Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
Ecclesiastes 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.”
A New Saint Joins the Cloud of Witnesses
This week, we learned of the passing of a senior saint named Haroun. He died in Uganda as a refugee, far from his beloved home in the Jebel Marra mountains in central Darfur, Sudan. CRM enabled his family to transport him to Uganda for cancer treatment. Like many Darfurians, he had no birth certificate, but he was around 80 years of age.
When one of his oldest sons, Adam, then a refugee in Uganda, returned to Darfur in 2019, he was unsure how his father would respond to him. Adam was now a Christian and traveled back to Darfur specifically to share the gospel with his family and his beloved Fur people. Haroun’s first statement to Adam was, “I have heard through your siblings that you believe you have found the truth in Jesus. Please, share with me and your family what led you to leave Islam.”
Adam traveled to Darfur with Story Cloths, solar powered MP3 players loaded with the New Testament, and Bibles. He gave his father one of the MP3 players. Haroun spent hours listening and meditating on the Word. Then Adam told him and other family members all the stories on CRM’s Creation to Christ Cloth. Gradually the Holy Spirit convinced Haroun that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Haroun immediately began sharing his faith with those around him. He opened his humble home in a refugee camp in Sudan to Christians for Bible study and prayer despite the persecution he knew would follow. One older man who received an MP3 player from Haroun declared, “this device will be my dearest companion in my old age.”
After moving to Uganda, Haroun received medical treatments that extended his life several years. He used that extra time to teach God’s Word to children and encourage his family in gospel ministry. A CRM short-term mission team witnessed his baptism in 2024, an event they will always cherish.
Call to Action: Fill the Truck in Honor of Haroun
CRM recently purchased 6,000 Sudanese Arabic Bibles in Juba, South Sudan, to be transported to and distributed in Darfur. The cost to transport the Bibles to Darfur has doubled since the Iran conflict started. The owner of the truck that will transport the Bibles says that once 6,000 Bibles are loaded on the truck, enough space will remain to transport 4,000 more Bibles. As he said, “given how much you are going to pay for transport, it would be a shame not to fill it completely.” And he is correct!
CRM has received a matching gift offer of up to $15,000 to purchase more Bibles before the truck leaves Juba for Darfur. Time is of the essence. The truck must leave Juba in the next few days before the summer rains wash out the road.
Each Bible costs $8. We ask you to prayerfully consider making a generous donation, so that we may not only match the $15,000 gift offer but exceed it. As Adam discovered with his father, untold thousands in Darfur are looking for truth. They just need access to God’s Word. Let’s fill the truck in Haroun’s honor.
In His Name,
David Crane
President, Calvary Road Ministries