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9 Oct 2024
On Tuesday morning, October 8th, the war in Gaza had been officially going on for one year. I know many of you have been praying and sending messages wanting to know what happened after my last post. I don’t know if you can even talk about what happened recently, but I’ll try.
I mentioned to you that I had relocated Han and his family to the West Bank, just a little bit south of Jericho so they could have some normalcy in their life. You know one of Han’s sisters was run over by a truck early this year and his mom was shot by Hamas a few weeks back at the grocery store trying to get baby food.
His mother had been saying since they left Gaza that she wanted to go back to Gaza. She always told Han that please bury me in Gaza next to my daughter, Mary, and the other volunteer who was killed early this year. I knew Han was going to try his best to fulfill his mom’s wish. He kept saying “I want to bring my mom back to Gaza.”
I was trying to figure out how to put his mom in a casket, move her body back through the north gate, and bury her. But I knew there was no logistical way to do that……. It was at that point, I remembered the Admiral*, the man who helped me when I was shot by a sniper in Syria and he also made it possible for me to go into Gaza when we had the final staff meeting in the middle of the night last year. That’s where I found Mary.
I knew it was not going to be an easy ask, but maybe some of his soldiers could go with Han, and at least be able to give him a few moments to bury his mom. I tried to call him. I didn’t think he would answer, but I felt that I had to try my best.
As I said in my post a few days ago, sometimes the #miracle seems so impossible and all the answers don’t make sense, but we still believe God for the impossible. I talked to the Admiral on the phone, he didn’t feel like he could ask any of the soldiers in his unit for this “special deed”, as he called it, knowing that they were going to be deployed to Lebanon in just a few days.
He said maybe some of the men from the 7-man patrol that helped guard our Sunday School and the food for the kids this last Easter may be willing to help, as they saw how Han prayed, and saw the dead Palestinian boy come back to life, and how 800 Palestinians accepted Christ that morning.
You can flip back to my Facebook post from this April to read the story if you don’t know what happened.
He said maybe they could meet Han at the North Gate with his mother’s casket and they could get them across the gate to bury her. “All I can do is to ask them.” He said. I couldn’t thank him enough.
Within 2 days, three of the IDF soldiers from Easter Sunday told the Admiral that it would be an honor to help Han because they remembered Han’s mother and how she helped Han get the food and distribute it to the children. There was nothing else I could say at that point. There was a miracle in the making.
So just a few days ago on Friday, October 4th Gaza time, strangely enough, it was my #birthday. I couldn’t even make sense of it all. I think some of you know what I’m saying. Andrew got his boss from the grocery store to help with a delivery truck and loaded up the casket with Han and his little sister Nema, the last family member he has now. They drove to the North Gate, at the top of the Gaza Strip.
I had been sitting on the phone over here in Taiwan waiting to hear if the three IDF soldiers were able to help them. It was almost 1 pm on October 4th, the Admiral got the clearance stamped for the truck and them.
The three soldiers changed into civilian clothes, hopped into the back of the truck where the casket was, and drove almost 3 miles with their guns ready, just in case something happened.
Han and his little sister were so grateful. They were bringing their mom back to Gaza. His mom was the most faithful helper in our Gaza Sunday school. Han asked some of his friends to dig the grave and be ready by the time they arrived in the truck.
They dug the grave next to the open area where we did Sunday school. The same place where Han’s sister, another Sunday school worker, and Mary are buried. It was surrounded by blown-up buildings and rubble. His friends dug the grave right next to Mary.
They were standing there when Han and the truck showed up. They helped Han move the casket down out of the back of the truck and very gently lowered her to the ground. Andrew had been waiting for them at the North Gate before they crossed over. He passed a taped-up box to Han. He said, “Don’t open it until you are ready to bury your mom.” Andrew remembered some things and he wanted to honor Han’s mother in his own way.
Han’s mother had a #New #Testament in Arabic that she read every day. He put that in the box. The second thing in that box was Mary’s #blanket that Han’s mother used to keep her warm in the blown-up hospital before Mary died. “Put it in the casket to keep your mom warm,” Andrew told Han.
Andrew also took the old copy of my #book “Whose Child Is This?” That was the copy those guys read over and over again since I trained them 12 years ago. His mother also read it many, many times trying to understand what she was part of. She was so grateful that she could be part of the Sunday School.
Andrew remembered when I used to go to Tel Aviv to train those boys to do Sunday school, Han’s mother would make brownies and have Han bring them to me. I forgot all those things! But Andrew reminded me that when I came there, we would sit in the McDonald's, and she would always make sure I had brownies because she knew how much I liked them. He got a #brownie from the grocery store and put it in the box. He wanted Han to put a brownie in his mother’s hand.
Han opened the box and explained all those things to the IDF and everyone was crying. They knew they had to leave and couldn’t stay by the graveside long. Han closed the casket very gently and lowered the casket to the grave. The IDF took the shovels to cover the casket with dirt and also rubble from the blown-up area. Han asked, “Can we all sing #Amazing #Grace?”
Han’s friends knew that he would always sing Amazing Grace after Sunday School and his mother always sang it when she was working on the food for the kids. The IDF soldiers somehow knew that song too and sang it with them…. “𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚! 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙬𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝; 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚……” They couldn’t remember the last stanza, but Han reminded them, “𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙣. 𝙒𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙂𝙤𝙙’𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙣.” They all stood there for a moment. Han took a little #cross out of the truck that he brought from the West Bank and put a little rose on it. Everybody bowed their head and prayed. There was too much gunfire in the background. They all knew it was time to go.
Everybody got back in the truck. The IDF soldiers and Nema waved goodbye to the grave. They drove back to the North Gate and several other soldiers were waiting at the gate to pick them up as they were going to be deployed the next day.
Andrew was waiting there as well. He hugged his friend Han and said “I hope the things in the box made sense.” And they just stood there and cried. Andrew drove off with the delivery truck back to the grocery store. Han found a man close to the gate and asked if he could help get them home back to Jericho. Everyone was gone, and the gate was closed again as if nothing had happened…..
Life is always changed in war, by war. In the middle of the blood that has been shed over there, the dead boy that was raised on Easter Sunday, the IDF volunteers that said, “We will go there to guard Han’s mother and make sure she has a proper burial.” and Andrew who had remembering the brownie that I had forgotten and Mary’s blanket….. I don’t know what else to say……
I’ve seen a lot of death with so much pain in my life and I’m sure some of you have as well.
Andrew spoke to me again last night that one of the things he remembered from reading “Whose Child Is This?” is that “𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.” Even when Akmed was killed and Han took his place, they knew their work was not done, and Han’s mother’s work was not done yet either. She was faithful till the end. She died trying to get baby food from the market to take back over to the refugee camp.
SO, while everybody went their way, soldiers were going to Lebanon, Andrew was going back to the grocery store, and Han’s friends took the shovels and left the graveside, there was still a little cross, a little spot with 4 people who loved God, loved Jesus, and they will be remembered by many kids that they led to the Christ. And an old preacher tried to tell their story…….
I just wanted to get this out to all of you.
As the old song I used to sing after I’ve done preaching, “𝙊 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚…. 𝙊 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚…... 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙮 𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮….” AND THE IS STILL MY and it’s still yours as well.
I’m still in the hotel in this city called Hua-Lien on the east side of Taiwan getting to preach. I’ll be doing the service wishing I could have been at the graveside with the people that I’ve loved and served with all these years that are right now in the part of the world on the brink of destruction even as we speak here.
They had lived for the #ONE that died for them. There is still a little cross standing in the rubble next to where we did Sunday School even though everybody left last Friday when it was all finished. The cross stands alone because the cross always stands alone.
That’s all I have to say now, in Jesus’ name. But I will preach about the cross again tonight. I always have……. I always will……. Good night.
Sourece:
I mentioned to you that I had relocated Han and his family to the West Bank, just a little bit south of Jericho so they could have some normalcy in their life. You know one of Han’s sisters was run over by a truck early this year and his mom was shot by Hamas a few weeks back at the grocery store trying to get baby food.
His mother had been saying since they left Gaza that she wanted to go back to Gaza. She always told Han that please bury me in Gaza next to my daughter, Mary, and the other volunteer who was killed early this year. I knew Han was going to try his best to fulfill his mom’s wish. He kept saying “I want to bring my mom back to Gaza.”
I was trying to figure out how to put his mom in a casket, move her body back through the north gate, and bury her. But I knew there was no logistical way to do that……. It was at that point, I remembered the Admiral*, the man who helped me when I was shot by a sniper in Syria and he also made it possible for me to go into Gaza when we had the final staff meeting in the middle of the night last year. That’s where I found Mary.
I knew it was not going to be an easy ask, but maybe some of his soldiers could go with Han, and at least be able to give him a few moments to bury his mom. I tried to call him. I didn’t think he would answer, but I felt that I had to try my best.
As I said in my post a few days ago, sometimes the #miracle seems so impossible and all the answers don’t make sense, but we still believe God for the impossible. I talked to the Admiral on the phone, he didn’t feel like he could ask any of the soldiers in his unit for this “special deed”, as he called it, knowing that they were going to be deployed to Lebanon in just a few days.
He said maybe some of the men from the 7-man patrol that helped guard our Sunday School and the food for the kids this last Easter may be willing to help, as they saw how Han prayed, and saw the dead Palestinian boy come back to life, and how 800 Palestinians accepted Christ that morning.
You can flip back to my Facebook post from this April to read the story if you don’t know what happened.
He said maybe they could meet Han at the North Gate with his mother’s casket and they could get them across the gate to bury her. “All I can do is to ask them.” He said. I couldn’t thank him enough.
Within 2 days, three of the IDF soldiers from Easter Sunday told the Admiral that it would be an honor to help Han because they remembered Han’s mother and how she helped Han get the food and distribute it to the children. There was nothing else I could say at that point. There was a miracle in the making.
So just a few days ago on Friday, October 4th Gaza time, strangely enough, it was my #birthday. I couldn’t even make sense of it all. I think some of you know what I’m saying. Andrew got his boss from the grocery store to help with a delivery truck and loaded up the casket with Han and his little sister Nema, the last family member he has now. They drove to the North Gate, at the top of the Gaza Strip.
I had been sitting on the phone over here in Taiwan waiting to hear if the three IDF soldiers were able to help them. It was almost 1 pm on October 4th, the Admiral got the clearance stamped for the truck and them.
The three soldiers changed into civilian clothes, hopped into the back of the truck where the casket was, and drove almost 3 miles with their guns ready, just in case something happened.
Han and his little sister were so grateful. They were bringing their mom back to Gaza. His mom was the most faithful helper in our Gaza Sunday school. Han asked some of his friends to dig the grave and be ready by the time they arrived in the truck.
They dug the grave next to the open area where we did Sunday school. The same place where Han’s sister, another Sunday school worker, and Mary are buried. It was surrounded by blown-up buildings and rubble. His friends dug the grave right next to Mary.
They were standing there when Han and the truck showed up. They helped Han move the casket down out of the back of the truck and very gently lowered her to the ground. Andrew had been waiting for them at the North Gate before they crossed over. He passed a taped-up box to Han. He said, “Don’t open it until you are ready to bury your mom.” Andrew remembered some things and he wanted to honor Han’s mother in his own way.
Han’s mother had a #New #Testament in Arabic that she read every day. He put that in the box. The second thing in that box was Mary’s #blanket that Han’s mother used to keep her warm in the blown-up hospital before Mary died. “Put it in the casket to keep your mom warm,” Andrew told Han.
Andrew also took the old copy of my #book “Whose Child Is This?” That was the copy those guys read over and over again since I trained them 12 years ago. His mother also read it many, many times trying to understand what she was part of. She was so grateful that she could be part of the Sunday School.
Andrew remembered when I used to go to Tel Aviv to train those boys to do Sunday school, Han’s mother would make brownies and have Han bring them to me. I forgot all those things! But Andrew reminded me that when I came there, we would sit in the McDonald's, and she would always make sure I had brownies because she knew how much I liked them. He got a #brownie from the grocery store and put it in the box. He wanted Han to put a brownie in his mother’s hand.
Han opened the box and explained all those things to the IDF and everyone was crying. They knew they had to leave and couldn’t stay by the graveside long. Han closed the casket very gently and lowered the casket to the grave. The IDF took the shovels to cover the casket with dirt and also rubble from the blown-up area. Han asked, “Can we all sing #Amazing #Grace?”
Han’s friends knew that he would always sing Amazing Grace after Sunday School and his mother always sang it when she was working on the food for the kids. The IDF soldiers somehow knew that song too and sang it with them…. “𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚! 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙬𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝; 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚……” They couldn’t remember the last stanza, but Han reminded them, “𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙣. 𝙒𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙂𝙤𝙙’𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙣.” They all stood there for a moment. Han took a little #cross out of the truck that he brought from the West Bank and put a little rose on it. Everybody bowed their head and prayed. There was too much gunfire in the background. They all knew it was time to go.
Everybody got back in the truck. The IDF soldiers and Nema waved goodbye to the grave. They drove back to the North Gate and several other soldiers were waiting at the gate to pick them up as they were going to be deployed the next day.
Andrew was waiting there as well. He hugged his friend Han and said “I hope the things in the box made sense.” And they just stood there and cried. Andrew drove off with the delivery truck back to the grocery store. Han found a man close to the gate and asked if he could help get them home back to Jericho. Everyone was gone, and the gate was closed again as if nothing had happened…..
Life is always changed in war, by war. In the middle of the blood that has been shed over there, the dead boy that was raised on Easter Sunday, the IDF volunteers that said, “We will go there to guard Han’s mother and make sure she has a proper burial.” and Andrew who had remembering the brownie that I had forgotten and Mary’s blanket….. I don’t know what else to say……
I’ve seen a lot of death with so much pain in my life and I’m sure some of you have as well.
Andrew spoke to me again last night that one of the things he remembered from reading “Whose Child Is This?” is that “𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.” Even when Akmed was killed and Han took his place, they knew their work was not done, and Han’s mother’s work was not done yet either. She was faithful till the end. She died trying to get baby food from the market to take back over to the refugee camp.
SO, while everybody went their way, soldiers were going to Lebanon, Andrew was going back to the grocery store, and Han’s friends took the shovels and left the graveside, there was still a little cross, a little spot with 4 people who loved God, loved Jesus, and they will be remembered by many kids that they led to the Christ. And an old preacher tried to tell their story…….
I just wanted to get this out to all of you.
As the old song I used to sing after I’ve done preaching, “𝙊 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚…. 𝙊 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚…... 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙮 𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮….” AND THE IS STILL MY and it’s still yours as well.
I’m still in the hotel in this city called Hua-Lien on the east side of Taiwan getting to preach. I’ll be doing the service wishing I could have been at the graveside with the people that I’ve loved and served with all these years that are right now in the part of the world on the brink of destruction even as we speak here.
They had lived for the #ONE that died for them. There is still a little cross standing in the rubble next to where we did Sunday School even though everybody left last Friday when it was all finished. The cross stands alone because the cross always stands alone.
That’s all I have to say now, in Jesus’ name. But I will preach about the cross again tonight. I always have……. I always will……. Good night.
Sourece:
September 2024
It was two Sundays ago, I just finished the first Sunday morning service in Johannesburg, South Africa, and I was still trying to finish strong in the middle of this 3-month Tour, the longest that I’ve ever done since I started ministry.
The door for Africa has been opened in such a rapid and an unbelievable pace, and I’ve had to stay out there to raise support to do what’s needed to be done as these governments keeps asking us to bring the Sunday schools into their countries.
I knew what it would take as the years went by, but 𝗜 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡’𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗙𝗔𝗥 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗙𝗔𝗥……. But that’s a conversation for another time.
I had just walked to the back book table to get the kids sponsored and sign books. I had expected a call from Gaza all morning. I knew it was about time I heard from them. I knew from our Jewish friend Andrew that something happened but I didn’t have the details.
I got on the phone to call them. Sometimes in that part of the world, the reception is pretty bad. Finally, I got in touch with Andrew. He said Han’s mother was just killed by Hamas yesterday.
Han is the one that took over from Akmed that was killed by Hamas right in the beginning of the war. His mother was the one that helped set up the food for the kids that come to the Sunday school when we shouldn’t have even been there. She was the one who took care of Mary after I found her.
She said she would take care of Mary like her own child. She was the one who stayed all night holding Mary in the corner of the waiting room in the hospital while Mary was about to die from infection because I couldn’t get the medicine to her in time.
Two Saturdays ago, at a grocery store in the West Bank where I had relocated them to, Han’s mother was trying to get some baby food for him to take to the kids that came to the Sunday school in Gaza. So many of these babies had nothing to eat.
Han is still able to get in and out of the border. The IDF allows him to cross because they knew the good work he has been doing there.
As Han’s mother was at the grocery store trying to get the food, 3 of the Hamas terrorists stormed in and shot 5 of their own Palestinian people in cold blood. One of them was Han’s mother. She took 2 rounds in the back from an AK-47 and died on the floor. She was one of the Sunday school workers that made the difference, and it cost her life. And now, Han was left to take care of his little 7-year-old sister, the last member of his entire family. Andrew tried to explain it to me while I stood in the parking lot at that church where I just got done preaching and I was supposed to be preparing for the next service. I heard Han crying and Andrew was trying to interpret it. I couldn’t understand what Han was saying….
I’ve consoled thousands of people dealing with death in the past 56 years in the ministry. I heard him screaming and crying, but I had nothing to say. 𝗜 𝗙𝗘𝗟𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗡….. I FELL ON MY KNEE IN THE PARKING LOT AND ALL I COULD DO WAS CRY AND SCREAM WITH HIM. I didn’t know what else to do.
What could I do…….??? What could I do…….??????? Nothing is going to make sense anyway……
I tried to get more information from Andrew. There was nothing anybody could say to Han. WHAT NOW? I didn’t have answer for that. Nobody did. At 75 years old, I’m just so tired of not having the right answers, or any answers…....
So since then, he has been trying to figure out what to do. And of course, I still don’t have any answers...... He didn’t have any way to bury her. Andrew was trying to help. Some Palestinian boys he helped before told him to bury his mother there in the West Bank.
But he said, “she always said she doesn’t belong here. SHE NEEDS TO GO HOME. SHE NEEDS TO GO BACK TO GAZA AND THAT’S WHERE SHE BELONGS.”
That’s also where her other child who had been run over by a truck in the middle of the conflict was buried. That’s also where Mary, that little girl I picked up in the middle of the night, was also buried where we do Sunday school…..
As we have been talking in the past 2 weeks, Han just kept saying that he wanted to take her home. She loved Jesus and her family. She said so often as we all tried to take care of Mary back then, “𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗺 𝘀𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹”. ❤️
I’m telling you all this now because it’s been two weeks. We were able to get her a casket and he got her body wrapped up. In the middle of this whole mess, Han has been saying, “I just want to take her home. This was never her home.”
Han’s mother used to say, “𝗜 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡 𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗬 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘”, and Han knew that as well. But he said, “the last thing I can do for my mother is at least to take her home back to Gaza.”
I’m trying to help Han and I know Andrew has done everything he could to help as well. As this war is moving into year #1 on October 7th, everything is so uncertain. I will let you know more as I know, but as usual lately, again, I still don’t have any answers.
Right now, I’m sitting across from the airport in the Philippines trying to get to Taiwan. I have meetings there almost every day. I was just home in New York for a couple of days. And now, I’m going to be gone for another month trying to get more help to go through the doors that have been opened to us.
When I was in Joburg, kneeling down in that church parking lot, I knew I couldn’t do the second service after that call. The people were coming out of the first service looking at me screaming and banging my hand on a car. I didn’t have any words to say to them then, and I still don’t have any now…….
𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝘇𝗮. SHE WAS JUST TRYING TO GET BABY FOOD……
I don’t know what the right answer is at this point, but I believe that all of you that know, care. As I’ve said so many times, 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨.
You have no idea how much you mean to me, Han, Andrew and our teams that are serving a generation all over the world…... 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨…….
We’ll talk soon……. Maybe when I have some better answers……. It’s just not now!
Source: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=pastor%20bill%20wilson
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The door for Africa has been opened in such a rapid and an unbelievable pace, and I’ve had to stay out there to raise support to do what’s needed to be done as these governments keeps asking us to bring the Sunday schools into their countries.
I knew what it would take as the years went by, but 𝗜 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡’𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗙𝗔𝗥 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗙𝗔𝗥……. But that’s a conversation for another time.
I had just walked to the back book table to get the kids sponsored and sign books. I had expected a call from Gaza all morning. I knew it was about time I heard from them. I knew from our Jewish friend Andrew that something happened but I didn’t have the details.
I got on the phone to call them. Sometimes in that part of the world, the reception is pretty bad. Finally, I got in touch with Andrew. He said Han’s mother was just killed by Hamas yesterday.
Han is the one that took over from Akmed that was killed by Hamas right in the beginning of the war. His mother was the one that helped set up the food for the kids that come to the Sunday school when we shouldn’t have even been there. She was the one who took care of Mary after I found her.
She said she would take care of Mary like her own child. She was the one who stayed all night holding Mary in the corner of the waiting room in the hospital while Mary was about to die from infection because I couldn’t get the medicine to her in time.
Two Saturdays ago, at a grocery store in the West Bank where I had relocated them to, Han’s mother was trying to get some baby food for him to take to the kids that came to the Sunday school in Gaza. So many of these babies had nothing to eat.
Han is still able to get in and out of the border. The IDF allows him to cross because they knew the good work he has been doing there.
As Han’s mother was at the grocery store trying to get the food, 3 of the Hamas terrorists stormed in and shot 5 of their own Palestinian people in cold blood. One of them was Han’s mother. She took 2 rounds in the back from an AK-47 and died on the floor. She was one of the Sunday school workers that made the difference, and it cost her life. And now, Han was left to take care of his little 7-year-old sister, the last member of his entire family. Andrew tried to explain it to me while I stood in the parking lot at that church where I just got done preaching and I was supposed to be preparing for the next service. I heard Han crying and Andrew was trying to interpret it. I couldn’t understand what Han was saying….
I’ve consoled thousands of people dealing with death in the past 56 years in the ministry. I heard him screaming and crying, but I had nothing to say. 𝗜 𝗙𝗘𝗟𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗡….. I FELL ON MY KNEE IN THE PARKING LOT AND ALL I COULD DO WAS CRY AND SCREAM WITH HIM. I didn’t know what else to do.
What could I do…….??? What could I do…….??????? Nothing is going to make sense anyway……
I tried to get more information from Andrew. There was nothing anybody could say to Han. WHAT NOW? I didn’t have answer for that. Nobody did. At 75 years old, I’m just so tired of not having the right answers, or any answers…....
So since then, he has been trying to figure out what to do. And of course, I still don’t have any answers...... He didn’t have any way to bury her. Andrew was trying to help. Some Palestinian boys he helped before told him to bury his mother there in the West Bank.
But he said, “she always said she doesn’t belong here. SHE NEEDS TO GO HOME. SHE NEEDS TO GO BACK TO GAZA AND THAT’S WHERE SHE BELONGS.”
That’s also where her other child who had been run over by a truck in the middle of the conflict was buried. That’s also where Mary, that little girl I picked up in the middle of the night, was also buried where we do Sunday school…..
As we have been talking in the past 2 weeks, Han just kept saying that he wanted to take her home. She loved Jesus and her family. She said so often as we all tried to take care of Mary back then, “𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗺 𝘀𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹”. ❤️
I’m telling you all this now because it’s been two weeks. We were able to get her a casket and he got her body wrapped up. In the middle of this whole mess, Han has been saying, “I just want to take her home. This was never her home.”
Han’s mother used to say, “𝗜 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡 𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗬 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘”, and Han knew that as well. But he said, “the last thing I can do for my mother is at least to take her home back to Gaza.”
I’m trying to help Han and I know Andrew has done everything he could to help as well. As this war is moving into year #1 on October 7th, everything is so uncertain. I will let you know more as I know, but as usual lately, again, I still don’t have any answers.
Right now, I’m sitting across from the airport in the Philippines trying to get to Taiwan. I have meetings there almost every day. I was just home in New York for a couple of days. And now, I’m going to be gone for another month trying to get more help to go through the doors that have been opened to us.
When I was in Joburg, kneeling down in that church parking lot, I knew I couldn’t do the second service after that call. The people were coming out of the first service looking at me screaming and banging my hand on a car. I didn’t have any words to say to them then, and I still don’t have any now…….
𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝘇𝗮. SHE WAS JUST TRYING TO GET BABY FOOD……
I don’t know what the right answer is at this point, but I believe that all of you that know, care. As I’ve said so many times, 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨.
You have no idea how much you mean to me, Han, Andrew and our teams that are serving a generation all over the world…... 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨…….
We’ll talk soon……. Maybe when I have some better answers……. It’s just not now!
Source: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=pastor%20bill%20wilson
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Date: 21 Oct 2023 Akhmed’s mother finally got to claim his body several days ago, and they had a very simple funeral today to bury him. We...
