Safety of missionary families questioned
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Religion & Ethics Writer
On Sept. 11, Ted Offutt was fixing his bike in his living room with a friend.
But because his home is in Osh, in the southern part of Kyrgyzstan near the border with Uzbekistan, and because the Mililani High and University of Hawai'i graduate is a Foursquare Denominational Christian missionary teaching in an Islamic country, what happened next went beyond what many Islanders experienced in the wake of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history.
He and his wife and children were among the hundreds of U.S. missionaries who had to move as the safety of Americans in the Middle East, central Asia and in other Muslim-dominated regions came into question.
The State Department lists 28 countries that U.S. citizens should avoid, because of potential violence. Several were added after Sept. 11, including Pakistan, Indonesia, Tajikistan and Yemen.
Last Monday, the State Department added Kyrgyzstan — whose population is 75 percent Muslim — to its travel advisory list, and began evacuating non-emergency embassy personnel and family members.
Missionaries of several denominations from Hawai'i were among those asked to move immediately after the terrorist attacks.
Some, such as Kyle Leech, a former Baptist pastor, are now back at their posts, said the Rev. O.W. "Dub" Euford, executive director of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention, a fellowship of Southern Baptist churches in Hawai'i, Guam and American Samoa.
Other denominations, such as the Christian Missionary Alliance, said there was some repositioning in Ivory Coast, but that was because of violence unrelated to Sept. 11.
The Rev. Robert Bruzelius, Assemblies of God foreign missions director, said that while they have missionaries scattered all over the Middle East, it's their policy not to list missionaries and where they are working.
"If the public found out who's where, they may be in greater danger," he said.
In an e-mail a week ago, Offutt wrote about turning on a local TV station on Sept. 11 and seeing the attacks on American cities via video out of Russia.
"We were stunned as we watched the drama unfold," Offutt wrote.
He and his wife and their three children, all under the age of 10, went to the Muslim country under the guidance of Campus Crusade for Christ and Grace Brethren Church.
In the first few days after the attacks, the Americans in their team decided to gather some belongings together in case of an evacuation.
The warning came from the U.S. Embassy about a week later: It was feared that an unknown but possibly significant number of Islamic radicals might strike at Americans.
"Campus Crusade decided it was in our best interest to evacuate to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to assess the situation, and look at our exit strategies and even to determine if it is safe enough to stay in the country," he wrote. "We were on a plane less than 24 hours after that decision and left Osh."
They spent a week in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, getting their Kazak visas and then went to Almaty, Kazakhstan, for 2 1/2 weeks before returning to Osh.
Evacuating from their home of four years for nearly a month was more than a disruption.
There was the financial burden of moving, as well as continuing safety concerns.
"We are taking more precautions than we did before ... and are paying more attention to the general attitudes of people and looking at the news, locally and internationally, with much more attention.
"... There was an effect on the nationals here caused by our leaving. It created a bit of fear and some uncertainty in their minds. There is much less confidence in our friends that we are really intending to be here for the long haul."
Colleen Madeira, who travels to an orphanage in northern India every year with the Southeast Asian Missions organization, was in Delhi at the time of the attacks. Escalating violence and rising hostility toward Americans after the bombing started, three weeks into her regular three-month stint, prompted a return to her Big Island home in Nanawale Estates.
However, she has mixed feelings about coming home.
"It broke my heart," she said, adding that leaving the children at the orphanage was difficult.
"I was hurt. I was angry that because of one man and his evil regime, I couldn't finish out my term there."
Two Canadian members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, young men who had been stationed in Indonesia, found themselves transferred with no return date in sight. As consolation, they'll just have to make do with their new assignment: Hawai'i.
The community Justin Johnson and Mark-Philippe LeTourneau had been assigned to saw little effects from the events of Sept. 11.
"I was surprised how little changed," said LeTourneau.
Like other evangelical Christians, Offutt's transformation from O'ahu resident to missionary had twists and turns, eventually leading to the place where he felt the need was greatest.
"God was putting into our hearts a desire to go minister in the Muslim world," wrote Offutt. After a trip to Kyrgyzstan in 1993, "We really saw Central Asia as a place where God could use us. ... We chose Osh because it was so unexposed to Christianity."
Christians who work in Islamic countries usually cannot obtain visas as missionaries. They usually cannot preach, organize worship services for locals or distribute Christian literature.
Most, according to a recent Washington Post article, enter these countries as professionals other than missionaries.
"We are not looking to be martyrs, and I especially feel that we need to look out for the well-being of our children," Offutt wrote in his last e-mail, which arrived Tuesday morning. "On the other hand, when one chooses to be a missionary in certain parts of the world, it could become dangerous or even life-threatening. We had already come to terms with that reality before we moved here."
