The Burnhams: Mission Accomplished

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You lay a table before me in the presence of my enemies." – Psalm 23: 4, 5

Those verses from the psalms of David, warrior-king of Israel gave Gracia Burnham, survivor of 377 days of captivity in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf, the title of her bestselling book, In the Presence of My Enemies. May 28 marks the 20th wedding anniversary of Gracia and Martin, New Tribes missionaries to the Philippines for 16 years. May 27 marks the third year since they were held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf (which means "father of the swordsman"), the worst possible enemies an American couple could fall prey to in Islamic terrorist-blighted Mindanao, in a year dominated by the shadow of Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.

In her book, Gracia says that on Day One of their ordeal, three months before 9-11, Martin was forced to make a statement on Mindanao Radyo Agong, saying they had been taken hostage by the Abu Sayyaf, "the Janjalani group (affiliated with) the Osama Bin Laden group." Then she remembers that on September 11, after hearing of the New York bombings on radio, the Abus "huddled in little groups, talking and laughing and congratulating one another."

The couple first realized they were in the hands of the dreaded Abus when the 17 armed men in the speedboat that whisked them, along with 18 other hostages away from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan, started pumping their fists in the air and shouting in unison: "Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar! (Allah is great!).

One of their captors, Solaiman, started asking them to put a price on their own heads, and each gave an estimate of what their families might be ready to pay. When he learned that the Burnhams were missionaries, Gracia recounts seeing a cloud of disappointment come over Solaiman’s face. "He had hoped that we would be European – or at least American – business types, whose companies would really pay to get us back. Mission groups, on the other hand, were a) poor, and b) have standing policies against paying ransom," she writes in her book.

Gracia’s writing has a simple, whimsical, matter-of-fact style that somewhat mutes the terror of their experience – the constant running through the snake, leech and mosquito infested Basilan jungles, the chronic diarrhea that came from eating unripe fruit and even young leaves to stave off their constant hunger. "As for toilet paper, I enjoyed a grand total of two rolls during 12 months of captivity," Gracia bemoans. Martin even kept discarded Magic Flakes, Cloud 9 and Bingo cookies empty wrappers "so he could smell them when there was nothing else to eat."

The constant threats that they would be shot or beheaded, the 17 firefights where they said goodbye to each other while dodging whizzing bullets and ducking choppers overhead were just some of the harrowing experiences Gracia and her late husband had to endure while in captivity. They even discussed their own funeral arrangements, who would make a eulogy, what hymns they hoped would be sung. As if he knew he would not make it, Martin wrote letters to his children compulsively, sharing fragments of his own childhood, encouraging them to hold on to their faith. It was their green bag full of Martin’s letters that Gracia frantically looked for (and which a soldier later found) amidst the frenzy of the final shootout that left Martin sprawled by a mountainside. "His complexion was pasty white, and then I knew... I wanted to stop the world at that moment... the man I loved more than anyone else in the world was gone."

But looking at Gracia today, you would think she had just come back from a honeymoon cruise on the Love Boat, rather than a harrowing death march through malarial jungles. "She looked so beautiful, so whole," recalls fellow missionary Barbra Crain when she talked to Gracia before she was flown to the US. "She did look incredibly good, amazing," recalls New Tribes missionary to Palawan for 23 years, Tim Grosman. "She looked so at peace, so joyful at seeing us. I think she had already done her grieving in captivity."

It may also have been because Gracia and Martin’s mission had been accomplished, though not quite the way they expected it. And like so many fallen missionaries before them – Dr. David Livingstone in Africa, Jim Elliott, shot through by Indian arrows in Ecuador, Paul the Apostle to the Greeks and Romans who arrested and executed him – they had planted seeds, watered in blood, that might yield a harvest. It also helped that Gracia had chosen to forgive her captors. "It’s the least I can do," she tells The 700 Club correspondent Wendy Griffith during a TV interview. She even keeps a photo of one of the Abus tacked on her fridge where she remembers to pray for him everyday.

Gracia and Martin had come from a line of church planters and evangelists. Her father taught theology at a Bible college in Kansas, and started and pastored a church. Martin’s parents already had four children and established secular careers (his father Paul was a chemist, his mother Oreta was a nurse) when the fire for sharing Christ’s love burst into flames in their hearts. They sold their house and all other assets to raise funds and come to the Philippines as New Tribes missionaries. Their target communities were remote, marginalized, indigent tribes with little or no access to basic services like health centers or hospitals, schools, electricity, transportation.

Martin was already 10 when they finally settled among the Ibaloi tribes in Benguet. Paul and Oreta learned to speak the dialect fluently, and live the rugged, simple life of the childlike Ibalois who eventually embraced them as family. For 31 years, they taught children and adults how to read and write, tutored on basic nutrition and health, trained health care workers, visited the sick with medicines, worked to translate a Bible commentary into Ifugao. In other remote communities, including the Tagbanuas of Palawan, New Tribes, along with other missions groups have built water wells, taught basic agriculture and started farms, written health manuals in their native language. They even inspired polygamous groups to stick to one spouse, get married, make it right with God.

Amazingly, Gracia too, still feels that tug in her heart for the Philippines. "My children and I, of course, want to go back. I just don’t know what we would do. Our lives were so wrapped up with Martin," Gracia told CBN correspondent Wendy Griffith. Does she still have a heart for the Filipino people? "For sure," Gracia replies. "I don’t know, maybe when the kids are grown up and gone, I could go back. Right now, God is just calling me to make a good supper tonight for my kids so they’re encouraged. I take it one day at a time. I’ve never lived in the States since we were married, so I’m learning what it’s like to live in America, at the same time learning how to be a single parent. Neither of those things are real easy, but I think we’re adjusting well," Gracia shares with a look of serenity and earnestness. "I would just like to go back (to the Philippines) because that was home. That is home."

Martin, if he had survived, would have said the same thing. He practically grew up in the Philippines where he was sent to a boarding school for missionary kids in Manila. He also studied aviation on the side. After high school, he studied in the States.

"When he graduated, his goal was firm – buy a car, become a pilot and make lots of money (in America)," Gracia recalls. These were the amenities he missed as a missionary kid. But somehow, a deep call in his heart made him discard his American dream. He married Gracia, returned to the Philippines and became Capt. Martin Burnham, missionary pilot, bringing critically needed food supplies, letters, medicines, transporting the sick to hospitals. He and Gracia were based in Bukidnon, and mainly served New Tribes mission groups settled in islands, mountains, and other relatively inaccessible areas in the Philippines.

Gracia, for her part, manned the missions radio communications system, and loved to bake cakes and other goodies for missionary families and the people in their village in Malaybalay. Barbra Crain describes her as "extremely outgoing and gracious, a spunky gal."

During their captivity, the Burnhams struggled, despaired, seethed, questioned. But always, they found the faith to keep the missionary spirit alive. Former fellow hostage Maria Rosadeno recalls: "When we were running, stumbling and slipping on the mountainsides, Martin and Gracia would take care of me. I can’t imagine how we could have remained sane without them." She also remembers the couple leading all of them to sing and pray, specially when everyone was tense and frightened. "Martin was bass, Gracia was soprano. Their favorites were Count Your Blessings, Take Me Home, Country Roads, and Martin’s specialty, How Great Thou Art."

"They were our guiding light in the darkness especially when the Abus treated us so badly," recalls another released hostage, Angie Montealegre. She said the Burnhams helped them keep their perspective by quoting verses from memory and telling stories about Bible characters who stood for God in the midst of suffering and persecution.

In fact, the crowning glory of Martin and Gracia’s years of mission work was fulfilled in Basilan. Martin, though weak and very thin, helped carry their loads without complaint, and never failed to thank the guard who chained him to a tree every night.

In the final analysis, a table was laid before the Burnhams in the presence of their enemies. It was laden with Christ’s peace, forgiveness, hope, assurance of eternal life – rich food that nourished their spirits, and continues to suffuse Gracia’s radiant features today. And whether the Abu "swordsmen" noticed or not, as Gracia put it on The 700 Club interview, perhaps the whole point was to just "shine out His light in a dark place... praise the one true God in the middle of nowhere, where no one else was doing it."

Part II of Gracia Burnham’s The 700 Club interview will be aired today at 8 a.m. on The 700 Club Asia on Studio 23.