Dear Praying Friends,
We continue to earnestly seek your prayers on behalf of the people of Kenya. We are told that there are nearly 400,000 displaced people seeking safety in 44 different “official” camps. I know that there are also numerous unofficial camps. The government and Red Cross cannot begin to meet even the most basic needs in all of these camps and the suffering being experienced is mind boggling. Every day as I walk through the camps in Nakuru my heart breaks as the suffering reach out to me seeking just a little help. Honestly I am beginning to dread my visits to the camps because of the wretched conditions present.
Fortunately through the help of God’s people we have been able to meet the needs of the people in our churches. I cannot begin to express the gratitude felt at the kindness shown to our people. I have no idea how long this dreadful situation will last but we know God will provide for His children.
We were watching the local news last night and they were speaking about the displacement camps that are spread through the country and specifically about the suffering. They then switched the topic from the suffering to some good things that have been happening at the camps. To our surprise they began to interview a family that are members of our main church, the Grace Bible Baptist Church. This family has been members of our church for a number of years and including the extended family there are fifteen of them who are members of our church and all fifteen have been displaced by the trouble. When the trouble came they were all scattered and did not know what happened to each other. We were able to search all over and began to locate them in four different places. For a few days we were providing food to them in each place and then began the process of trying to get them all in one camp which we finally were able to do on Saturday. It was a joy and great testimony to see and hear them share their testimony on national TV about how good God had been to bring them all together again and to provide all of them with enough food to eat. I am told that off camera the reporters expressed their amazement at the help they had received and mentioned how fortunate they were compared to most that they had seen in the camps. The thanks for this great testimony belongs to God and to the caring concern of God’s people who have prayed and given towards this great crisis.
Fighting continues in Western Kenya and has begun to touch near areas where we have village churches. So far the village churches have remained safe but speaking with the pastors by telephone I could hear the fear of what may be coming in their voices. The official figures released by the government today said that 77 people were killed in the fighting over the weekend.
We have begun preparations to have a funeral service for the young man from Habari Njema Baptist Church that was killed last week by being decapitated. The mother is not a member of the church but I was able to spend some time with her today. She is obviously in great grief and at this time but did not want to speak about God. Please pray for this lady and her family especially that she would open her heart to the gospel. The funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.
I believe this next week is crucial in seeing this trouble come to an end. Kofi Annan the former U.N. secretary general is in Kenya holding “peace talks” and both the sides are saying publicly that they will abide by the outcome of the talks. So far they have been able to agree on some preliminary things but are due to begin talking about the election either tomorrow or Wednesday. So far neither side seems to be willing to compromise on their stand and if they cannot work out some kind of compromise then I fear what the future will hold. Without some kind of agreement this trouble will continue to escalate and only God knows where it will end.
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Nairobi for a town hall meeting at the American Embassy. The ambassador wants to update us on the situation in the country and I believe he will give us a greater sense on where this whole thing is headed. Please pray for me as I travel. I plan to take with me some members of the “predominant tribe” in the area just in case we meet some people along the way that I would rather not meet.
His for Kenya,
Robert Mickey Jr. and family
You Think Too Much! 