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.

Prayer for North Korea and North Korean Refugees: Peace

This week’s prayer topic is simple: Please pray for peace for North Korean refugees and North Korea's people. However, as we pray for peace for North Korea and its people, we understand that the nation is always on the brink of violence. Though war seems unlikely, it is unclear how far North Korea’s new, unseasoned leader may escalate tensions and fear.

In our many conversations with North Korean refugees along the border, defectors in South Korea and South Koreans, nobody wants war – not one person. Nobody thinks it would be good for the Korean people. We pray for peace through God's protection and provision.

In the face of anxiety for the things we cannot control, for the things that are out of our power, we at Crossing Borders ask that you would help us to place North Korean refugees and the people of North Korea into the hands of the Lord.

“O Almighty God, the Father of all humanity, turn, we pray, the hearts of all peoples and their rulers, that by the power of your Holy Spirit peace may be established among the nations on the foundation of justice, righteousness and truth; through him who was lifted up on the cross to draw all people to himself, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” – William Temple, “Prayer for Peace Among Nations”

“O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of Your presence, Your love, and Your strength. Help us to have perfect trust in Your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, living close to You, we shall see Your hand, Your purpose, Your will through all things.” - Saint Ignatius of Loyola

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.

North Korean Refugees and Orphans: We Need People

After Jim and Mary’s youngest child graduated from college they knew it was time to make good on a commitment they had made long ago. It had been a dream of theirs to help North Koreans refugees and orphans. But they only had one problem: they didn’t know how. By luck or providence (maybe a little bit of both), their eldest daughter married a director of Crossing Borders and the rest has been history.

Jim and Mary’s commitment to North Korean refugees and orphans we have helped has been unmatched. We have often times gotten into heated debates trying to convince them not to use all of their monthly salary to help our refugees. We have never seen a couple so fit to run our field operations. They are compassionate and they are tough. They know when to hold their tongues and they know when not to.

You probably hear all too often from groups like us that we need money. And we do. We also need prayer (hence this blog) for North Korean refugees and orphans. But one of the most understated, underestimated need that we have is people.

God doesn’t work through money alone. He doesn’t work through prayer alone. God works powerfully through people, imperfect and fallible vehicles of His grace.

As we have shared our plans to expand the scope and depth of our care, the only way this will happen is through people who are willing to serve North Korean refugees and orphans. Here’s what we are looking for:

- A minimum of five years of ministry experience, lay or pastoral at an evangelical, Bible-believing church - A proven track record of integrity and excellence in their personal life and interpersonal dealings - A minimum of seven years of professional experience in which you have tangible examples of excellence - Membership and good standing with an evangelical, Bible-believing church - Fluent in Korean - Ability to communicate in English - Asian by appearance. Ability to blend into the Chinese population

We are willing to bend on some of these qualifications (except the last three). However, above of all of the aforementioned necessities, we are looking for workers who are willing to love North Korean refugees and orphans, as well as the Chinese people. We are looking for individuals who are willing to listen first and speak last.

If you can’t pick up and move to China or do not know someone who may be able to, please join us in prayer as we try to change lives and a region through the people God provides.

Five Topics to Pray for North Korea

North Korea is a chaotic and confusing nation. Their government tests nuclear weapons while their people suffer from starvation. They speak of peace and unity one day and war the next. Listed below are items we feel need your prayer:

1. Pray for the people in North Korea – If you’ve read the Bible, it is clear that God has a soft spot for the poor, the widow and the orphan. North Korea is filled with such individuals. There are no signs that the food situation in the country is moving toward any form of stability, and eyewitnesses invited into the country have confirmed this. This is causing instability in families, disease and suffering. The poor, the widow, and the orphan desperately need our prayers.

2. Pray for North Korean refugees – North Korea can be enigmatic because of the lack of good reporting in the country. The regime controls most media outlets in the country and the ones it doesn't control are not allowed full access to all parts of the country. The best information coming from North Korea is through North Korean refugees who travel beyond the country's borders to find hope in a new and terrifying capitalist world. These refugees, many of them homeless, hungry, impoverished, seek a life free from the North Korean regime. Please pray for these North Korean refugees. Please pray especially those in China, North Korean refugees who are scared and in hiding due to China’s zero tolerance policy toward escapees from North Korea.

3. Pray for North Korean politicians – North Korea is a political problem for world leaders, most of who are afraid of a nuclear North Korea and rightfully so. But this can often divert the world’s attention away from the suffering people of North Korea. For things to change in the world on a global scale, there must be a political response. Pray that our politicians would not lose focus on the pain of the North Korean people.

4. Pray for North Korea’s leadership – Some say it is a waste of time to pray for North Korea’s leadership who are often seen as power-hungry hedonists who would crush a whole nation to remain in power. The worst thing we can do is to turn this group of people into caricatures. Jesus was clear when he commanded us to “pray for our enemies.” This accomplishes two things: 1. If they are in the wrong, prayer can change their hearts and 2. prayers for our enemies instantly humanizes them. These are fallen people just like us. They need our prayers.

5.  Pray for North Korea’s underground church – This is perhaps the most persecuted church in the world. No one is sure how large it is. No one can be sure what their activities are. But it has been confirmed by multiple sources that the underground church in North Korea exists. Not only do Christians fear the government’s heavy hand but they also fear their friends, family, neighbors and even their own children. North Korean children are taught to report their parents if they do anything the regime finds threatening. Christianity is at the top of this list. The only way for North Koreans to have true and lasting peace is through the gospel. They can have food. They can have freedom. But we believe the gospel is the only way for them to truly be transformed and to find healing.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: A Sustainable Future

In China is a family of North Korean refugees and orphans we help. “Ha Neul,” lives with her cousin and father in the countryside of Northeast China. Her father has a degenerative bone disorder that prevents him from working on his farm for very long. This family leads a poor and desperate life. Their house was described by one of our missionaries as “filthy.” Ha Neul’s father comes from poverty and because of his disabilities, it was virtually impossible for him to find a wife. China’s One Child Policy has left the country with a severe gender imbalance. It is because of this imbalance that North Korean refugees are trafficked heavily in the country. So Ha Neul’s father went to the open market in Northeast China in the early 2000s to purchase a wife.

Though some women are treated brutally by their purchasers, Ha Neul’s father treated his wife well. They lived happily in the countryside for a time. However, Ha Neul, as many North Korean refugee women, was captured by the police and sent back to North Korea. She has not been heard from since.

Ha Neul’s father tries his best to provide for his daughter but the numbers cannot add up. What little he makes from his farm goes to service his debts. Very little is left over to provide for his half North Korean, half Chinese child, who, until very recently, was not able to obtain a legal ID so she could go to school or obtain medical care. The cards are stacked against Ha Neul and the tens of thousands of families who are in situations like hers.

Crossing Borders is now considering more sustainable options to help North Korean refugees and their families.

For 10 years, we have been providing aid to these communities. But as the landscape has changed in China and North Korea, we feel the need to change along with it.

When we first landed in Northeast China, the situation was dire and immediate aid was necessary. But today, the situation has stabilized. The food situation in North Korea is still unstable but not nearly as horrific as the '90s in the Great North Korean Famine.

What we need now are sustainable models of building infrastructure in the lives of North Korean refugees, to especially be better equipped to help North Korean refugees should the nation of North Korea destabilize or experience another famine. In other words, we need to help Ha Neul’s father support himself and his family instead of simply giving him the aid to help his child.

We are considering several models to help North Korean refugees and their families but the most important thing is to be thoughtful and prayerful about this as we proceed. We know the best plans can fall apart in the blink of an eye if we are not careful.

Please pray with us as we consider how we can help North Korean refugees and those they care for as they continue to pour across the border for help.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: Protection

We have always known that the work that we do with Crossing Borders involves risk, danger, concerns for both the North Korean refugees we aid and those who help them. Even as our network security is scrutinized regularly for flaws, there are still ways the Chinese or North Korean governments can hack into our systems. Though we take precautions upon precautions, there are always dangers present for our workers and the North Korean refugees we support. We realize that even though each of our workers uses code names and no one knows the location of our missionaries’ homes, there are still ways to find them. None of our Chinese citizen workers has ever heard the name “Crossing Borders,” but there are still ways for them to get into terrible trouble.

No matter how many precautions we take to keep our North Korean refugees, our missionaries and our workers safe, we can never overstate the fact that our work is illegal and there are inherent risks that people take when they step off the plane in China.

It is the prayers of our supporters to God that have ultimately provided our protection. God has, in our every step, made our efforts possible. Some of these stories we have been able to share, most others would compromise the safety of our refugees or field workers. But believe us when we say that there is an army of angels that surely looks after us.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Please continue to lift us up.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: A Testimony to the Power of Prayer

In the middle of the night the Chinese Police barged into a room where our missionaries were meeting with two North Korean refugees. There was a Bible open in front of them and it was clear what was going on. This was the first time anything like this had ever happened to Crossing Borders workers. Our missionary couple was taken aback. The wife was sitting with the North Korean refugee women. When the police came in the husband was off in a corner of the room, watching television. Immediately the wife whispered in English, “Don’t turn around.”

He stayed still while the TV blared on.

For a reason unknown to us, Chinese authorities punish male missionaries more harshly than female missionaries. The government punishes couples with even more cruelty.

When I think of this story I am reminded of Acts 12, when Peter was imprisoned and the church began to pray.

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

As the church prayed, Peter was met by an angel, was escorted out of prison and showed up at the prayer meeting. So unbelievable was this that when a woman announced that Peter - the subject of their prayers - had arrived at their doorstep, nobody in attendance believed her.

As the police questioned our female missionary and the two refugees, they looked around the room. They did not see her husband watching television, who sat in plain sight. They told the women to go home and left without a huff.

That month Crossing Borders was the prayer focus of one of our closest partner churches. We didn’t know it but this church was busy praying for us.

We believe, as an organization, that prayer is an integral component to our work. Prayers fuel the effectiveness of our ministry toward North Korean refugees and protect us as we do this dangerous work.

We ask that you, the Church, would continue to pray for us knowing that it is our sovereign God who moves the hearts of refugees and eyes of policemen.

Prayers for North Korean Refugees: A Look Inside

Despite the tens of thousands of North Korean refugees that have crossed illegally into China, there are a few ways for a North Korean to visit China legally: 1. by visiting a relative, 2. by obtaining an official work visa and 3. by visiting on official state business. Recently Crossing Borders had contact with a North Korean woman who was visiting her relatives in China. We will call her “Lee-hae.”

We interviewed her at a house of one of our local field workers. She was skinny. She rarely looked up at the interviewer. She cried when speaking about her children. It was striking that, despite her legal status in China, her situation was no less desperate than the hundreds of North Korean refugees we’ve met with “illegal” status.

She was able to give insight into the current situation in North Korea and why things are still miserable there, despite recent attempts at reform.

Lee-hae said that the food situation in North Korea is still desperate. Many aid organizations that have access to the country say that the situation is as bad, if not worse than the famine of the 1990s.

“In the city people can eat once or twice a day but on the farm there is nothing to eat because the government takes all of the harvest for the military,” Lee-hae told us.

She lives in a small town near the border and often sees balloons flying in from South Korea with pamphlets and sometimes small morsels of food. The government orders the pamphlets and food to be thrown away. They say that the food is poisonous. But Lee-hae was so hungry that she ate it anyway.

Despite her troubles in North Korea, Lee-hae said that she would continue to go back and forth to China because she doesn’t want to abandon her husband.

If given a chance, this is what most North Koreans would do. They would go back and forth from China to North Korea to eat and then return to their homes to be with their friends and family. This is precisely what is happening today, except the overwhelming majority of the estimated 100,000 North Korean refugees do so illegally and are at risk of being captured, tortured and even executed because they are hungry and have the wherewithal to do something about it.

But despite the dire situation there are glimmers of hope. On one of Lee-hae’s legal trips to China, she became a Christian.

“When I heard the Gospel first time I could not believe it because I was very afraid of the North Korean government,” she said, sobbing.

Crossing Borders will continue to be a contact point for North Koreans and North Korean refugees in Northeast China. We will share our faith with them and hope that some, like Lee-hae will bring the gospel home.

We believe that we have both sowed and reaped seeds of the underground church inside North Korea over the past 10 years. Please pray that we would be able to effectively minister to North Korean refugees and the North Korean people and that someday our work will create true, lasting change inside the country.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: Being Illegal

Today members of the US Senate proposed a bill that would eventually lead to provisions for many illegal immigrants to be granted citizenship. President Obama will supposedly follow suit with his own plan tomorrow. While immigration has been a hot topic on Capitol Hill for the last 10 years, North Korean refugees have lived in constant fear with no hope for any reform. Though China signed the UN Refugee Convention in 1951, they have not fully abided by it.

A cornerstone to this Convention is the concept of non-refoulement, which guarantees that the host country will not send a refugee back to their home country. China has been forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees since the late ‘90s.

This has lead to devastating consequences for North Korean refugees seeking food and freedom in China. We minister to children who have witnessed their mothers being hauled away by the police. We cry with the women who have been sold to abusive husbands and treated like livestock by their families. We hid in a closet with a half-North Korean, half-Chinese child because the police were actively searching for North Korean refugees in 2006. We held the hands of North Korean refugees as they traversed rough terrain on the Asian Underground Railroad in search for freedom.

The reason Crossing Borders exists is to help North Korean refugees who are in fear of forced repatriation. If China was abiding by the 1951 Convention, there would be little need for our help. But this is what the church is built for, to provide justice for those who cannot attain it for themselves.

Please pray this week for this dark situation and the people trapped in it. And please continue to pray for Crossing Borders and groups like us that we may continue to provide shelter for those in need.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: Refugees and Families

Last week we shared about North Korean refugee women who reject their families in China after experiencing life in South Korea. Though we are seeing more and more women abandon their families, a majority of these women still have an overwhelming desire to be reunited with them. Here is one of their stories: “Saenah” came to China as a North Korean refugee in 2001 and was sold to her husband shortly thereafter. She gave birth to twin girls whom she loved. But she and her family suffered in a cycle of poverty and debt that they could not escape.

In 2006 Saenah and her husband left the girls at a Crossing Borders orphanage to find work in Shanghai. But they could not find any meaningful work.

Desperate, the couple went to a fortuneteller who, according to Saenah, didn’t have any answers for them. Out of options, they turned to the church and began to pray night and day for an answer.

At the church they met someone who told Saenah that she could go to a South Korean consulate and find freedom in South Korea. So that’s what they did.

The husband and wife went to a consulate in a nearby town where Saenah and a group of refugees would try to sneak in. Saenah’s husband would watch from a nearby café.

Chinese guards are placed strategically around the South Korean consulate in China, keeping a lookout for any North Korean refugees who might attempt entry. The group of North Korean refugees with Saenah passed through the outside gates of the South Korean consulate while exterior guards made their rounds. Watching from the café, Saenah’s husband thought she was safe. But there was a guard inside the facility.

As a last ditch resort, the women had brought hot chili powder to throw in the eyes of the guards. When they opened the door to the consulate, a guard was waiting there for them. Panicked, the others scattered and the guard quickly cornered Saenah.

In desperation, Saenah reached into her pocket and threw a fistful of chili powder at the guard's eyes. While he was distracted, she made it into the consulate.

Saenah believed that she was almost free. What she did not know was that the Chinese government had a tape of her throwing chili at the guard. This made it difficult for her to gain exit out of China. Saenah waited for three years. People came and left but she, alone, was stuck in the South Korean consulate.

When the time came, Saenah was allowed to board a plane to South Korea. The first thing she did was call her husband, who had given up hope of ever seeing his wife again.

Saenah sent for her husband first, then came and got her twin girls from Crossing Borders. They are living happily in South Korea now.

Family is a complicated topic when it comes to North Korean refugee women who were sold into forced marriages. Some husbands treat their wives well. Others treat them like livestock. Most are somewhere in between.

We do not make decisions for women in these marriages on whether they should flee or stay in China. But we do make sure that the North Korean refugees in our care make sound decisions and that they know the risks of escaping to South Korea.

As we pray this week for these families of North Korean refugees and their children, let us pray for families like Saenah’s who have suffered so much. Our hope is that somehow, they can stay together and live happily with one another in Christ.

Prayer for North Korean Orphans: Repeated Rejection

It’s a typical story. A North Korean refugee woman flees from China for South Korea. She works, saves and sends for her half-North Korean, half-Chinese child and her Chinese husband. The story should end happily but it often doesn’t. Many North Korean refugees who escape to South Korea and are changed by the fast and glamorous lifestyle. Women soon view their husbands in China as backwards and provincial and begin relationships with South Korean men who have a decided economic advantage over their Chinese counterparts.

“Sang” is an North Korean orphan in our Second Wave program. His mother fled China about four years ago. She, like so many North Korean refugees, sent for her son and husband who purchased her in the early 2000s. But it didn’t end up well for Sang. When Sang and her father arrived in South Korea, her mother was transformed into a busy Seoulite. She had a new life with more money and more opportunity. According to Sang’s father, they were both ignored in South Korea and eventually the father and son moved back to their simple life in China. Sang’s mother hasn’t called or sent money in years.

One of the contributing factors to this trend has been South Korea’s gender imbalance. In the 1980s, when ultrasound technology was more common, South Korea’s gender balance was one of the worst in Asia, according to a study by the World Bank. So egregious was this imbalance that the South Korean government banned doctors from revealing the gender of babies in 1987, according to this article by the New York Times.

Haneul, another one of our North Korean orphans, experienced a similar fate. Her mother, a North Korean refugee, went to Seoul and sent for her father. They planned to send for Haneul but, while her father was in South Korea, her mother was wooed by a South Korean man. Her father returned to China in shame and returned to work on his farm in Northeast China.

Chinese men who purchase North Korean refugee women are often the lowest on the economic spectrum. These men have little to offer Chinese women as far as looks and money. This is why many have to go to the human trafficking market to purchase a North Korean woman. So for these men to compete with rich South Korean men for the affections of their wives is challenging.

For the North Korean orphans under Crossing Borders’ care, this is a second forced separation from their mothers and a second rejection. Many of them feel rejected and abandoned twice over.

Please pray this week for North Korean orphans, who often bare the brunt of the emotional wounds from this situation. Also pray for these families to somehow reunite and become whole again. Until they do, Crossing Borders will continue to fill the gap and nurture them.

Prayers for North Korean Refugees: A New Decade

On New Years Day this year Crossing Borders celebrated our 10-year anniversary. It has been 10 years since Mike Kim packed up two duffle bags and boarded a one-way flight to serve North Korean refugees in Northeast China. Since January 1, 2003, we have assisted hundreds of North Korean refugees in China. We have raised more than $2 million. We have seen a transformation in the region, the refugees and ourselves.

As we look to our next decade of work, we know that our methods and our staff may change. However, our goal to bring the hope of Jesus Christ to North Korean refugees will not. At the heart of what we do is our relationship with a God who pursues.

In Luke 15 Jesus shares three parables that illustrate his heart: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. Each parable depicts God as a pursuer of what was lost.

This is exactly what Crossing Borders longs to do.

When Mike packed his bags 10 years ago, we believe it was because of a passion God placed in him to bring justice and hope to North Korean refugees who could not attain it for themselves. We take so much care to do what is best for the people we help because we believe that God did the same for us. He laid down His glory to live among us. He bore our shame so that we could live abundantly for Him.

How could we not do the same?

There have been many exciting moments over the past 10 years of our work but most of the time it has been a grind. Our staff and volunteers give a significant portion of their time and energy to make this organization work. We would not still be doing this if we didn’t truly believe in the power behind this work.

As we start our second decade, please pray that we would continue to pursue the lost sheep, the North Korean refugees of China, with the heart of Jesus Christ.

Prayers for Newtown, Connecticut: Finding Goodness in Grief

The following post was written by Crossing Borders' Executive Director: The unthinkable happened on Friday in Newtown, Connecticut. A crazed gunman shot and killed 20 children who were at school. This has left us to ask several difficult questions about the goodness of God, the nature of our laws and what has become of our society. We have also seen a decency to human beings that is inspiring: Teachers shielding their students from gunfire and school administrators who did not hesitate to help those in need.

The tragedy and heroism that unfolded in Newtown reminds me of the way that Crossing Borders started. Our official start date was January 1, 2003, but the seeds for our work were sown on September 11, 2001.

We watched the Twin Towers crumble on television and later we heard stories of the heroism of the firefighters, policemen and others, who disregarded their own lives to save a few.

We were in our early 20s, many of us just out of college as this terrible day unfolded. We did not decide that day to start Crossing Borders, but many of us were inspired to live selflessly for a greater purpose, to help those who would otherwise die without our help.

And this is not just the testimony of Crossing Borders. Many of the non-profit leaders we have met throughout the years who started their work at a similar time have also attributed their beginnings to the terror and hope shown on September 11.

Though horrific and bloody, tragedy has a way of awakening the human spirit and reminding us that there are things much more important than our Christmas lists or New Years plans. It reminds us that human beings are made for community and when people are hurting, we can and must help.

Whether it’s North Koreans in China, Syrian refugees in Turkey, raped women in the Congo or distraught families in Newtown, Connecticut, let us pray this week that the tragedy and sadness in the world will awaken the best in all of us.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: Laughter Facing Death

When “Joseph” first came to Crossing Borders for help, he was covered in sores. He was a North Korean refugees had just been released from prison in North Korea. It was so crowded there that bodies would cover the concrete floor at night. Inmates would punch him as people jockeyed for position. His body was infected from sleeping on the floor, which people used as their toilets. During the day he would get beaten by the guards. Seven years ago, Joseph shared a meal with our Crossing Borders staff members. And as he shared about the difficulty of being a North Korean refugee in China and the horrendous conditions of his incarceration in North Korea, Joseph said, “I’ve never laughed as much in my life as I did in prison.”

“If you don’t laugh, you’ll die,” he said.

Joseph became a believer when he first made the dangerous journey to China. He had the fortune of hearing the gospel through missionaries who ministered to him. It was after becoming a believer that he decided to return to North Korea , as a North Korean refugee, to see his siblings. It was in this journey that Joseph was sent to prison.

We have seen it many times, the incredible unflappability of North Korean refugees in the direst of circumstances, especially among those who believe. This is surely a testament to the superhuman strength promised in the Bible when believers experience “trials of many kinds.”

As you pray with Crossing Borders for North Korean refugees and their children this week, let’s pray for strength. As North Koreans continue to suffering at the hands of a regime who does not care for them, as many still lie hopeless in prison, as the church is still being persecuted, please pray for an unshakeable strength that comes from the Lord.

Prayer for Work with North Korean Refugees: Words to Speak

In our line of work, Crossing Borders has had the opportunity to hear many stories from North Korean refugees face-to-face. Some of these stories shared around dinner tables and in circles of conversation are so heart-wrenching that, after the refugees are done, there is a deafening silence that follows. For some of us on the American staff, sometimes there is nothing to say. In times, we have let this silence remain until someone refills the water or until the check comes at the restaurant.

Fortunately, our missionaries have a gift in comforting and wise words, and have aided us in many a meeting with North Korean refugees in China.

There is a gift that some people have which can only be explained as spiritual. Some people’s words, given at the right moment with just the right tone, can be a salve for those who are hurting or a scalpel for those who need to change.

What do you say to a child who is living with the regret of accidentally turning her mother in to the police? What can be said to a woman who has lost her child to traffickers? Or a man who is dying from a sickness that cannot be healed in Northeast China?

There is no manual for this but there is the Holy Spirit, who can give us these words.

Please pray with us this week as we continue to minister to North Korean refugees who need help and healing. Please pray for God’s presence to be felt in every encounter we have with our refugees and orphans and that we would be given the right words to speak.

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: Faith in Fear

Crossing Borders' work was recently mentioned in FOX Files, as North Korean refugees in our care were interviewed on the news network. Today, we would like to share more about the life of this refugee. In Jesus' ministry, a man, whose daughter was close to death, approached Jesus with an urgent request for the Son of God to enter into his home and heal his ailing daughter. Jesus obliged and followed the man to his home. When they arrived it was too late. She was dead.

In a house full of mourning, Jesus entered with hope. He went to her room and raised her from the dead.

This account in Mark 5 is stunning on many levels. When someone said it was too late, Jesus responded, “Do not fear, only believe.”

We have seen the desperation and fear of so many North Korean refugees in Northeast China.

Crossing Borders staff once met with a family of four North Korean refugees who had only a few hours to flee from the North Korean police. In a rash decision, they decided it was best if the youngest, still in elementary school, was left behind in North Korea. They were afraid that she would slow the family down and that they would all be caught, sent to a prison camp and never emerge.

Our staff spoke with the family in a restaurant in Northeast China. It had been months since they had last seen their daughter and they couldn’t bring themselves to eat the enormous spread of food our staff had ordered for them.

Soon after, Crossing Borders decided to send for their daughter through a network of brokers and smugglers in North Korea. But her fate was uncertain. She could easily be caught by the police and sent to a prison camp where she would be held hostage. She could have been sold in China as a sex slave if caught by one of the many networks of smugglers who traffic North Korean refugees. She could get injured and die on her journey through the North Korean wilderness.

Through her journey, Crossing Borders held to the words of Jesus. “Do not fear, only believe.”

It took weeks of waiting but finally, the family was reunited. It was through moments of utter desperation that the family came to believe in the saving hope of Jesus. He was their only hope.

Once reunited, the family of four made another journey. This time, together, they trekked through China into Southeast Asia, where they were able to receive refugee status. From here, they travelled to South Korea and gained safe entrance. When the family arrived in Seoul they thought their journey of suffering had ended. But their youngest daughter, after the struggle and toil they had suffered to be together as a family, contracted H1N1 and died shortly after the completion of their journey.

Many say that North Korean refugees in China are rice Christians. Critics say they only act like Christians to receive aid. But at least for this family, this was not the case. In their utter devastation they turned to God and began rebuilding their lives.

Together, with Crossing Borders, they leaned on the words of Jesus.“Do not fear, only believe.”

As we go about our week, let us remember that God is near to the broken hearted. He meets those in desperate need. He has sustained Crossing Borders for 10 years with little trouble from the Chinese authorities, we believe, to minister to the North Korean refugees in fear. We hope that with your help, we can continue to work to share the words of Christ with them. "Do not fear, only believe."

Prayer for North Korean Refugees: A Quiet Migration

North Korean refugees have been making their way through China to South Korea for about 15 years. About 27,000 of them have made it through the Modern Day Underground Railroad through Southeast Asia to freedom in South Korea and the rest of the world. But there has been another migration from China to South Korea that has been impacting North Korean refugees in the area. Koreans in China have been migrating to South Korea in droves over the past few years. The Chosun Ilbo recently reported that more than 600,000 Korean Chinese have migrated from China to Korea in 2011. And Bloomberg News reported in 2009 the beginnings of a mass migration of South Korean citizens from China back to their homeland.

This secondary migration has made it even harder for North Korean refugees to hide in the region. There are fewer people who are sympathetic to their needs and fewer members of the underground church to aid them as they seek refuge from the world’s most repressive regime.

Recently, Crossing Borders took in a young girl named “Sunnah”. Sunnah's mother is a North Korean refugee who fled to South Korea through the Underground Railroad. Sunnah and her father were beckoned by her mother to South Korea, where they lived until 2010. In a new country with new possibilities, her mother began to ignore Sunnah and her father. Sunnah's parents began to fight and eventually Sunnah's father returned to a life of poverty in Northeast China, bringing his daughter with him.

To make things worse, Sunnah’s father has a degenerative bone disease. He can no longer walk. They stayed with Sunnah's uncle, who also lived in abject poverty.

Their local underground church was poorly equipped to help because many of their members had moved to South Korea in search of economic opportunities. Our missionaries report rapidly diminishing numbers in congregations of underground churches. Many are left with only the elderly in their congregation.

It was by God’s providence that we met Sunnah and her father through friends of friends. She is being put into a boarding school and is doing better.

Please pray for North Korean refugees in this rapidly changing landscape, many of whom are finding it harder and harder to find help.