saipan good baptist church

i got to take a one day trip to saipan on monday. its a bit smaller than guam and about 150 miles north. we flew in on a small prop plane and visited with a korean pastor most of the day.

the pastor and his congregation minister to a unique group of ladies on the island. there are / were a few garment factories (glorified sweatshops) on saipan which hired chinese ladies to work 12-14 hours days. they were paid $3 an hour before taking their food and housing the factory provided. they actually made between $.80 and $1.70 an hour. this church takes seriously the call to love and fight for the least of these...

the pastor and his wife teach these women in a life skills school at night from 10:00pm and 2:30am so they can get better jobs when they get back to china. they also provide food and clothing for many of the women. when the garment factory closed down early this year, the owners left the women stranded without enough money to get back to their country. the visas they had were restricted to that specific factory, so the ladies were left without money, the ability to work legally, and a place to live.

the church stepped in and began helping these women with visas and finding them jobs. they provide food and limited housing the best they can as well. i don't know how to tell you how refreshing and wonderful it was to sit and talk with this family living out the way of the kingdom of God. They've seen many of these women come to faith in christ, but they've seen even more helped and loved by their church. matthew 25 is a way of life for this congregation.