Our Christian Kurdish Family In Lebanon

John Bryan's family is from the autonomous region of Iraq. His wife's name is Martha, his daughter is Mary, and his son is named Adam. When Martha was only four years old, her parents divorced and abandoned her and her brother on the streets in Iraq. Some people who knew them took them to their grandmother to be raised. Martha's uncle forced her mother to marry again, and likewise her father also remarried. Neither of Martha's parents ever took interest in her or her brother again. They were completely abandoned by their parents and never experienced love and affection from them, which is a necessity in the early development of children.

From early on, Martha was constantly subjected to abuse and severe beatings due to being raised within the Sunni extremist family structure. She was forced to wear a hajib ( head scarf and covering ) but often refused. This resulted in the shaving of Martha's hair as a punishment and to make her shameful.

At the age of fifteen, she had the opportunity to marry, though she had never met John Bryan, the opportunity for her to leave her current environment was very appealing to her. She struggled with this decision, but eventually God guided her to go ahead and proceed with the marriage. John Bryan turned out to be her savior by loving and taking care of her. However, prior to being married she still struggled with problems from her family. When she was engaged, she was going to go out with her fiance', John Bryan, and his family. Her uncle learned of this and beat her with a metal water pipe, then locked her in a room. Things of this nature were a regular occurrence for Martha until she married John Bryan.

John Bryan and Martha were finally married, and they began a life together, living with John Bryan's parents at first. His parents were very nationalistic veterans and forced John Bryan to drop out of school and try to join the military in Iraq as well as the Peshmerga Intelligence Department. He was wanted for the Peshmerga because of his ability to speak Arabic so well, to spy on Shiite groups as well as ISIS. However, he refused to fight and eventually became a truck driver.

Eventually the pressure was too great, and they decided to leave Iraq and settle in Lebanon. Today they are in Lebanon as refugees with their two beautiful children, where they live in a mediocre environment with little money due to their status.

One day, they came across a Christian who told them about Christ. They decided to go and learn about Christianity, and after awhile they fully converted. When they were baptized, they were so excited and finally had hope. On the telephone, they told one of their friends in Iraq of the good news. At first the friend acted happy for them, but the friend went behind their back and informed their families of their conversion. It did not take long until their families began calling John Bryan and Martha and threatening their lives. Martha's father even threatened to come to Lebanon to murder her for bringing shame to the family. Strangers began asking of their whereabouts in Lebanon, as if they were hired guns sent to assassinate them.

They contacted an organization who took their family in, where they remained for four months. They are now out of the organization, but they stay in constant fear of becoming known.

We are in the process of bringing John Bryan and Martha to the United States to safety. All donations you could provide will be of great importance and help. We need your prayers also.

Thank you.