This letter arrived in our office today from our ministry partners in Jordan. We hope it moves your heart to pray and help as it has moved ours.
Sincerely,
Lance Thollander
Who will help the Syrian people?
“I saw the tears of the oppressed and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors and they have no comforter. And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.” –Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
My dear friends,
The horrors of the Syrian uprising were inconceivable a year ago.
Today, they are still inconceivable, not because we are shocked any longer at the inhumanity of man but because it is so hard for us to comprehend the magnitude and depth of the suffering. Also because it can make us feel so helpless. No, we cannot stop the slaughter and destruction. But we can pray, and we can trust God. We cannot take hundreds of thousands of refugees into our homes. But we can share with them what God gives us. Our Father’s purpose for Jordan has always been to serve as a refuge. And he has placed Manara International on the front lines.
For decades, we have shared God’s peace and hope and comfort and helped meet the essential needs of refugees from Palestine. Then, eight years ago, when Iraqis fled the violence of the second Gulf and the terrorism and anarchy that followed, we welcomed them into Jordan as guests. And just as we were wondering how to keep our resources from being overwhelmed, civil war broke out in neighboring Syria. And again the floodgates burst open.
According to the UN, over 100,000 people fled Syria last month alone, more than doubling the total number of refugees to over 235,000 people. They left behind 5,000 new corpses, 1,600 in just the last week. Some flee to Turkey, Iraq, and Lebanon. But most come here. About 1,000 everyday—a total of 183,000 people, by one count (keep in mind that Jordan is about the size of Indiana or Austria).
All the UN can do is set up overcrowded tent camps on dehydrated, barren stretches of desert, crawling with snakes and scorpions and blasted by sandstorms. There, Syrian families who escaped the violence of their country suffer what many refer to as a “slow death” in the camps, where their chief employment is survival and they can do nothing but swelter under the scorching desert sun.
Even the UN is overwhelmed by the needs and relies heavily on non government organizations and ministries like Manara International. For several weeks now, I have been meeting with ministry leaders who want to partner with us to help the refugees.
One ministry has offered to provide Manara with all the equipment and supplies needed to set up an entire medical clinic inside one of the desert refugee camps where 16,000 people live like livestock. All we need to do is to raise $7,000 to cover expenses.
This means that your gift today of $1 will buy $100 worth of medical equipment and supplies to treat Syrian refugees, suffering from knife and gunshot wounds received in the conflict, as well as deadly waterborne diseases that are endemic to tent camps. It will keep their children from dying from common preventable diseases and provide life-saving nutritional supplements to families who arrive with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
I cannot think of any better way to leverage the Lord’s resources and help thousands more than we could by ourselves. And this is just one of the ministries that are eager to work with us on similar terms to provide food and medical and hygiene supplies to 120,000 more Syrian refugees trying to survive outside the camp.
At the beginning of this letter, I mentioned prayer. Please pray for these refugee families and for millions more who are unable to escape their war-torn country. But please also pray for my country, for Jordan.
Satan is determined to destroy this sanctuary. For decades, Israel has tried to transfer two million Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan. Al Qaeda is trying to use Jordan as a corridor of terrorist operations against Israel and Syria. The Muslim Brotherhood is working to take over Jordan—as it has Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya—and turn us into an Islamic Republic, subject to sharia law. If these forces succeed, Jordan would no longer be a safe haven in the Middle East, and one more Arab nation would become an enemy of Jesus Christ and his people.
I explain these realities so that you can pray more knowledgeably and effectively. And I am working to build alliances with other ministries so your power and influence will be increased exponentially for the glory of God. We need to raise $150,000—a very small amount, compared to an estimated $15 million worth of relief we can provide, if we all work together and do our part.
That means your gift of $25 turns into $2,500 worth of relief, $50 becomes $5,000, and a gift of $100 puts $100,000 worth of medical, nutritional, and hygiene supplies into the hands of doctors working inside the refugee camp.
Please consider what you can do to help today and send a gift as soon as you can.
If you are in the US, please send your tax-deductible gift to Hope Builders International, PO Box 5465, Charlottesville, VA 22905. Or go towww.hope-builders.com to give online or share by phone at 1.434.295.1124.
I thank God for the growing number of ministries that are willing to help us in the work he has given us to do in Jordan. And I thank God for you, my friend. May he bless you with every good thing, just as you are a blessing to our suffering brothers and sisters and to all those who are being saved through your generous expressions of God’s love.
In Him,
Your Ministry Partners in Jordan
