Earlier this month, the U.S. embassy urged all remaining Americans to leave Haiti as quickly as possible.

Roseline DeHart with For Haiti with Love says, “I’ve taken over the mission work because of all the Americans leaving. There’s no short-term missions anymore; people are afraid to go down there.”

Months of chaos in the capital have exacerbated Haiti’s food crisis.

(Photo courtesy of For Haiti with Love)

“The people can’t afford [food.] Food was coming from the Dominican Republic, and then the borders totally closed so there’s no food coming from there either. Sometimes they’re only eating once a week and sometimes they don’t at all.”

For one little boy, seeing his mom cry was worse than starving.

“He [saw] his mom at home crying because she didn’t know how she was going to feed them.”

When he heard about For Haiti’s feeding program, DeHart says, “He came by himself in the [food] line so he could take some food to his mom so she would stop crying.”

For Haiti’s workers, of course, gave the boy a bag of food for himself and his mother. They were moved by the love of a son for his mother, and how the Lord put them in the right place at the right time to provide assistance.

“With this little boy, it was like God sent us to that place. Every time, we pick a different place. But it was God working because God wanted us to help that little boy and his mom.  It was God doing it totally.”

You can send help in the name of Jesus by giving to For Haiti. “We ask people to help us help the hurting and hungry people in Haiti like that little boy.”

Most importantly, please pray for Haiti and an end to the gang violence gripping the nation. Ask the Lord to use this time of turmoil to fix Haitians’ eyes on Him for provision.

Pray also for staff members at For Haiti, as the the pressure of maintaining ministry wears on them, that they would be emotionally and spiritually encouraged.

Header photo of the little boy receiving food from For Haiti with Love. (Photo courtesy of For Haiti with Love)

People who go on this mission trip will talk to these Christians, pray for the refugees, and raise awareness about what is happening among the refugee populations.

Barnabas* a Christian leader working among the refugees, says, “There were around 8-9000 people who, for about a week, were stuck on the side of the road on this particular island. Praise God, what I’m hearing is there’s no need for food anymore. The government has all the food. The problem is getting the food to the people. They’re having long lines and three hour waits to get their food.”

The fire heightened another risk: COVID-19 outbreaks among refugees. With so many needing food, Barnabas says it’s difficult for them to stay socially distant.

Syrian refugees arriving on the Greek island of Lesvos.
(Photo, caption courtesy of OM)

The refugee church

But after the disaster, Barnabas saw something remarkable. “There’s a church that exists inside this camp. [The fire] kind of brought them together [and they] started working. Refugees were feeding refugees, with the assistance of some of these other brothers and sisters.”

e3 Partners’ virtual mission trips started this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, but they hope to continue the program even when the pandemic dies down. These trips typically feature heavy training for sharing the Gospel with others, but this trip will focus more on the needs of the refugees on Lesbos Island.

If you want to participate in this trip, you can still sign up here. Due to its special focus, this trip will be shorter, taking place on two Saturdays, October 3^rd and October 10^th, from 2-3:30 PM Central Time.

Barnabas asks readers to pray for the Church that has sprung up among the refugees. “God has brought this body together. How do we step out of the way, not to just leave them, but to equip them and pass on this responsibility for them to reach their people and to help?”

*name changed for security reasons

The header image shows part of the coastline on Lesbos Island in Greece. (Image by Wi Pa from Pixabay)

Southern Russia

As COVID-19 spreads throughout Russia and the former Soviet Union, many families face severe scarcity.

One such family lives in a region of Southern Russia that is predominantly Muslim. Three young girls were taken in by neighbors after their mother wound up in prison. SGA’s Eric Mock says, “They were already in poverty. If you compound that with the economic issues, this person was really struggling. But by God’s grace, there was a local church and through Christ Over COVID, we provided them the resources to bring food to this family.”

A picture of the three girls with their neighbor. (Photo courtesy of SGA on Facebook)

A family from a local church provided food to the family and shared the Gospel with them as well. Mock says, “How amazing that the neighbor took the kids in and that, in the midst of all this hardship, that was the mechanism that God used to open the door for the Gospel to be presented.”

Belarus and Georgia

Meanwhile, in Belarus, a pastor works with orphaned children. Mock says many orphans are ill-equipped to take care of themselves after leaving the orphanages. “So this missionary pastor had gone over to visit this orphan boy that he knew. The boy was sitting there; he didn’t know how to make his own dinner, any way to really care for himself. [The pastor] came over and bought food, but he [also] sat down and showed him how to make chicken soup.”

Because of this kindness, the pastor built a relationship with the boy and has since been able to continue ministering to him.

In the country of Georgia, a skilled doctor retired and only had $23 to live on each month. But then a local church started providing her with groceries. Mock says, “She was blown away that she was provided those basic needs. Before, she had not really heard anything of the Gospel, but now she has heard the Gospel.”

Sharing food through the Christ Over COVID program has opened many avenues for churches to share the Gospel. (Photo courtesy of SGA on Facebook)

How to support the work

As Christ Over COVID continues to help these people, Mock says, “SGA didn’t create anything new. We’ve been serving the churches from the beginning. And whether it’s training, whether it’s supporting the missionary church planters or supporting their ministries to their communities, we don’t have to come up with a great strategy, other than to get behind the churches and what God has raised them up to do.”

Continue to pray for the churches in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Pray that they would proclaim Christ through loving their neighbors.

All of these stories were emailed to people participating in SGA’s daily prayer guides, which you can sign up for here. You can also participate in getting these families the groceries they need during COVID-19.

Christians ready to distribute food to those who need it in the former Soviet Union. (Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association on Facebook)

Violence erupted In Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli when banks were attacked and military clashed with civilians. One man was killed, and dozens were injured.

Food ready to be distributed by TM Lebanon. (Photo courtesy of TM Lebanon on Facebook)

The issue of food shortage, Nuna from Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says, comes from two sources. “Lebanon is really heavily dependent on imported food. This is now in shortage. But there’s also the economic crisis because so many people have been laid off work. We already had an economic problem in Lebanon: we had recession. We have high unemployment. With this pandemic, so many people have been laid off their work because everything shut down. Factories are shutting down, malls are shutting down.”

Lebanese citizens can’t depend on the government sending stimulus checks, like people in the United States can. Nuna says, “We had the distribution of food, and people were begging us, [saying], ‘I have nothing at home, not even bread at home.’”

Triumphant Mercy does distribute food, as well as medicine and fuel. But with economic hardships and trouble with the banks, Nuna says, “This is not something that we can sustain.”  The Lebanese people grow desperate, and some have said they would rather die from COVID-19 than from hunger.

(Photo courtesy of TM Lebanon on Facebook)

Open to the Gospel

With Lebanon is such a rough state, Nuna says, “Everything that can be shaken has been shaken. Every kind of anchor that they try to hold on to, whether it is a leader, or it is a financial security, of some kind of help from somewhere, everything is now gone.”

Nuna says people in Lebanon have started asking questions about God constantly, even searching questions on the internet. Triumphant Mercy tries to engage in these conversations as they minister.

How to pray

Pray for the pandemic to end, but also pray for a lasting solution to the problems that ail Lebanon. Pray that Jesus would bring many Lebanese to Himself. Nuna says, “We cannot rely on a new, let’s say new government or new economic system or new solution of any kind. It’s not that those are just temporary solutions, but people need Him.”

A 2019 protest in Beirut. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

We reported yesterday on the statement from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom that Christians and Hindus were being overlooked for emergency food distribution.

Daniel* from Operation Mobilization says Pakistan has been locked down since the middle of March These measures have slowed the virus. However, Christians, most of whom work low-income jobs, are suffering as a result of the lockdown.

This is a common site of forced conversions in Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Daniel confirms reports saying some Muslims have not been distributing food to Hindus or Christians. This negligence has already seen tragic results.

This happens all the time, Daniel says. “It’s a normal practice, [what] Muslims do with the Christians or Hindus . . . Discrimination is very much common. And it is just another addition to whatever was happening to the Christians or Hindus in Pakistan.” Many Christians are even denied jobs because of their religion.

Religious discrimination in Pakistan is normal, and the extraordinary circumstances only aggravate it.

As we reported yesterday, the church has stepped up to meet the needs of its own people. Daniel says, “There are many Christian organizations, and a [few] churches as well, who are coming forward and supporting Christians in Pakistan, and even extending help to the Muslims and Hindus.”

Operation Mobilization’s response

Pray for the Christian Church in Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Daniel says Operation Mobilization has primarily responded by raising awareness of the virus among illiterate people. “For them, it is very challenging to understand why they need to do social distancing. Or why they need to keep washing their hands. We started a campaign [to provide] awareness and hygiene kits. [These] include sanitizers or soaps, so that people can have access to these resources and they can wash their hands.”

Daniel says they also work over digital media to encourage these people and build a vibrant community filled with the love of Christ.

Pray that the coronavirus will be stopped, whether by effective medication, vaccine, or a different solution. Pray also that Pakistani people remain healthy.

Daniel asks Christians to, “Support organizations or churches who are on the frontline, providing relief to these families by food, cash grants, or hygiene kits.”

And pray that Pakistan would change, no longer being a place of religious discrimination.

*name changed for security purposes

Christians face constant persecution in Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of Operation Mobilization on Facebook)

In Pakistan, social distancing measures don’t help many Christians, who labor every day for their daily food needs. Without work, these people need food distribution to survive.

Many have been denied access to this food. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a statement condemning the rejection of Christians and Hindus for food aid in Pakistan.

A chart explaining the Five Pillars of Islam. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Jonathon, a Christian worker focused in Pakistan, says, “It doesn’t appear that these are the official policies of particular organizations. These are overly zealous workers that are telling people, ‘Oh, you need to recite the Muslim creed.’ Or, ‘You should become a Muslim . . . we’re not going to give you food unless you become a Muslim.’ [Those things] have happened.”

Jonathon says this kind of discrimination against religious minorities is common in Pakistan. But the restriction of the food to only Muslims probably has a religious reason. One of the five Pillars of Islam, Zakat, means all Muslims must give a small percentage of all their assets to the poor.

He explains how this translates to Christians and Hindus getting left out. “Some Muslims have felt, ‘I’m doing this out of my responsibility as a Muslim. This is really intended for my fellow Muslims. For me to get the religious merit that is associated with giving to the poor, those funds should go to Muslims since it was given by a Muslim with that intent.”

The Church’s response

Jonathon says the Church in Pakistan has grown accustomed to receiving large waves of funding from Christians in other countries when some kind of disaster happens.

Hindu holy site in Pakistan. Many Christians in Pakistan came out of the lower casts in Hinduism. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

But right now, that isn’t happening, since the disaster is touching almost every country in the world. He says, “The Pakistani Church is digging really deep into its own resources, and really stepping up to the plate, identifying individual families within each church. And people within the church are giving just hugely, generously, an entire month’s salary or two months’ salary, to help feed their brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Instead of competing for resources, the Christians are banding together to make sure everyone has enough.

The Church in Pakistan, Jonathan says, consists of about 3 million people. “Traditionally, they have been at the bottom rungs of society. They’ve been sanitation workers, and they came out of the lowest castes of Hinduism.”

And now these Christians are gaining the confidence to share the news of the risen Christ with Muslims. Jonathan says that foreign Christians workers are dwindling in Pakistan, but the local Church is roaring to life.

Christians in the West can support what the Church in Pakistan is doing by donating here. 

St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

"If we're to continue the food program, it's vital that we be able to get the food from the wharf to the headquarters. We have to be able to get the rice from the point of purchase up to our headquarters for distribution."

Although For Haiti with Love has been doing this in the past and continues to, the need for a truck for this transportation has become a high priority. "Right now, all we have is a little pickup truck," says DeHart. "It's very old and broken down most of the time; and it simply isn't going to last much longer if it has to keep hauling these heavy loads up the mountain."

The situation is more dire because the roads in the area are terribly out of service. "Many other people are having the same problems, so it's virtually impossible to find a truck to rent now."

The only option now is to invest in a good truck. To purchase a vehicle that will easily transport all of the beans, rice and food packets that For Haiti with Love delivers, the cost will be about $35,000 USD. So far, the organization has raised almost $5,000.

The significance of having a truck that can transport food as well as medical supplies can be eternal for recipients. "Since they're getting God's healing love at no charge, they start asking all kinds of questions. And you just can't have a better listener for the Gospel than when they initiate the questions."

DeHart asks for your prayers for the funding to come in quickly. Pray also for the salvation of those who benefit from the minitry of For Haiti.

If you would like to make a donation to help pay for a truck, you can call the number listed to the left of this article, or click here.