Students for the Relief of the Oppressed

1. UZBEKISTAN: There seems to be a campaign against churches going on – even fully registered ones. Assistant Pastor ‘ARTUR’ and two church members were given 15-day prison sentences, and five other members received hefty fines, after police raided their church. Christian literature was destroyed, the church building sealed and the electricity cut off. Pray for Christians throughout Uzbekistan who are suffering church raids, arrests and fines. 2. CHINA: GAO ZHISHENG has disappeared again, just days after security officials apparently freed him in April, at the end of a 13-month detention. He was allowed to return home to Beijing and visit his in-laws (his wife and family are in the US); but 4 police officers stayed with him at all times. Ask God to strengthen and protect Gao and his family. Pray that the Chinese authorities will respond to international pressure to release him for good. Pastor WANG DAO, detained May 9, has chosen life imprisonment, rather than exile. He longs to rejoi...

There's been lots more to report on the raking front. On Saturday the 8th we raked at least as many leaves as the first week and made even more money--around $1100. In this two-week fundraiser, SRO raised as much as in the previous six months combined! And upcoming events look very promising as well. This Wednesday, SRO will be featured on 92.5 FM around 2 PM. Be sure to tune in to hear about us and our ministry!

This website has been terribly un-updated, because we never assigned anyone as the designated webmaster. But that shall change. SRO has been doing some wonderful work lately, in particular, a leaf-raking fundraiser for Christian refugees in Orissa, India, where Hindu extremists have been killing Christians and driving them out of their homes in a terrible outbreak of violence these last two months. We had many great volunteers out working their tails off for hours on Saturday, even in the rain, and we far surpassed our fundraising goal. Here's some fun statistics: 7 (or so)--tons of leaves we bagged up 25--number of folks who helped out; and number of yards raked 123--number of phone calls to and from my cell-phone over the seven hours I was coordinating the project 300 (or so)--number of bags chock full of leaves we filled up 1000+--number of dollars we raised 10000 (or so)--number of gallons of leaves we bagged It was wonderful to know that, by the labors of our own bodies, we ...