Each year, Adventist Possibilities Ministries (APM) celebrates a special Sabbath to create awareness and to reach families with disabilities. For the second consecutive year, Adventist pastors and leaders across the Mongolia Mission preached a sermon for this special Sabbath.

“Sharing the Love” was the theme that mobilized the Mongolia Mission APM and Volunteer Service to reach children with special needs. A total of 30 families participated in the program. “It is a blessing to report that 11 out of 30 families are Seventh-day Adventist, and that 19 are not church members,” organizers said.

Children ranged from 2 to 15 years old. Organizers contacted each family asking what they would like to receive as supplies or gifts for their children. They received positive responses, and the children were provided with toys and supplies.

The “Share the Love” service was held at Emmanuel Church for Ulaanbaatar residents, since the building is wheelchair accessible. During the program, volunteers distributed APM brochures and the book The Final Hope, by Clifford Goldstein.

Families and children appreciated the gifts they received, and each child took home a heart-shaped craft they made with their parents. During the program, parents were given the option of a relaxing massage by the National Association of Blind Chiropractors. Parents who received the massages were happy and grateful. “In their daily routine, parents provide massage for their children, but not for themselves,” one of the organizers explained.

 “Today was a day full of joy, laughter, and tears, where my beautiful children enjoyed one of the most remarkable days in the year. Thank you for your kindness and love. Thank you for the team who provided vitamins, Pampers, napkins, toys, special medicine, [and] school supplies for every child with special needs. Also, thank you for the best massage by the blind chiropractors. Thank you for the good meal, music, insightful speech, photos full of memories, and the wonderful day where we met nice people who we haven’t seen for a long time,” one of the mothers who participated in the program said.

Organizers thanked the Northern Asia-Pacific Division APM for its assistance; the Andrew Chia family, for their financial support and donations; and the Emmanuel Church, for opening its doors to the children and their family members.

“We are grateful for being able to host this program twice a year for these children through the generosity of many people,” organizers said. “It is important to keep these children with special needs in our daily prayers.”

Organizers also called on people to pray for those children to listen to God’s voice and accept Jesus as their Savior, so they may one day receive the gift of new healthy bodies. “To God be the glory in touching the lives of children with special needs,” they said.

APM affirms that all are gifted, needed, and treasured; that people go where they are welcomed but stay where they are valued; and value is inherent through creation and not determined by what a person can or cannot do. It also states that each person is unique and has a God-given purpose. Included in that purpose is the call to enrich the lives of others, which flows out of a sense of gratitude for what they themselves have received.

The original version of this story was posted on the Northern Asia-Pacific Division news site.