Families of Abducted Haiti Missionaries Offer Forgiveness

Family members of the 17 missionaries abducted in Haiti earlier this month continue to hold out hope — and to grant incredible grace to the captors — as the potentially deadly situation stretches into its tenth day.

View Comments (3)

Christian Aid Ministries, the nonprofit organization with whom the missionaries are affiliated, said the days since the October 16 abduction have been filled with “many tears and thousands — if not millions — of prayers.”

Amid those prayers and emotions, the missionaries’ families have expressed an abundance of grace and forgiveness.

“We are interested in the salvation of these men and we love them,” one father of one of the hostages said in reference to the kidnappers who took his child.

Another parent added, “As a family we are giving forgiveness to these men. We are not holding anything against them.”

In the midst of those compassionate proclamations is a continued hope for the missionaries’ safety and survival. But as hopes for a safe return remain high, so do worries over the captors’ demand for $1 million ransom per missionary. . . .

Weston Showalter, a spokesman for Christian Aid Ministries, addressed the press and shared letters on Thursday from the missionaries’ family members.

Showalter said the families involved are from Mennonite, Amish and other Anabaptist communities and that they are relying on one another as they navigate the intensely emotional scenario, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

“They continue to band together and support each other with prayers and encouragement during this difficult time,” he said. “It’s amazing how times of difficulty have a way of bringing people together.”

He also encouraged the public to pray for these families.

(Excerpt from CBN News.)

3 Pastors Among 5,000 Freed from Myanmar Prisons, Many More Remain Behind Bars

• Pastors Koshan Singsar, Z Kaw Htinah and M Hawng Di were arrested in March while in the Naungmoon township of Putao district and later charged with organizing prayers for peace, Barnabas Aid reports.
• Tom Andrews, a United Nations special investigator on the Myanmar human rights situation, pointed out that wrongful arrests continue to occur and this recent move by the military government does not represent a change of direction.

(Excerpt from CBN News.)