AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA ARGENTINA AUSTRALIA AZERBAIJAN BELARUS BELIZE BENIN BHUTAN BOLIVIA BOTSWANA BR COLOMBIA CONGO CUBA CZECH REPUBLIC DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO DENMARK DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ESTO KAZAKHSTAN KENYA KYRGYZSTAN LAOS LATVIA LITHUANIA MADAGASCAR MALAWI MALAYSIA MEXICO MONGOLIA MOZ SOMALIA SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH KOREA SOUTH SUDAN SPAIN SRI LANKA SUDAN SWEDEN SWITZERLAND TAIWAN TA
VIETNAM: BRINGING “FREE BUT PRICELESS” CHRIST TO THE LAND OF BUDDHA In general, it’s part of Thai culture that to be a good Thai, you have to be a Buddhist. Growing up in Thailand, I was taught to appease the spirits and try to do good works so good things would happen to me. Thai people are very afraid of ghosts and evil spirits. Inside Thai Buddhist homes or properties, there need to be images of Buddha or of Buddhist monks. Some people have many images so they can feel more secure. One will protect against this; the other will protect against that. Buddhism is a life of work, work, work, and trying to do good things. You’re never really sure whether you will receive blessings from that. It’s a big burden at the end of the day, not knowing. The yoke is heavy. But in Christ, we have freedom! He lifts off the bondage and gives us the freedom to really live our lives without fear of all those bad things. He gives me joy and confidence in what I do, because it’s not what I do – it’s what Christ did for us, that He died and rose again. Wow! That’s a great religion. Who wouldn’t want it? It’s a free gift! This is God’s message for the Thai and for all Buddhists, found in the books LHF translates and publishes: Jesus Christ broke the cycle of karma. Now, eternal life can be ours through faith and baptism. I don’t have to do anything to earn my karma or my salvation. Christ has done it all. - Rev. Ted Na Thalang LHF Coordinator for Southeast Asian projects 6
In Vietnam, LHF’s books help people a lot with their spiritual life, especially children because they are being taught God’s Word ever since they are young. The stories in A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories are very interesting and practical to those who read them. People understand more clearly than they did before, and so their faith in Jesus Christ of course grows stronger. Children and their parents really appreciate the book since it is colorful, meaningful and useful to them. A very strong point is this storybook is well-organized and designed – much better quality compared with other Christian books in Vietnam right now. We have also made recordings of all of the stories and put them on our website for people who do not have time to read the book, and they are able to listen to the stories with their kids at bedtime. For sure, this book is free but very priceless. - Hai Au Dinh, Lutheran Hour Ministries in Vietnam
MONGOLIA:
“MONGOLIANS NEVER HEARD THE BIBLE STORIES BEFORE” Mongolia is blessed to have the Christian faith here for the last 25 years, after Communism ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. Christianity is growing, but materials in our language to equip churches and leaders are scarce. As a Lutheran church, we would like to have more classic Lutheran materials to root our church in the Word and also in the historical Lutheran heritage, especially as Mongolian Lutherans are now uniting together to establish a national Lutheran church. LHF has translated and published the Mongolian A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories, which is very simple yet substantial material for kids to learn the stories in the Bible. It is not only for the kids, but also for parents to learn too! We Mongolians never heard the stories in the Bible before, and those new believers who are parents can also learn from the book. - Rev. Puje Jamsran, Lutheran pastor in Mongolia
