Once Poor, Now Rich

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, February 3.

By Andrew McChesney

F

ive-year-old Asmita lived in a very poor family in Nepal.

Her parents were so poor that sometimes they couldn’t give her breakfast, lunch, or supper. They didn’t have enough rice or potatoes or cabbage to feed her. Sometimes Asmita spent the whole day hungry. Sometimes she went to bed hungry.

Asmita’s parents were so poor that they couldn’t give her warm clothes in winter. Winter gets very cold in Nepal, and snow and ice cover the hills and mountains. Asmita’s parents didn’t have enough money to buy Asmita a nice thick coat, wooly socks, or warm boots. Asmita shivered in the cold in the winter.

One day, Asmita’s mother left home. She left Father and Asmita and married another man. Asmita was very sad. She never saw Mother again.

Father didn’t like living without a wife. So, a few months later, he got married again. Asmita was very happy that she had a new mother. But her happiness didn’t last long. Her new mother already had two children, and she loved them more than she loved Asmita. Making matters worse, Father also loved his two new children more than he loved Asmita. So, when the family had food, the two other children got to eat first. When the weather turned cold, the two other children got warm clothes first. And the two other children didn’t have to do household chores. But Asmita did. Mother made Asmita work hard around the house. Asmita washed dishes. She helped cook food. She cleaned the house. She tried to do her best to please Mother, but Mother always seemed to be annoyed.

When Asmita was 8 years old, a neighbor told her parents about a Seventh-day Adventist orphanage that cared for children who had no parents or had parents who couldn’t take care of them.

Father and Mother looked at each other. They liked the sound of the place. Without even discussing the matter with Asmita, they sent her off to the orphanage.

Moving into a new home was a little scary for the little girl. But she quickly adjusted to life at the orphanage. She liked it. She liked being fed breakfast, lunch, and supper, and being given warm clothes in winter. She also liked going to school and learning new things every day. She hadn’t been able to go to school every day before. She especially liked going to church and learning about God. She had never gone to church or heard about God before.

Six years have passed since Asmita moved to the orphanage, and today she is a very happy girl. Once she was poor, but now she is rich in Christ.

“I am very thankful to my Heavenly Father who brought me here,” she said. “If I were not here today, I would not have known God. Now I know who my Savior is.’”

She is studying hard and hopes to help other little girls with difficult childhoods one day.

“I would like to help people like me in the future,” she said. “So, I ask you to pray for me. I want God to use my life for His purpose. May His will be done in my life. Thank you for your prayers.”

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help establish a school where children like Asmita can study in Nepal. Thank you for planning a generous Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.