Bhadraksh had once been a young man, full of vigor. Married with a child, he worked hard for his young family. He had a stable and honest job in a thread factory, which clothed, fed and sheltered them. Life was simple and good. That life seemed like another world now. As the memory of those times faded and the difficult reality of today zoomed into focus, Bhadraksh stood as a man deformed and nearly defeated by leprosy. Bhadraksh received a leprosy diagnosis more than 20 years ago, when he was a young man just beginning his life journey. The doom of his diagnosis plunged his life into an unforeseen and scary future.
Forced to leave his home because of his disease, Bhadraksh settled in a set-apart community with other leperosy patients in a different part of his country. With no family around, other than his wife and child, the leprosy colony became his extended family.
Serving Their Adopted Community—Heart, Soul and Body
GFA-supported Pastor Ravi and the women missionaries he served with were honored guests in this community. While they did not live in the colony—they lived centrally located to minister to several nearby villages—they served as an integral part of colony life. These servants of the Lord took the place of sons and daughters and fathers and mothers for the residents of the leprosy colony.
Pastor Ravi regularly visited this isolated community and prayed for the sick and encouraged them with God’s Word. Three Sisters of Compassion, who were part of Pastor Ravi’s ministry team, helped with practical needs such as cleaning and bandaging wounds and bathing and dressing those with limited mobility.
Read the Rest of the Report on GFA-Reports.org
Leprosy patient experiences God’s love in a literacy class.
Read more about the Leprosy: Misunderstandings and Stigma Keep it Alive – Although It’s a Curable Worldwide Problem.
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