An ordinary girl with extraordinary faith
She came to China the hard way. There was no train, no plane and no boat. There was certainly no welcome. In fact, she didn’t even know if she’d arrive at all. ‘Jane’ risked her life crossing the Tumen River at night. That’s the way all hungry North Koreans do it.
She had no idea how to move on to South Korea but had heard rumours of people in China who help refugees like her get to a friendly country, say Mongolia or maybe Thailand, and in so doing begin the process of a whole new life in South Korea.
Jane is one of hundreds of North Koreans attempting this foreboding journey. Few make it.
Then a strange thing happened. She was given an MP3 player, one of those tiny machines barely bigger than a 50p, containing the message of good news. Jane gave her life to Christ. She quickly made friends with some of the young workers called to reach out to the North Koreans and she now senses a real urgency not to flee to freedom in South Korea but to grow through suffering in North Korea. How else could her family ever be introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ?
And so she returned to North Korea laden down with a bag of more than fifty MP3 players and was able to hand them out in her home area. Jane is an unbelievable Christian sister – regularly crossing the border and taking in shipments of the tiny digital players back into North Korea. She meets with new Christians and others not yet saved. They each get an MP3 player. An ordinary North Korean girl with an extraordinary faith.
Jane is just one of a growing number of special friends in this work. Another Christian sister was arrested in both China and North Korea but last winter she called and asked for help to get a Christian brother into North Korea. He was loaded up with bags full of clothing, food, and money – most of which was provided by house churches in China. He came from a border region and reported that he knew of about twenty Christians in his small village!
He too was able to deliver the MP3 players. In March of this year, however, as he made the crossing back to China, he was shot in the leg by a border guard. It is not clear whether he was shot by a North Korean border guard or a Chinese. He was able to get away and hide in the forests but was soon surrounded by more than ten Chinese police and was arrested.
Also in March, one of the key players in the whole MP3 work was informed that the North Korean government had put a price on her head and had ordered her execution. Clearly, things are happening! North Korea has agents in China that are able to carry out such orders. She had to be moved right out of the situation.
People have put their lives on the line because they believe strongly in getting the word of God into the hands of North Koreans. Please keep them in your prayers and pray that these efforts have maximum impact for the kingdom of God.
This article first appeared in Asia Link.