A team member from the USA who participated in a short-term trip on the Trans-Siberian railroad across Russia shares her experience.

An OM worker in Russia finds opportunities to share Christ's love with members of the Romani ethnic group.

After discovering his freedom in Christ and being discipled, former drug addict Ruslan wants to share hope with the least reached.

Children's club at the church in Tkvarcheli, which is held by MDT students, impacts lives of local children and gives them hope.

Nineteen boys and girls graduated from Fishport Kids Tutorial Club's day care programme in Manila, Philippines, this month.

The OM Philippines-Cebu team, in partnership with the local church, touches the lives of young and old through a five-day Bible class.

Students from OM Philippines-Cebu's Alternative Learning System bring children joy through a Christmas party, following the trauma caused by Bohol earthquake and Typhoon Haiyan.

From Leyte Island to Northern Cebu to Bohol Island, the Christmas season brought overwhelming joy to many who received provision and care from OM Philippines.

Over 50 pastors and family members from Tacloban enjoy a weekend getaway organised by OM Philippines from 7-9 March.

OM Philippines completes their annual mission training and exposure programme in the tribal areas of Palawan, Philippines.

OM Philippines received a huge donation of brand new clothing, shoes and food packs for Typhoon Haiyan victims.

Six young people joined STEP OUT 2014 and an outreach in the Philippines to challenge their comfort zones, and they were not disappointed.

Three boys who sell fish become “men of peace” for the DreamAsia+ team in three of the poorest Muslim communities in the Philippines.

One hundred Filipino teens, aged 12-18 are expected to come to the five-day event of fun, learning and life-changing encounters in Cebu.

After over 10 years of praying, the Philippines had its first-ever TeenStreet!

OM responded to the needs of people affected by Typhoon Vinta, relying on military accompaniment to reach the location and deliver aid.

At CES 2020, Sony unveiled a new line of 4K and 8K TVs, destined to be released during the year. They finally have now gone on sale and we were quick to pick one up to test it out.

A story about 2 Albanian boys who live in Greece as immigrants with their families.

A story how an Asian sister found her way to a local church service in Greece.

In 2008, the Greek Evangelical Church in Athens opened a community centre, in a suburb where many Albanians live. OM worker Martha describes how she and other staff are reaching out with God's love to local young people.

Rosie from OM Greece helps at a project for homeless people run by local believers in Athens. She describes how one regular 'guest' is progressing towards faith in God.

Beneath the scenes of turmoil in Greece, one OMer sees a different crisis altogether – and for the same reason, an opportunity for the gospel.

Jemina (Finland) joined the Transform team in Athens. Changes in travel plans meant she used the metro system—between stations with very special names.

Women caught in the sex industry find new life through Nea Zoi, a partner organisation, which reaches out to sex workers in Athens.

After working with the needy on a Transform 2012 outreach to Greece, Anthony (UK) returned to Athens to continue in that ministry.

Believers from different nations and denominations gathered to worship God together in Athens, promoting unity amongst the city’s believers.

After attending Transform 2014 and going on the Greece outreach, a young South African man returns to Greece eight months later to stay.

Greece – a land with a glorious past is today faced with many challenges. OM is working with churches, ministering to the Greek and refugees.

OM Greece's involvement with refugees is always evolving. This summer the team is able to work in more camps and connect with more people.

Focusing on one person at a time, John uses everyday life as a way to meet people where they are and journey alongside them.

“God is working in this community,” James said. He and other Christians in his village are challenging the culture by living their lives for Christ.

Lima, Peru, May 9, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Peruvian congresswoman Luz Milagros Cayguaray Gambini has demanded the country’s health minister provide the legal and scientific basis for a directive that would allow abortion when a pregnant woman is infected with the novel coronavirus.

Abortion is illegal in Peru except when pregnancy would cause death or permanent harm to a pregnant woman.

On April 22, Peru’s Minister of Health Victor Zamora issued a directive calling for provision of emergency contraception in the country, and allowing abortion for pregnant women who test positive for the coronavirus.

In a May 5 letter, Cayguaray demanded Zamora to “Indicate what the legal basis” is for the directive that allows doctors to “end the pregnancy,” if the mother has contracted COVID-19.

The legislator also challenged Zamora to indicate “the scientific and medical basis the norm is based upon.”

At issue is whether a positive test for coronavirus is sufficient to establish that a pregnancy threatens the life of a woman. Gambini says that assertion is unproven and unfounded.

Cayguaray has also written to Dr. Enrique Guevara Ríos, director of the country’s Perinatal Maternal Institute, asking him to report how many pregnant women with COVID-19 have been treated to date, “how many have had their pregnancies terminated,” “on what grounds,” and “what current regulation has been applied to carry out the interruption of those pregnancies.”

The Arequipa Doctors for Life Association has criticized the health directive in a statement.

"At this time in which all our efforts as a nation should be aimed at improving our precarious health system to mitigate the serious impact of the pandemic, the circumstances are being used to dictate measures that threaten the lives of Peruvians in their most vulnerable stage, life in the womb,” the group said.

Regarding the “morning after pill,” the group expressed surprise and concern “that the Ministry of Health promotes the irresponsible and reckless use of this drug in the general population and particularly for minors, and even worse, dispenses with obtaining the person’s medical history, which is an essential tool for the responsible practice of medicine, thus seriously exposing the users to danger."

Aborting a child because the mother has COVID-19, the doctors said “is contrary to the principles that govern medical practice, which must always be based on the application of therapies that are based on rigorous scientific studies and with respect to elementary ethical principles” which guide medical science in providing the best strategies to protect patients.

When a woman is pregnant “we have two patients to take care of, the mother and the unborn child," the doctors association stressed.

Concerning the babies themselves, five newborns whose mothers have COVID-19 were recently discharged from a government hospital in Peru. A sixth, also born of a coronavirus patient who is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, was born prematurely and remains hospitalized. None of the babies have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a May 5 interview with the El Comercio daily, Dr. César García Aste, who heads the hospital’s neonatology department, explained that there are strict protocols as to how the baby is to be fed in order to avoid infecting it.

A doctor from the hospital is assigned to follow up daily by phone on the baby’s condition for an average of 14 days, and “so far we haven’t had a problem with any of the five babies,” Garcia said.

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news agency. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

In this second update from the Serbia/Croatia border, OM leader Volker Sachse describes moments of God’s peace that transforms people in a dire situation.

Michel Di Feliciantonio and three other Italian Christians spent a week in Šid, Serbia, helping refugees on their way into Europe.

God uses football and English lessons to build friendships between OM Serbia and refugees.

OM Serbia, with the help of volunteers from several nations, are providing sweet tea, and friendship, to the refugees at a camp in Sid, Serbia.

As refugee numbers soar locally, the local government in Sid, Serbia, asks OM to help them again. OM gets their tent out again.

“This publication is a tool to help those who will join Goran in sharing the gospel among Gurbet-speaking Roma, and lays the foundation for future Christian materials.”

During their visits in Serbia, Moldova and Montenegro the two MDT Love Europe teams had many experiences, as well as opportunities to share God’s love.

Jude, project coordinator of OM's Refugee Relief Serbia describes her busy role, and how OM’s service can be a powerful practical witness of the love of Jesus to hundreds of refugees.

OM Norway Field Leader Willy Andre Meberg expresses condolences and prayer for the people of Norway.

As Rafael, the leader of OM Romania, lies awake in the middle of the night, he shares about the OM outreach to the Roma people he and his family are taking part in. They’ve set up a mobile clinic in Padureni, and through games, sports and Bible stories, the community is learning about God’s love.

Catherine, from the UK, joined an OM team in July to host a dental clinic and outreach for the residents of Pădureni.

A Roma man’s cry to God for mercy to spare his son’s life transforms his future and the future of his small town.

Since 2007, the Bus4Life has visited 150 locations, welcomed 10,000 visitors and touched many lives, including one Romanian teen who comes back to God.

OM uses an educational programme called KidsGames to share Bible stories in a public school.

A recap of Bus4Life's ministry in Romania during the summer of 2018.

Lawrence and Susan Tong encourage the OM Switzerland team during their annual retreat.

“Every movie, book or song tells a story. They all have a beginning and an end. When a song ends, the story seems over. When the killer is found at the end of that thriller, the movie ends. When the couple is finally together and they kiss on the last page of that romance novel, the book ends,” says OMer Anja. “But in life, the end of a story is never the end of it. It always goes on. When that book or movie is over, time seems to freeze and life as we know it seems to stay exactly the same.”

Penang, Malaysia :: A team from Logos Hope connect with children at a drop-in centre.