For Haiti With Love’s Eva Dehart says that “Without electricity, they’re using candles and lanterns, and they’re using charcoal for cooking. There are a lot of open flames when you don’t have electricity available to you.”

Photo courtesy of For Haiti With Love

Because of all that fire, burns are a regular problem for many Haitians. If left unchecked, burns also have a tendency to get infected thanks to poor sanitary conditions in many parts of Haiti. However, because of how long burns take to heal, quality burn care is slow and expensive.

That is, unless you visit For Haiti With Love’s burn clinic.

“We will see an average of 130 to 150 burn patients a month, and that’s all ages for all different kinds of reasons,” Dehart says. Since patients have to return for bandage changes and new medication on an almost daily basis, that actually means more than 700 individual treatments every month.

“Sometimes people are there on the day of the burn, and sometimes it takes them two or three days to get there. We are treating basically the entire country for burns, and that’s quite a responsibility on our part, but it’s also a really good feeling to be doing that much good.”

The clinic has three exam tables, and at any time there is usually a patient at each table. Space isn’t a problem.

However, the clinic is an ongoing effort to feed a need and save lives, and as with any ongoing project, For Haiti With Love has to find the materials they need. Burn cream, pain medication, and bandages aren’t too difficult to find, but they still need donors to help support the clinic.

The clinic might be a practical solution to a practical problem, but it also provides spiritual healing to the people of Haiti.

(Photo courtesy of For Haiti With Love)

“The nurses are constantly reminding the patients that the clinic is there by the grace of God, that the supplies are provided by God’s people, and that this is God’s assistance for their problem,” Dehart says.

The nurses have the full, undivided attention and gratitude of the patients. In other words, patients listen. Many patients also have burns from voodoo rituals, which Dehart says gives nurses an opportunity to say, “God loves you, and He would never demand you do this kind of thing to your body to prove your love for Him.” In the context of a burn clinic, even voodoo priests listen to that message.

Remember to pray for the nurses as they deal with the physical and emotional trauma of being surrounded by suffering all of the time. “I don’t think you ever get calloused to trying to help someone through that kind of pain,” Dehart says.

(Image courtesy Chelsea Gomez (Oakes) via Flickr)

Does that mean it’s too early to talk about Christmas?

Far Corners Missions doesn’t think so. The yuletide season is when most people want to get involved in their work.

“Christmas inspires us to show the love of Jesus,” says Far Corners’ President Gary Bishop. “With that inspiration for so many of our donors, we decided we better put something out that makes it easy.”

Enter the Far Corners Christmas catalog, or, as they’re calling it this year, a Giving Book.

“The whole reason we have this publication is the opportunity to give to someone else who has a desperate human need,” says Bishop.

A Giving Book is opposite what most in the West think of when Christmas rolls around. The focus usually turns to what’s going on the “getting” list — a new gadget or gizmo, a new outfit or toy.

It’s the opposite of what most people in Kenya, India, Nepal, Thailand — some of the places Far Corners works — long or hope for.

“They’re hungry, they need medical care; they need rescuing out of human trafficking,” Bishop states.

Through national partners, Far Corners shares the Gospel in word and deed. They have five areas of focus in nine different countries: China, England, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Philippines and Thailand.

Click here to learn more about their work.

In India, Bishop says Far Corners encounters a large amount of people who are literally starving to death.

“They actually have to depend on Far Corners, one day at a time, to provide them something to eat,” he explains.

In the Amazon jungles, medical river boats reach areas too remote for cars or even planes. Young girls trapped in the brothels of Thailand and India are rescued literally and spiritually.

Feeding programs, medical outreaches, rescue operations and educational programs meet the physical needs of the lost, creating opportunities for national Far Corners workers to share the Gospel. Evangelical activities like church plants and one-on-one conversations lead people to salvation in Christ.

“In each of those five areas, you’ll find ways to participate [through the Giving Book],” shares Bishop.

Get your copy by contacting Far Corners here. Or, you can call them at 817-237-3000.

“What a great chance to be involved in missions, even if you can’t go to those places that we mentioned today,” says Bishop.

“We love to send it to people. It gives them a chance to plan ahead; even show other people.”

Pray the Giving Book becomes a gateway for people to get involved in missions. Ask the Lord to bring those who need help and Far Corners workers together.

“Pray that we’ll have the wisdom and the resources to find just those right people that God wants us to help,” Bishop requests.

Does that mean it's too early to talk about Christmas?

Far Corners Missions doesn't think so. The yuletide season is when most people want to get involved in their work.

"Christmas inspires us to show the love of Jesus," says Far Corners President Gary Bishop. "With that inspiration for so many of our donors, we decided we better put something out that makes it easy."

Enter the Far Corners Christmas catalog, or as they're calling it this year: a Giving Book.

"The whole reason we have this publication is the opportunity to give to someone else who has a desperate human need," says Bishop.

A Giving Book is opposite of what most in the West think of when Christmas rolls around. The focus usually turns to what's going on the "getting" list:  a new gadget or gizmo, a new outfit or toy.

It's the opposite of what most people in Kenya, India, Nepal, Thailand–some of the places Far Corners works–long or hope for.

"They're hungry; they need medical care; they need rescuing out of human trafficking," Bishop states.

Through national partners, Far Corners shares the Gospel in word and deed. They have five areas of focus in nine different countries: China, England, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, and Thailand.

Click here to learn more about their work.

In India, Bishop says Far Corners encounters a large amount of people who are literally starving to death.

"They actually have to depend on Far Corners, one day at a time, to provide them something to eat," he explains.

In the Amazon jungles, medical river boats reach areas too remote for cars or even planes. Young girls trapped in the brothels of Thailand and India are rescued literally and spiritually.

Feeding programs, medical outreaches, rescue operations, and educational programs meet the physical needs of the lost, creating opportunities for national Far Corners workers to share the Gospel. Evangelical activities like church plants and one-on-one conversations lead people to salvation in Christ.

"In each of those five areas, you'll find ways to participate [through the Giving Book]," shares Bishop.

Get your copy by contacting Far Corners here. Or, you can call them at 817-237-3000.

"What a great chance to be involved in missions, even if you can't go to those places that we mentioned today," says Bishop.

"We love to send it to people. It gives them a chance to plan ahead, even show other people."

Pray that the Giving Book becomes a gateway for people to get involved in missions. Ask the Lord to bring those who need help and Far Corners workers together.

"Pray that we'll have the wisdom and the resources to find just those right people that God wants us to help," Bishop requests.

That's not an entirely inaccurate picture since that's most likely where you'll find Far Corners Missions. President Gary Bishop says that picture defines their work. "When those two things come together: that is, profound spiritual darkness and desperate human suffering, Far Corners feels called to be there."

As the world's population has grown over the last half century, so too have the needs. Far Corners Missions has been answering them for 58 years with an unwavering commitment to the Gospel. However, Bishop says, "Far Corners Missions today provides first of all evangelism. But also we feed people, we provide healing through medical services, we provide rescue to those trapped in human trafficking, and we provide teaching to prepare people to live Christian lives; but also, [we want] to lift them out of poverty."

Bishop started working with Far Corners Missions after spending over a decade serving as the leader of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and World Bible Translation Center. He is an ordained minister and has served in church leadership and as a Bible teacher. After all those years in missionary circles, what stood out about Far Corners Missions? "The effectiveness of indigenous missionaries is just such a boon to the Church for two particular reasons: number one, people do not have to make the cultural adjustment of living in another culture."

Reason number two, he went on to say, "Economically, our dollars go much further in supporting an indigenous missionary than it would a 'sent' missionary, or an expatriate from the United States or Canada to the mission field."

In essence, Far Corners Missions is trying to work themselves out of a job. They've succeeded twice. Bishop explains, "Two of our programs have already spun off into independent operations, and we no longer support them financially–nor are we operationally in control of them. That's our program in South Korea. The other one is Peru."

Once the project spins off, there's an opportunity for growth. "We have now been able to deploy our resources and our ability to help other indigenous missions in other parts of the world."

It takes time to build the relationships needed for a firm footing for self-supported indigenous missions. Their program in India is a good example of that. "In India, we've now planted 932 churches, of which 754 of those are self-supporting churches. That is, the church is able to pay their own pastor and operate without the mission agency providing support to them," says Bishop.

In fact, it's going so well that it's being used as a model for another project. "The newest work is Nepal. We are at the individual evangelism level there. We actually have, on most days, five or six workers that are personal evangelism workers. Our hope is soon to plant a church after the model that we've used now for almost 50 years in India."

The impact of resources goes further than ever before, too. Through technology and experience, the Far Corners team now has the capability to reach even greater numbers of people than at any time in their history. Starting in 1958 in Mexico, today over 300 people serve in nine countries, including India, Thailand, China, Philippines, Mexico, Kenya, Nepal, the U.S. and England.

Working in the name of Christ, as the body of Christ, really brings their mission in from the "far corners" of the world and puts it in front of you. The question is: how will you respond?

To see the more personal stories of Far Corners Missions, click here.