Leah's Story from Kids of Courage

Leah is a Christian woman in China. “The most important calling we have from God is to preach the gospel in places where people have not heard it,” said Leah.

Leah knows how difficult it can be to follow that calling. She went to jail for three years because she taught others about Jesus. Now the police watch her every day. She and her family have moved three times in the last three years to avoid the police.

God began preparing Leah to face difficulties as a Christian in China when she was a girl. She told her story to a worker from The Voice of the Martyrs.

Leah’s Story
I was about 5 years old when my mother became a Christian. My father was not a believer.

I knew about Jesus for a long time. My mother told me about him. But I didn’t get saved until I was 12. One day I went with my mother to a small church. Only about nine Christians went to the church. They had no Bibles and no pastor.

That day at church when they prayed, I wanted to cry. I don’t know why. One person asked, “May I pray for you?” I said yes. I felt Jesus’ presence and I really loved him and wanted to follow him.

After that I always wanted to pray. But I didn’t know much about Jesus. I just knew I loved him very much.

Sharing at School
No one at school knew I was a Christian. If they found out, I would not be able to go to that school anymore. I was tempted to stop believing in Jesus.

But when I was about 15, there was a fire in my heart. I wanted to study the gospel and tell others about Jesus. Even some of my cousins began to believe in Jesus after I told them about him.

I had never seen a Bible. Missionaries brought God’s word to China many years ago. Then the government kicked out all the missionaries. The older people passed down what they had learned from the missionaries to us.

I wrote down what I heard from the old people on notes and passed the notes to my classmates. Before class, I walked with them and talked to them quietly about Jesus.

After my classmates started believing in Jesus, I found out one of my teachers was a Christian! He was my music and math teacher. Christians could talk freely about our faith in his class and he protected us.

Finding a Bible
We talked about what the older people told us. But we didn’t know if it was correct or not, because we didn’t have a Bible. When I was 16, I found someone with a Bible! I thought, “I can read it myself and I don’t have to learn from others!”

I began to copy the Bible by hand. I copied parts of it to hand out to others.

Leah Today
Leah continued to share her faith with others, even when she was persecuted for it. She now has a daughter who is about the same age Leah was when she decided to follow Christ. Her daughter worries about her mother’s safety.

Please ask God to continue watching over Leah, and to give her daughter peace and comfort.

To protect their identities, the names of some of the people on this site and some identifying details have been changed. Some of the quotes and stories have been edited and paraphrased from the original sources for clarity.
from kids of courge

Tolerence check

Tolerance Check
Read each pair of statements below. Which statement in each pair best shows true Christian tolerance?

a. We should believe that all religions teach the truth.
b. Christian tolerance means understanding that God wants us to share the gospel with all types of people.

a. It is fine to get angry with people because they have different beliefs.
b. It is right to treat those who believe differently with kindness and respect.

a. Keep the truth to yourself so others won’t be offended.
b. Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.

a. Agree with others who have different beliefs to make friends with them.
b. Love others with different beliefs enough to share the truth about Jesus with them.

In each pair of statements above, “b” best shows true Christian tolerance.

Bibles unbound

Bibles Unbound

For $30 a month, The Voice of the Martyrs will send your family, class, or group five New Testaments and everything needed for mailing Scriptures to someone in a country where Christian activity is limited by the government. Go to www.BiblesUnbound.com to find out how to sign up. The site also tells you how to get a free DVD to learn more about the Bibles Unbound program.

Spotlight

Every day, the ice cream man pushed his cart into a small village in Vietnam. The children crowded around him to buy his treats.

Someone else came to the village to share something special with the children. Thaddeus, a Christian, came to share the good news of Jesus with them.

Many Vietnamese children have never heard about Jesus. They don’t know that he was born in a stable in Bethlehem, or that he healed sick people. No one has told them how God sent Jesus to save those who believe in him from sin.

Arrested
Thaddeus stayed in the village for a month sharing Bible stories with the children. He noticed that the ice cream man seemed always to be nearby.

Then one day, the ice cream man pulled a gun out of his cart! “You’re under arrest,” he told Thaddeus. The ice cream man was really a policeman in disguise.

Prison and Freedom
Thaddeus went to prison for sharing his faith with the village children. “I loved my interrogator,” he said. Thaddeus obeyed Jesus’ command to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44).

“I told him that God always provides for me, so he took away my food. That night as I was praying, a Christian outside the prison wall threw a plastic sack with food in it over the wall. Every night the food secretly dropped down. The prison commander was amazed that I was not becoming thin.”

Thaddeus was set free after nine months in prison. After his release, he continued to share stories of Jesus with others.

(To protect their identities, the names of some of the people on this site and some identifying details have been changed. Some of the quotes and storie

Learning to forgive

Gracia Burnham was angry. A gang of violent Muslims had kidnapped her. Gracia did not even like to go camping. But the group forced Gracia and her husband Martin to live with them in the jungle. The jungle had no beds, bathrooms, stores, or air conditioning.

Gracia and Martin were missionaries in the Philippines. Before the men kidnapped them, Gracia homeschooled their three kids: Mindy, Zach, and Jeff. Martin, a pilot, flew mail and supplies to other missionaries in hard-to-reach places.

The men who kidnapped the Burnhams belonged to a group that wanted Muslims to have more power in the Philippines. They had the mistaken idea that they could get power by hurting innocent people. The kidnappers took Martin, Gracia, and other innocent people into the jungle. Friends and relatives took care of Mindy, Zach, and Jeff.

Rude Treatment
The kidnappers often behaved rudely to the Burnhams. At Christmastime, they made fun of Martin and Gracia because they would not be at home with their families on Christmas. They kept Martin on a chain like a dog. Martin and Gracia got very little food, even when the kidnappers had a lot to eat.

Gracia felt so angry that she wished bad things would happen to the kidnappers. She told Martin that she wished the men would suffer forever.

Martin was very wise. He reminded her that God does not want us to wish for our enemies to suffer. Gracia remembered that the Bible says, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14, 15, NIV).

When Gracia forgave her kidnappers, her anger went away. But it was not easy to forgive. From day to day, their captors forced them to endure new burdens. Gracia had to forgive again and again. After a while, she found it easier to not get as angry when she was mistreated.

About a year after the Burnhams were kidnapped, their struggle ended. Sadly, Martin died in a battle between soldiers from the Philippine military and the kidnappers.

Gracia was shot in the leg, but she was able to get away from the kidnappers and out of the jungle. She joined her children in the United States. Now she teaches others the lessons she learned in the jungle about forgiveness.

Sources include: To Fly Again by Gracia Burnham with Dean Merrill (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2005).

Maria moves on

Maria knew she made a bad choice. She rebelled against her Christian parents. Like other restless Colombian youth, she and her boyfriend ran away and joined a gang of guerrillas. They hoped to find adventure.

But guerrilla life was miserable and dangerous. Three months after they joined the guerrillas, Maria’s boyfriend was dead. Maria was stuck. The guerrillas, who carried out acts of war and terrorism against the government, did not let people leave easily.

Update

Maria’s story was told in 2006 on www.KidsofCourage.com in a story called “Maria: Putting the Past Behind.” The story told about how Maria’s parents continued praying for her, even after she rebelled against them. Maria cried when she remembered her family.

Maria lost a leg during a guerrilla fight. The guerrillas allowed her to have surgery; without any medicine to stop the pain. They gave her easy jobs to do, but still did not let her go.

One day, during another guerrilla fight, the guerrillas fled and left her behind. She could not run away with just one leg.

Christians helped Maria and took care of her. She got a job working for a radio station that broadcast Christian messages into guerrilla areas. She called her parents and asked for their forgiveness. Maria also had a message for her younger brothers and sisters. “Tell them not to rebel like I did,” she said.

A Hopeful Future

The Voice of the Martyrs helped Maria get an artificial leg. She is married to a Christian and is following the Lord. She and her husband are going to have a baby.

Please pray for Maria, her marriage, and her ministry. Pray for youth who are still trapped in guerrilla life. Pray for missionaries who work in Colombia that they may spread the word of God successfully. Pray especially that radio stations in Colombia will reach guerrillas and that they will turn to Christ.



Emily

Great Wolf Lodge

Ok Great Wolf Lodge was fun. My favorite ride is the howling tornado! it is awesome. It was not fun the first time because I ripped a hole in my swim suit. The second time I did it it was not so bad. At least I get a puppy. Now Ethan on the other hand loved the yellow slide. He loved the big bucket that dumped one thousand gallons of water every ten minutes. Judah loved the dark green slide. So we had a good time.

The End

Muslim beleifs about women

Christian missionaries to Muslim countries say that nothing is as important as the husband’s comfort in many Muslim homes. A woman’s feelings are often ignored.

Quran says that men may marry up to four wives (Chapter 4:3). Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was allowed to have more than four (Chapter 33:50). Traditionally, Muslim men may marry either Muslim or Christian women, but Muslim women may marry only Muslim men.The Quran says that husbands may use force to make their wives obey (Chapter 4:34). Laws and rules in some Muslim countries force women and girls to submit to the wishes of strict Muslims. The Bible talks about Christians “submitting to one another” (Ephesians 5:21). Husbands and wives are encouraged to care for each other. It does not talk about Christians forcing others to submit to their wishes. The Bible upholds the ideal of godly Christian men having only one wife. (See 1 Timothy 3:1, 12.) The Bible tells men to be like Christ, who gave His life for the Church. Husbands are told to love their wives as they love themselves and as Christ loved the Church. (See Ephesians 5:25.) The Bible talks about “doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6).

Fourth Of July

Fourth of JULY we had so much fun. First we went swimming and than we ate chicken potato salad and the rest I do not remember. We played outside than we went to Joe pool lake played than we waited a long time I mean long time and than we watched FIREWORKS. Exept they were not as good this year to bad so sad.Well we did have fun.

Gecko and Guppies

OK I want to tell you about GUPPIES. Well my room is like a Zoo I have two cages in my room. Well one is an aquarium one is a cage. I have a gecko and guppies in my room it is so cool.

Voice of the Martyrs

My mom signed me up to watch videos on kids of courage.The kids side of V.O.M I found this cool video which I put on my blog. I get magazines from V.O.M and maps of nations that are restricted or hostile



RESTRICTED NATION : This includes countries where
policy or practice prevents Christians from obtaining Bibles or other Christian literature.

Bibles Unbound

This is just a cool video I found about Voice of the Martyrs and Chinese Christians whose churches are being destroyed. Please pray that God's Word would be shared.

Country Music Hall of Fame

The Country Music Hall of Fame is very exciting ! It is amazing and excellent ! Goodness gracious ! It is all country stuff, especially country singers . You can open these things like record players only they were mounted on to the wall and when you open them they play music . On the side were you open them they tell you who is singing.

Episode 1 of Clover and Willfred The Naughty Cats

Once there were two cats. Their names were Clover and Willfred . They just loved grits and popcorn. So one day while Clover was taking a nap, Willfred and her smelled something cooking. Willfred and Clover raced to the kitchen and CRASH! They bumped right in to their Mother and she scolded them. So while their Mom wasn't watching they snuck in to the kitchen and grabbed all the food and stuffed their bags full. Then, quietly, they went outside and dug a hole in the ground and made a house. And there they lived, happily ever after.

The End

When fun come's

ok when my mom's parents came over we had a bunch of fun. And I got a camera and I am going to put pictures on my blog oh they are so cute.

A new gift from God

Announcing ! my new baby brother who was born Sunday morning in two hours and was born 10 pounds 4 ounces. and is so cute his name is Zachary. And I hold him every morning.

Christmas

This Christmas we didn't go any were so we were by are self . Opening presents and having a good time it was fun. I got a radio. Well it has three things on it a radio a CD player and a tape recorder . And I got a harmonica as well too.