When your Mission Friends send requested items for Christmas in August, they not only bless the people who will receive the items. They also bless the missionaries with prayers and encouragement. We thought you would like to read these words of thanks from Pastor Rajan Shahi, who serves among the Nepali community in New York City. Pastor Rajan was one of the Christmas in August missionaries this year for Mission Friends and also in the materials and websites for multicultural churches. Enjoy!

I sat in my mission pastor’s office days before I was scheduled to get on a plane and move thousands of miles away to South Asia, and what did I do? I cried.

Malnutrition was a foreign concept to me, literally. I never skipped a meal, so I certainly didn’t know what it was like to be truly hungry.