From Mourning to Joy
By Ashley and John Press
Have you ever wondered what inspires people to give to missions? Discover why one family is so passionate about sponsoring ASAP students. “Please let her be okay! Please let her be okay!” They were the only words I could think to pray as I sat on the floor outside the operating room. Inside, my wife Ashley was undergoing an emergency C-section. It was two o’clock in the morning and my mind was racing but not yet fully awake. Moments earlier we had woken to nurses rushing into our hospital room. Ashley had gone into labor the night before, but her contractions were mild. It would likely be several hours before she would deliver our daughter, whom we had decided to name Maia. But during the middle of the night, Maia’s heart rate disappeared from the monitor. Now the doctors and nurses were racing to save her life. “Please let her be okay! Please let her be okay!” I repeated the frantic prayer over and over until a nurse finally emerged from the operating room. “You can go in now,” she said. As I stood up, she stopped me and added, “Before you go in, you need to know that the baby is not okay.” Her words extinguished my last flicker of hope.
DOES SPONSORING A CHILD FOR $30 A MONTH REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Watch “When I Grow Up” to see how the loving instruction of the teachers at an ASAP school changed one young girl’s life. Sponsorship DOES make a difference!”
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“For I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.” Jeremiah 31:13b
