My Daughter and ISIS

My 17 Year Old Daughter and ISIS

It is crazy what things come down my path of life. ISIS for instance. It is so far away, so terrible, like many injustices around the world. But when it knocks on our families door, how do I respond? Let me start from the beginning...

This past winter, our younger daughter joined University of The Nations, also called Youth With A Mission AKA YWAM, that is just the start of all of their acronyms that can be so confusing to the newbie. Like DTS. Short for "Discipleship Training School." Maybe I have lost you already but basically, there are over 1000 YWAM locations around the world where teens and young adults can grow in their Christian faith by doing a 3 month intensive Bible training called Discipleship Training School (DTS) then go on a two month outreach (helping local people with acts of service) to a country not to be revealed until after the students are about midway through their courses at DTS. After completing the outreach, they graduate DTS, then move onto college, a job, or more YWAM AKA University of the Nations classes at whatever location worldwide they like. These courses are varied from deeper bible courses, first-aide, journalism, performing arts, photography, teaching, and more. They even have a surfing school. Yes, it is that cool. www.ywam.org 

Our daughter's goal has been to go through DTS with YWAM and then attend what they call a "Secondary School" in Taiwan for Sequential Arts (Basically Comic Book Art) as she would like to be a graphic novelist one day.  Great. Perfect plan for our younger daughter who has been passionate about reading, writing, and drawing most of her life. Out of many YWAM locations for her DTS, she picked Orlando as she worked there last summer with their SOS - UGH another acronym, standing for "Summer of Service." Ever heard of "Christianize?" This is "YWAMize!" Lost you yet?

So, our girl loved her DTS in Orlando this past semester, great program. She was learning more about God, the Bible, Jesus, and preparing for her outreach. We were told it would be in Northern Africa, great! My husband, his father and mother, myself and our oldest daughter have all done missions/relief work in Africa. Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa. Yay. We are all for it! 

Then the beheadings happened on the beaches of Tripoli, Libya. Northern Africa. Hmmmmm. I googled where that was as they replaced geography with sex education when I was in high school. I was not sure how close this chaos may be to Tunisia where our daughter was going weeks from then. Bam. It was the country next door to her outreach location, and right on the border of her country. She was even headed for the coast north of there less than a days drive.

At this point, I figured she was bound for a different country, 9 hours drive from where the Libya ISIS was currently infiltrating, which when you think about it,  it is the same distance from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina. Not too close right? I was not too worried, but I did want to do my "due diligence" and research more about ISIS which I had limited knowledge of, find out more about why ISIS was in Northern Africa instead of just the Middle East, where they were headed, and why? 

This began my late night hours of research online for the month of March. I searched every news outlet in the US, BBC, as well as Al Jazeera. The more I learned, the more I became concerned. So I dug deeper. I read blogs by people in the Middle East, surrounding countries of Northern Africa, local towns, news in Tunisia and Libya, the most up to date reports daily throughout. I dedicated about 1- 3 hours a night to educate myself on the situation. 
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Mass graves of Christians with their organs removed, sold for money to buy weapons. Killings of women, grandmas and grandpas, children, entire villages. Forcing young girls to marry them for one week only to have as a personal sex slave, then divorcing them so the next soldier can do the same, repeat, repeat, repeat to help with their guilt of sex trafficking and rape. The new knowledge that they actually want a war with Europe and America as some militants feel called of Allah to bring about the last holy war, the battle of Armageddon, well, that was worrisome. 
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After a week or two, when I felt like I had a grasp on the movement of ISIS in the region, I contacted the leadership of YWAM for Orlando to see if they were aware of the recent events in the area they were bound for with their DTS team of students. Their limited knowledge concerned me. Besides the beheadings, they were unaware of the movement of ISIS headed West toward their relief work location. In addition, ISIS had the most recruits in the world from the country of Tunisia, my daughter's destination. The muslim extremist men were currently returning from the war in the Middle East with the goal of taking over their local North African towns for ISIS to carry the same clout and power locally that they felt on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq. Here is a Map of their movement from early in 2015:

We wanted to pull our daughter from the trip. Who would send their teenage child to the middle of a war zone? It  would be like sending her into Nazi Germany as a Jewish girl in the 1930's or sending her into Rwanda during the Rwandan holocaust of the 1990's. It was crazy. Our long time friends who are missionaries in Muslim Burkina Faso Northern Africa even said "Don't send your sweet daughter there."

But, our family, being a family of missionaries, who does crazy things most of the time, like working with the homeless of New York City, helping the poor in Haiti during Hurricane Sandy that struck that Island first, heading into Uganda Africa with a youth group weeks after many Europeans were murdered (hacked to death) in the forest, and many more adventures that most "normal" people would never consider an adventure much less ever consider doing, that is sort of our "thing." Maybe because all of the above experiences are truly the highlights of our lives... so we prayed about it. We found this to always be a dangerous thing. So dangerous that I regularly say, "I don't want to pray about it." But at our daughter's request, we prayed to see if God would have this team go into this area, and maybe even change the heart of one young suicide bomber that would in turn save many lives if they were to let go of hate, and learn about the love of Jesus for all people. 

I then in addition thought about United States military moms who have their children in the thick of battle carrying guns, and knowing that their sons and daughters are currently walking on the most dangerous parts of the earth. They let their children go to protect the innocent. Would I as a Christian parent allow my daughter to go into the battle zone to win hearts for Jesus and in turn hopefully turn people towards peace, restoration, healing, blessing?

Lastly, my youngest son reminded me of the story of Abraham and Isaac in the bible where God actually asked Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son:

Genesis 22:1-2  "After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son."

 I always thought this story was crazy! Why would God tell him to do that? We know that it is a foreshadowing of God offering His son Jesus as a sacrifice for all, but still... Abraham just seemed like a crazy man right? Was God asking me to be a crazy person like Abraham? Was he asking me to sacrifice our daughter? 

To top it all off, I just happened to be doing a sermon series at my church the same week of this decision called "Heroes." That particular Sunday, I was highlighting the Green Lantern who spread light in the darkness and I connected that super hero to Stephen in the bible who was Martyred (stoned to death) and his face shown like a light. I also highlighted in that sermon a modern day hero: Steve Saint - yes that is his real name -  whose father was a missionary that was speared to death trying to reach an unreached violent people group in the Amazon. Steve Saint later returned and led his father's killers to Jesus and even adopted his own father's killer into his family as his children's grandfather to replace his father. It's an amazing story of forgiveness and restoration if you ever want to watch the movie. My brother-in-law Mike did the movie poster :) Hey Mike!

Our daughter grew up around missionaries and loves superheroes. Super Heroes are her passion. She is one of the few girls who has loads of comic books and watches every superhero movie with gusto, repeatedly. She loves the idea that an underdog, or mutant, or someone of not much significance in the worlds eyes, can change the world for the better and defeat evil. That is one of the reasons she is willing to live all the way out in Taiwan, just to perfect her comic book art skills.

The more I prayed, the more I felt, I should let her go. I knew that this choice was going to make a mockery of my mothering abilities, that all mothers and most everyone would disagree and think I was crazy like Abraham. But I was sure, that God was asking me to take a step of faith, and for us, being wild missionaries already who have done our share of loads "are you crazy" things, it would actually take something this crazy, this insane, to test our faith in a very real, heart wrenching, challenging way. 

Before I called to give the "okay, she could go" I just had to speak personally to one or two missionaries on the ground in the city she was going to. All the smaller local North African news blogs and reports seemed to show ISIS was headed in the direction of her destination, and even that ISIS was already there underground waiting to attack. I needed to be reassured that this was media hype, and she would most likely be okay. After contacting our large network of missionaries friends worldwide, I got a connection from the Philippines who had an old friend who was a missionary in Tunisia. After e-mailing back and forth a few times, being reassured that he and his family were enjoying the Mediterranean Ocean, shopping at the mall, and eating out, with many tourists from around the world, in perfect safety, I made my final decision. She could go. We felt good about it. We released her to God fully, whole heartedly. She was going!

I proclaimed on Facebook, "We decided to let her GO!" I shared with my worried congregation Sunday morning who thought, like everyone else, we were insane. But they were too kind and gracious to tell me so. We only had one stipulation. If there was a terrorist attack in the city she was headed to, we would then pull her from the trip, her Orlando YWAM leaders agreed. Otherwise, we were letting her go, hoping and praying that a terrorist attack would not happen during her 2 months in that region, which was a very real threat.

It was a Wednesday morning, just a few days before my daughters planned departure. I was at my Ladies Life Group Bible Study where I talked with my friends and had to let them know "yes, I am letting my 17 year old daughter go into an ISIS area to do missions." But even though I am sure my friends were sick with worry, and wondering if I was insane (I had questioned my sanity myself a few times), I felt a peace that was indescribable in that I knew, come what may, I had passed this test. I was laying my daughter on the alter as Abraham had with Isaac, as the Father God did with Jesus, and saying, come what may Lord, we will follow you. Little did I know what was happening that exact same hour of my announcement. Little did I know as I was telling my friends that I was letting our daughter go to North Africa, that over 64 tourists and locals were being shot or injured in a museum in the exact city she was headed towards in just a few short days. 24 people murdered in cold blood by local ISIS militants who had come home from the war, out of the underground to kill the infidels (which surprises me that they don't consider themselves infidels as killing women and children seems pretty infidevilish - I made up that word) 

(running for their lives outside the museum)

Genesis 22:9-18

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”;[b] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”[c]

That night, during my nightly ISIS research, I learned indeed a terrorist attack right where I thought there would be one weeks previous, had actually happened in the city I predicted.  I could not believe that my research was actually right. After warning YWAM  that this looked like it would happen, it actually did. I was surprised and saddened by the loss of life, the poor families, the 10 years of democratic progress Tunisia had made, was shifted into a hard reverse, all in one morning. The area was suddenly extremely volatile. 

I felt the Lord tell me, "this is your ram in the thicket, you can pull her from the trip; well done good and faithful servant."  We passed the test, we were willing to give her to the Lord and let her go, but did not have to make the ultimate sacrifice we thought would be required of us to worry every moment she was over there, and quite possibly receive devastating news. Like I am sure Abraham did, we breathed a sigh of relief and called YWAM to let them know she would not be going with that particular team. There was an ISIS attack. That was our ram.

YWAM being responsible, decided to cancel that particular location as they are not allowed to send DTS teams of students into "Hot spots." They would not be going to Tunisia anymore after the ISIS attack. But the new location was likely going to be in the middle east, and we did not know where yet. So we waited a week to hear. Then we were told they were going to Turkey as well as Algeria in Northern Africa. I was not thrilled about Algeria as that borders on Libya as well, but after finding out that the refugee camp she would be building a school at out of sand bags in the dessert was very, very, very far away from the ISIS activity, we were okay with that. Turkey would be fine if it was Istanbul or on to coast, as it is very European and safe generally, and I have a wonderful friend from there, but if they were going near the Iraq border in Turkey, we could not let her go, as ISIS was in control of that region, it was way worse than Northern Africa in that part. After multiple calls and emails requesting where in Turkey the students would be going, and not getting a response from her leadership, we sadly had to decide to pull her from the trip all together. We could not let her go close to Iraq and no one was telling us otherwise. So the Ram in the Bush for us was also a different trip. But our journey was not over, she needed a replacement outreach to graduate from DTS.

15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his[d] enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 

So we did not withhold our daughter. We were willing to send her, but where? I went into "Full-Time Find an Outreach Mode" I spent up to 6 hours a day contacting YWAM bases in Africa, Europe, Asia, India, South America, Central America, Australia, America, asking if she could do an outreach with their DTS team so she could graduate her DTS and go onto secondary school in Taiwan next year. I must have contacted and personally talked with over 50 YWAM bases. I got no, after no, after no, after no, after no. Every door closed. Finally I was able to reach The Big Cheese of DTS Leaders with University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii and he was able to ask his good friend to do a personal favor and allow Hailey to join their missions outreach team to Haiti. Thank you so very much!

Our daughter was so kind to be okay with not going with her friends to the Middle East (at least on the phone with us). She said "Dad, Mom, if you guys think it is not safe, I trust you because I know you both do crazy things for God, and if you think it is not safe, it must be pretty bad." When she found out she was going to Haiti she was excited as her good friend went there last year and she was actually familiar with the Haiti training from helping with that team during her Summer of Service (SOS), last summer. Also, her Dad, sister and friends from New York City Relief had all been to Haiti to do relief work a few years back. We were excited to get her plugged in somewhere even though the additional cost was a significant blow to us, somehow, it all came together down to the last day and off she went. It's funny to be relieved to send your daughter to Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere, that is not known for it's safety in itself. But we were. We were relieved. It was nice to have a good nights sleep, finally. 

It is crazy what things come down my path of life. ISIS for instance. It is so far away, so terrible, like many injustices around the world. But when it knocks on our families door, how do I respond? Hopefully with wisdom and faith. 

Haiti report coming soon... here is a sneak peak at our daughter in Haiti:

as well as Israel missions report from our oldest daughter who returns next week.... and West Virginia Appalachia relief report this summer from our oldest Son of 15. Yes, we are all about that. That is how we roll, almost ISIS and all.

The Galloway Family 

To learn A TON about ISIS in a riveting video great for Christians, Muslims & Jews go here:

 http://www.liquidchurch.com/isis/1/