Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I am glad to report that Roland Smith's surgery earlier today was successful. He will be at DHMC for several days as his body adjusts. If you would like to visit, please call first and check with the nurses' station. Now, for the remainder of this week's e-note let me pass on to you a letter from Steve and Laraine Mann. The Manns, who are TBC supported missionaries, work with Wycliffe Bible Translators. They plan to visit TBC again in early August. Here is a timely note from them:
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Dear Friends (January 22, 2010),
Jos, Nigeria has been known as the city of peace, a place where Christians and Muslims live side by side. This all changed on Sept 7, 2001 and our family was an eye witness. We were enjoying an evening at our home with another family, celebrating our daughter Laura’s 18th birthday. Apparently, that afternoon an incident between a Christian and a Muslim near a mosque downtown started a riot. This escalated and it was like a wave that moved up the streets, growing and killing as it went. Unbeknownst to us it passed a short distance from our home. We got a phone call in the evening to inform us that it wasn’t safe to go out of our house that night. So our guest family stayed overnight even though they lived only about a mile from us. The next few days we had the threat of a possible evacuation as we listened to the guns and saw the smoke from our balcony. For ten days we were housebound with no way to communicate much of the time since our phone was unreliable. We were isolated from friends and I found out just how social I am because of the stress without it. When we again began our school and work schedules, a curfew continued for several months which affected our daily routines. We were thankful peace returned.
A similar scenario is happening right now, again, in Jos. It began on Sunday with a church being attacked while the people were worshipping inside. Since then, revenge has been taken on both sides. Any news that you read usually isn’t the true picture of what is happening. We are concerned that it is worse than ever before, but we have received word that our missionary colleagues are safe in their homes. Our Angas translator has written “you can continue to pray for us, since we do not know where all this would lead to. If the situation continues, with the imposition of a 24 hr curfew (which is necessary in view of the security problems), the situation may degenerate into a humanitarian tragedy as the people will be facing other challenges such as lack of food, water, proper medication and other essentials of life.” (Thursday the curfew was lifted from 10am to 5pm so that people could buy food and find water.)
So please be in prayer. There are several Wycliffe families there as well as a few hundred other missionary family members from various missions and the mission/international school in Jos. They'll probably just wait it out, staying at home, until the curfews lift and life returns to a routine. The Muslims never seem to target foreign missionaries. That's probably because these bouts of violence are heavily influenced by tribal rivalries and disputes over access to land or political power. Religion is only a part of it. Unfortunately unemployed "Christian" youths often get caught up in gangs seeking revenge on Muslim homes and families, so the cycle of violence just continues.
On the home front, we are thankful for a wonderful family Christmas with our children all around. Thank you for your prayers for our children as they seek the Lord concerning decisions about their futures. Steve and I are planning some travels this year to visit our partners. A challenge is that we have limited funds to do this. Pray for the Lord to provide and also our need of another car to replace the 'tired' one we have now (a ’94 Ford Escort). Some of you have written us of your personal prayer needs. Steve and I do pray that you are experiencing God's faithfulness in your lives. Laraine and for Steve (www.wysite.org/sites/mannfamily )
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