June 2025 Jordan and Athens Trip

Our June trip to Jordan and Greece was a success, thanks to the faithfulness of the Lord to answer the prayers of all of our beloved supporters. It was my first time leading a team to the Middle East, and with the help of Joanne, I felt I had everything I needed to be able to do so. Our two volunteers on this trip, Scott and Abby, both have similar hearts for the people. They wanted to meet our brothers and sisters who have suffered for their faith, and hear their stories firsthand. And that’s what we did. We met with the persecuted Christians, those who had lost everything because of their faith in Christ. We sat with them. We cried with them. We prayed with them. And we continued our work of aid and emergency relief for them. 

We met with many new beneficiaries this time, and most of their stories were not only new to our volunteers, but were new to me also. One day in Athens we had over a dozen refugees from Iran who had gathered. Most of them waited hours to have a turn to share their testimonies of finding Christ and the horrific acts of persecution that ensued. With each tale of beatings and abandonment, our hearts ached for our family of God, but our faith was strengthened by their unwavering desire to follow Christ through it all. You may wonder why they would sit there for so long only to relive their trauma and end up in a puddle of tears. I too wondered this as one woman entered into a panic attack while sharing her terrifying story. It was for you, the Body of Christ in America, that they relived their pain. They wanted you to know them. They wanted you to see the worth of Christ in the midst of suffering. And they wanted you to share their stories and be their voice. A voice for the part of the Body who has been silenced. These people are your family and they thank God for your generosity to help them. They pray for you as you pray for them. 

One story in particular that I would like to highlight from this trip was that of an Iraqi Christian family living in Jordan. They were not among those who fled ISIS, but they were no strangers to the cost of following Christ in the midst of a hostile enemy. Years ago in Iraq, the family consisted of a Father, Mother, and their three young children. The father was a contractor and decided to hire some Shia muslim workers for one of his projects. His wife and friends urged him not to, saying that these men were not safe. The father, however, wanted to give them a chance and help them, so that’s what he did. Sadly the Shia men ended up kidnapping and murdering the father. 

While interviewing the widow and her three (now young adult) children, she began to break down in tears. She apologized to us for getting emotional and explained that after all of these years this was the first time she had shared her story. She not only shared it with us, she also allowed us to film it so that believers in the west could hear it from her own mouth as well. The son was now in his early 20s, but recounted to us how he had to drop out of school at the age of 12 to become the primary provider for his mother and sisters in a country that didn’t respect women. He explained that even after his father was killed, the persecution did not stop and there were many times that the family still lived in danger of extremists. The most moving part of their story was when the son opened up about his own struggles and how God was always with him even in the worst of times.

Please keep praying for your brothers and sisters, please keep sharing your blessings with them, and please know that God is working through you to do what he speaks of in Matthew 25:35-36,40 “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’…Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

- Juliana Cox, Public Relations Strategist June 2025