Our dear friend Zhou is about to become a citizen of the United States of America! Zhou was one of the Chinese refugees who fled China’s forced abortions in the early 1990s. She was just a pregnant teenager when she escaped from China. Now she is a mother of three precious children!

Her citizenship ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 9 in Indianapolis. Terri and I would like to be there, and Zhou and her family would appreciate our presence during this important ceremony. However, our funds are extremely limited at this time. If you have extra frequent flyer miles, would you consider blessing us with the opportunity to be with Zhou as she becomes a citizen?

For many years we waged what many people considered to be a hopeless battle for Zhou and the other refugees. When we first found out that these Chinese women had been transferred to Kern County’s Lerdo jail in 1994, we were led to believe that their deportation was imminent. We were told that they would be returned to China, where they would face the well-documented wrath of the Chinese government. It seemed to us that speaking out for them and standing with them in prayer was an urgent, life-or-death matter.

If we had known at the outset how many years this urgent, life-or-death struggle would continue, I doubt that we would have stepped up to the plate. We were already overwhelmed with the responsibilities of reaching out to women at Bakersfield’s abortion chamber, not to mention our growing family. Having Chinese ladies call us collect from jail on a regular basis often exhausted us, but we knew that they had nowhere else to turn. We always encouraged them to place their hope in God, even when there was no hope on the horizon.

When most of the Chinese refugees were freed, Zhou’s prospects for freedom seemed worse, not better. To most people who had spoken out for the Chinese refugees, the battle was over. It was time to move on. But as long as Zhou and our other friends remained unjustly behind bars in this land of freedom, we couldn’t rest.

Looking back, I honestly don’t know how we survived. It was just one day at a time, one visit at a time, one phone call at a time, one prayer at a time. Our prayer was always the same: that the refugees would be freed in the way which brought the most glory to God.

God used this long struggle to give us many opportunities for media interviews, and we were thankful for the numerous time we saw God glorified through the news reports of Christians reaching out to save innocent victims of China’s oppression. We were guests on Michael Reagan’s radio show several times, among many others.

Eventually, the news of the refugees reached a couple from Indianapolis, who had a unique idea: what if they legally adopted Zhou (although by this time she was no longer a minor). It seemed like a crazy idea at the time, but it worked. At the same time, we were able to help human rights activist Harry Wu catch the vision for helping Zhou, and he was able to finally get the country to pay attention to the plight of the refugees again. After Zhou was freed, she was baptized in Bakersfield before traveling to Indianapolis to meet her new adopted family.

Zhou met a wonderful Christian man, Rich, at a pro-life event in Indianapolis. Soon they were married, and God has now blessed them with three children. This was a major answer to prayer, because during her incarceration we had been told that her medical records indicated that she could never again bear a child because of the damage which resulted from her forced abortion.

When she was in jail, she would often talk to us about her hope of having children. It broke our hearts every time she talked about it, because her prospects for being a mother seemed so hopeless. But once again, God was glorified in what seemed to be a hopeless situation.

We’ll survive if we’re not there for her citizenship ceremony, and I’m sure she will too. Unlike most of our appeals, there are no lives at stake this time. But now that we can look back and see what God has done through all these years, it just seems fitting that we should be there.

For those who are unfamiliar with what happened during the Chinese refugee ordeal, you can visit our Voice For Life pages on the Chinese refugees. Sadly, these pages are in serious need of being updated, but I ran out of time to keep these pages updated many years ago. Nevertheless, you may find some useful information there, and some insight into why Zhou’s story is such an amazing praise report. We also have a 30 second video on YouTube which tells Zhou’s story.

If you can help us get to Indianapolis, please call us at 661-706-2229. We sometimes miss e-mails, so phone calls are preferred for this.