{"id":74644,"date":"2019-06-03T18:05:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T22:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/?p=74644"},"modified":"2019-06-03T18:05:45","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T22:05:45","slug":"two-stories-faith-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/2019\/06\/03\/two-stories-faith-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Stories of Faith in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"p1\">Two Stories of Faith in Syria<\/h1>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>Raqqa, Syria<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">3\u00a0June 2019<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74650\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 450px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8130.jpg\" alt=\"With William in the ruins of the Raqqa church\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8130.jpg 450w, https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8130-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">With William in the ruins of the Raqqa church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Dear friends,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Here are two short stories of faith from Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In Raqqa, the destroyed former capital of ISIS, there is a church ISIS destroyed, across the street from the playground Reload Love helped us build. On this trip, we put up two crosses in the rubble of the church and prayed. As I prayed, I began to ask God that this church would be rebuilt but, at the same time, a doubt came to me.\u00a0<i>\u2018There are probably no Christians left here. And, who would come back? Why am I praying for people and funds to rebuild? It seems foolish.\u2019<\/i>\u00a0But I felt I should pray for the rebuilding anyways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">After we prayed I walked out of the church and a man came up to me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d he asked. I told him God sent us to help and pray, and he said, \u201cI am a trying to rebuild this church. I am a Christian. My given name is William. I was shot four times by ISIS but I brought my family back now. There used to be 5,000 Christians here but now we are 15.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We were all amazed and prayed with him for help to rebuild this church. I said I did not have enough funds for that but prayed with him for it and told him I would keep praying and trying.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74648\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 450px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74648\" src=\"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8084.jpg\" alt=\"Putting up a cross in Raqqa\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8084.jpg 450w, https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8084-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Putting up a cross in Raqqa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74646\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 600px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74646\" src=\"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_7442.jpg\" alt=\"Dadat School and its missing roof\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_7442.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_7442-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Dadat School and its missing roof<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The second story is from a teacher, after we finished a Good Life Club program at his school. This school, in Dadat, Manbij area, is within sight of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and their Turkish Army support. The FSA in this area includes many Al Qaeda and ISIS fighters who shoot and shell the area regularly. In spite of this, more children have been coming back to school and the village tries to rebuild. Last year when we were here there were less than 150 students and this year there are over 600.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We did a children\u2019s program here and I gave my testimony of calling on Jesus. I offered to give out Bibles and one teacher, named Abdulsattar, said right away, \u201cPlease give me one, I want one.\u201d I gave him a Bible and gave to other teachers, too. Afterwards, we promised to help the school with the new roof they need. After we left I received this note:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cHello Mr. David Eubank,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It is teacher Abdulsattar from Dadat. Actually, I searched in the internet to know more about the FBR. I come to the conclusion that you are doing a great job. Yesterday I felt the love and compassion you are sharing. Then, I realized how the Americans have fought not only for America but also for the world!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">ISIS is horrible and has zero respect for human life. Thank God we have the FBR to seek justice and safety for all! May the Lord continue to direct your steps. May God\u2019s protective hand continue to cover you, your team, and your family! Thank you for answering the call to fight for people trapped in dangerous, oppressive, and evil situations! May God continue to use you all on the field and in the media as His ambassadors of grace, mercy, love, truth, and power! All glory to Him! [I] still pray for you and your team. I look forward to the day we all get to meet again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">These two men and others have inspired us to stand with and help the new believers here. Please pray with us and see how God leads you in this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Dave, family, and team<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74647\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 469px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74647\" src=\"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_7450.jpg\" alt=\"Teacher Abdulsattar in Dadat \" width=\"469\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_7450.jpg 469w, https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_7450-235x300.jpg 235w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 469px) 100vw, 469px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Teacher Abdulsattar in Dadat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74651\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 600px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74651\" src=\"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8145.jpg\" alt=\"Karen gives William a Bible\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8145.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8145-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Karen gives William a Bible<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74649\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 600px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74649\" src=\"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8127.jpg\" alt=\"William's cross\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8127.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8127-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">William&#8217;s cross<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74652\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 600px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74652\" src=\"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8154.jpg\" alt=\"William and friends\" width=\"600\" height=\"435\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8154.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_8154-300x218.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">William and friends<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\nvar post=eval({\"id\":74644,\"title\":\"Two Stories of Faith in Syria\",\"subject\":\"FBR: Two Stories of Faith in Syria\",\"admin_email\":\"info@freeburmarangers.org\",\"admin_name\":\"FBR\"});\n<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two Stories of Faith in Syria Raqqa, Syria 3\u00a0June 2019 Dear friends, Here are two short stories of faith from Syria. In Raqqa, the destroyed former capital of ISIS, there is a church ISIS destroyed, across the street from the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/2019\/06\/03\/two-stories-faith-syria\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":74650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.7.8","language":"my","enabled_languages":["en","my"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"my":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74644"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74655,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74644\/revisions\/74655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}