July 23, 2008

Jack’s text message from South Africa after his visit on Monday with the surgeon who did his shoulder replacement in April: “Good report … CAN DRIVE! No more therapy!” Later he shared that he must still take precautions during the next six months, but he is healing great – a TRUE PRAISE! Thanks for your prayers during the last few months. Our main prayer request now is for wisdom as Jack returns home today to his usual routine – especially as he travels around Kenya. Pray that he will be wise in planning his work for the next few months – both in which delayed work to do first and which trips will not stress his shoulder.

Thank you for praying for our “Mission Meeting” last week with co-workers from East Africa at the Brackenhurst Baptist International Conference Centre. It was a great week of being with old friends and making new ones. The weather was cold and wet the first two days, but then the sun returned and we thawed and dried out! Parents appreciated this as the kids – many who rarely have American play-mates – played together outside regardless of the weather! A highlight of the week was a tea for eleven friends who are retiring as we celebrated their many years of service – two have served 15 years, five for over 25 years each, two claim 32 years of service, and one couple have served 36 and 38 years (the wife first served as a Journeyman) – for a total of around 300 years! This doesn’t include three people who retired and left the field a few weeks ago – they each had served over 25 years. SO – our retirees this year represent more than 375 years of service on the mission field! In the picture, Jack and I are with Paul and Kathy Savage of Tanzania, who are retiring in the Fall – and yes, that is a cake in front of us! The lower picture is of "regular" poinsettias in our part of the world - this one is at Brackenhurst!

Did you know that another highlight of our annual mission meetings is a time for us to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering? This year our group of 165 missionaries gave $20,509 to this offering and $15,000 more to the Annie Armstrong Offering and other mission projects! During our meeting we learned that our region has received extra funds from the Lottie Moon Offering. Thank you for your gifts – this means older cars and trucks can be replaced with needed more dependable vehicles and appropriate housing can be rented for personnel with special ministry needs.

In my last update I shared about an unsettled situation next to our house. Upon our return on Saturday, we learned that the plant sellers beside our home had been “paid off” and those who had grabbed the land, a road, had “won” in the latest court case. They are now working day and sometimes at night building something rather large beside our house! The words in quotes are likely the result of bribes – which still flow freely in Kenya! Pray that we will have the needed patience and wisdom as we face this situation. Pray also that Kenyan government officials will overcome the ongoing problems of corruption.

My last praise will make this longer, but I must share how God answered your prayers for my work as a prayer advocate. I had not planned to send prayer notices during our meeting, but I was asked to send prayer requests for Ben Entwistle, a very ill Missionary Kid from another mission organization. When I returned to my room on the first night of the meeting, I didn’t want to check my e-mails – I was cold and damp and only wanted a hot shower and a bed loaded with blankets. Yet, I felt “compelled” to check my messages – which I did and learned that Ben was much sicker and needed to be air-vac'd at once for a heart transplant – he was too sick to go to Europe or the States, so he would travel to South Africa. As I forwarded the message to my other prayer list, I again felt compelled to do more – to go and share this update immediately with friends of Ben and his family, who have long ties with Rift Valley Academy (our missionary boarding school). Many kids at our meeting had gone to RVA with Ben and a few of our missionaries had been at RVA with Ben’s father, Dan, in the late 70’s. So, I went back out to share the news, not because I wanted to, but because I “knew” that I should. Three of our missionaries, friends of Dan’s, immediately made the hour trip into Nairobi to visit with him at the hospital even though it was late at night. The next day we heard that Ben died in flight to South Africa. I also learned that Dan later told his friends that their visit had been his greatest gift of encouragement and joy during this time. My reaction: Praise that God had made His will so clear to me that I went against my desires and read the e-mail and then went to share the news with others SO they could obediently be used by our Father.

As you praise God with me for answering our prayers, also pray for strength for Ben’s family, who serve in medical missions in Mozambique and includes several younger siblings, one who graduated from RVA three days before Ben’s death. Pray for comfort for Ben’s former classmates and friends at RVA and his classmates at Union University where he had just completed his sophomore year. Bert Yates