Update

Update on Father Nguyen Van Ly

Father Nguyen Van Ly was recently released from prison and taken to a Church-run home to receive medical treatment, according to the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA). UCA reported that at the request of Father Van Ly's relatives, "prison officials allowed him to temporarily stop serving his sentence to get medical treatment at the home for retired priests for one year." Father Van Ly has already served three years of his eight-year sentence. Thank you for writing letters of encouragement to Father Van Ly.
We encourage you to continue writing letters to believers in prison.
Forward this e-mail to your friends who have a heart for the persecuted, and encourage them to write and pray.

Video of Nigeria

Nigeria: After the Attack

Nigeria: VOMedical Helps Victims

The Voice of the Martyrs’ medical program is on the frontlines in Northern Nigeria, providing medical care, support and counseling to Christians following recent attacks by Muslims.

VOMedical staff report that many villages have been attacked, the latest occurring on March 17. “Muslims surrounded the small village of Byei, some 30 miles south of Jos. They attacked the homes with AK-47s (judging by the diameter of the bullet holes in the houses’ doors and according to survivors), followed by machetes and fire,” VOMedical staff said. “Thirteen people died in the attack and were buried in a mass grave just outside the village. Seven were wounded and taken to Vom Christian Hospital; five remained admitted when we visited the hospital this afternoon. Most of the wounds were gunshot wounds and burns.”

The wounds sustained by believers in this attack are severe. “The severity of the wounds is much higher than those seen in the January riots; there are very, very few with minor wounds, while more than half of the January attack wounds were minor,” VOMedical staff added. “This area has had six or seven villages attacked over the past 10 to 14 days. None of these were the typical Nigerian religious riot; all were deliberate, middle-of-the-night, well coordinated assaults.”

VOMedical staff have visited believers in hospitals and consulted with doctors to ensure they are receiving the medical treatment they require. “We were able to see numerous patients at Plateau State Specialist Hospital, one of two of the main receiving hospitals from this attack,” VOMedical staff said. “There were fewer gunshot wounds and far more machete and cutlass wounds. Muslims had sharpened their weapons before the attack, because the wounds on these folks were significantly deeper and more destructive than any of those I saw in January. The epitome was an above-the-elbow amputation on the left arm of a 4-year-old child.”

These attacks are the latest in a series of sectarian attacks and riots in recent months. In January and again in early March, Christians and Muslims rioted in several villages outside the city of Jos. Churches and homes were burned, and many Christians and Muslims were killed.

Following the attacks in Dogo Nahawa, a pastor stressed the importance of forgiveness. “He stressed that this was indeed persecution foretold by Jesus as a sign of the end times and that our duty was to carry our cross and forgive the attackers,” VOMedical said of the pastor’s comments. “This will be significant, as many of the attackers were actually long-standing members of Dogo Nahawa village and were pointing out who was Christian and which houses were Christian. The worship service was held in the village square, complete with charred, burned-out buildings in the background.”

The Voice of the Martyrs encourages you to continue praying for Nigerian believers, who live with the daily possibility of being attacked. Pray that those who lost loved ones will be comforted and that the injured will fully recover. Pray that VOMedical staff will encourage believers in Nigeria and be able to provide them with needed resources during this difficult time. Ask God to help Christians forgive their persecutors.

Crossing

This movie is a very good film about the horrors of North Korea. VOM supports it in part. There is cursing, and since the film is in Korean, it's in the subtitles. Please let your parents review this film before watching. The only thing I had against it was the language, but other than that...excellent film.
You can go HERE to find out more about it.

Crossing - Trailer from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

World Vision Attacked in Pakistan

Date: March 10, 2010

Location: Pakistan

6 Killed in Attack on World Vision in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — Suspected militants armed with grenades attacked the offices of a Christian aid group helping earthquake survivors in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six employees and wounding several others, police and the organization said.

All the victims of the assault on World Vision, a major international humanitarian group, were Pakistanis.

Extremists have killed other people working for foreign aid groups in Pakistan and issued statements saying such organizations were working against Islam, greatly hampering efforts to raise living standards in the desperately poor region. Many groups have scaled down operations in the northwest or pulled out altogether.

The attack took place in Ogi, a small town in Mansehra district, which was badly hit by the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.

"It was a brutal and senseless attack," said Dean Owen, World Vision spokesman in Seattle, Washington. "It was completely unexpected, unannounced and unprovoked."

Another spokesman said the group had suspended operations across Pakistan as a result of the attack.

Two women were among the six dead, said local police chief Sajid Khan. Four people were wounded.

He said about 10 gunmen took part in the raid.

"They went inside, opened fire indiscriminately and then threw grenades before fleeing," said Khan.

Al Qaeda, the Taliban and allied groups are strong in northwestern Pakistan, but Mansehra lies outside the tribal belt next to Afghanistan where the militants have their main bases and is relatively peacefully.

Islamist militants see foreign aid groups and local outfits that receive international funds as a challenge to their authority in regions under their influence. The organizations often employ women and support female rights initiatives, further angering the extremists.

Many foreign aid groups set up offices in Mansehra after the 2005 earthquake, which killed about 80,000 people.

In 2008, militants there killed four Pakistanis working for Plan International, a British-based charity that mainly helps children.

World Vision is one of the world's largest and well-funded Christian aid groups. It was founded 60 years ago in the United States.