Pray For Kenya

I was blessed to have been able to spend a week in Kenya last month. The purpose of my trip was to train and inspire our leadership from around the region to reach more children and youth with the gospel in such a way that it becomes a life changing encounter with God's Word. The men and women I met with are pastors and lay ministry leaders. Each of them are evangelist to the children and youth in their countries and are passionate about seeing everyone reached with the gospel.
I received the following prayer request from Pastor Cal Ratz, our regional director for eastern Africa, this morning. I ask that you join with us in prayer for peace to return to Kenya and for these young people to look to God as their solution to their most urgent needs. The following is the request received this morning from Pastor Ratz:

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST FOR KENYA:

Earlier this year, close to 1,000 people were killed and several hundred thousand people displaced in post-election events that swept through Kenya. Now violence has broken out again, though this time it is not connected to the elections.

Kenya is country where children beg parents to allow them to attend school, Now Kenyans have been shocked by the latest violence to erupt across their nation as students have burned down their schools and dormitories in a massive protest.

The wave of student strikes and riots has closed about 500 high schools over the last month. There have been arson attacks at about half of them. Scores of teenagers have been arrested and thousands more sent home. One student died in a dormitory blaze. Both government and private schools are affected. The government is considering closing all secondary schools.

Philip Mungai Nganga, Book of Hope’s national director says, “We have work to do. The education department has already asked me to have Book of Hope produce a new book dealing with the hopelessness, frustration and stress youth are experiencing. We will include this in our strategic planning meeting in September.”

Yesterday, the Kenya government released new information showing an increase in HIV/AIDS In the country.

Philip Mungai says, “The hottest topic in Kenya concerns what is ailing our children. What a time for Book of Hope to step into the situation!.”

How To Buy A Child In 10 Hours - Child Slavery In Haiti

I traveled to Haiti in October 2007 for a two-day research trip. We did meetings with government officials and multiple focus groups with educators, political leaders, and ministry leaders. In nearly every meeting, I heard the heartbreaking story of child slavery in Haiti. I came home angry at the situation and frustrated that so little was being done to help these children who are regularly being sold into labor or sex slavery. While Tammy and I are not in a position to personally touch and help these exploited children, we did channel our efforts toward building a bigger network of evangelistic workers throughout Haiti. Since then, our Book of Hope program has grown from one major distributor reaching about 100,000 children per year to three major distribution groups with the potential to reach over one million children per year. Please continue to pray with us that our work in Haiti will bring about transformation, not just in the individuals reached by the Book of Hope and The GodMan, but in entire communities, entire cities, and even the entire nation. It is only through spiritual transformation that families will stop selling their children into bondage and the government will do their job at preventing this exploitation.

The three links below will take you to the three segments of the full nightline story:

Part 1 http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5336644

Part 2 http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5336634

Part 3 http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5336628

This next link will take you to a World News segment taken from the entire Nightline story:

World News http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5330271

Note: The ABC News website is not the most responsive. If the video does not start to run or you get an error, try again later.

Photos From The Dominican Republic

We have posted photos from Tammy's trip with Victory Church to the Dominican Republic on Flickr. Click here to view them.

Photos From East Africa On Flickr

I have just posted a few photos from my trip to Kenya for the East Africa Leadership Conference on our Flickr archive. Click here to view the pictures.

Good News From The Cancer Center

Thank you all for your prayers. The Lord has answered us with good news. I have just completed my visit at the cancer center. The pathology report shows that the lung samples taken during last week's biopsy are free of any cancer. There is still something there that is growing, but it is something other than cancer. My oncologist has forwarded the biopsy samples over to experts in lung ailments to confirm that there is nothing else to be concerned about. Please join with us in praising the Lord for this good news. And continue to pray that the additional analysis that will be done on the samples will show that this is nothing more than a minor infection that clears without any additional invasive procedures.

Monday Is Coming

Monday is the big day. I had my biopsy this past Tuesday. The surgeon took four slices out of the suspected tumor and sent them off for analysis by a pathologist. Monday is when I find out what is in the pathology report. This waiting has been harder than I expected. I fully believe that the Lord can and will deliver me from any additional trails with cancer. However, I also know that sometimes we must walk a difficult road as we serve Him. I believe we are ready for whatever news we are given. However, please be in prayer with Tammy and I as we travel to Miami early Monday morning. Pray for peace in our lives and for good news.

May 2008 Newsletter

Our May 2008 is now available online. Click here to go immediately to this newsletter. You can also find this and all our previous newsletters on our website at http://YourWorldMissionaries.org/. This months newsletter features photos and news from Wayne's trips to Brazil & Haiti, as well as an update trips that he and Tammy will be taking in June.

A Difficult Cycle

I am currently starting the fifth week of my fifth cycle of chemotherapy. I have to say, this has been a difficult cycle. Each cycle seems to be unique, with a different side effect being dominant. The list of side effects doesn't change much, but it appears that each side effect has its day in the sun, or in this case, its cycle to be the mother of all side effects.

You've seen previous posts about hand foot syndrome. That was a major issue in cycle one and came up again briefly in cycle four. There has been the ever present chemo-gut sickness that seems to be more pronounced in the evening. This has been there for every cycle, but seemed to be dominate in cycle four.

This cycle has brought on two issues that I am asking you to pray for. The first, is one that has always been there but just not in a significant way. It is fatigue. Fatigue is that feeling of absolute total tiredness, a feeling that you can't even afford to expend the energy to get up from your chair. On some days, it is so bad that even the act of getting out of bed after nine hours of sleep seems to take too much energy. It isn't an everyday problem. Take this week for example, Tuesday was horrible. I slept nearly ten hours before waking up late on Tuesday. I woke up tired and stayed tired, no, exhausted, all day. However, the next two days were great, some fatigue, but no exhaustion.

The other issue that has come up this time is a new one. It is something that I feared when I saw it on the side effect list at the start of my chemo program. It is depression. Not the total dark, suicidal, kill me now kind of depression. No, this is just a vale of darkness that seems to fall over me when I least expect it. Sometimes, as I'm getting ready for bed. I'm so tired but can't get strength to sleep. That darkness will fall. Or maybe it's at the office and I just can't put it all together to complete an important task. That darkness will fall.

Finally, there is the issue of the findings from my last CT scan. Has my cancer returned? Or, is it simply unexplained shadows or a malfunction in the CT equipment? I go to the cancer center on Monday for a new set of CT scans, then back again on Thursday to visit with my oncologist. I believe that the weight of the fact that there may be something more that is wrong with me has only contributed to the fatigue and the depression that has been there for this round of chemo.

I'm being very open with everyone here. Open in a way that I have not really been before. Why? It's simple. I need your prayers. This cycle of my chemo and my current emotional state has been more than I had been prepared to carry. I know that our Lord is able to see me through this. Please pray with me that He will provide the strength I need to continue doing with I love to do each day at Book of Hope. Pray that the darkness that creeps up occasionally will be cast away with the enemy who brings it on. And pray that the visit to the cancer center will reap nothing but good news and praises to our Lord.

Thank you for your prayers and thank you to all those who have sent notes of encouragement. I truly appreciate you all.

Photos From Haiti on Flickr

Photo's from what is likely Wayne's last official trip to Haiti are now posted on Flickr. Click here to view them. Wayne has transitioned the Regional Director's responsibilities for Haiti over to Richard Luna, our Regional Director for the remainder of Latin America. Wayne will now be focused on Innovation, finding and developing the next new ministry tools and processes for Book of Hope.

Photos From Southern Asia & Brazil on Flickr

Photos from Wayne's April trip to Southern Asia and May trip to Brazil have been added to our Flickr photo archive at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourworldmissionaries/.