For this crippled old man, 'no reason to live on this earth' — until he finds Jesus on the road via OM missionaries

An abandoned handicapped elderly man eats a warm meal on his bed courtesy of the Operation Mobilization elderly care centre in Moldova.(OM)

An old man hobbling on crutches, looking for food to sustain him even for a day, with no one left in his family to care for him, finally met Jesus on the road—and his life was transformed.

Vasile is from Moldova, an Eastern European country and former Soviet republic. It is one of the remote places in the world where missionaries from Operation Mobilization (OM) are busy helping the poor and spreading the Word of God.

In Moldova, OM is helping churches operate an elderly care project, along with many other undertakings all aimed at bringing Christ to the doorstep of the needy.

Vasile is just one of the many beneficiaries of OM's elderly care project.

"I was often thinking that there is no reason to live on this earth," he told an OM worker. "My wife died a few years ago, and I had an accident with an axe and lost a leg. I have remained alone and powerless."

However, his bleak outlook in life faded when he met a woman from the local evangelical church while limping down the road on his crutches, the Mission Network News reports.

The woman, who worked in the elderly care centre run by OM Moldova, offered to take in Vasile to ease his plight. The church now provides him hot meals at least five days a week, easing his hunger as well as his loneliness.

"I have spoken with him about the love of God; he listens with pleasure, asks many questions, and we are happy that we included him in the project," the woman shared.

Vasile wondered why he is being treated with so much care by strangers, saying the love and care he is being given is beyond his imagination.

"I like this church; the people there care for others whom nobody else cares about," he said.

OM started its elderly care centre in Moldova in May 2014, and it has already uplifted the lives of many poor and neglected elderly residents in the area.

The OM workers emphasise that in all they do, they strive to please God and not to impress people.

They say this undertaking facilitates their evangelisation work since people they help are more favourably disposed to hearing the Word of God and embracing Jesus Christ.