Opening Up to a Whole New World

She used to watch her husband, Ravi, read the newspaper and wished she could read the articles too, but she had to settle for hearing Ravi’s synopsis of the news.

When Marya went to church, she listened to her pastor refer to Bible verses in his sermons, but she couldn’t look them up and read them for herself.

A Long-Awaited Opportunity

Having long known the handicap of illiteracy, Marya was excited when the Women’s Fellowship group at her church started a women’s literacy class last year. She and five other women joined the weekly literacy class to learn the alphabet and numbers in their native language. Marya faithfully attended class, spent extra time practicing at home and prayed and fasted for God to give her the wisdom to learn.

Because of God’s grace—and with her husband’s encouragement and her hard work—she is gradually realizing her dream of reading and writing. After only a few months, she learned to read and write the alphabet and numbers. She also has started reading and memorizing Scripture. She memorized John 3:16, and when she recited it before her class, she helped inspire the other women in the class to continue working hard. Since then, she has begun reading through the Psalms.

“When I was able to read by myself for the first time, I felt very excited, as if I were the only person in the world who could read. Praise the Lord!” Marya says. “I am thankful to Women’s Fellowship for helping me to read and write.”

Through your support of Gospel for Asia’s Women’s Fellowship and women’s literacy outreaches, more women like Marya are entering a new world of language, sharing that world with their children and—best of all—reading God’s Word to understand it on a deeper level.