Worldwide Activity Report -- September 1997
FAR052 -- GP     chr

Copyright 1997 by The Family

         "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone, everywhere," Jesus told His followers. Every day, in nearly 80 countries, Family missionaries share Jesus' message of hope and love with many thousands. Following are some highlights of their recent activities and experiences.

A light on death row
From Nikki, 16, Philippines
         In 1994 the Philippine Supreme Court sentenced Leo Echegaray to death by lethal injection. He was sent to Bilibid Prison's death row, where nearly 300 other inmates awaited execution.
         One year ago, in a well-publicized ruling, the court ordered that Leo's sentence be carried out in the last half of 1997. His world crumbled around him. Leo was afraid of death, but even more afraid of life -- long days and sleepless nights spent in tortured thought. Neither he nor his sentence could change what he had done, any more than iron bars and prison guards could separate him from the scorn he felt from the millions who had followed his case in the media. Was there anyone who could understand his heart? Was anyone concerned for him as a human being? Was anyone able to forgive?
         Yes, there was Someone. -- Someone who had enough love to reach down and lift Leo from the depths of despair. Someone who once promised, "He that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Someone who promised to turn us from darkness to light and forgive all our sins, no matter what they may be!
         Leo called out to Jesus to save him and found that perfect love, forgiveness and understanding he needed and wanted so desperately. Jesus didn't save Leo from his dark prison cell or remove his death sentence, but He did free him from torment of heart and soul, and the deep sea of confusion and despair that engulfed him.
         Leo then wanted to learn to love the Lord more, and he was eager to study the Bible -- but how? Who would teach him? He prayed for somebody who could be a friend and brother to him, and teach him about the Bible.
* * *
         Meanwhile in another part of town, a missionary lay awake. Another night with the same strange dream! -- A dream about Leo Echegaray, whose scheduled execution he had read about in the newspaper. At first he had paid no attention to the dream. After all, it was just a dream. But after dreaming the same dream every night for weeks, he knew he needed to do something about it.
         He and other missionaries had been counseling prisoners and giving Bible studies at Bilibid Prison for months, but he had never met Leo. On one of his visits the missionary discussed the dream with Bill, a British inmate and former atheist who now helped organize the Christian outreach in the prison. Bill arranged for the missionary to visit Leo on death row.
* * *
         "Who are you, and why are you dreaming about me?" Leo asked when the missionary went to see him.
         "Well," the missionary replied, "I was going to ask you the same question: Why am I dreaming about you?"
         At first this puzzled Leo, but suddenly it dawned on him that God had answered his prayer! He told his whole story to the missionary, and you can just imagine their astonishment when they realized how God had engineered their meeting!
         Leo's new friend began visiting him twice a week, to talk and study the Bible together. Leo soon came to better understand and deeply love this God of love who had heard and answered his desperate prayer. He also wanted to learn about Heaven, and the missionary gladly taught him. There was so much that Leo wanted to know, and it was all right there in the Bible.
* * *
         My dad told me this story, and it is true. You see, he is that missionary who visited Leo.
         I often go with my dad now when he visits Leo and the other inmates of the Bilibid Prison. Leo is special to us, but his experience is not unique. We and other Family members have counseled hundreds of inmates over the past few months, and we've seen many bitter, hardened criminals turn sweet after Jesus lit up their dark lives. Many of them have now dedicated their lives to helping other prisoners come to know Him.
         As for Leo, we are now praying that he will receive a stay of execution. But come what may, Leo is no longer afraid. He has finally found peace in God!

A life and a marriage reborn
From Johnny and Gabriella, David and Dawn, Thailand
         One morning a friend of ours who is a doctor phoned to ask if we could come to the hospital to help one of his patients, a Japanese woman who had attempted suicide.
         When we arrived at the hospital, we were surprised to find that Yuki had two children, and that they were with her in the hospital. So was her Thai husband, who was quite distressed by the whole situation. Yuki was still quite shaky, but by that time was coherent enough to hold a conversation. She and her husband both appreciated our concern and words of encouragement.
         As we talked, Yuki told us about an experience she had had shortly after being admitted to the hospital that morning. In a dream or vision, while under heavy sedation and on the verge of death, she saw the doctor dressed as a priest, looking down on her and helping her come back to life. She asked if he could tell her about Christianity, and he told her that he would send for someone who could. That's when he called us. When Yuki came to, this strange experience was still on her mind.
         Yuki and her husband are Buddhists, and neither had ever considered changing their religion. Their lives were in disarray, however, and this is what had driven Yuki to try to take her own life. After listening to each of them tell their side of their story, we could clearly see that the root of the problem was a lot of misunderstandings. They had trouble communicating deeply, and the fact that neither of them spoke the other's native language well compounded the problem.
         After we helped them get everything out in the open and talk about it, they were able to see each other more positively. We encouraged them to work at renewing their relationship. We also prayed with both of them to receive the Lord, as well as for her healing and their marriage. They both said they felt lighter after talking with us.
         Yuki was smiling. "This has been so exciting," she said. "This will change my life!"
         A few days later we visited them at their home, and asked Yuki how things were going. "Oh, it's very quiet here now," she replied. "That's strange because we used to fight a lot and it was so noisy. There's no fighting now, just peace!"
         We then shared a Bible class with them, after which they exclaimed, "Light has entered our lives through the Bible and your prayers!"

His healing touch
From Thomas, England
         One Friday evening I was going door to door in our neighborhood, introducing people to our Family literature and audio and video materials, when I met Anne. As we were talking, Anne suddenly cried out in pain. My reflex reaction was to offer to pray for her immediate healing, but she said she didn't believe in God and didn't wish to pray. Before I left I told her that my wife, Rose, and I would pray for her later that evening, which we did.
         When I visited her again on Sunday evening, she said that the pain she had been having for 18 weeks had ceased on Saturday morning. During that visit, her two sons prayed with me to receive Jesus as their Savior.
         I visited her again on Thursday, and she was in good health. She had already begun telling her family and friends that Jesus had healed her, in answer to our prayers. Having experienced a special touch of His love and healing power, she was eager to meet the Great Physician and found that He was only a prayer away!

Our living room gang ministry
From Jasmine, 17, Russia
         As we returned home after doing outreach in a nearby park, we were stopped by three neighborhood boys: Tolic and Sergei, both 18, and 15-year-old Samuel. We had guitars with us, so Steven and I sang them some songs and we talked. Sergei asked if we could pray for his mother, who was sick.
         After they had gotten to know us, the boys surprised us by confessing that they had just broken into our house when they saw that no one was home. They offered weak apologies, but didn't want to return the things they had stolen.
         Later that day they came to our house again, and this time they were high on drugs. They were very rowdy and threatened to come back with "more Mafia people with guns" if we refused to pay them protection money. One of them wielded a large knife. Under the influence of drugs, their behavior would change from one minute to the next. First they would threaten; then they would apologize for their behavior and ask us to pray for them; then they would switch back to their Mafia personas and demand protection money.
         The next day we found some other boys looking for a way to get into our house. In spite of the fact that they had come to rob us again, we tried to befriend them, as we felt the Lord wanted to get through to them and help them. We spent some time with them in our garden, singing songs and witnessing to them.
         That same day Sergei came by with two more of his friends and asked us to pray that they'd be able to quit smoking marijuana and drinking so much. Also that same day they returned all of the things they had stolen from the house the day before.
         That evening, after Sergei's visit, about 15 of the local gang came over. Most of them were between 17 and 19 years old. They've been back nearly every evening since then, and we have begun teaching them about the Lord, and answering their questions about life and God and the Bible.
         We're so happy that we are able to give Jesus to these young gang members. They used to get into trouble in the evenings because they had nothing to do, but now we are able to help keep them off the streets while teaching them about Jesus. It's a challenging ministry, but we believe it will change their lives. God and His Word will do what we can't do -- touch and transform their hearts!

         The Family is a non-profit, volunteer organization. Each of the activities you have just read about was made possible through donations from businesses, associations and concerned individuals. If you would like more information about The Family, or if you would like to help sponsor Family volunteers or projects, please contact us at one of the addresses below:


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family