At the time, there were only five known Christians in Libya, says Palle: "There is much to thank God for in terms of developments in Libya. One of the reasons we traveled to North Africa in the first place was that we could see that there was a great spiritual search in North Africa, but virtually no churches that could help those seeking Jesus."
"We had heard the story of an Ibrahim from Morocco who had listened to Christian radio in the late 1980s and had written to the follow-up team because he wanted to be a Christian. But the secret police intercepted the letters and imprisoned him. He was tortured, but did not come out a broken man."
"He kept looking for a church. When he finally found a church in Tunisia, it rejected him because the pastor was afraid of being punished by the authorities for sharing the gospel with Muslims. Ibrahim was even physically pushed out of the church building. It was his first encounter with the church. He ended up going into the bazaar crying. On a wooden door he saw a cross. It was a French Protestant church. The priest invited him in and gave him a huge hug. The priest said: 'Now you have come home. We are your brothers and sisters.'"
"Ibrahim stayed with the pastor for the next two years. He loved sharing his faith with others. At that time, only about 30 Christians of Muslim background were known in Tunisia. He was arrested and sent back to Morocco. He died in prison, officially of an asthma attack, but he was possibly martyred. This story became the motivation for my wife, Anne-Marie, and I to travel to North Africa as missionaries with our daughters."
