February 11 2007 Newsletter #52 from the Moores.

Dear Family and Friends,

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”

Psalm 91:1 & 2

“My eye is not on the thickness of the fog but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.” George Muller

We want to begin again by thanking each of you who faithfully pray for us and God’s work in Guinea and who faithfully give to support the work.

The national strike lasted for eighteen days. Then the pres finally agreed to some of the terms that the population wanted including that he would appoint a first minister who would actually take over running the government. The union leaders had to approve of his choice of first minister. So for ten days there was calm in the nation and things got back to normal. However, tension began to rise again this past week, as the weekend approached, and there was still not a first minister in place. We hear that he asked six different men to take the office and they all refused. Finally one was chosen by the pres but the union leaders rejected him (along with the population) because he has previously served in this present government. This announcement was made around 11 PM Friday evening and immediately thousands of tires were set on fire in the streets across Guinea and many road blocks were put in place. These road blocks were often made with large rocks, burned out car frames, old refrigerators and other types of debris. As the vehicles slowed down for the road blocks, they were attacked by flying rocks that usually broke all the windows. The occupants were then pulled out of the car and all valuables were taken. Often the vehicles was set on fire or pushed to the side of the road with all the tires punctured. Needless to say, very few people went out in their cars after hearing about these initial attacks. Many people were knocked off their bikes or motorcycles and those were either stolen or destroyed. The riders were often beaten. Many gas stations have also been attacked and completely destroyed (even though the are privately owned). The little convenience stores in the gas stations were looted and the refrigerators and safes were stolen. Young men went down into the gas tank reservoirs and used five gallon plastic containers to hand out all the fuel to their friends and other looters. At one gas station about 4 km from us it was said that the young thieves fought to go down into the reservoir to get the fuel, when they got toward the bottom of the reservoir, they found that five of their fellow thieves had died in the commotion of climbing down into the reservoir. Only then, when they found the bodies, did they get out of the reservoir. Those bodies were removed this morning.

We need to point out that because of all the civil unrest large groups of people mostly unemployed youth, bandits and thugs have been responsible for the majority of these atrocious acts of violence. Hundreds of boutiques (small stores) and warehouses have been looted in Conakry and throughout the nation.

Huge groups of people have attacked government buildings and offices destroying them. They not only steal the windows and tin roofing but they try to flatten all the government buildings they attack. Many of the homes of government ministers are also being attacked as the people say that they were constructed with corrupt money.

Yesterday afternoon (Saturday) we heard loud yelling right behind our compound. Some of the thugs who had stolen the safe from the gas station close to us had brought it to a little make-shift garage by us and they were using sledge hammers and other heavy metal tools that are used to dig wells (to go through the solid rock) to try to break open the safe. Nothing worked so someone kept the safe for a while. Around 6:30 PM there was a huge commotion in one of the vacant lots across the road from the mission compound. A group of between 60 – 100 bandits and thugs had brought the safe out to try to open it again. This time they succeeded. (One of our guards was watching this take place from the little peek window that we have in our gate door.) The safe was packed with money as the money was to have been collected by the gas company yesterday afternoon around 2 PM (Saturday). The young men began grabbing armfuls of money. Some got angry at others and began striking them so they would drop the money they had. At least one person had his arm cut with a knife. Finally, because of the confusion, several of the bandits who had pistols began shooting them in the air. All this went on for about twenty minutes then they dispersed.

Today, Sunday, there has been heavy gun firing going on all around us (especially between the mission compound and the airport). We live a little over a mile up from the airport. The gendarmes (the national military branch of the police) and the special police task force (that are mainly found in Conakry and are kind of like riot police) are the ones trying to maintain order in the city. (So far the main army has remained in their barracks. Also the red berets that guard the pres and the government ministers have not been used in the streets this time since these new demonstrations have begun. However, they do accompany the main government officials and the pres if he tries to move.) We hear that the pres took a helicopter out of the city today to go to his home village since he can’t get there by road right now. Everyone is forecasting an even more violent day tomorrow. As of this moment there have not been attacks on foreigners’ homes. If that should begin to happen there will probably be a general evacuation. So please continue to pray for peace in this nation! They need a divine intervention from God! (We have been disappointed because we haven’t been able to get up country yet to visit our pastors in the villages.) Please pray for our continual safety and for the safety of the Christians and other missionary personal in Guinea. Thank you! (By the time we are able to e-mail this to you it is likely to be old news as we don’t know when Tom will be able to get out of the house to send e-mail again!)

Thanks for your prayers for Had. It is amazing how God is working on her behalf! Because of all the unrest right now in Guinea she is unable to leave and go to another African nation. As we mentioned in the last newsletter her older sister had returned from the village and had gotten some kind of an infection in her eyes. Well, that infection has progressed until she can barely see anything! Had has been getting calls from all her family members saying that they aren’t going to do anything against her any more because they think that she is the one who prayed this powerful curse on her older sister. Had keeps telling them that she has never prayed anything bad against her sister. She only prays that God will change her heart and remove the hatred from her heart. (However, unbeknown to Had, there was someone half way around the world who had been praying for her and this person asked God to inflict Had’s older sister with some sickness until she would be forced to think about what she was doing to Had and to change her ways! God works in mysterious ways!) Her older sister even called Had one day and told her that she could come get all her stuff from the house. She said that since she was now sick and couldn’t see she just wanted to talk to Had and then she could take all her belongings. She asked Had to have pity on her and to pray to her God to heal her. (Had of course says that there is no way that she will ever go back to her sister’s house because she believes that there will be someone there to try to catch her again and tie her up so they can hurt her again.) Her back has healed now, finally, from her last fall. She still has several health related issues because of the stress of all the persecution against her. God continues to provide for her in miraculous ways. She got a phone call from her cousin. This girl lives in Europe with her husband and child. She is the daughter of the uncle who last grabbed Had (when she fell running away from him and the stick pierced her thigh). This cousin is the same age as Had and she told Had that she didn’t agree with what her father had done. She said that she wanted to send Had a little money to help replace the phone her father had taken from Had. Had explained that she needed money for medicine (instead of a phone) because of the health problems that she has due to all the attacks of the family on her. (Someone has loaned her another phone.) So she got the money from her cousin the next day (via a businessman in town) and she was able to pay for her medicine. Someone else gave her a nice piece of cloth the other day so she could have a new outfit sewn. Another friend, who owns a hair salon, said that she hadn’t done anything for Had since she had been under such heavy persecution from her family so she had Had come to her hair salon and she had the beauticians fix her hair beautifully as a gift and she even gave Had some money to take a taxi when she left! God is so good! He cares about each of us and He knew that Had needed to feel pretty and loved and cared for so He touched her life through these different ones! Please keep her in your prayers especially for her complete healing physically and for her protection.

God bless and keep each one of you! We pray that God will use you in the mission fields where He has placed you to reach out to those who are needy and hurting! He so longs to have a personal relationship with each one of us!

We appreciate so much the ones of you who take the time to write to us! E-mail is our life-line while we are out here. We are encouraged when we hear from you! We know that you are thinking about us and praying for us! Truly we are living in the last days and Jesus is coming soon! Even so come Lord Jesus!

In His Service,

Tom and Sherry Moore