Eight-year-old Sharoon [shah-ROON] leaned forward in his seat as his Sabbath School teacher told a Bible story.

Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com

She asked a question, and Sharoon’s hand shot into the air. The teacher called on him, and Sharoon answered her question.

Sharoon loves Sabbath School, especially the Bible stories his teacher tells. The church Sharoon attends meets in a house that’s been remodeled to make a church. It’s not big, but it’s clean and bright.

Sharoon and his family live in Lahore, a large city in Pakistan. Most people in the country are Muslims. There are few Christians and even fewer Adventists.

Someone donated Bible story felts so that the teacher has something to show the children when she tells the Bible story. The children enjoy watching the story unfold in pictures as the teacher tells it. When a missionary visited the church, she noticed that the children didn’t bring their Bibles to church. “Next week please bring your Bibles to Sabbath School,” she encouraged with a smile.

“But Teacher,” one girl said. “I don’t have a Bible.” Other children shook their heads too. Sharoon added, “My daddy has a Bible, but I don’t think he will let me bring it to church.”

The missionary was surprised that the children had no Bibles. “Let’s memorize some Bible texts so we take God’s words wherever we go,” the missionary suggested. The teacher agreed and printed Bible texts on sheets of paper. The children worked hard to learn the Bible texts. And they prayed for Bibles of their own.

Someone sent some money to the missionaries to buy Bibles for the children. The children eagerly waited for their Bibles to arrive. At last they came. The teacher opened the box and gave each child a Bible. She helped them write their name inside the cover.

Now the children eagerly read the Bible stories in their own Bibles. They have memorized the books of the Bible and can repeat many Bible texts from memory. The children are so eager to learn more about God that some of them arrive an hour early for Sabbath School so they won’t miss a thing!

Sharoon treasures his Bible, but he knows that other Adventist children in Pakistan don’t have a Bible. He’s excited to learn that part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help buy Bibles for children in Pakistan, and in Israel and Sudan, too.

Three years ago Adventist children around the world gave a special children’s offering for Thirteenth Sabbath to buy Bibles for children in Pakistan, Israel, and Sudan. Today thousands of children have a Bible and can learn for themselves that God loves them. Thank you!

Dowell Chow is the Adventist Mission coordinator in the East-Central Africa Division, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more stories like this at AdventistMission.org

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