Issue 9 - 2011 - Asia Pacific Hungry for God's Word - Biblica

As global tourism expands, the opportunity to share God’s Word is increasing. TheChinese tourist ministry can reach 30,000 tourists with the Chinese Contemporary Bible.CHINESETOURISTMINISTRYOne tourist saw our ministry and becamevery excited. He thanked the volunteersand said, “I’m from a Christian family. Wehave four generations of Christians in my family buthave never had a Bible in our home. Thank you somuch—now we have one!”Another tourist kept walking by and each time she picked up a few more Bibles. Wekindly asked her why she needed them, and she replied, “In our church there are noBibles. We only get printed portions of Scripture to use during service. I wish I couldcarry enough Bibles back for our whole church!”“We have met countless Christians thatencourage us to continue our workbecause it is needed.”Biblica’s Chinese ContemporaryBible, the recently launchedtranslation, is now being sharedwith tourists as they travelworldwide. “A young Chinesewoman came to me and pointed to her heart and said, ‘Hallelujah,’ an indicationthat she was a believer,” said a Chinese tourist ministry volunteer. “She encouragedothers to come and receive the Bible. It was a beautiful reminder of the biblicalprinciple of multiplication.”rescuing childrenfrom an early GRAVEUnderneath Thailand’s beautylies a dark underbelly of sextrafficking, child prostitution,pornography, and drug abuse. Thesex industry is so entrenched that itcontributes 14 percent of Thailand’s GrossDomestic Product. HIV/AIDS is infectingnot only sex workers but the largerpopulation; more than one in 100 adultsare HIV-infected. In this sex-saturatedsociety, Thai youth are one of the mainHIV risk groups.India has the world’s third-largestpopulation suffering from HIV/AIDS. Itsprevalence in southern states is five timeshigher than northern states. Working withlocal churches and ministry partners, ourScripture-based HIV prevention program,Reach 4 Life (R4L), rescues children froman early grave through biblical truthand strong group support. R4L teachesteens a biblical alternative to promiscuityby teaching a lifestyle of sexual puritythat will protect them from HIV/AIDS.Biblica is translating the Reach 4 Life NewTestament into Hindi and Tamil to helpcombat this problem in India.UNAIDS reports in 2009 there were150,000 children under the age of 15living with HIV in South & Southeast Asia.To help preserve this generation, BiblicaAsia is reaching youth in secondaryschools with the Reach 4 Life (R4L)program in Thailand and India.R4L volunteers work with teens to speakfrankly about issues that are often ignored.Praawadee, grade 9 says, “God teaches usstay sexually pure and to protect myselffrom temptation. We should keep thecompany of good friends and do not goto private places with a man. If my friendscome to me, I will encourage them andtell them God loves you.”12Biblica InDepth • Issue 9 • 2011Biblica.com 13