NAIROBI EVANGELICAL GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
"A School in the Heart of Africa with Africa on Its Heart"
9441 Haddington Drive West, Indianapolis, IN 46256
Tel.: 317-595-9850 Email: Chester.wood@att.net, Dolores.wood@att.net
Dear Friend, March, 2008
ELISABETH AND WAYNE MARRIED NOVEMBER 3rd 2007
Since writing last, the big event in the Wood family has been the marriage of our oldest daughter, Elisabeth, to Wayne Bloomquist on a beautiful autumn Saturday. Elisabeth finished her three years of work with Samaritan’s Purse in northern Uganda (Lira) where she organized, trained and led teams of Africans to do HIV/AID’s education and care for those dying with AIDS in camps for displaced persons. After returning home in September 2007, she had only a few weeks to organize the wedding. Wayne and his first wife, Kathy, who passed away a number of years ago, had been our friends for many years. Wayne has recently sold his insurance business so that he and Elisabeth can think about some sort of ministry opportunity overseas. Elisabeth Bloomquist’ new address is 952 North Ritter Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46219 and her phone is (317) 840-5420. We thank God for this next step in His will for Elisabeth and Wayne. As you might imagine it is wonderful for us to be home just now and enjoy family gatherings with married daughters, sons-in-law, grandchildren and Chester’s Dad. Sadly, Chester’s mom is not able to be with us and continues to be in a care facility. We thank the Lord for the privilege of being home for this year.
SABBATICAL, HOME LEAVE, FURLOUGH
Perhaps depending on your age you will recognize one of the above terms: sabbatical, home leave, furlough. In the old days, missionaries took furloughs every four years. In the modern world with jet transportation, missionaries follow different patterns and take home leaves. Because of the need to finis h the first part of a major writing project on biblical theology of justice and because of our desire to be near Mom (91) and Dad (who will be 95 in May), Light of the World Ministries’ board has allowed us to be home for 2008 to focus on writing and caring for family. (The picture is several years old. Mom is now unwell.) We are booked to return to NEGST to teach as usual beginning January 2009. We appreciate your prayers that we might remain in good health. Chester is at his desk Monday through Friday mornings at 5:15 a.m. and works until lunch at 1 p.m. with the goal of having the section on “Israel and Justice” (OT) finished by the time we return to NEGST.
Every Tuesday evening at our church, Faith Missionary Church, Dolores teaches English to eight adult students, men and women, coming from Egypt, Russia, Taiwan, China, Mexico and Azerbaijan. Among them are Muslims, Catholics, Coptic Christians and Atheists. Volunteers in our church are teaching English to over 50 students, many of whom live near the church. Every other Saturday morning, here in our home, Chester is teaching ten fathers how to teach their children (ages 6-12) the Bible as a whole. He hopes to repeat these sessions in the autumn with a new group of young fathers.
CRISIS IN KENYA
Perhaps you have been following the news about the post-election upheavals in Kenya. As we compose this letter we are praying that there will be a good outcome to the recent negotiations led by former Secretary General Kofi Annan. As we understand it, there were substantial irregularities in the election held December 27th with both parties seeking to manipulate the outcome. It does seem that even before the election there were plans in place to cause trouble. The underlying issue goes back many years to the early days of Kenyan independence when lands were distributed (sold) by the government. Obviously those in power in the early days favored their own people. Ethnicity comes into the issue because lands were distributed along ethnic lines. Of course the realities on the ground are much more complex than this explanation. In many ways NEGST and its grads have been involved in seeking to resolve in a Christian way the current crisis and address its underlying root causes.
ROLE OF NEGST AND ITS GRADS IN THE RECENT CRISIS IN KENYA
1) The twelve PhD students spent the first eighteen months of their time focusing on the Bible and ethnicity working from Genesis to Revelation. Several of these students, from differing, even contending, Kenyan tribes have been on radio for extended periods (four hours) speaking to the issue, seeking to give biblical guidance in this complex crisis.
2) Many of our graduates are now heads of large churches, denominations and even the National Council of Churches which in Kenya is an evangelical body. They have been speaking out against the violence and speaking for justice and peace. Oscar Muriu, who is pastor of Nairobi Chapel, has taken the lead in the country in bringing together hundreds of pastors who as we write are touring the country and seeking to “cleanse the land” from the pollution of witchcraft. Before the election powerful witchdoctors were brought in from neighboring Tanzania and used to influence the outcome of the election. Obviously this is an area where many of us non-Africans feel out of our depth and are thankful for leaders like Oscar. See Msafara at http://www.msafara.co.ke/ and http://greatnessnow.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.
3) NEGST itself is a multi-ethnic community made up largely of Kenyans who represent a wide range of forty two tribes including those who have been killing each other in brutal ways. Special chapel services have been held in which the crisis was discussed openly in a biblical way. One of the beauties of NEGST is that over the years we have managed by God’s grace to live together in peace and harmony in spite of our many differences. This has been a witness. If you are not on our “Photos from Africa” email list, please send me an email at chester.wood@att.net. Thanks!
Your fellow servants in Christ,
Chester & Dolores
Gifts toward this ministry are tax-deductible. Please make your check payable to “Light of the World Ministries.” Mail to Light of the World Ministries, 825 S. Meridian, Indianapolis, IN 46225.
LIGHT OF THE WORLD MINISTRIES, INC.
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