Escaping captors in the middle of the night, 12 Christian Aid Ministries missionaries hiked silently through the moonlit Haitian jungle, pausing at times to pray for the direction that led to freedom. For roughly 10 miles, they pressed forward, through thick, thorny brush: a married couple, 10-month-old baby, 3-year-old, 14-year-old girl, 15-year-old boy, four single men, and two single women.
Until now, details of their Oct. 16 kidnapping and their Dec. 15 escape could not be told, for security reasons. Even now, Christian Aid Ministries, is not releasing their names.
Originally, 17 missionaries were abducted while on a trip visiting an orphanage. The 400 Mawozo gang demanded $17 million and threatened to kill the hostages unless they got $1 million per person. In time they released five hostages.
The 17 took a van to visit the orphanage, 90 minutes from mission headquarters. They arrived at 10 a.m. and stayed until about 1 p.m., using that time to interview children and look over the facility. Shortly into their drive back, they saw a roadblock. The kidnappers surrounded their vehicle, and took control.
The hostages were taken to a small house, where all 17 were placed in a small room, approximately 10 feet by 12 feet. They spent the first night almost sleepless with nearly no space for all of them to lie down. Soon their days fell into a pattern of worship in the morning with singing and praying, sometimes until noon. They prayed at 1 p.m. daily to be freed.
Although they received food each day, they were often still hungry after eating what was given to them.They had limited clean drinking water and bathed in severely contaminated water that caused serious sores on many missionaries. Many suffered numerous bug bites that developed into serious sores from the contaminated water.
In the evenings, they talked, sang, and prayed. In times when they faced fear and danger during the night, they prayed that God would wake believers around the world and nudge them to pray for them. And that truly did happen. On this side, we hear of people who were awakened at night with a sense of urgency to pray.
The hostages set up an around-the-clock prayer schedule, each praying for a half-hour during the day and an hour at night. One hostage prayed in his time slot, then passed the watch to the next hostage to continue prayer.
They assured the hostage-takers of their love for their souls. They pointed them to Jesus. The hostages spoke to the gang leader on several occasions, boldly reminding him of God, and warning him of God’s eventual judgment if he and the gang members continue in their ways.
Various hostages wanted to attempt an escape, but it took them a while to all agree on when and how. Ultimately, they unified around a plan and prayed for God to give them a sign. On several occasions, they planned to escape, but they had decided if specific things didn’t happen, they would accept that as God’s direction to wait. Twice when they planned to escape, God gave clear signs that this was not the right time. On both occasions, on the very minute they had discussed, the exact thing took place they had requested as a sign. God was at work, but the timing was not right.
They decided to attempt their escape the night of Wednesday, Dec. 15. During the night, they put on their shoes and packed pouches of water in their clothes. They stacked their mattresses in a corner and prepared to leave. When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path they had chosen to follow, and quickly left the place they were held, despite the fact that numerous guards were close by.
Night turned to day and after hours of walking, they found someone who helped them make a phone call for help. Later that day, the Coast Guard flew them to Florida.
The hostages desire that God be glorified for the way He cared for them during their time in captivity and arranged for their deliverance.
They found that freedom is not a place and that despite the difficulties, they experienced freedom, even as they were being held, facing uncertainty. In their minds the hostage-takers are the true hostages. God invites all of us, including the kidnappers, to seek and find freedom, through Jesus, from the bondage of sin.
Christian Aid Ministries offered thanks to the U.S. government for helping get their members safely home and offered thanks to everyone who upheld them in prayer. “We say THANK YOU to the multitudes of people worldwide who prayed, who cared, who wept with us, and who sent notes of encouragement to the families of the hostages. You cannot know how big a blessing you all were and are!”