Family in Seattle awaits word on kidnapped missionary in Nigeria

A local missionary was kidnapped in Nigeria early Monday and there’s still no word on who may have taken her.

“She was taken under force, out of her home. A couple guys escorted her off, with guns. That’s all I know,” said Phyllis Sortor’s stepson, Richard Sortor.

Richard was still in shock as he arrived for a vigil at First Free Methodist Church in Seattle. Sortor was working at a school in Kogi State, Nigeria where she was a missionary and teacher.

“You don’t see it. They’re over there doing good for other people – and this happens,” Richard said.

Pastor Blake Wood told the gathering that friends and family are in “waiting mode.”

The State Department and the FBI are working with Nigerian authorities to find Sortor and are still awaiting word from her kidnappers.

“We just love her. She’s completely delightful and warm. She loves the people that she works for there,” said Karen Skadan, with her husband Jim.

The Skadans said they and Sortor share the beliefs of the Free Methodist church, founded on the principle of service to others.

According to the Skadans, Sortor was honored to be invited to work with the nomadic Fulani community in Nigeria. Her projects there included opening schools and teaching Bible school.

“She was invited into the community where she was taken captive, to create schools, to teach. This was not any quest for glory on her part. This was a response to a need,” Jim Skadan said. “In effect, taking her was not just a horrible offense to her but it was a complete betrayal of that community.”

So far, it’s unclear if the men who took Sortor are connected to Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group who has waged a campaign of bombings, assassinations and kidnappings of schoolchildren across Nigeria.

Richard said he does not blame the Muslim religion for his stepmother’s abduction.

“The terrorists aren’t Muslims, the terrorists are terrorists. The Muslims are just people trying to get away from (it.) You know, the whole base of almost every religion is, ‘get along. Treat your neighbor as yourself.’ What they’re doing over there is just crap,” Richard said.

Inside the church, worshipers prayed for God to protect Sortor and “soften the hearts” of her captors.

“God was in her light every day of her life. She had a hard life growing up,” Richard said. “We had hard things happen to the family, with this. She just stands up to it. She believes in God and she’s doing God’s work and that’s all there is to it.”

Richard said Sortor was in Seattle visiting about a month ago. Her children and grandchildren are all hoping for a speedy return.