I trust You, God.

“Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, for he trusts in thee.” Isa. 26:3

This verse from my quiet time this morning was a special reminder of where our peace comes from. How meaningful it is right now to all of us to be able to say, “I trust you, God,” even when we don’t understand why things are happening. It’s that trust which brings us peace.

Although things still seem quiet around here, some of us were scheduled to attend an African International Educators conference next week in Abidjan which has now been canceled at the recommendation of the American Embassy. There would have been Americans (as well as other nationalities) from all over Africa flying in for this conference, and I guess they felt it was too high-profile at this time. One mission agency in Cote d’Ivoire whose kids attend ICA has made the decision to ‘pull out’, and will be leaving in December. They have been the target of multiple break-ins and robberies. These conditions are hardest on the ‘old-timers’ who knew this country when it was the most stable country in West Africa. They are having to change the way they’ve always done things, and eliminate activities from their lives which were always safe. We knew what we were getting into when we came; we’re just now choosing our activities, and don’t know anything different. Our expectations were that anything outside of America wouldn’t be as safe. (How little we knew!)

We ask again that you pray for the sale of our house. We have temporary renters now, but when they’re gone, we’ll have to make the house payments until it sells – out of our support. Also pray that we can get some of the supplies needed here at ICA since short-termers who were bringing them have now understandably canceled their trips.

Remember that we pray for you as you pray for us.

No news is good news.’

‘We thank you again for your prayers on our behalf. All remains quiet here; it almost seems as if we’re in a holding pattern. I’m sure you recognize the feeling.

We do have some textbooks etc. which were supposed to come out last week with a work team. Unfortunately they won’t be coming at all, now, and we need to work out other transportation. With that material was some time-sensitive medication for the wife of one of our teachers, so please be in prayer that the details for its delivery can be worked out.

It seems my biggest fight today is with the new Nimba virus. It does seem to be significantly slowing down internet traffic throughout the world, which means e-mail, and is therefore crucial to us here. 

We will continue to pray for you as you are praying for us. We pray that God will do what He does best, and that is to make triumph out of tragedy in America.

WE are praying for YOU.

What can we say? It seems that our roles are reversed, and today we are praying for you as we watch what happened in America on Tuesday. We share your shock that something like this could happen in the ‘safe’ United States. ICA held a special prayer meeting last night for America and especially the families of the victims, and we continue to pray today.

So far, we’ve had no repercussions here, except that we’ve been advised by the embassy to stay on campus and not venture into town. Neighborhood response here will depend greatly on what is done to catch and ‘punish’ the perpetrators. Although it could cause us some discomfort, I think we all are behind President Bush as he seeks to bring these people to justice. So many have voiced the desire to be in America with their loved ones just to reassure themselves that everything is OK. That’s where e-mail has been great as we all got news from friends and family almost immediately.

We ask that you continue to pray for the sale of our house. As is usually the case, there are some last minute ‘kinks’ in the sale that need to be worked out.

But most importantly, we want you to know that we are praying for you tonight. Psalms 3:5 says “I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.” Those verses came to mind last night as I was having a hard time sleeping. Our only sure comfort is not in a country, but in the Lord