Amazing, Huda  

Huda Saba was the oldest child in the Arab Palestinian Hinn family. One of her younger brothers, Simon Hinn, grew up, left the Middle East and went to college in San Diego in the 80’s. There he was met by disciples in the San Diego church and he became a Christian. Upon graduation, his student visa expired, and he had no choice but to return to his home in the nation of Jordan (biblical Moab). This was 1984 -- the days before the internet, when international phone calls were hugely expensive. Simon and the brothers in San Diego were unable to keep in touch with one another as consistently as they would have liked.  

Six years later, a mission team from Boston was sent to Amman, Jordan.  

After being in the city for a short time, the team called back to Boston to report some amazing news: they had met someone on the street in Amman who claimed to be a disciple. He spoke very good English and said that he had met the church in college in the States and then had fallen out of touch with them since coming back home.  

It turned out that this was Simon! In the six years that he had been completely on his own in Amman, he had converted all his brothers and sisters. They joined the mission team and very quickly the church in Amman was well on its way to being firmly established.  

The youngest Hinn in the family, Maher, became the lead evangelist for the Middle East region of churches. He died suddenly several years ago at the age of 42 in a tragic car accident on a treacherous winding mountain road on the way to a church service in Lebanon. Maher’s widow, Samar, who was one of the first converts after the arrival of the mission team in Jordan, currently serves on the staff of the Los Angeles church of Christ. Maher’s son, Fadi is also in the ministry in LA, with his brand-new bride – they were married on March 21st in Samar’s home.  

Just days after Fadi’s wedding, on March 28th, the oldest Hinn sibling went to her rest: Huda Saba was a devoted member of Stockholms Kristi Församling (church of Christ), and had been faithfully married for 43 years to her atheist husband, Elias, when she received a terminal cancer diagnosis. As this terrible news sunk in, Huda and Elias’ grown son started to study the bible with the Christians he’d known all his life in Stockholm. At his baptism, Huda’s husband Elias asked if he, too, could begin to study the Scriptures with someone from church. In spite of worsening dementia, Elias, who had resisted many attempts over the years by Huda and her friends in the Stockholm church to open his mind and turn his heart to Christ, was baptized as well! 

During Huda’s two-year battle with cancer, she also helped restore the faith of a woman who used to be a member of the church. Louise was restored to the fellowship in Stockholm and Louise’s husband, Minure – who had been a believing Muslim – was also baptized.  

Kim Reed, the women’s minister in Stockholm, adds: “Huda had prayed that even if it meant getting cancer, she was willing for anything to happen, so that her son and her husband could become Christians. Amazing.”