When North Korean Christians are caught crossing the border into China, they are sent back to their home country to be imprisoned or executed

Dear Friends,

Three years ago, at the age of 23, Rowe Mu escaped from North Korea in hopes of finding food for his family whom he left behind. As his parents had grown older, their ability to work and provide for him and his two siblings became increasingly more difficult. Finding a single meal to fill their hungry stomachs was a daily struggle. Many days the family simply didn’t eat. Rowe Mu knew he was the only son who was old enough to make the risky journey to China, a trip that could save his family—or cost him his life.

Once inside China, Rowe Mu found work in a restaurant. Although his employment was illegal, the restaurant owner took pity on him so he could send money back to his family inside North Korea. During that time, Rowe Mu heard about Christ through an underground evangelist. The message of the gospel deeply affected him, and he became a believer.

Like too many North Korean refugees hiding in China, Rowe Mu was discovered by Chinese police, arrested and turned over to North Korean police. He pleaded his case at his trial, telling the judge that he escaped to China only to feed his starving family. Still he was found guilty of desertion and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a labor camp.

After serving his term, Rowe Mu returned to his family, who had somehow survived during his absence. His newfound faith in God had sustained him in prison, so he again cried out for the Lord to rescue his family. God was listening, and He connected Rowe Mu with an outside operative who smuggles food inside North Korea. That operative has since begun serving the underground churches and Christian families in Rowe Mu’s city.

Over the past year, Rowe Mu’s family has received distributions of both food and the Scriptures. They are overwhelmingly grateful for God’s provision and now live with a newfound hope. Thanks so much for supporting our North Korean brothers and sisters in Christ through Heaven’s Family’s North Korean Christians Fund.

Sincerely in Christ,

Elisabeth Servant
Director, North Korean Christians Fund

Meet my sweet little friends, Joel and Holly

Dear Friends,

Let me tell you a great story with a happy ending. It’s about how Heaven’s Family has helped two precious children named Holly and Joel.

The story begins with their father, Sonny Cung Luai, and mother, Biak, several years before Holly and Joel were born. Sonny was attending Bible school when, one day, God gave him a vision to care for orphans. After graduating, he went to work at an orphanage in Kalaymyo, Myanmar as a step towards following his calling. Five years later, Sonny had learned a lot about caring for orphans, but he didn’t think he had the faith to fulfill the vision that God had given him to pioneer his own orphanage.

That’s when Sonny became a modern-day Jonah. He resigned from the orphanage and fled, trying to get as far away from orphans as he could.

Sonny and Biak rented a small bamboo house, planning to live a quiet life—but Sonny soon discovered that he could not flee from the call of God. It wasn’t long before people began bringing orphans to him, but Sonny refused to take them in. Eventually, Sonny’s heart broke when someone brought him and Biak an infant baby girl. He then surrendered to God—and to the vision the Lord had given him years before. Today, he and Biak care for eight orphans—all sponsored through Orphan’s Tear—in their home that they now call Beulah Orphanage.

Now comes the part of the story where Holly and Joel come in. Two-and-a-half years ago Biak gave birth to their firstborn child, a daughter named Holly. When Holly was eight months old, however, she became very ill. Their doctor told Sonny and Biak the bad news: Holly had tuberculosis. In Western nations TB is treatable, but in many foreign countries like Myanmar it is still a life-threatening disease, especially for children.

Sonny then contacted me, and Heaven’s Family began to help with doctor bills and medicine through gifts to the Critical Medical Needs Fund. Although Holly was receiving the prescribed treatments, she did not seem to be getting any better. A year later her brother Joel was born and while still an infant he, too, contracted TB. Now both of Sonny’s children were plagued with the often-fatal illness.

Over the next few months, Heaven’s Family helped cover the medical expenses for Holly and Joel which, although just a few dollars, were more than an impoverished orphanage director like Sonny could afford.

Then in February something began to happen. Holly began to look better and wanted to play. Finally the day came when the doctor told two delighted parents that Holly and Joel were both healthy! We also celebrated here in our office when we recently received the following email from Sonny: “HOLLY and JOEL are healed. Thank you so much for your always help and prayer.”

That, my friends, is just one thing the Critical Medical Needs Fund does with your contributions. Sometimes it takes $1,000 to save a life…and sometimes it only takes $32 as it did for Holly and Joel. Thanks to you, stories like this have a happy ending!

Sonny holding Holly and Biak holding Joel, left; together with their orphanage family, right

In His service,

Patti Samuels
Director, Critical Medical Needs Fund

Iranian sisters Marzieh and Maryam, two years after their release from Tehran’s Evin Prison

Dear Friends,

Looking at the radiant smiles of sisters Marzieh and Maryam, you wouldn’t realize that, two years earlier, they endured 259 days in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran for practicing their Christian faith. In the months before their arrest they talked about what it would be like to be put in prison for Jesus’ sake. The daily suffering and frequent death threats in Evin Prison, however, were beyond anything they could imagine. In their own words:

Before prison we talked about execution [for our faith], but when we got to prison and experienced the fear of it, our way of talking changed. The atmosphere there and what happened to us frightened us beyond our expectations. We were confined to a dark and dirty room and paralyzed with fear. We could see fear in each other’s faces. We prayed, and what calmed us was the presence of God and the peace He gave us.

As weeks turned into months, one of the most difficult experiences was learning about the execution of their fellow prisoners: “After these executions a spirit of sorrow and death hung over the prison. The sadness was overwhelming.”

Illness also took its toll on their spirits. Their treatment by the guards was initially harsh as Marzieh and Maryam were labeled “unclean apostates.” However, as time passed and the guards observed their behavior, hostility turned to curiosity, and the sisters were even able to share their faith and pray with many of them. These opportunities gave them encouragement, knowing that the Lord was using them even in such a dark place.

Marzieh and Maryam fled Iran since their release two years ago, but their testimony has helped to fuel a fire of spiritual hunger inside their homeland—even under the oppressive regime of President Ahmadinejad and Iran’s Ayattolahs. God is also getting His word to the hungry people of Iran through the use of modern technology like the internet, and through the lives of believers like Maryam and Marzieh.

Please continue to pray for the Christian leaders of the underground house church, a movement that is spreading like wildfire in Iran. Pray especially for Iranian believers still in prison for their faith.

Thanks also for your gifts to the Persecuted Christians Fund. They are helping Heaven’s Family to provide monthly assistance to support our Iranian brothers and sisters in Christ as they persevere in faith.

Together with Him,

Carole J. Collins
Director, Persecuted Christians Fund

A young Turkana woman in everyday attire

Dear Friends,

I don’t know how they survive. But survive they do. At least 250,000 Turkana people subsist in an arid region of Northern Kenya where temperatures regularly hover above 100 degrees. It only rains two or three times a year. Then, for just a few days, Turkana’s dry river beds flow with water…only to soon dry up again.

I’ve been sweltering here in Turkana for the past four days.

Primitive and poor, the Turkana live in thatched huts with sand floors. Many walk miles each day to fetch water and firewood. Their economy is built primarily upon the goats that graze their sparse land, and from which they derive meat, milk and clothing. They also barter their livestock for other things, such as the plastic beads that adorn the elaborate necklaces worn by their women.

Although they are materially poor, many of the Turkana people have become spiritually rich because of their receptivity to the gospel. Visiting one of their church gatherings under the shade of a large tree is like attending an old Southern revival, with clapping, dancing, and enthusiastic Amens. Their a cappella hymns are sung in beautiful harmonies. It is heavenly.

Three worshippers

When it comes to offering relief or development to the Turkana Christians, Heaven’s Family would prefer to provide the latter, to help them lift themselves. Unfortunately, no one, including myself, has found a way to do that. The Turkana have very few resources and little that anyone wants. They live in a barren wasteland. They hardly have enough water to survive. So it seems all we can do, at least for now, is bring them relief in the form of food, especially during the current drought.

On my first visit to Turkana in January of this year, I promised the believers in remote villages that I visited that if they would allow me to take their photos, I would show their beautiful faces to my friends and ask them for money so I could return to Turkana with corn to distribute. They took me up on my offer, and over the past four days, with the help of Kenyan minister friends, I’ve personally overseen the distribution of almost four tons of dried corn. Each day we’ve traveled by Land Rover to remote locations where Turkana believers gather in the shade of large trees along dried up river beds. They sing and dance for joy upon our arrival.

As we’ve visited them, I’ve been making them the same offer again. I’ve told them if they would allow me to take portraits of some of the women with the most colorful necklaces, I would show those portraits to my friends and ask them to help me return again with more corn (and beans). They readily agreed, and it occurred to me that perhaps this scheme could be a tiny stab at development, as they do have something to offer that can “earn” them money. So if you are interested in this small scale attempt at some compassionate capitalism, I’ve got a deal for you.

Here it is: If you will contribute before the end of June to Heaven’s Family’s Food Fund, I’ll email you ten, full-size portraits of some beautifully-necklaced Turkana women, children, and maybe even an ostrich-feather plumed Turkana chief. In full-size (enough to fill your computer screen), they are absolutely stunning (and of National Geographic quality in my most humble opinion). Using them as screen savers might lead to interesting conversations with others….

As always, none of your contributions to the Food Fund are used for administration. 100% is sent overseas to bring food relief. Administrative costs are paid from our General Fund.

All you need to do is click here to make your credit card donation of any size to the Food Fund. Or you can send a check to the address below. When I return from Africa in the middle of this month, I’ll send your ten Turkana portraits to the same email address that we sent this email to unless you tell us otherwise.

If you click on any of these photos, a larger-size version will be displayed in your browser window. Make sure your browser window is opened as large as possible….

One last thought: I may use a small percentage of what you contribute to buy some of the Turkana men picks and shovels—tools that are almost unknown among them—and encourage them to dig some reservoirs to catch water when rain does fall on their land. That would be an effort at some real development. We’ll see what happens.

Thanks, as always, for your time and compassion,

David

P.S. Forwarding this to your compassionate friends could result in less hunger and more food for Turkana believers. Thanks so much.