"Yes" and "Wait" Answers

In the summer of 2006, a large South Korean Interdenominational youth group announced that they were coming for a few weeks to Afghanistan to organize marches for Jesus in many cities. The international community that permanently resides here, especially the Koreans, told them in clear terms that their objectives were not reasonable and asked if they would please alter or cancel those plans. They chose to ignore good advice, and their snubbing of even veteran Koreans on the field seemed disrespectful, even by American standards. The government of Afghanistan identified them and denied visas and detained leaders so that very few, if any, of the marches materialized.

This summer, 23 Koreans were captured in Afghanistan, and we brought our complaints before God. The leader of that group was counseled not to take short-termers to Kandahar. Refusing that advice, he was advised to go only in small, separate groups. They were captured in Kandahar by the Taliban, all on the same bus, and their leader was shot dead within days. We continue to pray for their release. But the South Korea government’s response – to order all of its citizens (i.e. the people who live here full time and whose counsel has been consistently ignored) out of Afghanistan and to insist on exchange of Taliban prisoners seems illogical and even disloyal to me.

One of the ORA workers, a German, was kidnapped in our neighborhood. Four gunman forced her out of a local pizza restaurant when she was doing what we all do every day here. We again appealed to our Heavenly Father. Within 36 hours, her captors were in jail and she is free. The Korean situation drags on.