Rose Hill ? Kidnapped Kansas missionaries Gracia and Martin Burnham have sporadically communicated with their family for months, a spokesman for New Tribes Mission said Wednesday.

The hostages have received letters and pictures of their children from Kansas, along with at least some of the medical supplies and food sent to them, said Scott Ross, attorney for Florida-based New Tribes Mission. New Tribes is a nondenominational group whose missionaries work with remote tribes.

Ross declined to say how his group was getting the family’s letters and other supplies to the hostages, who are being held by Abu Sayyaf rebels. The rebels are believed to have links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist network and are holding the Burnhams and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap on southern Basilan island.

Networks report letter

Philippine network ABS-CBN reported Wednesday it had obtained a letter from the Burnhams intended for Gracia’s sister, Mary Jones suggesting they believe paying a ransom may be their only route to freedom and that they feared dying in a military rescue.

The Burnhams also addressed their children Jeff, Mindy and Zach in the letter, saying they prayed to be home soon, ABS-CBN said.

“For the last four months we have been told the rebels are totally surrounded and cordoned off yet we see a reporter get in, we see some of the boxes delivered, we see rebels escaping,” Ross said. “Those things just raise concerns for us.”

Felicia Reschke, Martin Burnham’s sister, said the family would not make any statements regarding the letter until they get a handwritten copy and can tell whether it is authentic.

She said Gracia’s sister Mary Jones had not received a copy of the letter that is reportedly addressed to her and neither has anyone else in the family.

No letter for months

The family is anxious to see it because it has been months since they have gotten a letter from Martin and Gracia.

Reschke declined to disclose the contents of previous letters, other than that they had personal things in them and confirmed that the couple had received some gifts and medicine the family had sent earlier.

The previous letters did say the Burnhams were in high spirits and they were encouraged and hopeful they would be back soon.

Paul and Oreta Burnham, Martin’s parents, were attending a funeral of a family member Wednesday and were unavailable for comment.

Paul Burnham told The Associated Press in December that he did not know how New Tribes Mission was getting their letters and packages through to his son and daughter-in-law: “They don’t reveal it, and we don’t ask.”

Two letters from the couple to their family were delivered by a Philippine source to the U.S. embassy several months ago, and another earlier letter may have been carried by the reporter who videotaped an interview with them last year, Ross said.

Other released hostages have confirmed that at least some of the letters and pictures sent by the relatives have been delivered, he said.

In a videotaped interview with the Burnhams that aired last December, Martin Burnham was wearing a pair of glasses that appeared to be the same as those sent by New Tribes Mission during their captivity.

Last week, the Philippines and the U.S. opened a joint military training exercise aimed at wiping out the Abu Sayyaf.