sober-minded

The country of Kenya, and in particular God’s people there, are in need of our prayers. A member of our church whose sister and brother-in-law are missionaries in Maasai have emailed this update from them:

Hello all,
I just wanted to give you an update on our situation. You may or may not know that Kenya had their presidential elections Thursday DEC 27th. The president has regained his seat and the challenger and most of the country are saying it was rigged, so in light of this the country has went into chaos.

I understand that not a lot of this is being broadcasted in western news. It is bad folks. Currently we have had 150 reported deaths, [that number has gone up considerably since this was sent] many riots and looting. All the stores are closed , ATM machines are empty and soon I think it will get worse because of the stores being closed , people are going to be getting hungry. As for us we are running low on everything, food , money and supplies. The opposing party has called for a meeting Thursday the 3rd and is calling for 1,000,000 people to gather together and inaugurate him as president, which would create a parallel government, which would throw the country into a civil war. We are still in Maasai and we are in touch with several people in Nairobi, Police, friends etc… They say it is very unsafe.

We have delayed my dad from coming at this point and we are on stand by with the trucks packed in case we have to bug-out. Please pray for the country and for our families here in the midst of it. Also pray for my workers my friends who are all at their home places. They are watching their towns burn down around them. One of my guys called me and he was hiding in the bush last night with his cows. It is a bad time in Kenya.
In Christ,
Travis

Pray for the situation in Kenya, and especially that God’s people would be delivered, and strengthened to stand firm and receive grace to make the Lord their refuge. May the churches there magnify Him by trusting in Him in this hour.

Update, January 2:

Here are some more bits of information from the family of Travis and Laura Sawyer, missionaries in Kenya:

Travis and the other missionary man were able to get into Nairobi and go to the mission organization that takes care of matters and does all the missionaries banking. They were able to get funds and also additional supplies and groceries. They did make it back to the Mara without incident and are on now working with the Embassy in Tanzania to secure VISA’S to enter Tanzania. Thursday is the day this big march is planned and the military is supposed to take control. It sounds like tomorrow will be the day that lets them know what to do.

Meanwhile…Many villages have been hit hard and thousands upon thousands of people are taking refuge in forest land. Please continue to pray for Travis’s guys (These are the guys that we gave the measuring tapes too) especially Heron as his wife and children remained closed up in a church and he is hiding in bushes trying to protect there 3 cows. That sounds strange to us, but those cows are their wealth. Please pray that they are able to secure Visa’s and that if they do leave tomorrow (which will be during the night for us) they will be safe. The other missionary family that is with them is Jon and Almi Johson and they have 3 children as well. They all covet your prayers!
Thanks again,
Missy

And from Laura Sawyer’s mom:

My son in law Travis and the other missionary (Jon) at their station “snuck” into Nairobi. They left their village at 4:00 a.m. their time (that was 8:00 pm e.s.t.) and arrived in Nairobi about 8:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. e.s.t). They got a message from the mission agency bank that they were going to be open briefly so any missionaries that needed to get in to get their first of the month support money they could.

I spoke with Laura at 9:30 e.s.t. and Travis still was not back. He has since arrived, safe and sound with supplies and money.

His time in Nairobi went without incident, PTL! There were very long lines in the stores, but other than that, no violence. It’s the lull before the storm on Thursday.

The million man march is still on, even though the government has not approved the permit (of course!). There are thousands of military on the ground in some of the hardest hit areas. There purpose is to supposed give humanitarian aid, supplying blankets, food and medicine. It just makes sense their presence would felt right now in anticipation of the march on Thursday.

Laura and Travis and the other missionary couple have applied to the Tanzanian Embassy for visas. That way they can come and go across the border legally, whether it is for the purpose of safety or supplies. They are only 35 miles from the border.

Please continue to pray for wisdom, peace and safety. Laura said to please tell everyone thank you, thank you for praying. She said they can definitely feel and see the effects of your prayers.

Seeking Him,
Mike and Marsha Harwood

I’m sure this scenario is being repeated all over the country. Travis and Laura and their family are providing us with an insight into happenings that so far are receiving little news coverage. I’ll try to provide updates on their situation as they come available from the Sawyers. How good of the Lord to grant us the privilage of prayer!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 00:09 and is filed under Missions, Kenya. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.