Marked Man

I know about five foreigners who have been kicked out of The Location because of Christian witness since the time I first moved here.  All five of them worked in the same province.  Some of them are back in The Location in different provinces.  Some are gone indefinitely.  But all of them ran into problems in the same area. 

This area is the hotbed of opposition to Christians in The Location.  This is also where VK was arrested and jailed for "human trafficking."  Though he was released briefly, he was re-arrested and put back into prison.  He remains there to this day. 

What I've just learned today, is that I have been named.

I suspected this was the case after VK named my worker and my worker and I were called into the police together.  I was away so he went without me.  Since I've been back I haven't yet been called in.  But I've been told that my name is now "loud" in that province.  And I've been warned to lay low for a while.

VK's arrest is completely unjustified and he should be released immediately.  At the same time, he did several things he could have done differently that would have completely avoided this whole situation.  VK made three major mistakes:  One, he lied to us about the people he was sending to work with us.  One of them was not one we wanted.  Two, he disrespected his village headman by sending one of the young men even though the village headman refused to sign that man's documents, which would allow him to go.  Three, he announced openly at his church and elsewhere that these two young men were "going to study the Bible."  We had told him to emphasize that they were going to work.  We told him about the Bible studies we do, but there was no need to mention it to anyone else.  Apparently VK thought he could get away with it and that it would impress others in his church. 

Pray for VK.  Pray also for me and my family.  I need to remember that it could all end any day and that we might be called someday to walk away from everything here in The Location.