Kids of Courage

Most of the people in Laos are Buddhists. Many others are spirit worshipers. Learn more about Buddhist beliefs here.  Learn more about spirit worshipers here.

People who follow Jesus are persecuted in some parts of Laos. Youth leaders try to prepare Christian children to be strong in their faith, even in hard times.

“They play games to teach spiritual truths,” said a VOM worker in Laos. “In one game, one person is blindfolded. [Can you find the blindfolded person in the photo?] As music is played, the blindfolded person walks around a circle of children, touching each person as they walk. They keep walking as long as the music is played.

“When the music stops, the last person who was touched by the blindfolded child has to do something in the center of the circle.”

[An adult leader may suggest what the child may do — perhaps sing a verse of a Christian song, recite a Bible verse, tell a Bible story, or share a way that God has helped them.]

The VOM worker continued, “The teaching point is that we don’t always get to choose when we are called by God to do something. Sometimes it may be something we want to do, but sometimes it may be something we don’t want to do. But we always need to follow Him.”

(Source: The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. Comments edited for length and clarity.)

Learn more about bold Christians in Laos in the books Bold Believers Among the Khmu of Southeast Asia and Bold Believers of the Hmong People in the Downloads section.

“Samuel” lives in Laos with his parents. You can see him in the photo holding his parents’ hands. (Their eyes are covered to protect their identity from people who might want to harm them.) Samuel is standing on a piece of his house.

Samuel’s parents are Christians. They live in a village where most of the people are animist, or spirit worshipers. (Learn more about animism here.) Just a few of the villagers are Christians. There used to be more Christians. But after animist villagers began persecuting the Christians, some Christians left their faith.

Local officials tore down Samuel’s house, hoping his family would leave the village and move somewhere else. But Samuel’s family stayed. They gathered pieces of their torn-down house and built a small hut to live in. Christians from nearby villages came to help, encourage, and support them. Now the officials are saying that Samuel’s family can stay in the village and rebuild their home.

Please pray for Samuel’s family, their persecutors, and for the villagers who stopped being Christians after they were persecuted.

(Source: I Commit to Pray)

(To protect their identities, the names of some of the people on this website and some identifying details have been changed. Some of the quotes and stories have been edited and paraphrased from the original sources for clarity, length, and age appropriateness.)

To Talk About
*What are some of the other ways Samuel’s family could have reacted after officials tore down their house?
*Why do you think the officials changed their minds about Samuel’s family?