank greeting cards and use the money to purchase a water buffalo! People were very responsive and within a month we had almost double the amount we needed. So this year our card company Scatter Joy cards dreamed bigger; with a goal for a Jesus well and sure enough in less then a month we sold ~ 400 greeting cards! We are so happy that we can use our gifts of scrap booking to help a whole community!
My best friend died just a month ago. She had taken a missions trip to Haiti a few years ago. The poverty broke her heart. In honor of her I give the gift of animals to help the special people of Asia take care of themselves.
God has blessed us to give. At first, we were stretched, but my husband Jim and I were blessed to have the money to purchase a Jesus well. It just seemed like the right thing to do, and both exciting and exhilerating at the same time. It was the biggest thing Jim and I had ever done for people we don't even know. I am still in awe of how great an impact the Lord used us in order to get water to an entire village. I thank the Lord for Gospel for Asia and giving us the opportunity to give so richly.
Every month we set aside a little money for date night. We have $10 left for date night tonight. We thought we could go to a dollar movie or buy a steak to cook up. Then I read from the Christmas catalog about the chickens and how for $11 they can help a widow survive. We then decided that giving up a dollar movie was nothing compared to helping a widow live. I am thankful for the opportunity to give to GFA. We can't wait to do our Christmas shopping. Our Christmas list is full of goats, sheep, bikes, and maybe a camel. Thank you GFA!!!! You remind us what Christmas is all about!
I love that I can share my joy of sewing with women across the world by helping provide a sewing machine - and know it will also ease some life burdens. Thanks Gospel for Asia!
Last year instead of sending out our usual Christmas cards, we sent emails to all our friends. In the email, I shared the link to GFA and told all my friends and family instead of spending money on stamps and cards- we got a bike through GFA. It was a way for us to help and share more about GFA with those we love. This year each one of us is selecting something in the catalog to "give" each other. We are including my parents this time around and they are giving a pair of goats to my two children for Christmas. My son was very moved by the story of the widow and wanted to help another woman like her in Asia. I look forward to sharing even more this Christmas... to give is the greatest gift of all!!