update of crisis

We continue to receive lots of emails of people praying for us, the community and the city. Thank you so

much. We are confident that they are being heard.

Things have quieted down tremendously and we are learning

that as quickly as

conflict rises, it settles just as fast. Yesterday as the curfew was

lifted to 1/2 day our family walked in our neighborhood to our director’s home and everyone was out in the street, greeting each other and smiling and glad to be out again. There was a strange feeling of community within our own little area. We knew we were all coming out of the conflict okay and no harm was done. People were genuinely kind and spirited.

I am aware that even though that is what we are experiencing that is not what the greater Jos area is experiencing. Although the streets may be quiet, people are scrambling looking for their loved ones. Their minds are trying to figure out why again did this happen. Families are trying to piece together damage that may have been done to their area. Hearts are concerned for where do we go from here. We received an article from the Red Cross that communicated there are approximately 25,000 displaced people, over 1,000 injured and the count of deaths is somewhere around 300-500. It is at this point, that the real work begins. This is the time for ministry. We have already heard of people coming to hand out blankets, water, mats and food. We don’t want to miss out! We have been hearing from the sites we serve, that as far as people know, no one has been harmed. We praise God for that alone! Continue to pray with us for wisdom and discernment and how best to use our time and resources. The need is great and there is work to be done.

The pictures posted are of some of the common scenes that we are seeing within a mile of our home. The one of the armed forced gentleman is Mr. Fire. We talked with him and he is stationed at this post, two minutes away from our home. He is kind man who prays to our same Lord Jesus Christ and we are glad he is here keeping our streets safe. The other is just a common road block. These are currently all over the city of Jos for random check points for the comings and goings of all. We are thankful for the measures being taken to assure the safety of the people.