Dear friends,
5-Feb-08
January and the first five days of February have gone by so
fast, that I didn’t even get to see if the groundhog saw
his shadow. Regardless, it’s still wet and cold in Coburg
and the snow continues to fall in record amounts around us.
I guess the most pressing mental concern I have right now
is the situation in Kenya. As you may or may not
know, the Kenyan presidential election was held at the end
of December. The incumbent president Mr. Kibaki,
(from the Kikuyu Tribe) has been accused of rigging the
election, by his opposer, Mr. Odinga (from the Luo Tribe).
Since that time, the entire country has erupted in
civil strife and ethnic violence. Some are saying the
violence was pre-planned in order to drive out people from
other ethnic groups who have settled on their land, calling
it ethnic cleansing, and now, over 1000 people have been
killed and over 300,000 (mostly women and children) have
been displaced. They are in camps and scattered around the
countryside, without food, water and desperately needed
medical attention.
I don’t want to use this update as a platform for my
personal opinion regarding the whole situation, but I will
say this; the politicians in Kenya need much prayer! The
people of Kenya need much prayer! Our missionaries still
there, need prayer! Keith and Kathy Ham have stopped their
regular duties, as have many missionaries, in order to help
those whose essentials of life have been stripped away. To
our knowledge, our friends are safe. The brutal murders are
purely ethnic. If you are from the Kikuyu, Kalenjin, or Luo
tribes you are in mortal danger. So far, most others,
unless they try and stop someone from the gangs, have been
safe.
Check out www.cmfi.org
for
updates on the situation, the top right hand corner of the
page:
civil unrest in Kenya. I have posted
some e-mails from Keith Ham on our website. Just go
to www.seidelfamily.org
and
go to
Kenyan Updates.
This of course makes us wonder about the future. If the
political climate doesn’t stabilize by June, our
anticipated departure date, then we may delay. Another
option would be to take a temporary assignment elsewhere.
One of the lessons learned in Tanzania five years ago, is
to hold onto Jesus tightly, and all else loosely.
On the home front, our activities continue as we prepare
for departure, prayerfully Turkana! We are sorting and
packing all our things; AGAIN. February is a busy month for
church visits. And of course we are still working our jobs.
PRAYER NEEDS:
1. Peace and
quick resolution and reconciliation in Kenya.
2. Safety for the missionaries in Kenya.
3. The sale of our house
4. That we’ll be at peace with the “uncertainty” of the
near future….holding tightly to Christ and loosely to all
our ideas of how we think “things”
should be and
all our plans to make those “things”
happen.
We are so thankful for your friendship and support. Have a
great month!
Scott and Kristi Seidel
541.510.9931
lokoyan@seidelfamily.org
www.seidelfamily.org