Passions of the Soul

Kenya 2

This is an update on the violence in Kenya, as reported by a family member of one of our church members.  The first note is from Shauna, wife of Samson Okongo and administrator of Unite 4 Africa.  They are missionaries who have been mostly Stateside for about 3 years.  Samson, whose life reads like the Book of the Acts, is currently in Africa, but I haven't heard in which country, in a couple of weeks.  At least 3, maybe 4, of his family members have already been killed in the violence that rages there, and as of a few weeks ago, one of his sisters was missing.

Dearest Ones,

This is an update from Samson's second eldest brother.  For those who were under the impression that the violence was calming down, please be aware that it is getting worse in many places.  Please continue to pray, friends.  I will send out news as I have it.  That you so much for your attention to this.

Till all have heard,

Shauna Okongo

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Dear.

I have not slept last night.  Naivasha has been very brutal with killings of Luos and Kalenjins.  About 30 or more have been killed and many burned in their houses.  The madness is coming our way.  They have threatened to kill us and finish the work.  Are roads have been barricaded and we cannot move.  We are looking for any rescue means.  Many people who show the TV news yesterday have called to pray for us.

We still call for prayers.

David

If you are a praying person, please pray earnestly for Kenya, and for the Okongo's family.  And that is only one family.  I also noticed that the violence is not limited to the two tribes I first read mentioned in earlier reports.  Many Compassion projects have been affected since the violence began, and we still have no word--that I have heard--about specific children, including our Leadership Development student, Rebecca.

You may not like the word, but Evil is at work and having a hey-day in Kenya; it is a spiritual battle with earthly violence, bloodshed and death to show for it.  But Evil is not defeated by human intervention, as needed as that may be.  Rather, it is defeated only by the working of the Holy Spirit of God.  Please, please pray for Kenya.  And if you are so inclined and able, please feel confident in donating any amount to Unite 4 Africa.  It is a 501(c)(3) organization, which means your donation is tax deductible.  I know Shauna and Samson Okongo, and you will find no greater hearts or integrity.  The need is urgent.

More old friends

I held a Compassion Sunday, today, at the Vineyard Christian Community, in town.  Aside from the opportunity to talk about Compassion and about child sponsorship, I also reconnected with some old friends from the mid- to late-70's.  That's always neat, and I really enjoyed visiting a bit with Sandy, and with Phil (they are not a couple).  But even more special to me was to reconnect with Aaron, whom I first knew when he was 18 months and for a few years afterward.  He was such a neat kid, a truly precious little boy, and I've often wondered about him and his younger brother, Kevin.  Aaron isn't a little kid, anymore, and he has a little girl about the same age that he was, when my first husband and I became friends with his parents.

I did get to see two child packets picked up, the children sponsored.  And I had ended my presentation with a brief invitation to join the Advocates Network, with four people coming to inquire about that.  The last one introduced himself as a friend of Wess [Stafford, our president and CEO]; he must have thought I was barmy, or something, because on hearing he was a friend of a man I hold in such high regard and with such affection, all I could do, at first, was stand there and smile at him.  Then I realized I really ought to say something.  Anyway, Jerry is going to join the Network, and I'll be delighted to have him on the team.

So...I hope your day was as good as mine! :o)

A little compassion, please!

For me, that is.  What else can you say for someone who truly would lose her head, if it weren't well attached?

This is a very busy and active week for my work with Compassion.  On Tuesday, I met with a pastor of a church that has never partnered with Compassion, and left with a willingness on the pastor's part to pursue a couple of options for partnering with us.  I don't expect the board to take both options, but I hope they will take one of them.  Either one.  The praise is that the pastor has an open heart and mind, and a definite belief that children are the foundation of a growing church.  He's right, and thank you, Lonnie.

Today, I attended a luncheon of the Tucson Association of Evangelicals.  It was my first time, but it won't be my last.  I had been told I wouldn't be able to speak to the group, but that it was a good place for networking.  That's true.  I talked with two or three pastors and got agreement that I could call each of them about a time when I can tell them how Compassion wants to come along side a church in a partnership.  I also talked with another church leader who is eager to hear how his church can partner with Compassion.  And there was a man from Family Life Radio who knows about Compassion and wants to talk about how the radio station can partner with us!  Much to be thankful for, and I am!  I exchanged cards or contact information with each of these people.  I put each card inside the plastic sleeve covering a pocket calendar that I carry in my purse.

God handed me each of these contacts on a silver platter, and what did I do?  I lost the platter.  I have no idea where my pocket calendar is.

It isn't in my purse.  It isn't in the black Compassion bag in which I carried some literature, Wess Stafford's book, and a DVD or two.  I had nothing else with me.  It isn't in my car.  It isn't in the fellowship hall of the church where we met and ate (the wonderful secretary went over to check; it wasn't there.  I called the vet's office, where I met Bruce and Bailey (an emergency visit), and it isn't there.  The only other stop I made on the way home was at a postal contract station, where I dropped off three FedEx packages, and I left my purse in the car, when I did that.

That calendar has utterly disappeared.

How to drop from a real "high" to being totally bummed.  Drop with a thud, as it were.

Updates on two babies

Abigail, the newborn/preemie I told about before Christmas, is coming along, breathing with apparatus in her nostrils, now, rather than with a tube down her throat.  Other areas of development are coming along, some more slowly than others.  She is, of course, still in the hospital and still in need of God's care--and her parents are very aware of His presence.  I'll re-read Grandma Jeannine's letter and come back with more specifics, if I see that I blew past something notable.

Ali/Allie's grandfather posted the recent progress report.  It, too, is mixed, but overall it's good news.  This is the first time, I think, that I have seen her diagnosed with quadriplegia, but physical therapy is helping.  She is still visually impaired.  Bryon and Susan credit all progress to God, in answer to all of the prayers being offered for Allie.

When is a Hoagie is not a sandwich?

We took Bailey* to the vet's today 'cause we suspect that she is hypothyroid.  A tech' came and took her to a back room in order to draw the blood, which gave us time to look at the sign posted about a doggy in need of a new home.  Sigh.  Such suckers we are!

Hoagie is a 12-year-old-ish neutered male border collie mix.  He had a long-time home, but then his owners moved out of state and left him behind.  He had another home for a couple of years, but those owners moved and left him; the story as I heard it was that they didn't want to have to give him the Acepromazine he needs when thunderstorms threaten.

So we asked if we could meet him.  While we waited for someone to bring him out, I asked other questions--how does he get along with other dogs, how does he get along with cats, and such things.  Loves other dogs, which we can't really say about Bailey; on the other hand, as aggressive as Bailey looked, acted and sounded, when Hoagie came out and I was paying attention to him, as soon as we got them close enough to sniff each other, Bailey shut up and sniffed, and was sniffed.  Anyway, supposedly Hoagie would look at a cat a bit, and then he'd go mind his own business.  Hah!  He has stopped staring at the cat long enough to eat and to go for a walk; periodically, we can get him to leave his post for about 40 seconds, until he decides there's nothing in it for him, and back he goes.  We've just now closed off the bedroom/office portion of the house the same way we do at night, except with the dogs on this side, for now, to give Kat a little respite.

Except for his behavior toward the cat, he is a very nice dog.  He seems to be housebroken and will use the doggy door.  These are good points. Bruce took both dogs for a walk before we went out to eat, and when they returned, he said Hoagie was a very easy dog to walk.  He's very thin, so we plan to put a little more meat on him.  The vet's staff wouldn't concede that he was too thin, but he reminds us too much of Sadie*, when she first came here.

We do hope we get to sleep, these first few nights.  And I hope by the end of the day, tomorrow, that Hoagie will have gotten bored with Kat.

*See the Photo Album of "Animals."

UPDATE 1/5/07:  A couple more pictures of Hoagie are here, although the page will probably not be available much longer.

Kenya

Kenya is rioting.  In blogs, in e-mails and on the web, I read about the violence there from several different perspectives, and none of it was good news.

We sponsor a university student in Kenya.  Rebecca is a graduate of Compassion International's child-development-through-sponsorship program and was accepted into Compassion's Leadership Development Program (LDP).  LDP students pursue university degrees in the field of their choice and simultaneously learn biblical leadership principles through Compassion.  I am praying for Rebecca and her family; the other LDP students; Compassion's CDSP projects in Kenya, which are scattered throughout all of the areas of violence; for the projects' staff, and for the churches that run the projects.  I'm praying for all of Kenya, and that God is raising up men of character, integrity, and the ability to work with the leaders of the two tribal factions to promote peaceful resolutions.

My church has been privileged for the past 3 years, or so, to have in our midst a wonderful missionary couple.  Okongo has family in Kenya, and he and Shauna have many friends there.  They have had some contact through these days with family members.  Both they and others tell us that the situation is far worse, in Kenya, than the media are telling us.

Many people and many Christian churches and organizations have interests in Kenya, so I know these few contacts I've mentioned are only pieces seen through a kaleidoscope.  Please pray for Kenya.  After many years of peace and stability, they are threatened by a Rwanda-style genocide.  Pray, also, that the world's leaders, including our own government, will respond wisely and effectively to promote an end to the violence.