When Yusof was very young his dad converted to Christianity and his family moved from his village to a nearby city because other villagers had attempted to kill Yusof’s dad after he led three other villagers to Christ. In the city, Yusof and his siblings attended Bible lessons and came to faith in Christ, too, as did Yusof’s mom. Yusof also excelled in school and his teacher threw a party in his honor because he was at the top of his class. Yusof and his siblings had such a good reputation in their neighborhood that a Sunni fundamentalist living in the same building would not allow his own children to play at any house except “the Christian’s house.” As a teenager, Yusof remained an eager Bible student and his CAP Bible teacher remarked that he stood out for his faithfulness in attending Bible lessons. He was always on time and never missed a lesson.
When war broke out in Yemen this year, Yusof’s neighborhood grew very dangerous. Extremist groups began to operate freely in the city and Yusof’s dad was threatened due to his faith so the family moved back to the village. However, the war soon spread out of the city to areas near the village. One day, Yusof went to a nearby shop to buy chocolate for his younger sisters. While he was in the shop, it was struck by a stray RPG round from a skirmish happening on the mountains around the village. More than a dozen young men including Yusof were injured when it struck. A small piece of shrapnel from the RPG lodged in Yusof’s brain and Yusof went into a coma. An emergency surgery was performed to stabilize him, but doctors were unable to remove the shrapnel. Nearly three weeks later, Yusof came out of the coma and he could open his eyes and move his right side, but he couldn’t speak or move his left side. He could communicate using simple hand gestures or by using his finger to write short messages. Meanwhile, while Yusof was in the hospital, extremists looted his family’s home in the city. The perpetrators left a message on the wall, identifying themselves as the Islamic State and proclaiming God’s curse upon Christians and Jews. After that, extremists began looking to assassinate Yusof’s older brother and he had to go into hiding.
About four weeks after he was injured, Yusof was transported to another city for further medical treatment. Both Yusof’s family and the faith community were hopeful that Yusof could be successfully treated at a good hospital. However, about a month later his condition suddenly deteriorated one morning and he passed away that evening. Yusof’s parents were devastated by his death, but they are thankful for the love and support they received while Yusof was in the hospital and following his death, both from CAP – Yemen inside the country and from international partners who gave generously to Yusof’s medical and funeral expenses.
After Yusof’s funeral, CAP – Yemen assisted Yusof’s dad to relocate with his oldest son as extremist groups continue seeking to assassinate them because of their faith. Yusof’s dad has been meeting with new believers in the area where he has relocated as well as reconnecting with believers he had lost touch with. One of the families he met with reported the following story: The wife had been unable to get pregnant for 10 years and was exhausted by the treatments she had undergone from different doctors trying to get pregnant. When her husband shared the Gospel with her, she came to faith and immediately became pregnant. She has now been pregnant exactly the same length of time she has been a believer.
“They are very thirsty for God’s word,” said Yusof’s father. “Both the husband and the wife are intelligent and well-educated. I need some study Bibles and I also need one of the other CAP leaders to come and join me in this area. There is a lot of outreach we can do here. I feel that God orchestrated the situation to bring me here because there is not a lot of outreach happening here.”
CAP – Yemen continues to support this family and many others through the war with food, water, medical, and shelter projects.
إذا كان لديكم مشاركة (شعرية، أدبية، تشجيعية، صلاة، الخ) وتودون مشاركتها معنا فبإمكانكم ارسالها إلى البريد التالي