Mother's Day

Next weekend in Mother's Day. At the church that my mother attends they usually have a mother/daugher banqute of some sort. This year they decided to have a coffee. It was this morning - so I went with my mother and 2 of my nieces. My other niece couldn't attend and my SIL didn't go nor did my sister.

The speaker this year is a woman by the name of Gracia Burnham. Her and her husband were missionaries down in the Phillipines for about 17 years. In May of 2001 - they had a quick 24 hour get away for their anniversary. Never did they imagine what would happen on that trip.

They were kidnapped at gunpoint by an Abu Sayyaf Group, a militant group of Muslims. They spent the next 376 days in captivity and traveled throughout the jungle. Facing many gun battles along the way. The finaly gun battle they faced was the one the ended with Gracia being wounded and her husband Martin being killed.

She came to tell her story about the trials that she went through during this time and the way that God helped her and her husband survive during those times. She is an amazing speaker. I would imagine she has probably told her story literally thousdands of times and she still gets teared up about and it still touches her soul. There wasn't a dry eye in the place.

Her is a link to her site if you want to check it out. She has also written 2 books -- one about her time in captivity and one since.

http://www.graciaburnham.org/index.asp