Lord, lead us your way in Afghan

Came back from Korea with life-altering experience in the 8-day Christianity conference. (details in another piece of writing)

Started to have high fever and then flu. Desperately need to take rest this morning as there are other works to do in the afternoon.

However, my mind races when I read the following messages (received both in SMS, email and now read them in CNN)


Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans, all church volunteers, to serve in Afghan.
One was dead. (CNN news, 27 Jul, 10:15am)

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- One of 23 South Koreans held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban has been killed, and militants have threatened to execute 14 others, a local official and a Taliban spokesman told CNN on Wednesday.

There had been conflicting reports on whether eight of the remaining 22 hostages had been released, but officials in Seoul believe the remaining 22 hostages are in Taliban custody. Police in southeastern Ghazni province confirmed that the dead man's bullet-riddled body was found in the Qara Bagh district, where the Koreans were kidnapped July 19.

The man was identified as Bae Hyng-Kyu, 42, a pastor at the church attended by the hostages and the leader of their group, according to a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman.
"We found a male dead body of a South Korean who has got 10 bullet holes in his body, bullet holes from head to toe," said provincial police chief Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadzai.

Khawaja Mohammad Siddiqi, the district governor of Qara Bagh, told CNN the executed hostage had been very ill and could not be moved to a hospital. Siddiqi said Taliban militants are holding the remaining Korean hostages -- most of whom are women -- in three different locations.

The 14 hostages could be executed by early Thursday if Taliban demands by aren't met, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi said. The South Korean was killed, said Ahmadi, because the Taliban's demands of a prisoner release and withdrawal of South Korean troops from Afghanistan were not met.

"Since Kabul's administration did not listen to our demand and did not free our prisoners, the Taliban shot dead a male Korean hostage," Ahmadi said.

"That time is the last deadline," he told the Reuters news agency.

Ahmadi told CNN it is likely that the remaining hostages would be killed by 1 a.m. Thursday (4:30 p.m. ET Wednesday) if those demands are not answered.

The 23 church volunteers -- 18 women and five men -- were seized on the main road south from Kabul last week.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pledged not to swap prisoners for hostages after being heavily criticized for releasing five Taliban members from jail in March in exchange for an Italian reporter.

The Taliban has also demanded Seoul withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan, something the South Korean government said it had planned to do at the end of this year in any case.

Meanwhile, a German journalist kidnapped in eastern Afghanistan has been freed, the Kunar province governor told CNN. The German news magazine Stern earlier Wednesday said Christoph Reuter, 39, and his Afghan translator were missing and feared kidnapped. There was no word about the status of the Afghan translator.

Reuter has worked for the Hamburg-based publication since 2002 and had previously reported from Afghanistan and Iraq, writing a book on suicide bombers.

According to Stern, Reuter left Kabul for Jalalabad on Monday but had not contacted the magazine for several days. The statement said Stern was concerned for his welfare. News reports said the kidnapping occurred late Tuesday. (Source : www.cnn.com)

Prayer request received from email :

廿三名從南韓到阿富汗的基督徒日前遭恐怖組織塔利班脅持作人質

，現時仍未脫險，引起國際關注。

據了解，該廿三名人質當中有十八女五男，約為二十至三十歲，部分為大學生、教師及護士。他們是南韓首爾附近盆唐市（Bundang）的泉水長老教會（Saemmul Presbyterian Church）的會友，於本月十三日前往阿富汗北部進行醫療服務活動，十九日在坎大哈乘巴士前往額布爾途中，被塔利班分子攔途截劫，綁架成人質。

塔利班威脅南韓政府撒出駐阿富汗軍隊，並要求阿富汗釋放同一數量的塔利班俘虜，南韓政府表示願意按計劃於年底撤走二百名軍方工程師及醫療人員，但阿富汗方面則暫未答應釋放俘虜。南韓政府已派遣代表團抵達阿富汗首都喀布爾，與政府官員會談，尋求解決事件的方案。

南韓約有一萬二千名宣教士在世界各地傳教，是全球第二大差派宣教士往海外傳教的國家，數目僅次於美國。 泉水長老教會成立約九年，有三千八百名會友，現時已有五十多名宣教士，並不時派出短宣隊往國外宣教。

Lord, Oh Lord.

I pray that you give the other 22 brothers and sisters in Afghan the peace of mind. They may be isolated from anything, food or supplies, and not from you, Lord.

Lord, my heart aches and yet I know I may not able to understand everything. I trust in you. Please take over the whole situation. I pray that you will be with them and please forgive the sins in Afghan.

Comfort the people from the same church of these brothers and sisters. May your touch of love be upon the family members of the pastor who got shoot.

Lord, I love you Lord. You are my shepherd, no matter what happen.

Prayers to those 22 Korean brothers and sisters :

"Even though I walk Through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23)