Most Thais are Buddhists, believing they can reach nirvana if they gain enough merit. Many young men spend time as monks in order to do so.

Five months pregnant with her boyfriend's baby, Keng Chongthaveethum flew to Sydney, Australia, to be with him. There she discovered that her Australian lover was seeing another woman.

Keng considered suicide. "But then I thought I wasn't that stupid," she explains, "and I cried out for God's help without knowing who He is."

She returned to her hometown of Bangkok, Thailand. After her daughter Nickie was born, Keng found a job as a receptionist at the YWCA there.

All 100 YWCA employees are required to attend the weekly chapel services there. Keng was surprised by what she heard each week. "I wondered," says Keng, "Are they telling the truth?"

So when, a few months later, Prapasri Rarevutipong, a staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ, conducted a "spiritual survey" at the YWCA, Keng agreed to meet with her. After the survey, the two met again in the YWCA cafeteria over lunch. "She had so many questions about Christianity," remembers Prapasri, who explained the gospel to Keng.

"I am not ready yet," Keng replied, noticing that her lunch hour was already over. "Come back next week and I will receive Christ properly."

The following week, Keng accepted Jesus as her Savior. She then showed the JESUS video to her 8-year-old sister, Mook, who prayed and received Christ. Mook soon helped lead their mom to faith in the Lord.

"When I look back," says Keng, "I can see that He came to help me just in time."
—Jennifer Abegg

Packing Boxes of Love in Louisville, Ky.

Norma Thomas couldn't afford a Thanksgiving turkey.

At a Louisville, Ky., grocery store, she debated whether or not to buy the bird and skip all the other food on her list.

"Thanksgiving dinner and turkeys are a big thing in the South," explains Debbie Maize with Here's Life Inner City, the urban ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. "They're very important."

Norma decided to wait. She remembers, "I got down on my knees before I got into bed and prayed."

A few days went by. On Sunday, she went to church.

Norma's niece spotted her there and told her about some "Boxes of Love" that contained a turkey, the makings for a Thanksgiving dinner to feed six, as well as Christian literature. She told Norma they were being handed out by Greenhouse Ministries, a local church.

Norma collected a Box of Love.

"I know it was of God," says Norma, "because in my prayer I asked God to help me."

Of the 50 people who received Boxes of Love from Greenhouse Ministries (in partnership with HLIC), six people invited Christ to be their Savior, and 20 rededicated their lives to Him, says James Greene, the pastor of Greenhouse.

"Boxes of Love helped us gain respect in our neighborhood," says Deborah, James' wife. "People were touched. They got to know us better and came to our church. It put us on the map, so to speak."

"Boxes of Love show people that the gospel is practical," says Meredith Gandy, director of communications for HLIC. "We care about your physical needs as much as the spiritual."

HLIC also equipped Temple of Faith Baptist Church in Louisville to give out Boxes of Love. Through another partnership with the Campus Ministry of Campus Crusade, some college students went door to door to deliver the boxes on behalf of the church. One door they knocked on belonged to 30-year-old Darrell Braden.

"Nine out of 10 times the person who opens the door is hurting," says Debbie.

The students handed over the 25-pound box, containing another Thanksgiving meal. Then they all started talking. The students explained the gospel to Darrell and he prayed and received Christ that afternoon. Then they invited him to church.

"He came immediately—the next Sunday he was there," says Joyce Welch, the mission coordinator at Temple of Faith. "Within a month, he was baptized."

Darrell also got involved in a Bible study in December, and has been participating in it ever since.

Last Thanksgiving, 21 churches distributed 700 Boxes of Love in the city of Louisville alone. About 150 people indicated decisions to surrender their lives to Christ.

Boxes of Love were created in 1987, when leaders of an outreach to children in Brooklyn, N.Y., searched for a way to connect with parents. The leaders thought that if they gave the parents something they needed, they could more easily talk with the adults, and maybe even start a church. One leader, Bill Wilson, was a friend of HLIC, so HLIC helped him raise funds for the project. The first year the group gave away 1,000 boxes. A church has since begun.

HLIC helps churches around the nation distribute Boxes of Love. From Atlanta to Spokane, Wash., and from the Twin Cities to Greensboro, N.C., HLIC has equipped 550 urban church partners to connect to the poor in their neighborhoods.

Over 26,000 "Boxes of Love" were packed and distributed during the Thanksgiving holidays last year, and fed more than 150,000 people in 17 cities.
—Jennifer Abegg

For more information on Boxes of Love or HLIC, or to learn how you can participate, call (212) 494-0321.

In a world where one out of five college women suffers from an eating disorder, Stacey Kole, a former Miss Arizona and top-six Miss USA finalist, can relate. As a teenager, Stacey fought her own battle with anorexia.

In her recovery, Stacey realized she needed to stop placing so much importance on what she was doing and start focusing on simply being. Whenever she felt tempted by the pitfalls causing her eating disorder, Stacey remembered the unconditional love and acceptance promised by God.

Now Stacey, 29, wants to help others. Her role model is her father, André Kole, the world-renowned illusionist who started one of the first ministries of Campus Crusade for Christ.

"Ever since I was a young teenager," Stacey explains, "I have had a deep longing to make a difference in the lives of others. When I won the Miss Arizona title, I found how much I really loved helping other women who were dealing with the same thing I had dealt with."

Stacey, an advocate for eating-disorder education and prevention for the past 10 years, has been speaking on college campuses across the country. Stacey recounts her battle, as well as her experiences in the pageant and modeling industry.

"I want [students] to understand that eating disorders are not as much about having empty stomachs," says Stacey, "but about having empty hearts. A relationship with God is the only thing to fill their longing hearts."

Public universities welcome Stacey's message. In some cases, she is sponsored by the campus health services. Other times, she will work in partnership with the Greek systems where sororities make attendance a requirement for members. Comment cards are distributed at the end of Stacey's program, and sometimes up to 50 percent of the audience responds that they would like more information.

At Texas Tech University last year, Stacey spoke to a packed theater of 600 young women. "Stacey offered a good balance between facts, heart issues and the gospel itself," says Katherine Hill, a Campus Crusade staff member at Texas Tech. "We were able to maintain integrity with both the administration and professors while having the gospel explained in a clear manner."

Suzy, a freshman in the Kappa Delta sorority, attended Stacey's presentation at Texas Tech. Afterward, she filled out a response card and circled that she wanted more information about God.

As a result, a Campus Crusade staff member called and scheduled a time to meet with Suzy. As the two women sat in a coffee shop, Suzy told Mary Beth Minnis about growing up in a loving Christian home and going to church. Tearfully, she admitted that she had never made a personal decision to accept Christ. In college, Suzy had even started to doubt her beliefs in God.

Mary Beth proceeded to read through the Four Spiritual Laws booklet with Suzy and afterward invited her to Campus Crusade's weekly meeting. In time, the freshman learned how to entrust her life to God.

Stacey uses her personal story to communicate the gospel. For her, that simply means being obedient to God's will for her life. "When I speak, I feel God's pleasure," she says. For Suzy, and the many young women like her, Stacey's message brings hope and healing to starving souls.
—Amanda Hitchcock

For more information on Stacey Kole, visit www.staceykole.com.

Jane Furey waited in anticipation.

Her mentor, Claudia Ring, a Campus Crusade for Christ staff member, had asked the 48-year-old woman to communicate her faith in Christ during a neighborhood Christmas party. The women knew ahead of time that someone would focus on the true meaning of the season.

More than 40 women showed up at a suburban New Jersey home for the party. Amid holiday decorations, grandmothers and expectant mothers sipped coffee. A fireplace warmed the room.

Jane's moment came swiftly. But she was ready. She had rehearsed the content of the Four Spiritual Laws booklet and prayed about the opportunity for hours.

Jane explained how to have a personal relationship with Jesus—the real reason for celebration. And that night, six women indicated decisions to receive Christ.

Later, a woman approached Jane, ecstatic. "She had that look on her face," says Jane, "like she had really seen Jesus for the first time."

It was a new experience for both women. "I had prayed for years for the Lord to use me," says Jane. "It was a mountaintop experience. I was pinching myself."
—Chris Lawrence


Sweden
Campus Ministry

A mission trip to Stockholm, Sweden, could be a bleak experience, warned Campus Crusade for Christ staff member Matt Reeves. But 17 college students from the Southeast still signed up.

"I don't want to expect that no one is going to come to Christ," Mark told the team, the first of its kind to go to Sweden. "But the reality is that this could be a hard summer."

Swedes are known for their relativistic, intellectual approach to spiritual matters. Less than half believe there is a God, and similar to the rest of Europe, only 5 percent regularly attend church.

When one conversation drifted to Christianity, a skeptical Stockholm student said, "Two plus two equals four, but if someone really thinks it's five, then it can be five."

The group talked with more than 1,000 people. Of them, two committed to follow Christ. The U.S. students learned a crash course on European apologetics, and more.

"I don't fear students like I used to," says Allison Savage, a senior at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. "It's not about me or my knowledge, but simply Christ in my life and allowing Him to use me."
—Chris Lawrence


Bosnia
Worldwide Student Network

They met at midnight in the hole-in-the-wall pub.

Josh Irby and Jimmy Henderson, two Americans involved with Campus Crusade for Christ, greeted their new friend Darko Arsenovski in the underground pub in Sarajevo. A pub was the only kind of restaurant still open after Darko got off work.

Josh and Jimmy were determined to bring up spiritual issues with the Bosnian. "What do you think about religion and God?" Josh asked.

"I believe all religions are the same," Darko (above, with his girlfriend, Adisa) replied.

That response didn't surprise the Americans. "People in Sarajevo have pretty relativistic beliefs—those who aren't Muslim, that is," says Josh.

Josh says students in Sarajevo also don't understand God's grace—getting something you don't deserve. So he drew two boxes on a piece of paper for Darko, suggesting each box represented a test they were taking.

"I studied hard for the test and am going to get an A," the American told his new friend. "You don't know the answers and you're going to fail. But before we turn our tests in, I offer to switch tests. You write your name on mine, and I'll put mine on yours."

Then Josh drew two more boxes representing Darko and Jesus, explaining how Jesus had exchanged His life for those who believe. Christ did this, Josh said, so Darko could spend eternity in heaven.

Then Josh and Jimmy explained why Jesus is the only way. Unlike relativism, where a person believes they have to be better than most, the God of the Bible says people must be 100 percent perfect, which is impossible. God made it possible through Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

After an hour and a half, Darko demanded, "Why would anyone not want what Jesus offers?"

The Americans offered him the Four Spiritual Laws evangelistic booklet in his language and asked him to read the prayer. Then they scheduled to meet the next night at midnight to discuss the booklet.

Darko didn't show.

The men tried his cell phone. No answer. They figured Darko had changed his mind. "It's so difficult to be a Christian in that culture," says Josh.

Actually, Darko had hurt his leg and later rescheduled. The three met again, and the Americans asked Darko about the booklet. "I believe it," he replied. "Though on the back, it says to give it away. I've only read it three times. Can I read it more first?"

The Americans assured Darko he could and handed him another booklet to give away.
—Jennifer Abegg