Ashima Mehta is one of our valued partners. Here is her story as told by her World Vision representative, Lisa Moran.
Ashima Mehta is a long-time partner of World Vision. I recently had a call with her about our International Bible Fund and I am thankful to God about it! This is our story.
Ashima grew up in India where she studied and became a doctor. At the young age of 21, she came to study abroad in Vancouver, Canada.
She is very passionate about helping children around the world.
“Charity has always been part of my heart” said Ashima. She first heard of World Vision through a magazine and decided to become a child sponsor. She sponsored children from her native country of India. While growing up, she had seen poverty and her heart was moved to action so she wanted to make a difference in children’s lives. Ashima said that while she was in school, she did not have much to give, but she had so much love for the children. That reminded me of a quote by Mother Teresa “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Ashima agreed with that sentiment and added, “My mission to help will never change.”
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Ashima has now been partnering with World Vision for over 30 years! She is very motivated by her faith in Jesus Christ and one of the reasons she is partnering with World Vision is because we are a Christian organization.
The generosity with which Ashima is pouring into communities is due to her personal relationship with Jesus Christ and her love for children.
When I last talked with Ashima, I shared with her about our November 5,000 Bibles Challenge. We were trying to raise enough money to send 5,000 Bibles to families who had none. We were very close to our goal and only had 584 Bibles left to go. Each Bible costs $12. When I told Ashima about this goal she replied “yes I will help to accomplish this goal.” Thanks to her, we reached our goal of 5,000 Bibles that day! She was beyond excited to participate in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ with precious children in communities in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and El Salvador.
The International Bible Fund seeks to provide Bibles to help families grow in their knowledge of God’s love and deep faithfulness. One of the reasons Ashima decided to join us in finishing the Bible Fund challenge was to share Bibles with people so that they have the opportunity to study God’s Word and can grow in knowledge of Him. This was important to her because as she said, "the word of God says “My people perish for the lack of knowledge.""
Ashima’s own story of the knowledge of God goes back to her childhood. She was exposed at an early age to God’s word through her parents. She is very thankful to God for His love and grace He has poured into her life and her family. She believes that everything that we have comes from Him.
Lisa's Story:
I’ve been at World Vision since 1988. My passion and devotion to this ministry have given me the opportunity to cultivate authentic relationship with donors, to be able to pray for them, and to talk about our faith with like-minded people as we work together to further God’s Kingdom and see lives transformed.
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| From left to right: Andrew with his wife Julissa, Lisa, Jack, Daniel and Joshua |
I live in Puyallup, WA with Jack, my husband of 28 years, and our three sons; Andrew, Joshua, and Daniel. I was born in El Salvador. It was there as a 7-year old little girl, I encountered God. I grew up in a small town, where two nuns came from Spain to share the Gospel. This encounter changed not only my generation but also my children’s. Reading the Bible helped me to learn more about God and guided me to share it with my parents. My father and mother accepted the Lord and started attending church.
One of my favorite Bible verses is John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish have eternal life”.
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I’m very thankful to God for my family. Sundays is our family time at our home, we pray together, we ask God for spiritual growth and God’s divine protection. World Vision has taught me to have a deeper relationship with our God in our daily devotions and weekly chapels. We grow spiritually when we connect the hearts of our donors to the hearts of the most vulnerable precious children as we serve the poor in the name of Christ.
If I could sum up my tenure with World Vision in four words, I would say, "It's a God Thing." After I graduated from high school, I didn't have any plans to go to college and didn't know what I wanted to do next. But God knew. I am grateful to God for placing me in this ministry. My time with World Vision is a testimony to God's faithfulness and to Romans 8:28, which says "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." I am God’s ambassador, representing the work of World Vision with those I come in contact. I look forward to working for World Vision as long as God says so.
