Reading these comments from FACEBOOK friends, two from fellow missionaries
and the last from a volunteer who brings teams to work with the Maasai, I wondered how you react to my conflicting prayer requests. I ask you to pray for an end to drought and when the rains come, I immediately request that you pray for flooding problems! A reality of third world countries: With so many people living in simple
and too often poor housing located in areas with risks, even good rains can result in problems. Another common result of drought is that when the rains do come, extra flooding will occur due to run off problems on the hardened land with no grass or plants. Therefore, when the rains are as torrential as much of Kenya has experienced since Christmas week, the floods lead to suffering, not the hoped for renewal of life.Via the internet, I read on Monday that the cold snap of a generation is being experienced in parts of the US! Then yesterday the cover articel of our Daily Nation* reported that Kenya was experiencing its own happening of a generation: "Normally dry areas hit hard as torrential rains bring death and destruction ... Scores of villagers in Turkana West were marooned after the dry valley they settled on when River Kerio changed course in 1967, suddenly retraced its former route." So today I must ask that as you praise God for the end of the drought, that you also pray the rains will be sufficient to allow growth of needed food and cash crops. Add also a prayer for relief and protection for those who are suffering due to the floods.
Another major local news item of the last week was the announcement of the scores for the national 2009 KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) exam which will determine the future for last year’s Standard (Grade) Eight students. January 1 of 2009, I shared this
request with my Omba4Kenya prayer list: “Pray for the kids entering Standard Eight next week – kids who are already preparing for next year’s KCPE. Pray that their studies will not be interrupted…” Your prayers were answered. Unlike the past year, other than the drought related problems, schools had a smoother year. It was also shared in the news that prayers were answered and many students, including the best boy and girl student in the KCPE Exams overcame the problems of being among the IDPs (Internally Displaced Peoples) after the December 2007 elections.** To strengthen your prayers, I added a picture last January of Joy, a girl who would take the exam later in the year, standing beside her father. Then in November, I used an updated picture of Joy, now best defined as a young woman, to share thanks for your prayers and I am using them again in this posting!Joy’s Dad said last Sunday that prayers had been answered. Joy was the Number One Girl in her school and only the Number One Boy did better than she. Her dad also proudly shared that unlike most of her classmates who are now
searching for a high school, Joy has been offered a place in a top Nairobi high school! So as you praise God for Joy’s good news, pray for the thousands of students who are now searching for places in High School or facing an end of schooling. Begin praying also for strength and wisdom for the new Standard Eight students who will take the exam later this year – these kids are the future of Kenya and of our churches!Answered prayers like this do keep me charged and ready to share more with you – my greatest problem is deciding what to share with you and keep this update short! So pray for the specifics that I share and general ones that you remember! BERT YATES
PS with a little humor: The Maralal co-worker who posted the note about the returning tap water immediately received this FACEBOOK message from his wife at a Home Schooling Conference in South Africa: “yay! now you get to wash all those sheets and towels...”
* “Emergency Mode as Flood Death Toll Rises” (Daily Nation, January 4, 2010, pp.1,2) - http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/836156/-/voram3/-/index.html
** “Top Achievers Recall Life as Election IDP” (SUNDAY NATION, January 3, 2010, p.3) - http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/835010/-/voqkeq/-/index.html
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