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Two American aid workers return to U.S.
11/25/2001Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Two American aid workers who were jailed by the Taliban in Afghanistan returned to friends and relatives in the United States Sunday afternoon on a flight that landed at Dulles Airport in Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.
Heather Mercer, 24, and Dayna Curry, 30, both graduates of the Baptist-affiliated Baylor University in Waco, Texas, spent three months in Taliban captivity before their release Nov. 15.
Ms. Mercer and Ms. Curry were to meet President Bush in the Oval Office on Monday morning.
"We just want to thank everyone who prayed for us in America, and in other counties," Ms. Curry told reporters.
The women, who had worked with the German-based Shelter Now International, were arrested Aug. 5 on charges of attempting to convert Muslim Afghans to Christianity.
Their homecoming celebration in Waco is planned for Dec. 7-8 at Antioch Community Church, their home church.
"What I think God had in mind, and Heather and Dayna definitely feel this way, is that God used their situation to inspire prayer for the nation they loved so much," associate pastor Danny Mulkey told the Waco Tribune-Herald.
"God used them so that others would pray for the people of Afghanistan."