The 5:00 a.m. phone call is one I will never forget. My heart started racing the moment I heard the phone ring because I knew this couldn't be good. It reminded me of the night I arrived back at my dorm room in college and my roommate told me my Dad had called…. twice. Since my parents didn't ever know my schedule, they never called me. I knew immediately something was wrong. That phone call told me my brother was in the hospital with double pneumonia. I later found out he had been life-flighted, was in ICU, and on a ventilator.
So now, almost ten years later, the phone rang again with news that immediately brought me to tears as I heard the battle my teammates had that night.
Natasha's Account of that night:
12 days ago our contact and 4 of my teammates including myself were held hostage for an hour at 1:50 in the morning as 6 men ransacked our tents while threatening us with knives and clubs.
I will be honest, I fully thought that I was going to be physically assaulted and killed. It is only by God’s grace and mercy and sovereign provision that we are still alive and physically unharmed. I knew I was vulnerable in that moment but I also knew if it was not time for me to die God would protect me. At one point we were left alone and I began praying in boldness that the Lord would shut the lion’s mouths and that He would chase these men right out of the camp. Within minutes we saw their shadows as they passed our tent in a hurry to exit the property.
I saw God’s power more that night than I saw those men’s power. Yes, they took all our “valuable” possessions but God did not allow them to harm us physically. My faith in God was made stronger in that night. I am more in love with Him than ever before.
Click here to read the rest of Natasha's blog:
http://natashafirooznia.theworldrace.org/?filename=gods-grace-protection
Jen's Account of that night:
At 11:45pm two nights ago, I put in my earplugs and lay down in my tent at our ministry site in Kenya after finishing watching 27 dresses on my tablet. I was so tired, I just placed my tablet under the desk with my headphones and external hard drive still attached to it and passed out into sleepyland:)
There were 4 of us girls at the camp with our contact Elissa and a few of the camp workers while 3 of our teammates were gone on a safari. At 1:00 am, Hayden who was on safari got woken up and Psalm 23 kept coming to mind, so she kept praying it. At 2:00 am, Allyson who was also on safari got woken up and God told her to pray for her team, so she did, she could sense something was wrong, so she kept praying. Stephanie on a different team was also woken up by the Lord and started praying at 2:00 am.
I didn't know any of this because I was fast asleep until 2:00am when I am woken up by Elissa trying to wake me up. I open my eyes to see with a group of men in our tent and she tells me that we are being robbed. So, I take out my earplugs and start trying to cooperate with them. It was definitely not an enjoyable experience, BUT God's fingerprints are so evident in how he was protecting us and providing for us through the whole thing.
Click here to read the rest of Jen's blog:
http://jengoeking.theworldrace.org/?filename=a-thief-in-the-night
Hayden's account of that night:
When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
Will you fear evil?
For He is with you.
His rod and His staff comforts you….
1:06 am; Maasai Mara, Kenya
The Lord woke me up; I didn’t know why. As I laid wide-eyed in my dark tent, all I could think was Psalm 23. I prayed it over and over until I drifted off to sleep.
2:00 am; Ministry Location, Kenya
They were woken up with flashlights and men yelling;
6 Kenyan men broke into the tents demanding money and electronics.
4 of my teammates were forced into one bed.
They were holding hands, praying out to the Lord, reciting Psalm 23.
5:16 am; Maasai Mara, Kenya
We were woken up by a phone call from camp. All I heard on the other end of the line was sobbing, but through the tears, I heard, “THEY TOOK EVERYTHING!”
I sat up straight in bed,
my stomach was in my throat
my heart pounding out of my chest.
2 of my teammates and I were on a safari in Maasai Mara.
4 of my teammates and our ministry host were back at camp.
The ONE night we were gone for the month, my team was robbed. MY girls.
To read the rest of Hayden's blog, click here:
http://haydenfurlow.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-shadow-of-deat
h
