Remember the Poor

shared by Cindy May

For many years, Voice of the Martyrs has been one of my favorite ministries.  Today, a prisoner alert for Kim Kyung ll was posted, with an urgent call for an outpouring of public action.

If you are able, please join me in praying for Kyung, writing a letter (automatically translated into Chinese) to him, and leaving a message at the Chinese Embassy 213-807-8088, #3.

Location: China
Arrested: May 2002
Days Imprisoned: 3201

Print Fact Sheet

During early 1997, Kim Kyung ll and his brother crossed the border from North Korea into China. The following year he met a pastor, became a Christian and joined a Bible study group. Under the leadership of this pastor, Kyung ll served refugees from North Korea and started Bible studies in the Chengdoo region. He later became involved with sending refugees to South Korea.

Kyung ll was overseer of a safe house that discipled over 70 refugees. When a large number from the group were arrested by the Chinese police, he fled with some of the remaining refugees to the China-Mongolian border. He and his wife were captured, but the rest of the group continued their journey in the desert. Without their leader, they wandered for two days and finally crossed the border into Mongolia, where they reached the South Korean embassy and received passage to South Korea.

Kyung ll and his wife were sent back to North Korea and placed in prison. His pregnant wife was hit in the stomach with a stick forcing an abortion. In the prison there were many inmates who knew Kim well, but they protected him by pretending not to know him. Thus the authorities did not realize how involved he was with helping refugees escape from North Korea. He was released after serving only a short sentence. He remembers that those who protected his identity while in prison had asked him to work harder to let the world know about their situation.

Kim’s wife was released from prison shortly after the forced abortion. She escaped to South Korea with other family members. After his release, Kyung ll fled to China and worked at another safe house. He continued to disciple refugees and assisted them in escaping to South Korea. During April 2002, he was caught by the Chinese police. Since his arrest, he has been held in prison in China. He is scheduled to be sent back to North Korea when released from prison in China. All his family now live in South Korea. Pray Kim Kyung ll will not be sent back to North Korea, where he will surely be executed.

Deportation and Execution Likely
Kim Kyung ll has been in prison 10 years. Just days ago, VOM contacts received word that his sentence is expected to be commuted and he may be free in September. Normally this would be cause for rejoicing, but as soon as Kim Kyung ll is released he’ll face deportation to North Korea. There, he will almost certainly be executed. Our contact writes, “The only hope he may have is a huge outpouring of public awareness, which might at least delay his execution.”

Friends are working frantically to help Kim Kyung ll, but it’s not easy. Please pray for a solution and write Chinese officials today.*

*The email addresses provided for writing Chinese officials are not working.  The Embassy is denying/blocking them.  Leaving a message at the Embassy is the best way to communicate with them right now.

shared by Cara Murray

The new ambulance

The people of Alelesi seem to be doing well. When we first visited this community about 200 people had returned to the villages from the IDP camps (internally displaced persons), and now that number is up to almost 600. It is a great sign that people are leaving the camps, rebuilding their homes and starting to plant crops again.

We heard from many people how the bibles and  borehole (well) have really impacted the community. We heard stories from the community how many people have started going to church.

We also heard how the overall health of the community has improved drastically because of the borehole. They said that there are very few cases of diarrhea and skin rashes. They also said that they are able to accomplish a lot more during their days since they spend less time fetching water.

This woman shared how she benefited from the borehole.

One woman shared that her health has drastically improved with the new borehole because she is living with AIDS and previously the long distance to fetch water would make her extremely tired and she would have stop several times on the long trip. She is so grateful that with the clean water and easy access she is in much better health. We also heard from many people that abuse in the homes has decreased since the time it takes to fetch water has decreased. The several hours that it would take before would cause fights in the homes between husbands and wives and there would also be fights at the boreholes due to the amount of people waiting to get water.

We gave the community the bicycle that was donated and they were very excited. They are going to elect a committee to oversee the maintenance and operations of the bike. Since the bike will be available for the entire community to rent at a very small cost, the committee will oversee the scheduling and collection of money. We told the community that the purpose of the bike was 1) for emergency situations when somebody got sick and needed to go to the clinic and 2) for people to rent, as they need to go to town for the markets to either sell their crops or buy supplies. They were very receptive to this and the committee will put together rules and regulations for the use of the bicycle.

The borehole committee has collected over 300,000 shillings ($130) from monthly collections from the community and is lending out the money to the community, as they need it. Many people have been able to take their sick children to the clinic with this money and some have started small businesses.

Gospel Sharing
In both villages, Alelesi and Appeleun, I shared on Exodus 14 and 16, the story of how God freed the Israelites out of Egypt, led them across the Red Sea and how He provided for them time and time again. However, as we see through Exodus the Israelites continue to doubt God and at times wish they had never left Egypt. I talked about how many people give their life to Christ but when difficult times come they quickly doubt God and resort to complaining and other ways of dealing with the situation. Witchcraft and worship of ancestral spirits and culture are very common in Africa and I encouraged them to look at the Israelites and check their hearts. We don’t want a faith that is an inch deep but a faith that goes deep. We want to put all of our faith and trust in God alone.

We ought to not judge the Israelites but take the time to check our faith and assess if we turn to God during the tough times or if we complain and resort to other means. The people of both Alelesi and Appeleun spent upwards of 40 years living in camps because of the violence and attacks from the Karamonjog people. Despite the current difficult situations I encouraged them to look back on how God has provided for them and turn to Him in their current situations. Many people are returning back to the villages, starting gardens and living without fear, the very thing they wanted for years. God provided a borehole in each community that has allowed them to build homes and has improved their health drastically.

I also talked about how God provided for the Israelites out of love. He did not provide for them out of obligation or because the Israelites deserved it, he did it because he loved them. We also looked at Luke 12 about how God provides for the ravens and how much more God loves us than birds.

A message we continue to share when we go to these villages is that we come out of love and we feel the most important thing we can bring is the Word of God. We continue to encourage them to come together as a community and worship, pray and read the Word together.

“The world is lost because the world participated in the fall. That is what distinguishes the world from creation, which is good. ‘World’ is the biblical word for fallen creation- spoiled in its nature, its structures, and its systems by involvement with the fall of its caretaker- man. Thus there is no changing the world by humanitarian ideals or rational principles, because they originate in the world’s equally spoiled caretaker. Only God can change the world by a gracious recreation of the caretaker, followed by the restoration of the world (Romans 8:19-22)”.~ unknown

We received the following email a couple of months ago from someone we have never met. We thought we would share it here. Frank and Cindy May

Hello,

My name is Charlie, a dentist in Spokane. I was searching around the internet for missions in dentistry, etc., when I happened upon a link to your ministry. I had no intention on going to the site as I surveyed the list of links. I do not know you and there are many ministries out there. But for some reason, my eyes kept seeing your names and I was compelled to go there. And so I did.

I loved reading your blog and my heart was moved.

I saw your links to David Platt and I had never heard of him. But you said it was a “must-see” for Christians, so I took you up on that. Well, let’s make a long story short, our family has been having “video nights” using David’s series and they have impacted us in amazing ways.  Not an hour goes by without some kind of thought towards our richness and how we can use our resources for heaven and not for ourselves just as Christ showed us. You were right: they are life-changing and I could not be more excited for what God is doing.

So I want to thank you. You, who I do not know, yet used by God to direct our thoughts towards heaven.

David Platt has become kind of a “second” pastor to us and a regular on our podcast subscriptions. I’m especially moved to see my 19 year old downloading many of David’s sermons to his ipod and the other night he had friends in his room and when I dropped in, they were watching one of David’s sermons on Radical Christianity. This has been real powerful.

Tomorrow night we start the Faith Works series. I’m excited about that. We would love to get other families involved with us too as they would be great for a small group ministry.

God Bless you guys in all your ministry and I will always be grateful to you as

Your brother in the Lord,
Charlie

We are so thankful to the person who introduced us to David Platt’s teaching on one of the most important subjects in the Bible.  We can’t help but share what God has used in our lives.  For anyone who leads a small group, these are two excellent series. (Click on the images above for links to the two online video message series.) Frank has led a couple of groups through this. And we love going through it again ourselves. It is powerful, and truly is a “must-see”. It fits well into a 13-week group. If you have questions or ideas, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact us! ~ Frank and Cindy

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:23-25

shared by Nicholas Kowald

Hi! My name is Nicholas. I am 12 years old and I live in Australia but I am on my way to Africa!!

My uncle drove us to the airport and we hopped out of the car and grabbed our suit cases and walked into the building. Team Australia consisted of me, Aunty Narelle and Dad. After 12 hours of flying we touched down on the ground in South Africa and got off the plane. It was a long trip and now I was suffering from jet lag. It was the first time I had ever experienced it.

Finally Team Australia reached Uganda after a few hours of flight and now the jet lag was really starting to hit me. I swear I could have fallen asleep when we arrived. We were met by Frank (Team America), Seggy (Team Uganda) and Mark who was in Team Uganda as well. We had dinner at a hotel and then left for Banana Village. We reached Banana Village and then I crashed… 

Me and dad woke up and walked around to see Banana village, when I casually mentioned how cool it would be to see some monkeys. Trusting my luck we walked outside and looked around and a monkey tried to kill us… literally it started dropping random bits of rotten fruit down to hit us on the head. Luckily no one was hurt. What a fun welcome to Uganda!

One thing I forgot to mention was that the Greg and Patti Kerr arrived last night so now we were a proper team united from different continents. We were together. The team was as follows: Team America: Greg, Frank, Patti and Cara (Cara lives in Uganda but is born in America so its hard to categorize her!) Team Australia: Nicholas, Andrew and Narelle and finally Team Uganda: Seggy and every other person here!

We traveled for five hours to get to our first destination: “Gulu”. On the way we saw the Nile river and baboons. Even Cara was acting like a tourist! We reached our hotel (which I highly disliked, next time I want to sleep in a hut) and met Pastor Experito and his wife Justine. I then went for a swim in the hotel pool and we left for dinner…

We all sat down, ordered and 4 hours later we got our last meal. At least we got to know everyone better. We had taken a young man for dinner named Alfred and he didn’t seem to mind that the food had taken so long.  In fact we might still be waiting for my drink!

The next day we headed out to Alfred’s parents house where we saw the borehole (well) that Remember the Poor had donated. After a short visit we prayed for them and got back into the car. We then drove for a long time to a school where we were greeted by song and dance. We then left after talking to everyone. On the way back Pastor Experito’s tire deflated and we had to leave him.

The next day we went back to the school again. We all split up into two groups and left for three houses each. Unfortunately at our first house no one was there so that took it down to two, but everything else was awesome such as when we reached the first house we went inside their hut and I prayed and talked to them. (Using a translator) I said “I wish I lived here… you have way better houses than what we have in Australia… we have these massive houses that we don’t need.” The reply was “from now on you live here” and lots of laughs.“  Dad then said that my Mum would be sad if I stayed here!

The second house I found puppies and I played with them. They asked my dad whether or not I wanted to keep one… my dad’s reply was that we already had a dog… anyway how would we get it back to Australia?

We left Gulu that day…  I had decided that someday I was going back.

We keep going all over the place, which is fine with me!  And now we are going to Katakwi from Banana Village, but on the way there we are stopping at Seggy’s parents house for lunch, there I eat a feast with my hands… it was sooooooooooooooooo good. I got out the rocket balloons and I brought kids from all over to watch. It was awesome!

One the way to Katakwi, God put on a “Fire works” display for us (lightning is awesome). We reached the place we were staying but there were not enough rooms for all of us, so Seggy and Cara found more rooms at a nearby motel.

Today I woke up remembering that I somehow was meant to find verses for my preaching to the kids in Apelleun… but the light was not working and it was still dark. I waited a bit longer. Then I got out my Bible and found what I wanted to use and Cara and Seggy came over to us for breakfast. We then got into the van rolled the door shut and started driving.  We reached the village and we were swarmed by numerous kids.  Something was telling me that this was going to be chaos.  I was right!  When I was speaking, the hundreds of kids lost interest and lots were looking forward to when I would stop talking. My message did not make its way to their ears. The translator was great; the number of kids was not. When we handed out the beads to the children to make bracelets we were swamped. I also used the rocket balloons and the kids went psycho over it. They loved it… I loved it!  

Alelesi was a lot better. We did the same thing but this time we made pre-made bracelets and there were twenty kids not three hundred, so we got a lot better response from the kids. And I felt that I spoke a lot better this time and the beads were in better control now, though the kids did not like the balloons as much this time but I liked this village better…

We then left Katakwi for Jinja so we sat down in the car and drove for a long time when we finally reached Jinja.  We went to Tonya’s house to stay and we talked for a while and I played with Christopher and Clayton until I had to go to bed.

I woke up surrounded by a mosquito net as usual and dropped down from the bunk bed; then I got up and went out to see only a few people up and doing things like me.  A while later Tonya had made us all banana bread which was really nice. Dad had also invented nutella and banana which tastes just like a chocolate banana– we had a banana breakie. We then got everyone together and we walked to Renee’s house and were met by lots of little children and mothers. Dad got me to have a photo with a young baby named Sophia.  Soon I was cradling her.



At lunch time I went out to help feed the five hundred! They consisted of all children. I was handing out the bananas and having a great time. It was really tiring though! 

The next day was my last day in Uganda in which I gave one hundred dollars to Cara for a bike and cart for the Alelesi village, and after I took a bodoh bodoh (a taxi like motorcycle) with dad to Cara’s house it was so fun! We walked to the Nkumba School/ church and took two children with us to go to the beach (Lake Victoria). At the beach we had fish and chips which tasted great. I even ate the eye ball. It was the best! I felt really sad that I had to go and I kept on looking at my surrounding area thinking how much I would miss it all, and I promised many people that I would come back. I said goodbye to the people I would not see in the morning and went to bed.

I awoke and remembered I was leaving and I was really sad. Frank, Patti and Greg got up early to see the Australians off and then we were driven to the airport by Seggy.

So here I am sitting at this computer typing up 2 weeks of information: a really hard job to get information to you. I love Uganda and I need to go back someday… as a missionary!…. someday.

shared by Andrew Kowald (recent Vision Trip participant and father to Michaela and Nicholas)

Well after many months of anticipation, my son Nicholas (12 years old) and my sister Narelle and I are finally here in Africa – for the very first time. It still feels like a dream a lot of the time – a very, very good dream! It is amazing to finally meet up with Frank, Seggy and Cara after hearing so much about them and with Greg and Patti completing our team we were set for an adventurous and life changing time together here in Uganda.

So far we have spent a lot of time on the bus, travelling to some very remote villages along some very bumpy, muddy and narrow dirt roads. With the mix of Australians, Americans and Ugandans in the one bus there has been a lot of laughter and joking about the different sayings and ways of doing things in our respective countries.

Although we have only been here for 5 days it is amazing to reflect on the experiences we have shared and the people we have met so far. Here is an example of one day the life of an Australian visitor in Uganda.

This morning we all jumped on the bus, including Pastor Experito (who is our main contact here in Gulu and a very lively, passionate man of God.) The destination for today was a piece of land at least an hours drive from Gulu town on which a school classroom has recently been built. At one stage we managed to get bogged in a very muddy section of the road but with some strong pushing from Frank & Greg and some skilful driving from Seggy we finally made it through.

After arriving at the school I was privileged to be able to interview Pastor Experito about his journey to Gulu over 15 years ago when the rebels from the “Lords Resistance Army (LRA)” were terrorizing Northern Uganda by murdering, maiming and abducting many people, especially children. In spite of the constant danger and threat to his life, Experito continued to preach the gospel everywhere, even when many others were leaving the province and thought Experito was crazy to stay. I felt very privileged to be able to spend so much time with Experito and am inspired by his boldness and zeal to partner with God in seeing lives transformed.

We then had the opportunity to visit a couple of families in their homes. So here I was sitting in a little mud hut in the middle of the African bush talking with a mother and her children through an interpreter. The mother shared how she and her son had both been very sick and even after spending time in the hospital there was no improvement. She then visited a church where the  pastor prayed for them and they were healed. After this the mother put her trust in Jesus and was born again.

The mother then sang a song of praise to God and we all clapped along. My son Nicholas then explained that he liked this house/hut better than his own home back in Australia which was too big and had lots of unnecessary space. There was lots of laughter followed by an invitation expressing that he was more than welcome to stay with them. Nicholas then prayed for the Ugandan family but decided he’d better not stay as his mum might miss him too much!

It is difficult to express in words how special we felt to be able to engage with these people in this way. Although this is only a tiny snippet of our visit so far I hope it gives you a small taste of what we have been doing and learning. Thanks especially to Cara & Seggy (two absolute legends!!!) for organizing this life changing “vision” trip. Even though I am only half way through my time here I can say without any hesitation that if you ever get the chance to do something like this, grab the opportunity with both hands and run with it. You will never regret it!!

shared by Cara Murray

By a little boy named Andrew. He is wonderful and I love him. A lot.

I clearly remember the first time I read about Andrew. Cindy had sent out a blog entry on him. I don’t remember the details other than I felt her love and desire to see this child flourish as I read her post. Shortly after she sent the blog, I went to Uganda for a visit (little did I know that visit would result in a rather severe move and career change for me but I suppose that is for another blog entry).

I remember walking up to Andrew’s house. Nothing could prepare me for his condition. I was hesitant to greet him and I remember trying to act casual and easy as I walked up to him but inside I was terrified. He wasn’t a huge fan of me at first but seemed to be excited about the car we had driven, turns out ‘motorcar’ is similar enough to understand. Andrew was seated outside on a mat. He was half clothed and unable to move towards us. His head was very large, his legs were really little and he had limited use of his arms. I had never seen anything like it before. He spoke well and was clearly excited to see Seggy (again, not a fan of me – I tried not to take it personally). At the time we weren’t 100% sure of his condition but it was later confirmed that he suffers from Hydrocephalus.

My interaction at that time was limited but when I moved to Uganda in October 2009 I knew I needed to follow up on Andrew. Over the course of several months and many trips to different clinics, we discovered that Andrew was in fact healthy. There is no way to reverse the hydrocephalus this late in life or reduce the size of his head, but we were encouraged by the doctors to focus on improving his quality of life. On a trip to Mbale, several hours outside of Kampala, we visited a children’s hospital that concentrates on neurological issues, including hydrocephalus. One of the doctors showed us a CT scan of a ‘normal’ human brain and then the CT scan from Andrew. The comparison was unbelievable. The CT scan of a ‘normal’ healthy brain showed large amounts of gray or brain matter with little parts of black or water around the brain. Andrew’s CT scan showed almost all black, meaning his head was primarily full of water and only a small amount of gray along the outside. The doctor was so surprised to see how little brain matter Andrew had and how high functioning he was. It was at that moment we learned to appreciate how healthy and able Andrew was. Up until that point we had focused on all the things he was unable to do. Andrew is unable to walk, has limited use of his right hand and unable to move around independently but as the doctor pointed out, he is able to talk, he is able to joke around and laugh, he is able to count to 10 in English and able to feed himself. After that appointment the doctor sent us away with the advice that we focus on helping Andrew become as independent as possible and encouraged us to get him intense physical and occupational therapy. I left Mbale extremely grateful and in awe of God’s goodness. It was truly a moment of looking at the glass half-full instead of half-empty. Despite it being a long journey and somewhat hard on Andrew, he was a trooper and absolutely loved each minute of the car ride. As we pulled up to his house after a 6-hour car ride home he announced that he didn’t want to go home, he wanted to continue driving around. We all laughed. It was a great ending to the trip.

I will say however that during the trip I had times of great frustration with Andrew. He is 8 years old and has several mannerisms of a 4 year old. He whines when he wants something and cries when you make him do something he doesn’t want. And his mother allows it. There were several points when I wanted to intervene but something told me showing Mama Andrew how to parent would not be all that loving. I prayed for patience and a solution.

A few weeks after our return I was talking with Seggy and we remembered that another clinic for physically disabled children had a residential program. After a bit of discussion and a trip to Katelemwa, the clinic, we decided to have Andrew join the residential program with a caretaker for a month to see how he would do with daily therapy and a bit of time away from home. When Andrew is at home he spends all day sitting on a mat outside. His mother has 3 other children and given Andrew’s size, taking him to church and other places is extremely difficult. Not only was the therapy a big part of the reason to take him, I knew time in another environment with other children and loving caretakers would be so good for his development. Secretly I also hoped he would learn to stop whining and crying so much, but that was the not-so-patient Cara thinking.

Andrew has now been at Katelemwa for one month and I am happy to report he is thriving. The first week was extremely difficult, both physically and emotionally for him but he is doing so well now. The second week he was there I went to visit and it was at that point that something changed. I have always loved his child, but during that visit Andrew and I connected in a really special way. I can only say that God was at work b/c it was not by Andrew’s or my doing. He spent much of the first week whining and crying but after a few discussions, he has made great strides. He is now laughing with all the nurses and staff and has even told them to ‘watch out during therapy because he can kick.’ I’m not saying that threatening to do physical harm is funny but in this situation it is funny b/c not only can Andrew not kick (his legs are still too weak), he is showing love for his helpers.

Earlier this week I went to visit Andrew and as I walked in he shouted “Muzungu!” (word for white person in Luganda). I responded with “Ani?” (who?) and he screamed “Auntie Caro!” I brought him some new toys and he repeatedly thanked me in English. We spent time doing exercises and laughed and clapped, which is great fun since he is gaining use of his right hand. He rubs my arm when I come, he touches my hair and we spend time laughing. He spends most of the time talking to me in Luganda and while I don’t understand anything he says, he doesn’t seem to mind and the other kids in the room laugh. Within the first few minutes of seeing him he’ll ask for money, tell me wants to eat rice and asks if we are leaving b/c he wants to go in the car, and something that used to bother me now makes me smile with joy.

While he isn’t able to walk yet or move around independently, he is getting there and most importantly he seems really happy. I’m not sure how much longer he will stay as the caretaker has literally put her life on hold, but I pray we can keep him there for at least another month. I ask that you pray for this situation as well. If we do have to take him back home we’ll find a solution and I imagine I’ll be taking him a few days a week to a local clinic for therapy but it would be my desire to see him stay at Katelemwa for a bit longer.

The pictures below show Andrew trying to get dressed, moving himself in his wheelchair and clapping. Enjoy!