QUITO, ECUADOR (ANS) -- The first and only Christian HIV/AIDS devotional has just been translated into Spanish by Professor Galen Yorba-Gray of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, and incidentally, the husband of the author, Joan Yorba-Gray. The English version of the devotional, entitled In His Shadow, was first printing in 2002.

Cover of the new HIV devotional.

It has now had a second printing and continues to be highly sought-after worldwide. It is being translated into a Chinese dialect, into Luganda and also Amharic. Now it is available in Spanish, and is entitled Bajo Su Sombra. It is a book of meditations on Scriptural passages that speak to the struggles of living with HIV/AIDS; the fear, the questioning, the anger at God, the worry, the temptation of suicide and depression.

But Joan Yorba-Gray, the author, who has lived with HIV/AIDS for twenty years now, finds hope in the midst of the fears through biblical meditation, prayer and most of all, her relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Yorba-Grays were able to take Bajo Su Sombra to Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador in July with their son and daughter in law, Daniel Resendez and Rebecca Cox, on a mission trip for He Intends Victory, an evangelical Christian HIV/AIDS ministry that operates in 20 countries worldwide (www.heintendsvictory.com). The He Intends Victory Ecuador Director, Rita Simons Proaño organized the mission trip, and her son, Lucas was an active missionary worker.

The team received unprecedented access at several facilities in Quito, including the Virgilio Guerrero boys’ reformatory, the women’s prison, and Radio Centro FM, where presented a brief HIV 101 course, gave out copies of the book, and shared their message of hope in living with HIV/AIDS. They traveled to visit 12 HIV/AIDS orphans at the Centro Jubilus orphanage outside of Quito, run by the Catholic Church, where they were able to provide the children with clothes, toys, candy and a cash gift sponsored by Sts. Timothy and Titus Anglican Church, in San Diego California. The church also donated clothing which was distributed at the prison, the reformatory, the orphanage and the children’s hospital in Guayaquil.

The mission team was able to visit the children in three HIV/AIDS wards in the Children’s Hospital of Guayaquil. The mothers had traveled from as far as 4 hours away as this is a regional hospital for many outlying districts. The mothers were alone, away from family and scared. The team encouraged them, prayed with them, gave out clothes, diapers, toothbrushes, toys, formula, cereal and Bajo Su Sombra. They also gave out the He Intends Victory Ecuador contact information so that the women could call for support in the future. One young mother was preparing to receive the results of her HIV test. Considering that her son in the hospital was HIV positive, she was certain that she would be positive as well. But she was going to have to get the results all alone and hours from her family. Rita gave the young woman her number in case she wanted to talk after she got the results. There were many prayers, tears and hugs and the women and children had happy faces to know that they had been loved in the way that Christ loves.

After the hospital visit, the team challenged young students at the Universidad Cristiana Lationamericana to see the field of HIV/AIDS as a mission field and to have compassion for those infected/affected by HIV/AIDS.

Joan Yorba-Gray, who is in Mexico City attending AIDS 2008, told ANS, “Ecuador has a growing incidence of cases of HIV/AIDS, with a rate of 17.3 per 100 thousand people. Guayaquil has one of the highest infection rates in the country and the homosexual community is heavily impacted. There are now 80,000 infections of HIV/AIDS in Ecuador, with 806 new infections in men this year and 546 in women. 315 men have been newly diagnosed with AIDS and 113 women have been newly diagnosed. This is information newly published by ONUSIDA July 30, 2008. As in many countries, stigma and discrimination still lead to poverty and hopelessness for people living with HIV/AIDS. Yet stigma, discrimination and poverty, the three conditions that aid and abet the pandemic, are very prevalent.”

She added, “My son Daniel shared his testimony for the first time ever on this trip and I was very proud of him. His father died of AIDS in 1989 and he could never share his testimony until now. He spoke about his anger and pain about losing his dad to AIDS and having his mother HIV positive. He spoke about how he just wanted to have as many years with his mom as possible.

“He shared that he had gotten into trouble because of all his anger but through his relationship with Jesus, he had had a door opened for inner healing. It was a very moving testimony. His wife Becky shared about stigma and discrimination and how destructive it is. She is preparing to start graduate school in social work in Moscow, Idaho in September 2008. This trip was a wonderful pre-graduate experience for her.”

He Intends Victory sponsors mission teams to Africa, Central America and South America annually. They are wonderful opportunities to have real hands-on experience ministering to people all over the world. For more information (in North America), please call 1-800-HIV-HOPE.

Dan Wooding, 67, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 44 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.