FBR Report: Gas Attacks, Women Enslaved, Destruction Continues by ISIS, but Love Pushes Back

Dear friends,

Thank you for your love and support for us and the people we are with in Burma, Sudan and Kurdistan.

With out God’s help we would be lost in what to do and with out you we would not be able to help much. We thank all of you that we are a team together in this mission of sharing God’s love, giving help and putting a light on the situation. Thank you too, friends like Tim,Tera, Tina, Ernest, Denis, CBN and others who help get the news out.

Some of us are now in Kurdistan on a relief mission and are in the middle of a dark physical and spiritual war. Without love we could do nothing of lasting use here. On our fist night in the ruins of Sinjar town where ISIS had recently been pushed out, three Kurd soldiers were killed and five were wounded in a ISIS attack. On that same night we met a man whose young wife and two infant children were captured by ISIS on 3 August 2014. They are still in captivity. Knowing that ISIS uses the women they capture as sex slaves only added to the agony of this husband and father. He wept as he showed us photos of his family and asked for help. A sense of loss, heartache, frustration and anger came up in me as I listened to him. “Lord Jesus”, I prayed with him, “please free this man’s family, you are our only hope, please set them free and let him see them in this life.” We embraced and he thanked us for caring, praying and telling his story.

The next day as we walked thru the ruins of Sinjar, Karen wept as she went thru the destroyed homes of families who had lost everything.

Back up on Sinjar mountain where many families had fled and where still living in tents, we had a good series of Good Life Club programs for the families and distributed clothes and baby formula. All Things Possible, Reload Love, Cadence and others supplied the relief, clothing and medicine we needed to help these people.

We played football with the kids, sang and laughed with them and it was a good time for all of us. The cloud of darkness seemed to lift for a while.
Down below on the new front lines south of Sinjar, ISIS continues its attacks, firing mortars and machine-guns everyday and has a new supply route established between Syria and Iraq. This replaces the one they had thru Sinjar. ISIS has been pushed back but they are not yet defeated. On February 11, ISIS launched a chemical attack firing over 30 chemical mortar rounds into the Peshmerga lines. Over 175 people have been sickened and yesterday we evacuated one who had collapsed as Eliya our chief medic was treating him.

Today back down on the new front line where we are giving medical care and training, I was typing this letter in a bunker and tears came to my eyes. My heart began to fill with pain and sorrow. All the loses, the missing, the destruction, the injustice and bitterness – all this was around me and all of us here.
I prayed and kept typing this letter and into the bunker stepped the local commander, Hussien who with his family had fled on foot up Sinjar mountain with ISIS shooting behind them. On top of the mountain he took his stand with an abandoned anti aircraft gun, holding off repeated onslaughts of ISIS attackers.
He and other Yizidi volunteers held off ISIS and protected their families as ISIS warred against them for a year and a half. Finally with the help of the Kurdish Peshmerga from many sides and international coalition aircraft, ISIS was pushed out of Sinjar leaving in their wake death and destruction.

Hussien said he would stand between his people and ISIS until they were defeated and told me, “It is good that you cry, it means you feel our pain and are with us.” And then tears came to his eyes and he sat down next to me.

Dear readers, as you look at the photos below please pray for those who have lost families and homes to ISIS, for those thousands of women and children still held by ISIS, for villages, towns and cities still held by ISIS, for ISIS to be stopped, for all here to be free and for the hearts of ISIS and all enemies to change to love. I pray this in Jesus name.

Our team goes back to FBR in Burma soon to continue our mission there, but as long as we can, we will also stand with and try to help these people here.

Thank you and God bless you,

Dave, family and teams

Free Burma and Free Kurdistan Rangers