When it comes to leprosy, people feel scared. However, a group of Christians sold their houses and gave up their stable jobs to voluntarily serve in leprosy rehabilitation villages across China all year round.
The volunteers included a mother who sold her houses and together with her three daughters, served leprosy survivors for eight years, a millennial-generation brother who visited over 50 leper colonies, and an elderly Christian couple who kept working for four or five years rather than enjoy their retirement life.
On the date of the International Leprosy Festival which falls on the last Sunday of January, I, together with two workers from the local church, paid a visit to two leprosy rehabilitation villages in Shandong province.
The establishment of a volunteer "helping" team
The establishment of the ministry that serves those who recover from leprosy arose from suicide by a leprosy survivor.
Grandpa Kim, the founder, found that the person he visited the first time took his own life in a hospital. News of the suicide pierced Kim's heart and led to him reflecting on it. He recalled, "Is the God whom I believe really fair? Who will tell leprosy survivors that 'Jesus loves you'? I will tell them that 'Jesus loves you and I love you, too'."
Grandpa Kim patched a leprosy survivor up.
In February 2006, the "helping" team began serving in a leprosy village in Yanji, Jilin. Later the volunteers continued their work in more than 40 similar colonies in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Hubei, and Shaanxi provinces. During its peak, the volunteers numbered over 100.
Currently, most of the surviving members living in rehab villages are above 70 years of age and are hardly able to take care of themselves because of their handicaps.
Devoted to being their hands, legs, and feet, the ministry helps them deal with simple, everyday affairs. Seemingly simple tasks are very challenging and have many difficulties.
Hardships
Visual shock. Leprosy survivors have different levels of handicaps. A slight injury results in a finger becoming distorted and a severe effect is the loss of hands or legs. The disfiguration of faces, noses, and eyes are also common. Owing to the difficulty in healing, some survivors have unhealing wounds that make them look quite scary. Some wounds even have more than 100 maggots growing inside or discharge a bowl of pus. Sister Mo from Guangdong became terrified at the sight of massive infections or heavily disabled victims but gradually became less afraid of them.
Olfactory impact. Houses, where elderly survivors with mobility problems live, are full of foul odor. Bedridden members even urinate in bed. Unhealed wounds smell like slough. Brother Zhang, in his twenties, said that at first he couldn't help but vomit.
Unbearable loneliness and boredom. When Sister Xiao Bao became engaged in the ministry, she was less than 20 years old. For eleven months she lived in a mountainous leper colony in Guangxi with her mother and elder sister. There was no telephone or entertainment facilities. She only once went downhill from the mountain. Thinking back on that period, she felt grateful because reading the Bible was the happiest thing during those days of boredom.
Suffering from being misunderstood and wronged. Showing love doesn't necessarily produce gratitude on the part of the recipient, but rather sometimes misunderstanding and insults. A sister washed the dirty clothes of an elderly person who scolded her, thinking that she had thrown them away. Some residents claimed that their clothing, food, or money had been stolen by volunteers. In order to accompany an old woman, a sister stayed with her for nine months but ended up being evicted. Nevertheless, ministry workers were able to continue on, moved by meditation on Jesus' teaching about loving one's enemies.
"Not-to-be-refused hospitality". For some volunteers, the biggest challenge was to have food given by survivors. A young sister described a scene in which an old man gave her a pastry with his misshapen hand that had saliva flowing from his mouth onto it. What would you do? If you refused, that man would feel like having been given the cold shoulder. The only choice would be to resist your inner refusal and eat it.
Tiredness without vacations. Sister Tian who volunteered there for eight years said that the long hours of work led to a breakdown in the volunteers' health. Volunteers worked 365 days a year without holidays or celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year. She added, "Who would take care of those seniors if the volunteers rested?"
Joy and peace from the ministry
Several workers told me with a smile that their lives had been renewed and that they had received joy and peace. They wouldn't have left the villages even though they were paid ten or twenty thousand yuan a month.
Brother Zheng, together with his family, had volunteered for 12 years. He had been a "prodigal" man who had often fought and drank but was deeply touched after visiting Grandpa Kim and wished to become a man like him. The second day he resigned his job and joined Kim. Zheng stated that serving survivors might have seemed dull and boring, but he had fallen in love with the work. In his opinion, it had become his life. For him, the lives of his relatives and friends were unacceptable. Some of his rich elders hadn't supported their parents and friends hadn't given him genuine help when he was in trouble. That kind of world was too awful.
Brother Zheng carried a leprosy victim.
Sister Zhang from Jiangxi and her son, who used to work in a factory, also quit their jobs and afterward volunteered full-time at the leper colony. She laughed and said, "Serving is not just about good deeds, but also about putting God's word into practice and the experience of it and following the way Jesus walked. That joy is given by God. Otherwise, how can you be joyful with nothing?"
Sister Zhang washed the feet of an old survivor.
Some of the residents were moved to faith and decided to follow Christ. After converting, they studied the Bible hard, which brought much comfort and strength to the volunteers.
An 88-year-old man with failing eyesight was able to recite Psalm 119. Some could recite the Gospel of Matthew and some started to learn to read. When an older resident was dying, a volunteer told him that Jesus loved him, to which he then replied, "I also love Jesus".
Mr. Wang recited Psalm 119.
Gratefulness from leprosy rehabilitants
"Family life was something so new to me. In my elder years, I have finally lived this life for a few days, " said Ye, who has been living in a leprosy village for 60 years since the age of 13.
He used to urinate inside his house, which made the place smell very unpleasant. Fed up with that kind of life, he tried to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills or eating rat poison but failed after vomiting it up.
"We are abandoned by our families and society, but these Christians eat and live with us. I don't provide them with free food, but they serve us. Now that they help me, my life is worth living," he said gratefully.
Mr. Chen, 73, also shared, "My home is 1.5 kilometers away from the village. During the past 52 years nobody dared deal with me. I never imagined that there are good people who are not afraid of me, stay with me, feed and help me wash my body. I feel that I am the happiest man."
Brother Ren, in his early thirties, did not sleep well for 15 days after leprosy recently severely affected his face, hands, and legs. At that time, his greatest wish was to have a good sleep and enough food to eat.
After being treated in a hospital for a year and a half, Ren recovered and had to leave the hospital. Then the "helping" team helped him. Now he also volunteers in the ministry.
Expecting more Christians to join
Some ministry workers shared that according to a survey conducted over a decade ago, there were 600 leprosy rehabilitation centers and more than 240,000 leprosy survivors in China. Now many older victims have passed away and many rehab villages have amalgamated, reducing the number of survivors and centers.
Even so, there is still a large number of survivors who need to be served.
The "helping" team has 60 members, which is half the number when it was at its peak. All the members have served in seven centers in Shandong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces for at least four years. What's more, three homes that take in the homeless and care for them have been set up.
During the early years, the ministry "quietly" served this special group. In recent years they have started to share their testimonies in churches, hoping more Christians would join them.
- Translated by Karen Luo
提到麻风病，你有什么感受？是不是觉得害怕，认为是很遥远的事情？“舍了船，别了父亲”来跟从耶稣，你是不是认为只是门徒们的惊人之举？然而，就在当下，一些基督徒卖掉房子，放弃稳定的工作，长年无休地在各个麻风康复村服侍着。
他们当中，有一位基督徒妈妈，卖掉石家庄和青岛的两套房子，带着三个女儿，在麻风康复村服侍了8年；一位90后弟兄，放弃追求金钱，8年来走访了50多个麻风康复村；已退休的基督徒夫妻，不在家安享晚年，跑到麻风康复村服侍，一服侍就是四五年……
在国际麻风节（又称“世界防治麻风病日”，1月最后一个周日）来临之际，笔者随同山东教会的两位同工，走访了山东两个麻风康复村，看见、听闻了一些麻风病康复者的悲惨经历，同时，心灵被基督徒义工舍己的爱深深震撼了！
“助手”志愿者团队成立
服侍麻风康复者的“助手”志愿者团队的创立，缘于一个麻风康复者的自杀。团队的开创者金爷爷到一个麻风康复院探望，当他第二次去探望时，得知第一次探望的一个麻风康复者自杀了，这深深地触动了他的心。
金爷爷说，麻风病康复者的自杀引起了他的反思：“我信的上帝真的公平吗？有谁愿意告诉麻风病康复者‘耶稣爱你’？有谁愿意成为他们的朋友？他们在没有盼望中死去，而我可以坐在家里、在教堂里听或者讲耶稣如何如何地爱这个世界上的每一个人吗？不，不，不能！如果耶稣爱他们，我要告诉他们，让他们知道，‘耶稣爱你们，我也爱你们’。”
2006年2月，“助手”志愿者团队在吉林延吉的一所麻风康复院服侍，随后到了云南、四川、广东、广西、江苏、江西、福建、浙江、贵州、湖北、陕西等多个省份的40多个麻风康复村服侍，走访了130多个麻风康复村；参与服侍的志愿者人数最多时有100多人。
如今在麻风康复村生活的老人年龄绝大多数在70岁以上，有的已经90多岁，因为肢体的残缺，像掏耳朵、擦屁股、洗澡等平常人很简单的事情，对于他们是异常艰难。“助手”团队希望能够成为这些老人们的手、脚、眼睛，帮助老人倒尿盆，打扫卫生，剪指甲，清洗并包扎伤口，帮助部分老人打水喂饭，陪护患病卧床的老人，帮助去世老人打理后事等。看似简单的工作，实际上充满了挑战和艰辛。
服侍的艰辛
视觉上的冲击。麻风康复者都有不同程度的残疾，轻的是手指变形；严重一些会失去双手、双脚；面部的嘴唇、鼻子、眼睛变形；因为麻风病患者伤口不容易愈合，有人伤口几十年不愈合，看起来很吓人；有人甚至伤口里长了一百多只蛆，有的伤口流出一碗脓。
来自广东的莫姊妹说，刚开始遇到严重的伤口，或者是留下严重残疾的康复者时，“怕的不得了，全身起鸡皮疙瘩，要不是信上帝，怎么能做。”莫姊妹已经服侍了9年，她说逐渐地就不怕了。
嗅觉上的冲击。行动不便的老人屋里会有异味，有的卧床老人拉尿都在床上，没有愈合的伤口有腐肉的味道。90后的张弟兄说，刚开始接触时，他忍不住想吐。
难以承受的孤独、无聊。小宝姐妹参与服侍时不到20岁，她曾跟着妈妈和姐姐在广西一个山上的麻风康复村生活了11个月，那里电话没有信号，没有娱乐设施，11个月中只下过一次山。回忆那段时间，小宝挺感恩，因为实在无聊，那时读圣经是她最开心的事情，因此储备了许多圣经真理。
被误解、冤枉的委屈。付出爱，收回的不一定是感恩，有时反而是误解和辱骂。一个姊妹帮助老人把脏衣服洗了，老人误以为衣服被扔了，把姊妹骂了一顿；有的老人说自己的衣物、吃的或者是钱被义工偷了；为了陪护一位老奶奶，一个姊妹跟她同住了9个月，结果被老人赶了出来……此时，同工们大多默想耶稣爱仇敌的爱，靠着耶稣舍命的爱继续前行。
盛情难却的邀请。有的老人得到帮助，拿食物招待义工，这对一些义工来说，是最大的挑战。一位年轻姊妹描述了一个场景：一位老人拿出一个团子糕点，用两只残缺的手捧着，口水不住地流在食物上。怎么办？如果不吃，老人会觉得被嫌弃，只好强忍着吃下去。
长年无休的疲惫。已经服侍8年的田姊妹说，在这里服侍时间长的，身体都累垮了。助手团队的义工一年365天都是同样的生活，没有休假，也不过年。田姊妹说，我们要是休息了，那些老人谁来照顾呢？
服侍的喜乐、平安
如果服侍只是艰辛，可能许多人无法继续前行，实际上，几位同工笑着跟笔者说，他们在这里生命被更新，得到了喜乐、平安，即便给他们提供一两万/月的工资，他们都不会离开。
郑弟兄已经服侍了12年，他的家人一起在麻风康复村服侍。郑弟兄说他参与服侍的原因很简单，他原本打架、喝酒，见了金爷爷一面后深受感动，第二天就辞了工作，跟着金爷爷一起服侍，他想成为金爷爷那样高尚的人。
郑弟兄说，可能在别人眼中，他们的服侍枯燥、乏味，但他已经喜欢上了这个服侍，觉得这就是自己的生活。回看亲人、朋友的生活，他已经无法接受：有的长辈富有，却不赡养父母；当遇到困难时，朋友不会真诚地给予帮助。他觉得这样的世界太可怕了。
江西的张姊妹和儿子原本同在一个电脑绣花厂工作，6年前母子一个月包吃住5千元，当他们来到麻风康复村后，母子一同辞掉了工作，在这里全心服侍。一年后，老板问她玩够了没有，如果回去上班可以给她加薪，她告诉老板，即便一个月给她1万元，也不回去。
“在这里服侍不但是善行，更是应验（实践）神的话语，经历神的话语，经历耶稣所走过的路。”说道这里，张姊妹说了一串圣经经文。她非常喜欢传道书3：12“我知道世人，莫强如终身喜乐行善”，还有箴言19:17“怜悯贫穷的，就是借给耶和华，他的善行，耶和华必偿还”，腓立比书2:21“别人都求自己的事，并不求耶稣基督的事”，林后5:15“并且他替众人死，是叫那些活着的人不再为自己活，乃为替他们死而复活的主活”……（还有罗12：1；加2:20；约5:29；太25:40；林前10:31等）
张姊妹随口就能说出以上圣经经文的内容以及章节，更加重要的是，她在竭力照着神的生活。
“那个喜乐是神给的，否则什么都没有，拿什么喜乐呢？如果想着世上的事情，留都留不住。”张姊妹笑着说道。
广东的莫姊妹说，在服事的过程中，她回家休息过，但最长超不过1个月。在家吃饭时，闻到的都是老人的味道；要睡觉时，脑袋里都是老人们的样子。她在家无法安心生活，当来到老人们中间时，心就踏实了。
在服侍老人的过程中，一些老人被义工们的爱心所感动，接受了基督信仰，并且努力学习圣经，这给义工们带来很大的安慰和力量。一位88岁视力不好的王大爷，可以将诗篇119篇完整的背诵下来，有的盲人可以将马太福音全部的28章背诵下来，还有的老人为了读圣经，开始学习认字……当一位老人临终时，义工们告诉他“耶稣爱你”，老人回答说“我也爱耶稣”。
麻风康复者的感恩
“什么是一家人的生活从来不知道，到了晚年才享了几天福”，13岁患病，在麻风村生活了60年的叶大爷说，“苦了一辈子，哭都哭不出泪来。”叶大爷说，以前拉尿都在屋里，进屋需要捏着鼻子，早晚都要死，为什么要这样活下去呢？他尝试过吃安眠药、喝老鼠药等方式自杀，因为呕吐，命都保住了。“我们这些家庭不要，社会不要的人，他们却跟我们同吃同住。他们不吃俺的，不喝俺的，就是伺候俺。现在有这些基督徒的帮助，活着有点儿意思了。”叶大爷感恩地说道。
73岁的陈大爷说道：“我住的地方离村庄3里路，52年都没有人敢和我打交道，从来没想过，世界上还有这样的好人，不怕我这样的人，和我一起住，给我吃的，帮我洗澡，我现在感觉自己是最幸福的人。”
刚30岁出头的任弟兄是新发病的麻风患者，当他面部、手脚起了严重的麻风反应时，他曾在外边流浪了15天。当时，要坐公交车司机拒载；去超市被赶了出来；趁着人少的时候去饭店吃饭，正在吃饭的顾客放下碗筷就走，老板赶紧赶走了他；晚上想在公园过夜，又被管理人员赶走……
“当时最大的心愿就是睡个好觉，吃口饱饭，这对于正常人很平常的事，对于我来说却是那么遥远。”实在是太饿了，任弟兄想过乞讨，出于自尊没有迈出那一步，有一次他摘了公园里盆景的小桔子来充饥。
在医院治疗一年半后，医生说他已经康复，不能继续住院。此时，他担心自己又要流浪了，未曾想到“助手”团队向他伸出援助之手。基督徒义工们不嫌弃他，带他出去散心，有一次郑弟兄跟他一起吃饭，他担心饭店的老板再次把他赶出去，低头慢慢地吃着。突然，郑弟兄从他碗里夹了一口菜吃，他当时震惊了，因为从小到大只有父母吃过他碗里的饭菜。“这一筷子打开了我的心，让我归向了上帝。”如今，已基本康复的任弟兄参与到服侍老人的队伍中。
盼望更多基督徒的参与
“助手”团队的几位同工介绍，据十多年前的一项统计称，当时国内有600多家麻风病康复村，有24万多人，如今，许多老人已经离世，很多康复村合并，人数和康复村的数量都减少了很多。
即便如此，需要服侍的群体仍然有很多。“助手”团队目前服侍的同工有60人，这比人数最多时减少了将近一半，目前的同工都是全职服侍4年以上，他们在山东、江苏、江西、广东的7个麻风康复村服侍，另外，他们还建立了三个“迷羊之家”，收留、照顾无家可归的流浪汉。
在事工最初几年，“助手”团队只是默默地服侍，最近几年，他们开始到一些教会做见证，希望能有更多的基督徒一起服侍麻风病康复者，给这些生活在痛苦、绝望当中的人盼望。
笔者后记：
这是笔者第一次走进麻风康复村，两天的走访过程中，心灵多次被震撼。
当笔者看到那一个个触目惊心、无法想象的伤口时，笔者的心在流泪，“主啊，还有这样的世界啊，这些人承受了多么多难以想象的伤痛啊”；
当听到郑弟兄见了金爷爷一面后，辞了工作，生命来到180°的翻转，全心投入到麻风康复者的服侍中时，笔者想到了耶稣呼召最初门徒的场景，明白了榜样的力量如此之大；
当我见到这些卖了房子、辞了工作在这里谦卑的服侍这些老人的义工时，心深深地被他们舍己地爱所折服；
当我看到一个姊妹为老人洗脚、清洗伤口时，是那样的自然，没有一点点地嫌弃，笔者想到了耶稣给门徒洗脚，耶稣触摸了麻风病人的场景；
当看到他们有人因长年无休的服侍而显出的疲态时，笔者感到很心疼；
当看到他们常常喜乐的说笑时，笔者感受到，原来背起十字架跟从主的生活，真的可以在看似很苦的环境中喜乐；
主啊，愿有更多的基督徒可以献上自己当作活祭，能够在不同的位置上践行神的话语，在这个世界中发光、作盐！
一些基督徒抛家舍业长年无休的服侍麻风病康复者
When it comes to leprosy, people feel scared. However, a group of Christians sold their houses and gave up their stable jobs to voluntarily serve in leprosy rehabilitation villages across China all year round.
The volunteers included a mother who sold her houses and together with her three daughters, served leprosy survivors for eight years, a millennial-generation brother who visited over 50 leper colonies, and an elderly Christian couple who kept working for four or five years rather than enjoy their retirement life.
On the date of the International Leprosy Festival which falls on the last Sunday of January, I, together with two workers from the local church, paid a visit to two leprosy rehabilitation villages in Shandong province.
The establishment of a volunteer "helping" team
The establishment of the ministry that serves those who recover from leprosy arose from suicide by a leprosy survivor.
Grandpa Kim, the founder, found that the person he visited the first time took his own life in a hospital. News of the suicide pierced Kim's heart and led to him reflecting on it. He recalled, "Is the God whom I believe really fair? Who will tell leprosy survivors that 'Jesus loves you'? I will tell them that 'Jesus loves you and I love you, too'."
Grandpa Kim patched a leprosy survivor up.
In February 2006, the "helping" team began serving in a leprosy village in Yanji, Jilin. Later the volunteers continued their work in more than 40 similar colonies in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Hubei, and Shaanxi provinces. During its peak, the volunteers numbered over 100.
Currently, most of the surviving members living in rehab villages are above 70 years of age and are hardly able to take care of themselves because of their handicaps.
Devoted to being their hands, legs, and feet, the ministry helps them deal with simple, everyday affairs. Seemingly simple tasks are very challenging and have many difficulties.
Hardships
Visual shock. Leprosy survivors have different levels of handicaps. A slight injury results in a finger becoming distorted and a severe effect is the loss of hands or legs. The disfiguration of faces, noses, and eyes are also common. Owing to the difficulty in healing, some survivors have unhealing wounds that make them look quite scary. Some wounds even have more than 100 maggots growing inside or discharge a bowl of pus. Sister Mo from Guangdong became terrified at the sight of massive infections or heavily disabled victims but gradually became less afraid of them.
Olfactory impact. Houses, where elderly survivors with mobility problems live, are full of foul odor. Bedridden members even urinate in bed. Unhealed wounds smell like slough. Brother Zhang, in his twenties, said that at first he couldn't help but vomit.
Unbearable loneliness and boredom. When Sister Xiao Bao became engaged in the ministry, she was less than 20 years old. For eleven months she lived in a mountainous leper colony in Guangxi with her mother and elder sister. There was no telephone or entertainment facilities. She only once went downhill from the mountain. Thinking back on that period, she felt grateful because reading the Bible was the happiest thing during those days of boredom.
Suffering from being misunderstood and wronged. Showing love doesn't necessarily produce gratitude on the part of the recipient, but rather sometimes misunderstanding and insults. A sister washed the dirty clothes of an elderly person who scolded her, thinking that she had thrown them away. Some residents claimed that their clothing, food, or money had been stolen by volunteers. In order to accompany an old woman, a sister stayed with her for nine months but ended up being evicted. Nevertheless, ministry workers were able to continue on, moved by meditation on Jesus' teaching about loving one's enemies.
"Not-to-be-refused hospitality". For some volunteers, the biggest challenge was to have food given by survivors. A young sister described a scene in which an old man gave her a pastry with his misshapen hand that had saliva flowing from his mouth onto it. What would you do? If you refused, that man would feel like having been given the cold shoulder. The only choice would be to resist your inner refusal and eat it.
Tiredness without vacations. Sister Tian who volunteered there for eight years said that the long hours of work led to a breakdown in the volunteers' health. Volunteers worked 365 days a year without holidays or celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year. She added, "Who would take care of those seniors if the volunteers rested?"
Joy and peace from the ministry
Several workers told me with a smile that their lives had been renewed and that they had received joy and peace. They wouldn't have left the villages even though they were paid ten or twenty thousand yuan a month.
Brother Zheng, together with his family, had volunteered for 12 years. He had been a "prodigal" man who had often fought and drank but was deeply touched after visiting Grandpa Kim and wished to become a man like him. The second day he resigned his job and joined Kim. Zheng stated that serving survivors might have seemed dull and boring, but he had fallen in love with the work. In his opinion, it had become his life. For him, the lives of his relatives and friends were unacceptable. Some of his rich elders hadn't supported their parents and friends hadn't given him genuine help when he was in trouble. That kind of world was too awful.
Brother Zheng carried a leprosy victim.
Sister Zhang from Jiangxi and her son, who used to work in a factory, also quit their jobs and afterward volunteered full-time at the leper colony. She laughed and said, "Serving is not just about good deeds, but also about putting God's word into practice and the experience of it and following the way Jesus walked. That joy is given by God. Otherwise, how can you be joyful with nothing?"
Sister Zhang washed the feet of an old survivor.
Some of the residents were moved to faith and decided to follow Christ. After converting, they studied the Bible hard, which brought much comfort and strength to the volunteers.
An 88-year-old man with failing eyesight was able to recite Psalm 119. Some could recite the Gospel of Matthew and some started to learn to read. When an older resident was dying, a volunteer told him that Jesus loved him, to which he then replied, "I also love Jesus".
Mr. Wang recited Psalm 119.
Gratefulness from leprosy rehabilitants
"Family life was something so new to me. In my elder years, I have finally lived this life for a few days, " said Ye, who has been living in a leprosy village for 60 years since the age of 13.
He used to urinate inside his house, which made the place smell very unpleasant. Fed up with that kind of life, he tried to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills or eating rat poison but failed after vomiting it up.
"We are abandoned by our families and society, but these Christians eat and live with us. I don't provide them with free food, but they serve us. Now that they help me, my life is worth living," he said gratefully.
Mr. Chen, 73, also shared, "My home is 1.5 kilometers away from the village. During the past 52 years nobody dared deal with me. I never imagined that there are good people who are not afraid of me, stay with me, feed and help me wash my body. I feel that I am the happiest man."
Brother Ren, in his early thirties, did not sleep well for 15 days after leprosy recently severely affected his face, hands, and legs. At that time, his greatest wish was to have a good sleep and enough food to eat.
After being treated in a hospital for a year and a half, Ren recovered and had to leave the hospital. Then the "helping" team helped him. Now he also volunteers in the ministry.
Expecting more Christians to join
Some ministry workers shared that according to a survey conducted over a decade ago, there were 600 leprosy rehabilitation centers and more than 240,000 leprosy survivors in China. Now many older victims have passed away and many rehab villages have amalgamated, reducing the number of survivors and centers.
Even so, there is still a large number of survivors who need to be served.
The "helping" team has 60 members, which is half the number when it was at its peak. All the members have served in seven centers in Shandong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces for at least four years. What's more, three homes that take in the homeless and care for them have been set up.
During the early years, the ministry "quietly" served this special group. In recent years they have started to share their testimonies in churches, hoping more Christians would join them.
- Translated by Karen Luo
Christians Leave Families and Homes to Serve Leprosy Survivors
