December 8, 2025

Good afternoon,

From the Messiah by Handel    “The Lord gave the word: great was the company of the preachers ”  Psalm 68:11   

” How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and       bring tidings of good things. ”  Romans 10:15

Titus and Linda Peachey worked for Mennonite Central Committee in Laos, in the 1980s. MCC started there in 1976 just after the country went Communist. They were the first relief and development group allowed in. They have been a presence in the country ever since. One of  the continuing issues in Laos is unexploded bombies. The US military had been bombing Vietnam for years. If their airplanes could not use all the bombs on their bombing runs, they had to drop them before they landed back in Thailand. They dropped them in Laos. It was a large bomb casing that opened up and dropped all these small bombies into rural areas.

Since leaving Laos, Titus and Linda have worked with international organizations to find ways of getting rid of these small, but lethal bombies. MCC, MAG ( Military Assistance Group), Oxfam UK and others have helped. Farmers still need to open some of their fields for cultivation, and if they use a hoe, they can smash one of these bombies , and it will explode after being in the ground for over 50 years. The war continues on.

The US has never taken responsibility for the cleanup. The group USAID had given some money, but the new government in the US stopped all that funding. Titus and Linda are in Laos this month to celebrate 50 years of MCC’s work and the work of MCC removing these bombies. While Titus and Linda were there, they received a report of five children injured after one of them had picked up one of these weapons. The war continues. Who should pay for it, and who should be put on trial ? Ukraine is using these same weapons in their defence of their country. How long will it take to clean this up after that war ends ?
Pray for the farmers and children of Laos. Lord, keep them safe.

Pray for the peace of Gaza. AMEN.

Fred

black and white shadows

crush humanity’s freedom

am I complicit ? MPL 2025