Saturday, January 5, 2008

Praying For Kenya

Hello Everyone,

I pray that you have entered the New Year in God's grace and peace. We left the USA on the 1st with great excitement and caution. We arrived in Nairobi at 10pm. Because of the political unrest in Nairobi, Joy and I were prepared to stay overnight at the airport. Praise God our taxi driver was there and we arrived at our guesthouse without any delay or problem. The streets were empty and quiet.

Thursday was a different story. The riots have targeted certain tribal owners so almost all of the shops were closed. There was a huge protest about two blocks from of guesthouse. We could hear all the shouting and see the smoke from burning buildings. It lasted a few hours, then things were quiet. We step out to buy some food and water. Watching the news showed that many homes were burned, a church and restaurant within a few blocks of us.

This is a beautiful country and this unrest is crushing some many poor people. The areas that are getting hit the worst have displaced hundreds of thousand of people, fuel and food is running out and hundreds of people have been killed.

Praise God the church is speaking up and Bishop Tutu is here to talk with both sides. We are praying against pride and power hungry leaders. The city has shut down many of the roads to the downtown area. Many people have not returned to work since Christmas. There is another protest planned for Tuesday. The frustration of being blocked increases the fighting and burning. The police are out in double force.

We are the on site prayer team. I know the world is praying for God's help in Kenya. This is a country that acknowledges God. We are praying daily about all of the issues that are presented on the news and what we hear from others. Please keep Kenya and East Africa in your prayers. Kenya is the gateway for other countries to get their food, fuel and supplies. So this unrest is affecting the entire region. This is a very serious event that will have ripple effects for a long time.

Our plans have been cancelled because traveling around is NOT GOOD. So we are getting to know our guesthouse friends. We have joined together shared food, information and community. We are praying for our family and friends back home also. We are planning to go to church on Sunday. Ps Regina has come to meet us and it was a blessings to share time with her. SHe as a great passion for Kenya.

We asked God for adventure and THIS WOULD BE IT!!!! :) Keep praying for Kenya, she is God's mighty army in the world. satan would love to crush her as God is about to advance His kingdom towards greater impact.

Joining together to Serve HIM,
Esther and Joy

3 comments:

Tapeguy1 said...

Word moves quickly around Willow. We are praying for you and Africa. Glad to hear you're doing OK. We love you.

Ken & Deb

MJK said...

It was a relief to hear from you. Now that you are there, we are much more attentive of the news coming from Kenya. We will continue to pray that the Arm of the Lord will carry you through each situation and direct Kenya's leaders.
Love,
Lee & MJ

Dr. Decay said...

Hey Esther we were glad to hear you made it safely to Kenya. We are Praying for you and Joy and for Kneya and all the Christians. We are extremely proud of you for your courage and dedication. We wil continue to pray for your and send you something soon.
Yours to count on Doc, Pam and Noel