3. Persecution and Peace

This week was a bit different from the rest! Our morning outreach times were the same but our afternoons were completely different. Let me tell you about the mornings first.

Persecution

During my morning time at the garden I got to visit several families, tell Bible stories, and lead a Bible study. One morning was a little more sobering than the others though. A few weeks ago I had made a connection with a Burmese refugee family that comes from the Rohingya people group. We've been able to visit this family several times and this week the father, Nor, opened up to us a lot about what his family has faced. If you type "Rohingya" into Google you will find an array of news and political articles about the extreme persecution these people are facing. The Rohingya are a primarily Muslim people group living in the Buddhist nation of Burma. Because of this religious difference, the Burmese government refuses to grant the Rohingya citizenship or basic human rights. Murder and other acts of violence against them have forced many to flee to other nations for safety, this was the case for my friend Nor and his family. They were forced to leave their home and live in a Malaysian refugee camp for ten years while seeking resettlement. Many of their family members who could not leave Burma have been forced to change their names to hide their identity.

During our visit Nor showed us a video of the U.S. Congress passing legislation to pressure the Burmese government to grant citizenship and rights to the Rohingya and to stop the crimes against humanity. An impacting statement made during the video was this; "The things we are witnessing being done to the Rohingya people right now are the same signs that we saw before the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides. If something isn't done soon, we will have a similar situation on our hands." It was an eye opening day. Pray that the persecution against the Rohingya people with stop and that laborers may reach them with the Gospel. Pray for Nor and his family that they may have their eyes opened to Jesus as well.

Peace

Our afternoon time this week has been focused on one apartment complex called Woodside Village. A local church has a heart to reach the families in this area but needed more man power to find the best contacts and People of Peace in the area. The People of Peace concept is based off of Luke 10. We are seeking believers or potential believers who are welcoming to us and the Gospel and with a network of friends and family that they would be able and willing to reach. After much prayer, we broke up into teams and began meeting people in the community and praying for them. Our teams had doors slammed in our faces, plates of food put in our hands, and a remarkable amount of moments where Jesus showed up. Our goal was to find 5 people or families of Peace that the church could follow up with to begin sharing the Gospel with the hopes of planting house churches. We surpassed that number in four days and are confident that the Lord is starting something great in Woodside Village and revealing Himself to the people there in extraordinary ways. Please pray for the continued ministry in Woodside Village.

Emad

Because of our special afternoon events this week. ESL classes could not meet. A teammate of mine, Chris, and I were able to visit our ESL student Emad twice though and both visits were full of laughter and friendship. Emad recently had a surgery and has not been able to work because of it. It was his second surgery to fix the same problem, the first surgery was unsuccessful. We had been praying every day with Emad that when he has his check up the doctor will give him good news and that he may be able to work soon. Chris and I visited him Thursday after his check up and the doctor said all is well! He should not have to have another surgery and he is able to work again starting next week! Praise God for those answered prayers! We got to celebrate with Emad and share in his joy. We are going to continue ESL with him this coming week. Please pray that there is no difficulty in Emad starting work this week and that he can continue to learn about Jesus through his relationship with Chris and I.


We are now preparing to have our third short term team come in this week. A team of 22 from Virginia is coming down so it should be a busy but fun time! I'm expecting God to do awesome things with this week that I get to share with you next time!

God bless!

Jake