Turkana raiding update 2

Hello all!

Here is another update from my teammate, Gene Morden.  Please keep the situation in your prayers!

Two of the bandits have been caught and taken to jail. Many of the people are away from the river at a place called Natome. Two days ago an elderly man from the mountains, near Lake Turkana, called a pastor over and said the raiders are coming from my village. I know them all. In fact that man over there is one of them. The pastor did not believe him and called his brother over who was still skeptical as they both know the accused man. They called some other men over to hear the story and then they all called the accused over. He refused at first and then as the group moved toward him he came over. When they began to ask him about the killings, he began to shake. He then confessed he was with the raid that killed the man and his two sons, but had stopped going after that. He identified all the bandits. He said they take the animals to some Pokot men to get more bullets and some cash. The accused is in jail. The police are not going to search for the others as they are a seven hour walk on the other side of the Kerio River.

No one from across the Kerio River has gone home yet. A few have trickled back into Nakor and Kangirisae, but the majority are refugees near Natome and scattered west of the north/south road to the west of Nakor and north. All animals have been moved another 30 kilometers north near Kerio town.
Please pray the government will send the police out to capture the bandits.  Most people are afraid to go home as long as they are still free.

Thanks, and God bless,

Again, these raids are happening about 3 hours drive outside Lodwar and then 7 hours walk.  There is a river (usually dry, but flowing right now because of rain down country), and then the area where the raids are taking place.  The river cannot be crossed by vehicles.  My guess is that if anything is to be done, it would have to be done by air and that is harder to get.  In the meantime, people are displaced and afraid of going home.

Some of my students for ESL and at TBTI come from these areas.  So, do please keep them in your prayers!  My next ESL class is next week and the next TBTI class is Oct 17th.

Update on prayer request

Hello!

I asked you all to pray for the situation out in the Kangarisae area Friday.  So, here is a little update from my teammate, Gene Morden.  FYI the area of Kangarisae is where I lived when I first came to Turkana to learn the language and the culture.  Please keep those prayers coming!

I will update you on the current situation in the Kerio Area. I will also try and answer some question that have come up.

The bandits are walking over the mountain with guns and coming into different villages. Some say it is Turkana attacking Turkana and other are saying it is Pokot.
We have not found out the answer to that. So far 4 have been killed with a possible 5th. All have moved from the areas to areas 20 kilometers away. Most were taken out by vehicles others walked out or I should say ran out. So far it looks like the bandits are only after animals.

The last we heard the police had gone after them and there was a gun fight in the mountains. The 2 chiefs were following the police. How do we get the news? Well there are what they call hot spots for quite a ways out in the bush now days. Technology has changed things a lot and some phones are cheap and it only costs if you call.

As far as the farms in the areas we do not know what will happen. As of today we are told everyone has left all the villages. Where they are staying is too far to walk back and forth everyday. We will keep you posted. We just have to believe that God has a plan.

Please pray that peace would come to the area.
Pray for the families of the dead will be comforted
Pray that the bandits will be caught so families can move back to their homes
Pray fo wisdom in knowing how to handle different situations that may come up

We love you all,
thank you for standing beside us,

Thanks for your prayers and keep them coming!  Lynn

prayer request!

Dear Faithful Prayer Partners:

I have an urgent prayer request. My teammate, Gene Morden, got a call this evening asking for help.  As I am typing one of our areas we work in (Kangirisae & Kamekwi- about 3 hours out from Lodwar) is being attacked by bandits. Everyone is scared and wants out. This is the forth attack in 2 weeks. Police don’t even want to help. Please, Pray for peace and protection for these people!

Thanks!

How has the "third world" impacted you?

Hello all!

I was reading another blog ( //www.incourage.me/2011/09/how-not-to-get-lost-in-translation.html#comment-101122 ) about the release of a new album by Shawn Groves, called Third World Symphony.  This asked for comments about the question in the title of this post.  So, I also ask you all to comment on this.  I don't get a lot of comments so it would be nice to see a few anyway :).  My comment is below (with a little bit added here), but I hope you will also comment here and there if you like!  If you comment there, you have a chance to win that album.  It isn't why I commented.  The question just got me thinking.  So, here goes:

I see poverty around me every day in the African town where I live.  I see joy around me as well in the faces of children who know that life is hard and yet that they are loved.  I've seen laughter and joy in the eyes of a child as he plays with that little "car" made from trash and kicks the soccer ball made from balled up plastic bags.   I've seen great happiness in the eyes of adults as they learn to read their own language for the first time.  Their smiles light up their whole faces!

For fifteen years I have lived in N.W. Kenya among the poorest of the poor and yet they are so generous with their praise to God.  Life is so hard for them and some people are so very hungry, but they praise God for the little they have.  I have learned to be thankful for all that I used to take for granted.  I have learned that physical poverty is not poverty of the soul.  I have learned that we are all people and we all need Jesus.  When we do not have him, we are worse off than any of the poorest of the poor who do have him.  I have learned that all our things do not make a difference in the end.  What we do with our lives and how we love are what make a difference.  Whether we have a "filipino kitchen," an american kitchen or an open fire for our pot, if we aren't serving up God's love and grace with the food we cook, then no matter how much food there is, people will go away hungry.

I don't know how long I will be here, but I know that this place - this "third world" place that God called me to - has changed my life forever.  It has captured my heart and changed me in so many ways that I cannot count or even try to come up with words for.  I pray for the blooming of this place; blooming of God's grace and mercies poured out on the people so that their lives are not so hard.  I pray for the literal blooming of this dry and dusty land, but more for the Spiritual blooming of Christ in the hearts of his people here.  I am thankful that He sees fit to use me to help even a little bit.  I'm also so very thankful that he understands Turkana because I only catch about 3/4 (if that much) of what is said.  Even so, I know he is praised as I see my friends singing and dancing in church and praising the God of all the earth!  This "third world" place has become my home.  These "third world" people have captured a part of my heart and they are no longer "third world" people they are just friends.  They are brother's and sister's with me on the journey to finding our true home - where there will be no poverty physically or spiritually because our true home is in Christ Jesus!

Healings and Feelings - an ESL class

Hello!

This week my ESL class watched a chapter of the movie "The Hope."  The chapter was about Jesus' ministry.  We talked about many things that Jesus did and the things he taught.  At the end of the week I gave them the assignment to be done in groups of two or three.  One was to play Jesus and one was to play a sick person that Jesus heals.  They were to have each person speak (English of course) and also show the emotions that the people might have felt.

It was a fun assignment for the students.  I had seven students that could make it to class.  We had a big rain (8 hours straight!) on Saturday and a couple of students couldn't make it across a river to get to the vehicle that was bringing them to class.  So, there were three groups.  I got a couple of pictures at the beginning of each "drama."  I was too involved laughing or clapping as part of the crowd of onlookers to get the whole thing.  :).  So, enjoy the pictures!

The paralytic being healed.  He ran around the class room yelling, 'I can move!' after he was healed.

This is a blind man being healed.  He shouted out "I can see!  I can see!"

Jarius' daughter in disguise being raised from the dead.  S/He hugged Jesus and said thank you!

The students had fun doing these little dramas and I had fun watching.  The blind man had a friend lead him to Jesus - just in case you wondered where the 7th student was.  After the drama's we had some very good discussions about who Jesus is and what he did while here on earth.  We also discussed what we might want to ask him or tell him if he were right here in our classroom.  There were requests for blessings and power to help people and questions about how hard life is.  Several said they would ask that Jesus would heal a friend of theirs.  Then we talked about how Jesus is right here in our classroom :).  And we decided that we could ask these questions and make these request right then.

How about you?  What would you ask Jesus or request from him if he were right next to you?  He is, so why don't you go right ahead and ask him!  Have a good week!