Prayer Request from Suzy - Sent Sunday

Dear Prayer Chain,

First, praise the Lord we have some sunshine for our solar power and therefore internet!! Please cover us in prayer over the next few days and the security position in Tonj.

Yesterday evening a 23 year old man was clubbed on the head and brought to our clinc unconscious. He had severe head injuries that required a referral to an ICU unit but that would require a flight to Kenya and it was impossible since it was already dark. So we prayed over him and medically helped him the best way we could. Sadly, Wilson died at 1 am.

Wilson was attacked by the brother of a 16 yr old girl who was made pregnant by his brother, who had not paid a dowry. After Wilson died, his brothers retaliated by killing an unrelated man from the same tribe as the girl and took the girl by force. Now this has the potential to escalate and the town is feeling the tension. We are sure there will be some kind of retaliation for this man's death.

The saddest part is Wilson's brother who took the girl in the first place is a pastor of the local Episcopal Church. He is not one of our pastors but we have worked with this man and we are grieved by his choices. He is now wanted for murder, kidnapping and violation of a marriage dowry.

We have a team of 8 individuals serving with us at present and Sabet has asked for us to not leave the compound until things a have settled down outside. We have even cancelled church this morning and closed our clinic for security purposes - so the community is also effected by this incident. We have been seeing huge numbers of patients each day, up to 150 on some days, and closing indefinitely would be disasterous.

We are safe!! But we need prayer for a peaceful end to this conflict. We are waiting for the government to collect Wilson's body from our clinic. We know the Lord works ALL things together for good and trust this will be used by HIM to further His Kingdom.

Pray for safety and wisdom as we deal with the many emotions and parties involved.

On behalf of us all here in Tonj,

Suzy Kuj
Missionary
In Deed and Truth Ministries

Update: The pastor and the girl were found and are in jail. Since they have been found, peace has been restored to the town and the clinic was able to reopen. Please continue to pray that no other violence would occur as a result of this incident. Hearing about this was especially shocking for me. We know the pastor and the girl well. These things happen and are hard to see, but when it hits close to home it's even more sad.