OM Africa partners with Davar Partners International to distribute audio Bibles to those who cannot read.

Limardes Domingo, an OM worker in Mecula, Mozambique, has seen church growth over two years through God's faithful answers to prayer.

Maputo, Mozambique :: Logos Hope crewmembers visit local homeless boys in a slum area and were encouraged by their willingness to give.

Focusing on one person at a time, John uses everyday life as a way to meet people where they are and journey alongside them.

“God is working in this community,” James said. He and other Christians in his village are challenging the culture by living their lives for Christ.

"...if they don’t believe you, you have to keep on talking and talking and talking until it gets stuck in their head," said Lansipe.

Lima, Peru, May 9, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Peruvian congresswoman Luz Milagros Cayguaray Gambini has demanded the country’s health minister provide the legal and scientific basis for a directive that would allow abortion when a pregnant woman is infected with the novel coronavirus.

Abortion is illegal in Peru except when pregnancy would cause death or permanent harm to a pregnant woman.

On April 22, Peru’s Minister of Health Victor Zamora issued a directive calling for provision of emergency contraception in the country, and allowing abortion for pregnant women who test positive for the coronavirus.

In a May 5 letter, Cayguaray demanded Zamora to “Indicate what the legal basis” is for the directive that allows doctors to “end the pregnancy,” if the mother has contracted COVID-19.

The legislator also challenged Zamora to indicate “the scientific and medical basis the norm is based upon.”

At issue is whether a positive test for coronavirus is sufficient to establish that a pregnancy threatens the life of a woman. Gambini says that assertion is unproven and unfounded.

Cayguaray has also written to Dr. Enrique Guevara Ríos, director of the country’s Perinatal Maternal Institute, asking him to report how many pregnant women with COVID-19 have been treated to date, “how many have had their pregnancies terminated,” “on what grounds,” and “what current regulation has been applied to carry out the interruption of those pregnancies.”

The Arequipa Doctors for Life Association has criticized the health directive in a statement.

"At this time in which all our efforts as a nation should be aimed at improving our precarious health system to mitigate the serious impact of the pandemic, the circumstances are being used to dictate measures that threaten the lives of Peruvians in their most vulnerable stage, life in the womb,” the group said.

Regarding the “morning after pill,” the group expressed surprise and concern “that the Ministry of Health promotes the irresponsible and reckless use of this drug in the general population and particularly for minors, and even worse, dispenses with obtaining the person’s medical history, which is an essential tool for the responsible practice of medicine, thus seriously exposing the users to danger."

Aborting a child because the mother has COVID-19, the doctors said “is contrary to the principles that govern medical practice, which must always be based on the application of therapies that are based on rigorous scientific studies and with respect to elementary ethical principles” which guide medical science in providing the best strategies to protect patients.

When a woman is pregnant “we have two patients to take care of, the mother and the unborn child," the doctors association stressed.

Concerning the babies themselves, five newborns whose mothers have COVID-19 were recently discharged from a government hospital in Peru. A sixth, also born of a coronavirus patient who is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, was born prematurely and remains hospitalized. None of the babies have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a May 5 interview with the El Comercio daily, Dr. César García Aste, who heads the hospital’s neonatology department, explained that there are strict protocols as to how the baby is to be fed in order to avoid infecting it.

A doctor from the hospital is assigned to follow up daily by phone on the baby’s condition for an average of 14 days, and “so far we haven’t had a problem with any of the five babies,” Garcia said.

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news agency. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

In this second update from the Serbia/Croatia border, OM leader Volker Sachse describes moments of God’s peace that transforms people in a dire situation.

In his third update from Serbian/Croatian border, Volker Sachse says that in spite of increasingly difficulties, he can see God’s peace touch local people.

Michel Di Feliciantonio and three other Italian Christians spent a week in Šid, Serbia, helping refugees on their way into Europe.

Sometimes it's not about handing out blankets, meals or having conversations, noticed OM worker Elizabeth when volunteering in the refugee ministry in Serbia.

Mahmood, a refugee from Sudan, travelled the 'West Balkan' migrant route. Months later, settled in The Netherlands, he recalls worship in OM's tent in Serbia.

As refugee numbers soar locally, the local government in Sid, Serbia, asks OM to help them again. OM gets their tent out again.

“This publication is a tool to help those who will join Goran in sharing the gospel among Gurbet-speaking Roma, and lays the foundation for future Christian materials.”

Goran’s decision to follow Jesus challenged the cultural values and traditions he grew up with, causing him to live differently in his community.

Iranians in Serbian refugee camps are turning to Jesus, becoming baptised and sharing their faith—events that one OM leader describes as being straight out of the Book of Acts.

During their visits in Serbia, Moldova and Montenegro the two MDT Love Europe teams had many experiences, as well as opportunities to share God’s love.

Slobodan never thought he could be free, but Jesus gave him a new start. Now Slobodan urges Roma in Croatia and Serbia that there is a better way.

In January 2013, OM Norway and Norwegian Naval Training Agency agreed on internship programme for deckhands and motormen on board MV Logos Hope.

Catherine, from the UK, joined an OM team in July to host a dental clinic and outreach for the residents of Pădureni.

A Roma man’s cry to God for mercy to spare his son’s life transforms his future and the future of his small town.

Michael (Kenya) participates in a short-term mission trip to Romania and gives an account of God's transforming power at work amongst the Roma people.

“What a feeling it is to know you can be someone’s miracle…” shares a short-term worker after outreach with the OM Transit team in Romania.

Faith is strengthened when OMers learn how the Lord watches over them, not allowing harm to come to the people or the ministry.

A recap of Bus4Life's ministry in Romania during the summer of 2018.

As they seek to establish a church, God gives OM Spain the opportunity to minister to the community, break down barriers and share the gospel.

OM Spain's traveling team is back at base after nearly two months on the road visiting and serving in various churches.

A new social work ministry has opened to bring the people of Narón, Spain, into the village’s only evangelical church.

Zoila Garrido is building relationships with immigrants by teaching them Spanish. Some of them never had the chance to go to school before.

In the 1960s, when OM accepted untrained people for short-term campaigns, it was unheard of. Today, it has become a gateway into missions.

Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Spain :: Speakers talk about the destructive power of negative words at a ladies' conference on board Logos Hope.

Heikki drove the nearly 4,000 km from Finland to Transform in Spain on his motorcycle. A Harley-Davidson and a saxophone were useful instruments in God's hands.

Transform staff Esther Banzi (South Africa) loves to share the needs in Europe with people from the Global South and see them moving into missions.

Transform in Europe inspired a dance ministry in Australia - dance, discussions and discipleship.

Transform mission conference one year, outreach team in France the following year, the sisters from Mexico are eager to share the love of Christ, realising the audience was different from what they expected.

A group from the Sharing Lives Course visits a mosque in Lausanne, Switzerland, and learns that greater awareness can lead to greater sensitivity.

The OM short-term team seek God’s will for their ministry after their move to the outskirts of Zurich. Recent encounters have encouraged and surprised them.

Träff International, OM Switzerland’s newest project, offers hospitality to people in the community every Wednesday morning.

Hope for Zurich connects with the community at Träff International, their outreach to the local immigrant population.

OM Hope for Zurich’s kids’ club brings together immigrant children from a local neighbourhood in hopes of sharing God’s love with them and their families.

A teenage boy's ankle is healed and the Good News is spread through this situation.

Swiss youth are challenged by a group outreach to Hungary.

A MDT trainee puts what she has learned into practice as she teaches German to an Egyptian immigrant in Switzerland.

An OM trainee in Switzerland allows God to use her story and faith to touch children's hearts.

God uses bracelets to weave together a group of children from different cultures and backgrounds so they can experience His love.

Kochi, India :: Jeannette Zandbergen (Netherlands) is surprised to see an old friend in a photograph.

A man shares his story of living with HIV at an AIDS workshop aboard Logos Hope, which opened hearts for ministry to others with HIV.

some testimonies from Aussies who attended the 2010 OCZ and outreaches

Penang, Malaysia :: A group of youngsters come to Logos Hope for a three day youth camp.

Currently 100 people from 15 nations are expected at OM Malaysia’s annual missions conference at Golden Sands in Port Dickson, Malaysia, from 14-18 July 2012.