A lot has happened since my last entry, some good, some not so good.

Andrea Herman arrived safely on the 6th. All her bags arrived with her which was a nice change of pace. On the 7th Tim and Heidi Norton arrived with their two children, Philip and Leslie. Our plan was to meet in Conakry, do some shopping and orientation, then head to  Dalaba, northeast of here, for a quiet time of retreat and prayer.

On the way to Conakry Tim Norton heard that another strike was planned for Monday. A prime minister still has not been named and therefore the people would continue to fight for this. When we all got together we had to decide how best to plan from here. We decided to cancel the retreat, do the necessary items here in Conakry and send our teams up as soon as possible while it was still safe. It was hard for all of us to give up our time of retreat and prayer, but we decided to try and make the best of the time we had. During the two nights we were together we shared and prayed and sang together. It was a good, good time. Our field has been through some tough times in the last year or so, so we decided it was time to bind together as we move forward in ministry. The team would leave then on Saturday morning and be home by Sunday in good time before the strike.

On Thursday, however, we received word that there had been some trouble already in one of the closer cities to us and we all decided it would be best to try and get everyone out as soon as possible. The trouble was we were still waiting for Andrea’s driver’s license. We hoped to get them on the road by Friday just after lunch, then home on Saturday. The license took longer than we thought and they didn’t get out until 5:00 PM and had at least 5 hours to drive yet. They arrived in Mamou last night at 11:30, very tired. They took off from there at 6:30 AM. I should mention too that on the way down they were met by a mob of people in Dabola, a town about half way between here and their home. They were able to get through, but it was a bit unsettling. They did have some trouble again in Dabola but are all fine. They should reach home tonight.

We’re hearing now that the president did indeed name a new prime minister last night, however he does not meet with the criteria set by the syndicate and so people are very angry. Some are determined to start the strike today which is earlier than previously reported. We’ve had reports already all across the country of problems, but mostly people throwing rocks. Some areas have already deployed military to try and keep peace.

Please also pray for Katie. Remember that broken foot?? We found out recently (now that she is somewhere with an x-ray machine) that it was not set right (actually I don’t remember it being “set” at all, only put into a cast) and that’s why she has continued to have trouble with it. Not sure where we’re going with that yet. Also she has been experiencing a horrendous burning in her esophagus and we’re not sure why. She can hardly eat or drink. Some at the Academy there have said that it may be that she took her doxycycline (anti-malarial) and it got stuck in there, dissolved, and has burned her esophagus. She hasn’t eaten much in about 4 days now, so we’re concerned for her. With all that plus what is happening here plus being in a new school it’s been a tough week.

So we’re asking for prayers today. I don’t know if I can get this letter out even. Our internet connection has been on and off for a few days now and is off right now, so I pray it comes up for a while. We are all fine and things in our quartier have remained calm so far. Please pray for the country of Guinea and the people here. Pray that this can be dealt with calmly and that God will hold back any evil that is trying to take advantage of this situation. Will send more info as I can.