Four Prayers for the 2021 National Day of Prayer

What is the National Day of Prayer?

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.

Approved April 17, 1952.

President Truman officially designated a National Day of Prayer by signing the above resolution into law in 1952. In 1988, President Reagan permanently set the day as the first Thursday of every May. Since it was enacted, every sitting President has called a national day for the American people to pray each year.

Fun fact -- according to GotQuestions.org, “In 1952, Conrad Hilton (founder of Hilton Hotels) and Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas, encouraged by Billy Graham, initiated a bill calling for the President to designate one day a year as a National Day of Prayer.”

As stated in the resolution, it is a day for Americans to “turn to God in prayer and meditation” collectively and individually.

Here are four prayers we’d like to share this year:

A heart of humility

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. –2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

Our world has endured a long and onerous season, which still has its grip on us. The past fourteen months have attacked us physically through the COVID-19 virus and tested our mental fortitude as we were forced to accept new normals in every facet of life. Americans specifically also lived through the anxieties a changing of the guard in the White House brings and were confronted by growing racial tensions that appeared to pull our nation apart.

In the preceding verse in 2 Chronicles 7, when a nation is struck with strife and suffering, before praying or turning from sin, God calls for his people to first humble themselves. Rick Warren explains plainly in The Purpose Driven Life that “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.“ In other words, we are to think more about our heavenly Father who is our creator, master and redeemer. And 1 Chronicles 29:16 tells us that a humble person recognizes that all he has is a gift from God. We are utterly helpless and unable to even breathe one more breath or think one more thought without God’s sovereign provision.

We pray for a heart that declares God is in control and we are not. A heart that mourns our sinful state and yearns for God’s holiness. A heart that considers others more important than ourselves. A heart that causes us to “die to ourselves”, including our fears, frustrations, preferences and longings. May we leave all of that at the feet of Jesus and with meekness and reverence, approach our Father.

A prayer of thanksgiving

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
    will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will bring me up again.
–Psalm 71:20 ESV

Damage caused by the pandemic was indiscriminate. Our global economy shrank by an estimated $4 billion dollars that will take years to recover. And over three million souls perished around the world. Yet, in the midst of many troubles, King David’s words in Psalms attest to God’s faithfulness and bring encouragement to our weary souls.

While words of thanksgiving may be far from our lips, as we humbly approach God, we are reminded that His goodness is unchanging. His power and reign over every single event in the world did not falter in the past year. And the promise of eternity in his Glory for those who love and follow Jesus is steadfast.  As we look with hope on the future, we remember the words of Jesus at the end of Matthew: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Praying for the marginalized

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. –James 1:27

God’s heart is for the marginalized and he repeatedly names the widow, the orphan, the sojourner and the poor throughout scripture. The devastation of the past 14 months have widowed many spouses, orphaned children, have alienated people around the world and impoverished countless families. James calls the church to action by being “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)

May we put on God’s heart for those most severely impacted by this season and become doers of the word. May we intercede for those who are hurting and for those who have not tasted the goodness of God. I pray that we would be compelled to give of our time, money, resources and of ourselves to those who need it most, for their good and for God’s glory.

Praying for North Koreans

Finally, it behooves us to encourage you to pray for the people that we love and care for so much: North Koreans. This website is filled with information that can guide you as you pray for the North Korean people. Here are a few ways we can pray:

1. Pray for the persecuted church in North Korea. 

2. Pray for material relief for North Koreans who might be experiencing another famine-like situation. 

3. Pray for North Korean refugees in China, many of whom have been sold into sexual slavery. 

4. Pray for North Korean refugees in South Korea, who, above liberties and material blessings, may ultimately find the lasting hope, peace and abundant life found in the gospel.

How is God leading you to pray for our nation and the world this National Day of Prayer?

North Korean Refugee Workers See the Power of Prayer

The Chinese Police barged into the room where our missionaries were meeting with two North Korean refugees several years ago. There was a Bible open in front of them and it wouldn’t take much for the police to figure out what was going on. One of the officers had a large video camera and began to record everything. Our missionaries make regular visits to the refugees and orphans in our network and are active in helping North Korean refugees with their specific needs. Our missionaries “Frank and Sunny” were taken aback. Sunny was sitting with two refugee women. When the police came in Frank was off in a corner of the room, watching television. Immediately Sunny whispered in English, “don’t turn around.”

He stayed still while the TV blared on.

China punishes male missionaries more harshly than it does women and it punishes missionary couples the most, according to our sources on the ground. Though Christianity is not outlawed, China has a history of being unwelcoming to foreign missionaries. To this day, it is illegal for foreigners to proselytize in China.

Frank and Sunny were terrified and for good reason.

As the police was questioning our missionary and two refugees. They looked around the room and did not see Frank watching television in plain sight. He did not have anything to hide behind and, according to everyone there, it was a miracle that the police didn’t see him. All of a sudden, Frank got up from his chair and said to Sunny, “We have to go,” They put on their shoes and left for home without a word from the police.

That month Crossing Borders was the prayer focus of one of our closest partner churches. Frank and Sunny didn’t know it but this church was busy praying for them. They said the incident reminded them of Acts 12.

“So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” – Acts 12:5

Peter was imprisoned for preaching the gospel. As the church prayed, Peter was met by an angel, escorted out of prison and showed up at the prayer meeting the church was holding for him. This must have felt surreal to Peter’s supporters. When a woman announced that Peter was at the prayer meeting, nobody believed her.

Prayer is powerful. In Acts and throughout the Bible, it led to miracles.

This is why we are so focused on getting people to pray with us. Our program #Pray40NK is open to anyone who is willing to take time to ask God for protection and change. Download your prayer guide here.

A Prayer Campaign for North Korean Refugees and Orphans

Sex trafficking. Abuse. Hopelessness. Abandonment. The struggles of North Korean refugees and orphans are well documented on this blog. When we share this information with people who hear it for the first time, the reaction is almost always shock and horror. This year, we want to equip people to do something about these modern-day atrocities. You will be seeing more ways you can actively participate in the health and well-being of North Korean refugees in China on our website and communications this year.

The first thing we want to do is equip you to pray for North Korean refugees in our new program, #Pray40NK, which will coincide with Lent.

The reason why we are calling people to pray is because we believe it is the most practical way that people can get involved. We believe in an all-powerful God who can change any situation according to His will. Prayer is the most effective and powerful first step to substantive change.

In our prayer guide, you will find a daily prayer item coupled with a Bible verse to meditate on. It is our hope that this will bring powerful change in the lives of many and also to bless you in your life.

Many of us on staff have been a part of this ministry for over a decade. We can all say that we have received exponentially more than we have given. We hope you will experience the same measure of blessing as you pray.

You can download the guide here. You can also follow us on Instagram (@crossingbordersnk) for daily reminders. Thank you!

PTSD and North Korean Refugees

For North Koreans in China, finding help from anyone can be difficult. This is especially true for finding medical care. But for those who struggle with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD), finding help can be impossible. China struggles to deliver quality medical care to its citizens. The World Health Organization has ranked China’s medical care system 144 out of a possible 190 countries.

We found this to be true when we recently brought a doctor from the US to assess the medical needs of the refugees in our network. Refugees who had access to some medical care were often misdiagnosed or over prescribed medicines that didn’t treat the cause of their symptoms.

We also found that the refugees in our network were relatively healthy. They do not suffer from issues that many people in the developed world suffer from, such as heart disease or type 2 diabetes. Many of the symptoms that the refugees suffer from can in fact be related to PTSD.

Along with the internal symptoms of this condition (irritability, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, angry outbursts, etc.), many of our refugees display psychosomatic symptoms of PTSD. These are symptoms from a mental disorder that manifest themselves physically.

The symptoms that our doctor saw last year were all in line with textbook PTSD. Even in our new area where the refugees feel safe from immediate harm, they still display strong symptoms of PTSD.

It is important for us to handle this condition in a way that is consistent with our faith and is culturally sensitive.

The good news is that treatment for PTSD was already occurring. We have and are forming new faith communities. These communities are a place for our refugees to gather together for worship and fellowship.

This is happening in our communities now. This year we started three churches in the new area we are working in. Already, these churches are thriving and they are helping our people deal with the trauma they experienced in North Korea and China.

We will continue to improve our services but the bulk of their needs are being met. Please pray for us as we continue to support these churches and further expand our reach.

To Stay or Leave - North Korean Refugee in China

You’re starving. You’re about to be arrested in North Korea for something that you wouldn’t give a second thought to in the free country. So you run. You walk through the night to elude the police. Avoid contact with people during the day. You’re tired. You’re starving. You wade across a river and make it to China.

But when North Koreans cross into China, they are not in the clear. They are often in danger and need assistance.

This is what is happening now to a North Korean refugee we are in contact with. She is a young woman who we will call “Soon Me.”

Soon Me went to China when she was in her teens. Her mother was sold to a Chinese man so Soon Me was left on her own to find safety and work. She picked up Mandarin quickly and started working at local restaurants as a waitress. For years she has lived like this. She works hard and stays in touch with her mom.

Recently, her step-father visited the restaurant she is working in and revealed to the owners where she was from for reasons unclear to us. He demanded the owners pay him to keep quiet.

It is illegal to help to a North Korean refugee in China. You can be jailed for giving a North Korean a meal. But now Soon Me is outed. She cannot work anymore and she is afraid to leave her house.

These are the issues North Korean refugees face on a daily basis in China. Even the possibility of someone revealing their identity can send fear through them. Soon Me is looking for safety.

Crossing Borders is working with her to see what her best option is. We can move her to another city or we can send her through the Underground Railroad that will take her to Southeast Asia where she will be granted refugee status and where she will be able to move to many free countries throughout the world.

The consequences for either of these options are daunting.

If she stays, she will live under a cloud of fear. Perhaps her father-in-law can find her and threaten her and the people who are helping her. Perhaps someone else will find out the truth and she will have to run again. She will most likely have to cut off ties to her mother.

If she takes the Underground Railroad, she might be caught, arrested and sent back to a North Korean prison camp where she will be tortured and even executed. Also, there are many unsavory people who operate as mercenaries on the Underground Railroad. Soon Me can be mistreated along the way. She could get on an operator’s nerves and be left behind with no one to help.

These are just a few of the daunting consequences we have to consider with Soon Me before we move her.

Over the past 11 years we have helped people like Soon Me who were in predicaments like these and take extra precautions to mitigate the dangers. Many North Koreans around the world have found freedom and many more receive life-sustaining aid through our partnerships with donors.

Please pray for us as we make our next decision with Soon me. There are no perfect answers, only perfect peace through Christ.

**Update**

A couple months ago, we connected Soon Me with another organization who has a vast amount of experience on the Modern Day Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad stretches from Northeast China to Southeast Asia and has delivered many North Korean refugees safely out of China so they can start new lives in countries such as South Korea and the US.

Soon Me was instructed to meet a Underground Railroad guide in a public place and when she did, she told us that she was mistreated and was again in hiding.

She made it to one of our workers one day to seek help and after staying with her for a couple weeks, she again left, this time in the middle of the night. She only left a note saying she was thankful for our help and would contact us soon.

She has not contacted us and we do not know where she is. Our field worker said that she didn't seem unhappy or that Soon Me expressed any desire to leave.

The lives and motivations of North Korean refugees are complicated. Crossing Borders helps them if they want help but don't press them. They are in fear. Often times their fears are unfounded but we respect that this is how they are.

North Koreans grow up under a cloud of scrutiny. They can be punished for expressing their feelings. So it is often difficult to read them.

It is likely Soon Me has moved to another city in China and has started a new life. She has our phone numbers and we have expressed to her that we will always be there if she needs help but for now, she's gone.

It is sad to think about the tens of thousands of North Koreans who, like Soon Me, are living on the run with no plans for their future and living day to day. They carry with them the pain of leaving their homelands and the suffering of entering a country who does not welcome them.

Crossing Borders exists to help people like Soon Me, this generation of North Koreans who are starving, hurt and lost. Though we have helped thousands find safety in China and freedom outside of China, it is stories like Soon Me that affect us the most. Our doors will always be open for her and our phones always on.

North Korean Orphans: An Impossible Question

We recently held our second annual English Camp for the North Korean orphans in our Second Wave ministry. The children in this ministry are born into forced marriages with Chinese men who purchased North Korean women, the children's mothers, as brides. The camp lasted a four days and a number of our children were able to attend. In this time we had the opportunity to teach them English and provide spiritual counseling. Most of the North Korean orphans in Second Wave have lost their mothers, who escaped to South Korea, were captured by the Chinese police to be sent back to a North Korean prison camp, or have run away from their repressive marriages.

One of the North Koreans, “Yung” attended camp. Yung was abandoned by her mother when she was three-years-old. Her mother left her on the day Yung had open-heart surgery, which was about six years ago.

During camp, one of our counselors was able to form a very close bond with Yung. Towards the end of the camp, Yung asked the counselor, “Can you be my new mom?”

The best way to describe Yung is spunky. She has a personality that compensates for her diminutive height. When we took her measurements, she fell well below the average 5th percentile for height and weight in her age group.

Yung lives with her father in rural Northeast China. We make frequent visits to her home, which out missionaries have described as a pigpen. In a recent visit in January, dirty dishes were strewn on their small living space and Yung was covered in ash from a poorly maintained, coal-burning heating system. She had a heavy cough.

She is loved and cared for by her father but her desire for her mother is obvious.

We teach our counselors to answer our children honestly, especially when they ask for the impossible, like Yung did this year. Our counselor answered, “I can’t be your mother but I want to see you again.”

Yung began making appointments immediately.

One of the purposes of our camp is to teach our North Korean orphans a language that can be very useful to them; it is also for the purpose of bringing the healing hope of the gospel to these children. We try to remind them that they are not forgotten but that there is a God who loves them and cares about them.

To sponsor a child like Yung, please visit our Child Sponsorship page.

Twice a North Korean Refugee

“We never had enough firewood in the winter,” Yae Rin, a North Korean refugee in Crossing Borders' care told us. “My dad and I would go very early in the morning to the mountain and cut down a pine tree to bring home. We would have been in such big trouble if we were caught. When there was enough snow on the ground, we could take a big tree and slide it down the mountain.” Yae Rin is a young woman. She is less than five-feet-tall. She has a bright disposition and innocence about her. It’s hard to tell that she is a North Korean refugee in hiding in China. It is shocking to learn of the hardship she endured growing up in North Korea. Yae Rin crossed the border into China with nothing and subsequently had to live for years with the fear of repatriation by the Chinese government.

In North Korea, Yae Rin and her family shared a house with four other families and struggled to find enough work to eat on a regular basis. “I had to get out, so I planned to cross the border into China. I went to my friend’s house to prepare to leave but somehow my father found out and stopped me. We cried together and I went back home.” But a few days later, Yae Rin crossed the river into China. She hasn’t seen her family since she escaped.

Soon after crossing over into China, Yae Rin was found by a local Christian who took her to an underground church for safety. Countless other North Korean refugee women are trafficked into China from North Korea or found by wrongdoers and sold as wives or prostitutes. Experts estimate the number of North Korean refugees to be in the hundreds-of-thousands, those who have crossed illegally into China since the Great North Korean of the 1990s.

Yae Rin found work in China and Crossing Borders was able to help her with rent and obtain an ID so she could apply for jobs. She would find work at different restaurants, often working 7 days a week. The field staff at Crossing Borders would meet her regularly during this time for encouragement and prayer. Our missionary couple shared many hours during Yae Rin’s time off talking about her past as well as hopes for her future.

After a few years of struggle and weariness, Yae Rin felt ready to go to South Korea. The trip along the Modern Day Underground Railroad to freedom can take weeks. In addition, South Korea requires each North Korean refugee to take several months of reeducation courses before entering mainstream society. Yae Rin made the trip safely and took all the required coursework in South Korea.

This past year, our field staff who shared time caring for Yae Rin in China were able to meet her just outside a subway station soon after she got her own apartment in Seoul. They hugged and wept for a long time out on the street. They went to her new home and prayed to thank God and cried together again.

Yae Rin, now 26 and a North Korean refugee twice over, through the dangers of China and now in the modern day rush of South Korea, shared one of her first thoughts landing at Incheon airport in South Korea. “I’m finally in Korea. I don’t have to worry about hiding.”

Then while on the bus crossing the long bridge into the city in mid-winter she thought, “I wish my family could be with me now.”

Adjusting to a new life provides many challenges for North Korean refugees but Yae Rin shares that she is happy and now she finally has the freedom to fulfill some of her hopes and dreams. Today, Yae Rin is studying hard and has plans to become a nurse. She may never escape the memories of her past but maybe she feels it’s now her turn to do some healing.

North Korean Mothers, Chinese Fathers: Caught in the Middle

“Amy,” a North Korean mother who lives in the U.S., has not seen her daughter, who lives in China, in over a decade. Amy’s ex-husband purchased her at the height of the Great North Korean Famine in the early 2000s, when she had arrived in China as a North Korean refugee. She fled China and chose to make her home in America. Amy lives in the Midwest, has a steady job and has remarried.

We recently met Amy in Chicago. She had an odd request: To obtain guardianship over her daughter from her ex-husband’s family and so they could be reunited in the U.S.

Amy’s ex-husband’s family will not grant her request unless she promises to help her husband get a work visa and a job in the U.S., a request that is impossible for Amy to fulfill because she and her ex-husband are not legally married. Amy is also scared that, if her husband comes to the U.S., he might harm her. Crossing Borders told her that we couldn’t help because it is outside the scope of our mission.

Half-North Korean children such as Amy's daughter are often in the middle of disputes that they have little to do with. Many North Korean children in the care of Crossing Borders are in similar predicaments.

Kyung Min, a teenage boy who has been in our care since 2009, has a North Korean mother who fled China for South Korea. Kyung Min’s caretakers say that his mother “lives to get revenge on his father’s family” because she was abused after they purchased her as a forced bride. She often uses Kyung Min to slight his father’s family by making promises to them, then reneging or by sending messages to the family through Kyung Min.

This has gone on for over five years. And though Kyung Min’s caretakers have tried to shield him from this ongoing battle, he is entering into adolescence and is more aware that he is at the center of an ongoing dispute. It is hard for him to not have seen his mother in years, but to realize that much of her contact with him has been to manipulate him to hurt his father's family is a difficult matter for Kyung Min to cope with as he matures.

The lives of these children and their relationships with their North Korean mothers are complex. To say that we have put systems and rules in place to tackle all their issues is foolish. The best we can do is make sure our workers on the ground have been engaging with our children’s every need. We can say that our current workers truly love our children and that they make sure every hair on their head is in place and every problem they have is attended to.

Crossing Borders cares more about people than systems. As we continue to grow, we want to make sure we don’t lose this.

Please pray for us as we deal with diverse and complicated matters in families of Chinese fathers, lost children, distant North Korean mothers. Pray for our caretakers who deal with these problems day in and day out. And pray for our children, who are trying to make sense of their complex situations.

North Korean Refugees: A Meaningless Epidemic

What is it like to realize that everything you once thought true is not? How does it feel when you realize up is down and down is up? This is happening to tens of thousands of North Korean refugees and people today today. "Eun," a North Korean refugee, lived a relatively normal life in North Korea. She worked odd jobs, as a child, through the famine. She had full belief in her government until she heard a knock at the door of her home. It was a North Korean woman who had returned from a stay in China. The woman was pregnant and about to give birth.

Eun worked as a midwife when she was 12. She helped this complete stranger deliver a baby in her living room. When it was discovered that the baby was conceived in China, word spread quickly to the authorities and the woman and child were sent to prison. Eun was interrogated harshly for days about her association to this woman.

“It was then I began to question the regime and everything that I knew,” Eun said. “I was lost.”

Many North Korean refugees speak of a point in their lives when they began to question what their country taught them. North Korean children are indoctrinated at a very early age to believe in the god-like power of their founder, Kim Il Sung. They are also taught that they live in paradise on earth.

North Koreans do not have legal access to any information that can dispute their government’s claims. All foreign media is banned. They have no Internet access. They are in a bubble of lies. When the bubble pops, they are often left in shock, grief and lives that feel as if they are void of meaning.

With information from the outside world leaking into North Korea and North Korean refugees spilling out, there is a crisis of depression growing in North Koreans around the world.

This weight of self-doubt and betrayal only adds to the already treacherous and terrible conditions many North Korean refugees suffer in China. Most women who enter into China are sold as commodities to the highest bidder. Many are treated like slaves and forced to cook, raise livestock and farm.

North Korean refugees are also hunted down by the Chinese police and forced to live in terror. If caught, they are sent back, imprisoned, tortured and even executed. Many women in China stay inside and keep an eye on a window. Fear and insecurity rules over their every waking moment.

It is in this crisis that Crossing Borders enters into the lives of North Korean refugees. Many tell us how that they disjointed they feel after they realize they’ve been lied to their whole lives.

North Koreans are taught to hate Americans and especially Christians. Americans are supposed to be cannibals. Christians are supposed to be evil, wicked people who will bring them pain. When North Korean refugees realize that their only means of sustenance and safety are delivered by American Christians, they feel upside-down.

Crossing Borders works to bring meaning into the lives of North Korean refugees by empowering them to follow their dreams. Eun arrived in China with her father, who unable to receive proper treatment for edema. He died shortly after they arrived in China. When our missionaries first met her, she was afraid, mourning in the wake of her father’s death.

Eun experienced great mistreatment following her father's passing because she was recognized as a North Korean refugee. She hid in the guardianship of a woman who used her for long hours of unpaid labor as a maid. Eun worked so hard that the skin on her hands began to crack. She came to us only as she realized that her "guardian" was in the process of negotiating a deal to sell her to a Chinese man in a forced marriage. Having encountered the world outside of North Korea in such a harsh and cruel way, having lost her father and all hope for a life outside of fear and poverty, Eun felt as if her life was crashing down around her.

Crossing Borders worked quickly to verify Eun’s story, understanding that time was of the essence. Once we determined she was telling the truth, we helped her escape China. She was able to attain North Korean refugee status on the Underground Railroad and enter South Korea.

However, like many North Korean defectors, Eun had difficulty in South Korea, where she was discriminated against. She thought she would be better off in Canada, where she lives today.

It is an amazing thing to see Eun living now, outside the oppressive conditions of China and North Korea. She recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy with her husband who is also a North Korean refugee. She emails our staff pictures and thanks us for helping her. She wrote this in one of her emails to our staff:

“Teacher, I will live diligently for the day of reunification of North and South and for my home village in North Korea. I have a dream. Some people tell me that my dream cannot come true. But, I believe my dream will come true someday if it's Jesus' will. And, in whatever I do, I want to be a person who spreads good news about God.”

Eun is now living a life of meaning. Not only because she has gained freedom from Chinese and North Korean authorities. It is because through her journey, she was able to find God's compassion in our work, to find meaning in the gospel which drove us to such lengths to help her. Crossing Borders is thankful to have been a part of the process of sharing and revealing God's love for her in our work to free her from physical and spiritual bondage.

Please pray for Eun and the tens of thousands of North Korean refugees who have not experienced the liberating power of the gospel. Please pray for Crossing Borders to continue to show the compassion of Christ to these people.

North Korean Refugees: Ok-seo’s Struggle for Peace and Heat

Crossing Borders has two organizational functions: first, to raise funds and second, to use these funds wisely to help North Korean refugees in China. But sometimes it is easy for us to think that the funds that we raise can solve every problem. As you pray with us this year, please pray for that we would rely on God for everything. The ongoing life of "Ok-seo", a North Korean refugee in our care who we have shared about before through our blog, continues to remind us that the most important thing for us to do is to ask God to take control in the life of our refugees.

Ok-seo has trouble picking up her husband’s native tongue: Mandarin. This causes a lot of trouble in her household. She gets into fights with her husband and is often physically abused by him. But she cannot leave her family because they have a son and it would be difficult for her to run away with her young child.

Ok-seo’s family went without heat this past winter. We have been helping her with a small, monthly stipend for the past couple years to cover living expenses. Ok-seo's husband, however, decided late last year to stop working for reasons unclear to Ok-seo and our workers on the ground.

Her husband is described as extremely lazy by Ok-seo and our missionaries. He was coddled as a child and is unable to handle adversity, according to our sources familiar with the couple.

China’s northernmost recesses are extremely cold in the winter. Ok-seo lives near the border of Siberia, where it can reach 30 to 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit without the wind chill. It’s hard for us to imagine how hard it is for the family to stay warm without heat.

It would be easy for us to raise funds to give the couple extra funds to heat their home but we fear this will give Ok-seo's husband even less incentive to work. We could also cut our support to them all together to encourage her husband to work but this would leave the family without enough food.

Last year we posted a video of Ok-seo singing a song she wrote about God’s grace in her life. This song is based on a traditional North Korean tune used to praise Kim Il Sung.

North Korean Refugee Sings a Song She Wrote from Crossing Borders on Vimeo.

Her song is an example of how Ok-seo, like many North Korean refugees in our care, has replaced a man-made idol for the true and living God. Through her struggles she continues to lean on God to carry her through.

As she was explaining her situation to our staff member, Ok-seo expressed her thankfulness at how God had changed her heart. Her circumstances might not have improved but she has something that she never had before.

“Before I had no hope,” she said in a recent interview. “Now I have hope.”

Though Ok-seo’s circumstances are dire, her soul continues to soar with supernatural strength and courage.

As we continue to pray for Ok-seo and North Korean refugees like her, we pray not for more money but that God would get involved in her marriage and that in Christ her husband might change. Please pray with us as we continue to seek wisdom in helping Ok-seo.

North Korean Defectors: Update on Bo-ah

We informed you earlier this year that a North Korean refugee, “Bo-ah,” was sent off on the Underground Railroad and was well on her way to freedom. Recently, she contacted Crossing Borders and said that she made it to South Korea. She has been through re-education training at South Korea’s school for refugees, Hanawon. Now she is living in Seoul with another North Korean defector. Bo-ah crossed several borders, traversed rivers, climbed mountains and traveled in danger to make it to South Korea. She said that she felt our prayers as she fought her way to freedom.

Bo-ah’s struggles aren’t complete, though she has made it to South Korea. South Korea is now home to more than 25,000 North Korean defectors and many find it difficult to adjust to the modern lifestyle and capitalist society.

Seoul can be overwhelming for the former people of North Korea, people from a country that lives in relative simplicity compared to their southern counterpart. Some North Koreans even share that they are startled by their appliances, which can speak to them. Others are disoriented by the lights. North Korea, with its lack of electricity, becomes pitch black at night.

Though Bo-ah tells us that she is doing fine, she has shared some significant barriers she now has in South Korea. First, because her education in North Korea was only through the third grade. Second, she still longs to reunite with her family.

Just ten years ago, when a North Korean moved to South Korea, it was like they were saying goodbye to your family forever. Today, this is not the case. Through couriers that operate in China and North Korea, defectors like Bo-ah can send messages, money and other items to their remaining relatives.

Andrei Lankov, one of the world’s most respected scholars on North Korea, wrote that 49 percent of all North Korean defectors send money back home through illegal channels. Many send money to get their families out of the country.

Though Bo-ah would like to purchase freedom for her family, she doesn’t have the means nor does she have the education to get a higher-paying job to pay for it.

Until then, she chips away at her studies hoping that one day she will be reunited with her family. Please pray for Bo-ah and the thousands of other refugees who long to see their loved-ones again. Pray for her as she goes to school and church that she would find hope in Christ, despite the sadness of missing her family.

North Korean Refugees: Food and Nostalgia

Some of the most reminiscent and nostalgic discussions we have had with North Korean refugees in our Restore Life program have been about food. Close your eyes for a moment and think about the food that best encapsulates your hometown. Whatever it is, a sandwich, a taco, a hot dog or maybe even a certain soup, how would you feel if you could never go home and eat it?

Many of us on staff, while in China, will talk for hours about the food we miss from back home. These discussions are often accompanied by distant looks in our eyes as we long for things like pizza, peanut butter or French fries.

North Korean refugees have the same conversations. However, unlike us, they have little hope to ever eat their favorite dishes again. North Korean refugees have an even deeper connection to their food because the famine made every morsel all the more precious.

Our missionaries recently took three North Korean refugee women out for dinner and they had one of these conversations. These women are usually shy and muted but the topic of food brought life to their faces.

These were some of things the North Korean refugees in our care missed:

“HeeKyung”: Salted Pollack Soup

“My family would sit together and eat this when it would snow so high that it reached above our knees. On those days I would eat fresh salted Pollack. The taste would shoot in my mouth. I wish I can taste it again.”

“AeHyun”: Potato Noodles and Pyongyang Style Nengmyun (buckwheat noodles with beef broth)

“The noodles are very clear and thin. It’s my favorite noodle.  You can have it in hot soup or mixed with spicy paste. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. And there is nothing compared to Pyongyang buckwheat noodles! I miss it so much.  The Chinese don’t have buckwheat noodles. Pyongyang noodles must be made with buckwheat. During the famine, we only dreamt about food, especially white rice. We left our homes for food. It’s sad.”

“OakSoon”: ‘Eun Eo’ Sweet Roasted Yellowfish

“Only in XX city people could eat it because there were many business people. They could afford to buy fish. Also, I miss corn noodles in hot soup.”

Please pray for these North Korean refugee women who long for more than a taste, but for their homes. They are foreigners in a strange land with a different language and unfamiliar foods. Please pray that their hunger might be filled by the only One who can satisfy.

Prayer for North Korean Orphans: Strength to Forgive

“Sung Me" is a North Korean orphan whose North Korean mother was sold to her Chinese father in China’s expansive sex trade. Illegal trafficking in China was rampant after the Great Famine of the 1990s, as refugees fled out of North Korea. Her mother left her and was captured by several Chinese men, locked up, abused, and murdered. Sung Me does not remember anything about her mother. She was later left to her aunt who mistreated her and did not want to care for her anymore. That’s when Crossing Borders stepped in. We recently found out that she was sexually abused while she was staying with her aunt.

Recently, Crossing Borders hosted an English Camp and Vacation Bible School for North Korean orphans like Sung Me. What resulted from this meeting between six American teachers and 25 North Korean orphans was nothing short of amazing.

On one night of the camp, a staff member shared the story of the Good Samaritan and God’s mandate to forgive those who have wronged us. We asked those who have a hard time forgiving to stand up so we could pray for them. Sung Me stood up. She cried. She asked God for strength to forgive.

In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus lays out a new way for people to practice the Golden Rule. The story not only challenges us to love our neighbors but to love our enemies. The story teaches to heap on lavish love and reconciliation to those who we may consider mortal enemies.

We’re not sure who Sung Me is having a hard time forgiving: her mother who she doesn’t remember, her aunt who didn’t love her, or perhaps those who were cruel and abused her in the past. What we do know is that forgiveness is the first step to recovery.

Sung Me is living in one of our group homes for North Korean orphans. She does well in school and is active. She loves sports and helping out at home. When we visited recently, she was one of the first to get us fruit and drinks. We are not sure what the future will hold for her but we are committed to being there every step of the way.

Please pray for Sung Me and the many North Korean orphans like her who have suffered much in their lives. We believe that the only way to healing for her and others like her is the forgiveness offered in the Gospel - to receive it and to practice it.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: China's Human Trafficking

China was recently downgraded to the lowest rating by the Trafficking in Persons Office at the US State Department. This came as no surprise to us as we have been dealing with the human rights implications of China’s draconian policies toward North Korean refugees for over a decade. China was designated by the State Department as tier three, which is the lowest designation, putting the country in the same class as North Korea, Russia and Uzbekistan, among others.

Just as the State Department was releasing this report this year, we took in another North Korean orphan whose life has been affected by these policies.

“Meerae” was born to a Chinese father and a North Korean refugee mother. At the age of seven she witnessed her mother being hauled away by the Chinese police.

“I saw how my mom was captured in hand cuffs and was dragged away with the police,” Meerae said to our missionary. “I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t ask anything. My heart was hurting.”

Imagine being a child at the age of seven, witnessing your mother being hauled off by the police for a crime you couldn’t possibly understand at that age. This is the reality for not only Meerae but for tens of thousands of children with North Korean refugee mothers who have been born into this terrible situation.

China’s zero tolerance policy towards North Korean refugees has fed their sex trade industry. North Koreans are given no rights in China and because of this, they are prime targets for Chinese human trafficking rings.

Countries like China who share Tier 3 designation in the 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report do little to nothing change laws prohibiting human trafficking within their borders. Remember that China is the world’s largest country, home to 1.3 billion people. These are individuals who remain unprotected from human trafficking laws.

“... there are countless voiceless people, countless nameless people except to their families or perhaps a phony name by which they are being exploited, who look to us for their freedom and for the possibility of life itself,” Secretary of State, John Kerry said in a response to the Trafficking in Persons report this year.

As of last week, Meerae has been taken into the care of our ministry through our Second Wave program. She no longer has to worry where she will find her next meal or if she will be able to continue her education. But she still worries for her mother who she probably will never see again.

Please pray for Meerae. Please pray for the thousands of children like her. Please pray for the North Korean refugee women who are crushed under China’s policies. Please pray that God would move this nation to do what is just.

Prayer for North Korean Orphans: A Prayer for Jong

Please pray this week for a North Korean orphan who had surgery last week to remove a growth in his neck. Last week our missionary alerted us that "Jong", one of the North Korean orphans in our Second Wave group homes, had a egg-sized growth on his neck which was causing discomfort and coughing. His guardians, local Crossing Borders staff who assist in providing holistic care to the children in our care, took Jong to the hospital immediately and the doctors said it had to be removed.

When Jong was about 6 years old, his mother was captured by Chinese police officers. He vaguely remembers what his mother looks like. Her whereabouts are unknown. His father is a farmer and walks with a limp in one leg. His father also had brain surgery in the past and is very forgetful due to his original head injury or surgery. Because his father is unable to take care of him, Jong had infrequent care from his uncle who would assist in his home. When our missionaries learned of the child's situation, they consulted with his father and brought Jong was brought to a Crossing Borders orphanage for North Korean orphans. He has been provided for by our workers and missionaries since.

Jong is a good kid, who often looks for the approval of his caretakers, teachers, and other adults. His favorite color is blue, and favorite type of food is beef. He enjoys playing the most with remote-controlled cars, and hopes to be a scientist one day. He is a happy boy because he received love from his father, according to our missionaries.

Crossing Borders is looking to get his growth analyzed in the United States so that we can be sure this doesn’t grow into a larger problem. Please pray with us as we look into options for him in the US, and as we continue care for the North Korean orphans in Second Wave.

Prayer for North Korean Orphans: Why Children are Orphaned

All of the North Korean orphans in our care in Second Wave have lost their mothers who have either escaped their forced marriages or been captured by the Chinese police and sent back to North Korea. Many of the children have fathers who are estranged or in moderate contact. If the children have fathers, why does Crossing Borders refer to them as North Korean orphans?

First, it is important to note that the official definition of "orphan" by the United Nations is “a child who has lost one or both parents.”

A second factor are the typical relationships between our children and their fathers. We take care of two North Korean orphans, brother and sister, “Soo and Jin.” They are half North Korean, half Chinese. They live in one of our orphanages, which is near their father’s home. Their father has been suffering from tuberculosis for years.

Each morning they both go to their father’s home, make him food, clean the house and then go to school. They go to their father's at night to do the same before returning to their orphanage.  Each weekend, they spend time with at their father to help maintain their his home and his health.

The typical Chinese or Korean-Chinese man who goes to the open market in China to purchase a bride lives in poverty, is sick, or has a mental or physical disability.  A majority of them are unable to provide an education or future for the children born following their marriages and need outside help.

This is why we consider each of these children as North Korean orphans. Not only have the children in our care lost their mothers, their fathers are unable to care or provide for them.

Crossing Borders currently helps more than 40 children in Second Wave. However, we cannot ignore the fact that over the past ten years there have been 100,000 North Korean refugees who have fled to China, most of whom are women. An estimated 80% of North Korean women who flee to China are trafficked and sold as forced brides. The number of children who need help must easily be in the thousands if not tens of thousands throughout China.

It is not hard to find a child who needs help in Northeast China.  Whenever we expand this program, it takes little effort.

Please pray with us as we address the needs of North Korean orphans. The sheer number of children in need is staggering. Please pray that these children will be loved. Pray that they would have a future. Pray that they would find hope in Jesus. And pray that we find more.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: Safety and Terror in Life

North Korean refugees in China live in terror everyday. The bombing in Boston has reminded us in the first world that none of us are truly safe, no matter where we live. Acts of terror such as these are intended to scare us from living our everyday life. We get on a plane and we think twice. The next time we participate in or attend a marathon, we will think of Boston.

This terror is relative compared to what others go through on a daily basis. When we think of Syria or Gaza, our daily level of terror is put into perspective.

North Korean refugees in China are under constant pressure of being discovered by their neighbors, police officers or cameras, which seem to have sprouted up on every major street corner in Northeast China.

In 2009 we visited a small village in Northeast China where the police had come a month earlier to round up refugees and send them back to North Korea. The North Korean refugees lucky enough to escape were horrified. They didn’t want to stay in their homes where the police could come again in an attempt to round up refugees. But they also did not want to leave their homes where they might be caught.

“Can you please help me leave the country and go to South Korea?” one terrified woman asked us.

In 2011 China arrested and deported about 28 refugees and put the entire community in horror. The North Korean population is estimated to be around 100,000. Yonhap news reported in 2012 that a few of these refugees were publicly executed.

As we pray this week, let us remember the fear North Korean refugees face everyday. The psychological and emotional damage is stifling. Please pray that they would, through workers like our own in China, receive the peace and comfort of Christ.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: The Underground Railroad

We have been helping “Bo-ah”, a North Korean Refugee in our Restore Life program for over five years. Late last year we sent her off on the Underground Railroad. As tensions have escalated on the Korean Peninsula, the Underground Railroad continues to quietly bring thousands of North Korean refugees to freedom each year. It is an extremely dangerous journey because, if refugees are caught, they will be sent back to a North Korean gulag to be tortured and possibly executed.

Bo-ah has vivid memories of her home in North Korea. She used to go to the mountains early in the morning with her father to chop down trees to heat their home, which was outlawed. Her teenage years were spent picking mushrooms to make money. She was constantly hungry and would often bring a cup of milk for lunch.

When Bo-ah decided to leave North Korea it was a hard decision because she knew she would be leaving her family behind. She still worries for her family.

“I wish I will be able to make some more money and send it to my family so that they can move to a better house,” she said. “I would buy them a farm in a flat area so they could get enough food for a whole year. But I don’t even know how to contact them.”

We got her a job in Northeast China, though North Korean refugees are not allowed to work in China. Her dream is to open a successful restaurant. She was paid a small wage at first but soon her paychecks became smaller, with more and more time between payments until they stopped altogether.

Eventually Bo-ah decided to leave Northeast China through the Underground Railroad through a partner organization*.

Bo-ah set off months ago and we have not heard from her. The last message we received from our partner was late last year. They told us that she successfully made it past the most difficult leg of the journey.

Please pray this week for North Korean refugees who make this difficult journey through China to Southeast Asia and eventually to South Korea or another free country. Pray that they would be invisible to the authorities and visible to those who are willing to help them. Please also pray for Bo-ah, who could be anywhere along this path. We will keep you posted about her progress.

* Crossing Borders does not help refugees navigate the Underground Railroad because our focus is to provide help for them in China.

Prayer for North Korean Orphans: Two New Children

Pictured: The front yard at the home of one of our North Korean orphans. Recently we have moved forward in our plans to expand our care for North Korean orphans in Northeast China. This is due to the overwhelming success of our Child Sponsorship Program. We can help more children because more of them are sponsored by our faithful supporters.

The children in this program have North Korean mothers who have either been captured by the Chinese police and sent back to North Korea or have fled for freedom in South Korea. We have several orphanages spread out throughout Northeast China and we also partner with schools to pay for their education and some of their living expenses.

We want you to meet a two of our North Korean orphans so you can pray for them with us:

"Juhee" is 11 years old. Her mother was arrested in China four years ago and sent back to a North Korean prison camp. Her father is in his 50s and is unable to work because he is partially paralyzed. He purchased Juhee’s mother, a North Korean refugee, in the illegal sex trade that exploded in China following the North Korean famine of the 90s. She and her father live in extreme poverty. Please pray for her as she will continue to live with her father and go to a local private school.

"Sunhee" is a teenager and her mother escaped from China to South Korea in the early 2000s. It was unclear if her mother made the dangerous journey from China to South Korea via the Underground Railroad. They hadn’t heard from Sunhee’s mother for years. If a refugee is caught fleeing to South Korea, they are treated harshly in the North Korean prison camp system. Last year Sunhee and her father received a call from Sunhee’s mother for the very first time. Her mother had indeed made it to South Korea but there was no invitation to bring Sunhee or her father to South Korea. There was no money sent. It was a call to simply say hello with no promises of another call. Please pray for Sunhee as she continues with her schooling and attempts to move forward with her life.

Crossing Borders is committed to helping as many of North Korean orphans as we possibly can. We are looking for opportunities to help more families. Please pray for these children as we try to give them hope through education and the gospel.

North Korean Orphans: Sex and Half-North Korean Teens

China’s population of half-North Korean, half Chinese youths are beginning to reach adolescence, which means the introduction of adolescent problems. This is something we have seen in our group homes for North Korean orphans. Last year, a boy in one of our orphanages was caught downloading pornographic materials. His caretakers did not know what to do. In China, sex is a taboo subject. In our children’s schools there are no sex education courses and parents rarely speak to their children about the birds and the bees.

In that same orphanage, two of our girls began menstruating.

In response to this, our missionaries decided to hold a seminar about sex in a biblical context. Here is an excerpt from their report:

"We also talked about an amazing Chinese character –性 (xing) means sex, it has two words together, the first part 心 means ‘mind’, and 生 means body. So, true sex means body and soul, it matches what the Bible says.

The most important thing is that the children are committed to keep their bodies and hearts pure for the true love in God’s time for them. Children believe that God has a beautiful plan that is ordered and designed in a way to bring God glory and also will bless them."

This week, please pray for these North Korean orphans who are entering into adolescence without a family to support them. Their mothers have either abandoned them or have been sent back to North Korea by the Chinese police. Their fathers live in abject poverty and there are no people to raise them except for outsiders like Crossing Borders. Please also pray for our caregivers who do their best to address the problems of each of our children in a loving and biblical way.