This post is from a couple who have served God in Kyrgystan for the last 10 years or so and are missionaries to that region. Right now there is serious ethnice cleansing and violence going on in Osh(the capitol) and the U.S. Government isn’t really doing much along with Russians. Please pray for peace and for those who are there still helping and serving, (I have posted about them in the past as well). The email below is powerful!!
DEAR FRIENDS- THERE IS AN AMERICAN KOREAN FAMILY THAT STAYED IN OSH. THEY
ARE IN AN UZBEK NEIGHBORHOOD AND FELT LIKE IT WAS TOO DANGEROUS TO GET OUT
WHEN WE DID. HOWEVER, I BELIEVE THEY ALSO FELT GOD’S LEADING TO STAY. THIS
IS THEIR LATEST UPDATE. IT IS AWESOME AND HOW GOOD IT IS TO HAVE SUCH
PEOPLE THERE. KEEP THEM IN YOUR PRAYERS. THEY HAVE 3 SMALL CHILDREN AND
S’S MOTHER-IN-LAW IS WITH THEM AS SHE WAS VISITING WHEN THIS HAPPENED.
WE ARE DOING FINE THIS MORNING, BUT STILL TIRED. WE WILL ATTEND A
DEBRIEFING WITH OTHER FOREIGNERS ON SATURDAY. THE SWISS HAD A DEBRIEFING
YESTERDAY WITH A PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR THAT THE SWISS EMBASSY PROVIDED.
THEY WERE ASKING IF THE U.S. EMBASSY HAD PROVIDED ANY SUCH THING!! LOL!!
G AND I HAVE BEEN SO BUSY ANSWERING OUR CELL PHONES AND TRYING TO TAKE
CARE OF NEEDS THAT WE HAVEN’T HAD A REAL CHANCE TO DO MUCH DEBRIEFING.
BLESSINGS, C
Dear Prayer Partners,
S Perspective: The situation still remains tense here. Around 4pm,
one of our neighbors was shot. I’m still trying to get the story
straight, but it seems that he was going to get his family from a part
of the city that was heavily damaged. For some reason, a Kyrgyz soldier
shot at the car from behind as it passed thru a checkpoint. I saw the
bullet holes in the back. Because we are barricaded in, there are no
doctors and so no one is sure how best to take care of him. Thankfully,
doctors are slowly starting to come into Osh. Now the question will be
how best to get the medical aid to those who need it the most.
As crowds gathered around the car and chaos ensued for about an hour, I
wondered how in the world could these two people groups ever live
together again. Despite this, life has turned into some weird sort of
normalcy. In our area, there is now a neutral zone with a check point
for one vehicle to go between our neighborhood and the center of the
city. You apparently must show your passport in order to go thru the
checkpoint. We’ve become our own little country. Within our
neighborhood, though, people can move around during the day with
relative freedom. In fact, for the first time in 5 days, I was able to
walk a little bit around our neighborhood.
I used the opportunity to meet with some other leaders in our area. They
are complaining that very little aid is reaching our neighborhood. And
what is coming in is fairly useless stuff like stale cookies and old
food. So the leaders and I were trying to come up with a plan and they
said that I would be the person who would get the humanitarian aid and
bring it into our area. I asked that I need an escort to do this and
they said that they could have 10 people go with me if needed. Heidi and
I have been in contact with different aid organizations – one being the
Red Cross and another local church based group. And hopefully tomorrow
(Thursday), we will have some aid brought in through these
organizations. Please pray for this to happen.
Our friends who are Bishkek have been doing a wonderful job of communicating
with various aid agencies to help them understand what is happening on
the ground. And I’ve been communicating information with our friends to
relay to the agencies. Praise God that this has been working out very well.
I also hope to get out to the main part of the city with a Kyrgyz pastor
who is on our staff at the chicken farm and take a look at the damage in
our city. Again, please pray for me to get out AND to be able to come
back in to our neighborhood. Pray for the right contacts with people at
the checkpoint.
During today’s quiet time, I was in Matthew 25. God spoke to me thru the
parable of the talents and thru the parable of the sheep and goats. I
had a strong sense that God wants to put us in charge of more things.
And then from the parables of the sheep and the goats, it’s clear that
we are to help the least of these. I saw this as yet another
confirmation that we are exactly where we are supposed to be, doing what
we are supposed to be doing.
As for our poultry business, it is running and operational. As soon as
the violence broke out, our Kyrgyz staff rushed to the farm and told any
suspicious looking people to go away. Some even asked if we had Uzbek
employees and they told them, “NO, now go away!” We actually do have a
Uzbek employees, and the Kyrgyz employees were protecting them in our
living quarters. I am so thankful for our staff. We are now making feed
again and moving chicks to our second house. Many people are depending
on us for feed. As long as OA continues to make feed, some eggs will be
available in Osh – which will be vitally important in the days ahead as
food is now so scarce. We are starting to run out of feed concentrate
and have to make an order very soon. Please pray for the transport to
take place soon and for us to get this order in time to keep making
high-quality feed.
Tomorrow is a big day so we need some major prayer coverage. A friend of
ours gave us Isaiah 54:13-17. We take hold of these verses and find
strength and courage through them.
Thanks for standing with us.
For His Kingdom to Come,
S