PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 307: A Project for Your Family
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 307
: A Project for Your Family
Sonia Ramsey joins me today, and we talk about an exciting project you can do in your home that can affect the destiny of a certain nation! Oh, I do hope your family will get involved. What amazing miracles we could see if we all got involved.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Today I have with me Sonia Ramsey. Sonia actually did a podcast with us quite some time ago. Today this is podcast 307, but when we did it together, Sonia, it was 150. That’s quite a while ago. In fact, back then, Sonia was still living in Oregon, but happened to be visiting here so I grabbed her to do a podcast with her.
But since then, they have come to live down here in Tennessee, and living not too far away from us, they’ve become very much part of our lives. We are so blessed. They are such a wonderful family. If you didn’t hear it, you would love to go back and hear Sonia’s testimony. She shares how she went into motherhood longing for children, but it didn’t always happen so easily. She had infertility, miscarriages, then a difficult adoption.
And then, well, they ended their family with a little Down’s Syndrome baby, little Noah. Well, little Noah has become just the delight of everybody who even sees him. He’s the most amazing person, as young as he is, isn’t he? You don’t need TV when you’ve got Noah!
Sonia: Oh, no! Oh, no, he entertains us a lot.
Nancy: Oh goodness me! And yet, there was a time when you first found out, you wondered, “How will I cope with a Down’s Syndrome child?” What would you say now?
Sonia: Oh, if I had known that he was coming, oh, I’d be so excited! I’ve enjoyed every minute of having him in our family.
Nancy: Actually, the word “exciting,” really, that’s how you describe Noah!
Sonia: Oh, yes, oh yes.
Nancy: Exciting!
Sonia: Never a dull moment for that guy!
Nancy: He’s exciting! Life is just so exciting to him. I could spend all my day just looking at the excitement on his face. Then his actions! It’s so amazing!
Sonia: He loves everyone. He loves to be with everyone.
Nancy: And all the children are so great with him.
Sonia: They are.
Nancy: And it’s amazing. How long have you been now in Tennessee?
Sonia: Two years in December.
Nancy: In that time, I’ve watched the children grow. I can’t believe Asher. Is he 15 now?
Sonia: He’s 16.
Nancy: 16! But I’ve watched him. It’s like I used to watch our grandsons. You’d see them, and then one day you’d say, “Help! You grew two inches last night!” And then by the next night, they’d grown another two! In fact, he has joined all the tall boys.
Sonia: Yes, he has! He shot up this year.
Nancy: Yes, all the tall young men around here. It’s so amazing, isn’t it?
Sonia: It is.
Nancy: Today Sonia and I are going to share another project with you. This is an exciting thing, because they came to live in Tennessee, the Ramsey’s do a special thing every year. Colin and I were so blessed that they invited us to join them. Actually, you’ve only been here two years, but we’ve been to three of your special meals. How come that worked out?
Sonia: When we moved, it happened very soon after we got here.
Nancy: Well, we’ve been to three, and they have been so amazing. You tell us, Sonia, what it’s all about.
Sonia: OK. When my children were younger, about nine years ago, we would always wonder what to do for Valentine’s Day. I wasn’t very excited about just getting them a bunch of candy and stuffed animals. I thought, “There’s got to be something else.”
Then I heard about Saint Valentine, that he was a martyr, and that the day was named after him. I thought, “Oh, that’s interesting.” I had heard somebody say, “You can use the day as a day to remember the persecuted church.” I thought, “Oh, now that’s something I would love to do.” I started thinking about what that could look like. Our first year . . .
Nancy: You’ve been doing it for how many years?
Sonia: Nine years now.
Nancy: Nine years. That’s amazing.
Sonia: We chose India. We decided to have them dress up as Indian as we could get. We had saris on, homemade ones anyway. We took the legs off of our table and set it on the floor in the living room. We set it up, and I found some Indian recipes. We made some food from India and had a really good time.
A couple weeks leading up to that, we studied the country and studied what it was like to be a Christian there. I found videos online, so we watched those. Leading up to it, we had India on our minds. Then we spent that evening eating the food and having a good time. But then after the meal, we would spend time praying for them and the church that’s there, and the difficulties that they have, and encouraging for them.
I wanted to instill in our children a love for the church everywhere, not just what we have where we can just go to church. It’s no big deal. Nobody’s going to fire us, or murder us, or do any of those things for our faith. But that’s not the case for Christians around the world. I wanted them to be able to love the other Christians around the world.
Nancy: Now, tell us which countries you have done so far.
Sonia: I’m not sure they’re entirely in order. We started with India. We did Viet Nam, North Korea.
Nancy: Now Viet Nam would have been interesting because you have an adopted daughter from Viet Nam.
Sonia: Yes. We did it pretty early on. Actually, that’s one that I don’t remember as much. She remembers the recipes that we did, but I don’t remember focusing as much on that one, so it might have been the second year. I do remember the North Korea one very well. That one we had by candlelight since the country is dark at night. We actually found some interesting videos online of people interviewing those living there. It was interesting. It was an unusual one to do.
Nancy: North Korea is the number one persecuting country of Christians.
Sonia: Right. We did that one. We did China. That one was funny, because that year . . .
Nancy: You had an adopted baby son from China!
Sonia: We do! I think we may have done this when he was either really little, or before he came, because I know I couldn’t cook that year. My husband went and got Chinese teriyaki bowls from a restaurant and brought them home.
We did Turkey which was wonderful. We did Egypt, which I think is our favorite, our favorite food especially. That was wonderful. Afghanistan was the first one that you came to. Last year was Nigeria, and this year we did Eritrea.
Nancy: Eritrea. You know, I love doing this with the Ramseys. It was so inspiring. Of course, we had such a great night. I love trying different foods. In fact, I think this year the food was so delectable.
Sonia: It was good.
Nancy: It made you want to go to Eritrea to eat it! It was so wonderful. You really associate with the country when you eat the food, and you dress up as much as you can like they would be dressing up. Fortunately, I have quite a lot of African clothes in my wardrobe that have been sent from Liberia from relatives of my adopted Liberian children. We were able to spread those around.
But this Eritrea really got to me this year as we began to find out more about this country, and what it’s really like. Here, lovely ladies, here in the United States, we don’t know we’re alive. We live so blessedly and although we face problems, and even financial things, in everything we think we’re hard done by. Really, we’re not compared to the rest of the world!
Even those of you living in other countries, Eritrea is an absolute totalitarian dictatorship. Of course, there is no freedom in this country at all. Imagine living in a country with no freedom at all. This president of Eritrea is named Isaias Afwerki.
Sonia: Do you remember that Eritrea was one of the “hermit nations”? It’s a nickname, similar to North Korea, where they’re very closed off from the rest of the world.
Nancy: That’s absolutely true.
Sonia: That was fascinating to me. I had no idea.
Nancy: They call Eritrea “The North Korea of Africa,” because it is such a totalitarian state, ruled by this president. Actually, they got their independence from Ethiopia. What year was that? That was 1993.
Since then, there have been no elections at all. No elections, no cause for any freedom of speech, or any other political party, or anything. Imagine, ladies, living in a country where you’re in servitude. That’s the last 23 years. Imagine that! It’s been bad enough living under Biden’s regime!
Sonia: That was 30-some, right? 1993. Is that 31?
Nancy: [laughter] 31, or something like that. You’re right! 31 years!
Sonia: That’s a long time!
Nancy: 31 years! It’s been bad enough living under Biden’s regime for three years. Goodness me! Help! We hope we can change that! But they have no recourse to change! There they are. They have to, as soon as they have finished high school, all males and females have to be enlisted into the military. Not for so many years. It could be indefinite. They give no time when it’s over. Their lives are completely ruled.
There is no legislature, no media outlets, no independence. In fact, the government shut down all independent media in 2001. That’s 23 years ago. Yes, that’s what I was getting mixed up with. Twenty-three years without any other social media except what the government tells you. Freedom of assembly is not recognized either. A public gathering of more than seven requires a permit. If people protest, they will be faced with deadly force. Food insecurity and malnutrition are common. About 66% of Eritreans live below the poverty line.
So, ladies, it would be difficult to live in such a country. And yet, isn’t it sad? It’s such a beautiful country. If you don’t know where it is, you’ll want to go to your map of Africa and have a look. Go over to the eastern side, and you’ll see the Horn of Africa, as it is called. It’s right on the Horn of Africa. It is bordered in the east by the Red Sea, the beautiful Red Sea. They have such a beautiful long coastline of the Red Sea. Of course, opposite that is Saudi Arabia and Yemen. On the west is Sudan, and on the south is Ethiopia. On the southeast is Djibouti. That’s where it is.
Have a look at where this country is. Its’s a beautiful country, and yet people are living in poverty and servitude.
Then we get to the Christians. Actually, it was a Christian country. By the numbers, half the people are Christian, although it’s just by name. The other half are Islam. But if one wants to change from Islam to Christianity, they will be persecuted. Or even from their government Christianity, and they turn to really truly being born again, they’re going to be persecuted. The persecution is pretty horrific there.
Sonia: It was pretty intense, what we were learning about.
Nancy: You were sharing some about that, that night. Do you remember some of it?
Sonia: Well, yeah. We were talking about, and I can’t actually remember why this came about, but we were discussing holding containers. There were some holding containers for metal, like shipping boxes that were out in the jungle. It’s a very hot area. The Christians were left out there, locked in there to bake. Some of them survived. Some didn’t.
I can’t remember what the reasons for that were. This is the kind of situation where people might just disappear without having any word of where they’ve gone. Going against the government in their Christian faith is not tolerated.
Nancy: You have to toe the absolute line of the government. So, dear ladies, this is really the vision that the beautiful Ramsey family had, is to take a country, and then begin to pray for that country for the whole year. As we were there that night, I thought, “Wow, we’ve got to do a podcast about this. Imagine, if we could not only be praying but we could get all of you praying. We’re all praying for Eritrea, this country that is so desperate. Imagine what could happen!
We’ve been meaning to do this podcast for so long, but not getting on to it. But here we are. I really want to give you a vision here, ladies. I want to give you, oh, such a vision, that you could take up as a family, a country. I’d love you to join with us for Eritrea this year. Then next year, you could choose your own country.
But I think the more that can be praying for this one country, I believe we could see God do something amazing, because you just think, since they got independence, 31 years of dictatorship. No freedom at all and persecution for Christians. It is on the top ten list of the persecuting countries of Christians. We do need to pray, don’t we?
What does the Scripture say? Hebrew 13:3: “Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”
Let me read it from the New Living Translation. It makes it even clearer to us. “Remember those in prison as if you were there yourselves. Remember also those being mistreated as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” Wow, that’s something, isn’t it?
Well, the sad part is, I think that many Christians don’t even get to pray for the persecuted church. That is the very least we can do, to pray for them. I believe we have a responsibility, even as the Bible says, and to pray for them in such an intercessory way that we are feeling their pain, the pain of their torture, and the pain of their hunger, and the pain of the evil things they’re doing to their minds and their bodies!
Oh goodness me. I remember once, maybe I’ve told you this story before. It was a couple of years ago, and Serene was coming down from their third story, I think, on a ladder. She had a long skirt on, and somehow it got caught, and she fell to the ground, on her back! She was in such agony. It could have been so serious, but God delivered her and healed her.
But while she was there on her back, in absolute pain, what did she do? I was amazed when she shared it with me. She said, “Oh, Mom, I was in such pain that I cried out and cried out for the persecuted church!” She said, “Usually I feel so good that I don’t know how to feel their pain in my body.”
Sonia: Wow!
Nancy: “At last I was feeling such pain in my body, so I was really interceding for them.” I was really challenged by that. In fact, it was only a few weeks later that I fell and broke my ribs! Of course, ribs heal, but they are painful when you break your ribs. I was in such pain. I thought, “Well, what am I meant to do? Oh, pray for the persecuted church!”
But don’t let’s wait until we’re in absolute agony and pain, lovely ladies. Let’s make it a part of our lives. You know so well how I encourage you, as families, to come together in the morning and evening, to read the Word and pray together as a family. I think this is such a great time to pray for the persecuted church. How have you guys been getting on with praying?
Sonia: Well, we’re working on it. [laughter]
Nancy: I’ve got a confession too. Because I came home from that lovely evening with you, and thought, “Right! Every single day we’re going to pray for the Eritreans!” I told everybody in the household, and we started off with a bang. But I have to confess, we haven’t done it every day.
And yet, I do have some help. This is what I find, ladies. I do believe that we need help in reminding ourselves to pray. I may have shared with you before, but we have prayer boxes here in our home, right by our table where we have our devotions. We have our hymnbooks that we sing from, and we have our prayer boxes that we pray from. I have about nine different prayer boxes.
Of course, one of them is our “Praying for the Persecuted Church.” In that box, I have all the different needs of the persecuted church, and what is happening to them, and the different countries that are being persecuted. I also have another prayer box called “Countries and Capitals.” I have in that box all the neediest capitals and countries of the world. Of course, that includes the persecuted countries too. So, I actually have two boxes with “Eritrea” in them.
We don’t use nine boxes every day. We will just usually pick up one box. Then we’ll often get Eritrea and we’re praying for it. But I’m now thinking I’ll have to think of another idea, to remind us to pray every day.
My dear sister, Kate, is living with us at the moment. She and her husband are building a house out here on the Hilltop. While it’s being built, they’re living with us. I have to confess, she is faithful. Since that night, she has prayed in own prayer time, before she gets up every day, for Eritrea. Somehow, she remembers. It’s really on her heart.
So, I pray that you can think about it. I hope you’ll make some prayer boxes too. It’s great to have them on all the different subjects we need to be praying for—the nation, Israel, the persecuted church, and all these different needs in the world. But think of some idea of how you can remember, because I just feel lovely ladies, and young people listening, and children listening! If we could all begin to pray every day this year, from now on, this year, for Eritrea, well, what could happen?
Sonia: That would be so amazing! You’re making me think of Pam Fields and her bracelets. I think she’s written that in the magazine before where she writes the bracelets with her children’s names on them to remember to pray for them.
Nancy: That’s a great idea. Pam Fields has done podcasts with me. She has made bracelets where she has the names of all her children, which she puts on one wrist every morning. Then, as she has prayed for each child, she puts it on the other wrist. By the end of the day, wow! It shows whether she’s got through them all.
Sonia: She knows who to pray for at the end of the day!
Nancy: Yes! Yes! We so need reminders, don’t we? We really do. It’s amazing. And I find even our prayer boxes are things that we pray for, we would never pray for them if we didn’t take that little card out of our prayer boxes. We just forget. We’re so prone to forgetting, aren’t we?
I was looking up again this morning in Open Doors, because they’re such a wonderful organization for reaching out to the persecuted church. I thought I’d share with you a little bit of what they say about Eritrea. They also call it the “North Korea of Africa.” Actually, Eritrea does recognize Islam and Christianity, but anything outside of government Christianity is open to their persecution.
I’ll read this to you: “Raids to round up unsanctioned believers are common with church leaders, especially with church leaders. Those seized in raids are often sent into Eritrea's notorious prison network, where they can be detained indefinitely.”
They believe there are at least 1,000 Christians in prison currently—and they haven't been charged with any crime. They’re just there and forgotten. They just forget about them. Nobody knows if they’ll ever come out.
“Members of some house churches have been in prison for more than 10 years, enduring shocking conditions, including solitary confinement in tiny cells. Women face rape and sexual violence. The government watches every citizen of Eritrea, promoting a stigma against Christians. Anyone who converts from Islam, or joins a non-approved Christian denomination is likely to come under intense pressure from their family and community, along with the government. Women are particularly vulnerable. They risk abduction, house arrest, forced marriage to a Muslim.” (that’s what happens in these countries) “Or removal of their children.”
Can I tell you about the testimony of one, Abdullah? They share his testimony.
“Becoming a Christian in Eritrea cost Abdullah everything. It cost him his job, his freedom, and eventually his life. This persecution could have ended if he had renounced Jesus, but that was something he refused to do. He knew Jesus was worth the cost.
“Like most Eritreans, Abdullah grew up in a Muslim home. When he decided to follow Jesus, he could have been a secret believer, but he was so passionate about his new faith that he couldn’t keep it quiet. He told everyone about Jesus. He wanted them to know the Good New too. But, of course, through that, he was arrested and imprisoned.
“In prison, he was only given food three times a week. His wife wasn’t allowed to bring him any extra food or clothes, or even see him. She did receive letters in which she learned that he was getting increasingly sick in prison. Tragically, he died. Those close to the family say that Abdullah was imprisoned to discourage his faith. Ultimately, they wanted him to deny Christ and convert back to Islam. He was told that, were he to do this, they would drop the charges. But no imprisonment, hunger, torture, or sickness could separate Abdullah from the love of God.”
I think of these Christians in these countries who know they’ll face torture, they’ll face death, they’ll face being thrown of out their families. They face prison, they face forgottenness for the rest of their lives, but yet, they won’t give up their testimonies for Jesus.
Wow! They put us to shame, don’t they? But our responsibility is to pray. Yes. To pray for them. I’m wondering, are you getting the vision? Will you join with us in praying for Eritrea? Oh, I think it would be so wonderful if every family would do this. Ask the Lord what you can do to help you remember to do it, because we do need that help. Maybe you could tell other families about it too. And then maybe you’ll want to do what the Ramseys did. Every year, you’ll choose another country.
Sonia: Even now, they could choose Eritrea, and have their friends over, and have dinner.
Nancy: Yes! Great! They do it on Valentine’s Day. You could do it on New Year’s Day. You could do it this week. It doesn’t matter when. As Sonia was saying, what a great idea! Just look up the foods and get dressed up. Invite some other families over. Have a wonderful night together, and pray together that night, and then commit to praying together. Yes! That would be so great.
Sonia: And then preparing for those things, it’s really fun for the children to be able to go to the stores where they sell those seasonings that we’re not used to cooking with. We had to go into Nashville to find a store that had all of the things that we needed. That was part of the adventure. That was really fun for all of us.
Nancy: Oh yes! And you’re discovering about the world, with your children. And how blessed they are here in America. But we want our children, don’t we, to have a heart for the persecuted church, and a heart for others, and to learn to pray for others. And also, your girls, now that they’re getting older, they are doing a lot of the cooking. They’re learning how to cook in all these other wonderful ways. They’re such good cooks.
Oh, by the way, if you ever come to the THM, Trim Healthy Mama Café here in Tennessee, you will be served by Sonia’s beautiful daughters, Ellie, and Shailee. They work there and it’s always such a joy to go there, just to be served by them! They’re so beautiful, and so amazing! Maybe you’ve met them if you’ve been to the THM Café.
Is there anything else you wanted to say about this vision, Sonia?
Sonia: I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Just the daily reminder. I would say that’s one thing to ponder on. I think it’s good for all of us to have a reminder.
Nancy: Your vision gave me a vision. I can’t wait for next year, when we come to your next one. I think it’s such a marvelous idea. And to pray for this country. I trust you’ve got the vision. I trust you’ll join us. Let’s pray, and see changes come to this nation that is in such servitude to dictatorship. Oh, I would find it so hard to live under dictatorship! How do you live when you don’t have freedom? I don’t know! Although this is one of the worst countries. There are many that are like that.
In fact, let me just, as we close, give you the top ten persecuting countries.
North Korea, of course, number one.
Somalia,
Libya,
Eritrea,
Yemen,
Nigeria,
Pakistan,
Sudan,
Iran, and
Afghanistan.
There are about 50 persecuting countries of the world. Those are the top ten. We certainly need to pray for them. And how do we pray for them? Remember? As though we were feeling their pain in our own bodies. In fact, the Aramaic version of that Scripture says: “As if you were people who wear their bodies.” Isn’t that amazing?
Sonia: Wow!
Nancy: Let’s pray.
“Father, I thank You for this opportunity that Sonia and I could share this wonderful vision that You have given to them as a family. Lord, I’d love to see it multiply across the world, to take up a country that is in such servitude and suffering such persecution. Lord God, I pray that You will motivate these precious families listening, and they will begin to pray for this country.
“We pray for Eritrea today, Lord. We pray for this dictator, Lord God, Isaias Afwerki, that You will, oh God, bring him down from his high throne. We pray, I don’t know how it can happen, Lord God, but somehow that there can be freedom, Lord, for there to be elections somehow. Lord, it’s only You who can do this, Lord God! We pray for a miracle.
“We pray for the precious believers who are suffering there. We pray that You will encourage their hearts, that, Lord, You will surround them with Your love. And Lord God, those whose tummies are tortured with hunger, come to them. Lord, give them that feeling of a full stomach, Lord God.
“We pray for those who are being tortured and left abandoned, Lord. We pray that they will know that You haven’t forgotten them. We pray that You’ll put Your loving arms around them and bring Your presence to them so mightily. And Lord, we pray that in some miraculous way, deliverance will come to this country. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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Podcast 30:
Pam Fields shares her wonderful idea of PRAYER BRACELETS and how they help her to pray for each of her children each day.
To listen to this podcast, go to:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/183665/905644-episode-30-should-we-make-new-year-resolutions
To find out how to make the bracelets go to this link: https://tinyurl.com/PrayerBracelets