December 5, 2007
Greetings from Nicaragua!
Brethren, a most urgent
letter I am writing to you at this time. In our last letter I told you
about Mario, a recent new believer who has been beaten twice since his
salvation a few months ago. His spirits have remained high even through
his trials. Things have gotten worse, much worse. About a week ago he
had to run to his aunt’s rescue while a man was attempting to rape her.
He fought him off but was bloodied in the fight. The police came and
things got worse. Mario is from a different barrio and the people
rallied around the man attacking his aunt and accused Mario of shooting
off the church's shotgun in the streets in a state of drunkenness. Mario
did take the shotgun off the church property without permission so he is
at fault there but the rest is not true. The police confiscated our
shotgun until the investigation is finished. Because we no longer have a
shotgun, Mario and his 19-year-old cousin, Ali guarded the property
together at night. I have tried to make caution a practice. Our security
wall is 10 feet tall, made of concrete, and is topped with razor wire.
Our gates are made from angle iron and have expensive locks. I jumped
through all the legal hoops to have a shotgun on the church property and
to give our men the required training to use it. Yet we are learning
that nothing here is totally secure. Two men dug under the wall in a
dark corner. One attacked Ali with a machete. Mario jumped out of the
shadows with another machete and deflected the blow that would have
killed his cousin. At that point the other attacker shot Mario below his
left shoulder and above his heart. When he went down Ali grabbed a
shovel and the man took aim at him. Ali saw the pistol pointing at him
and he cried to the Lord for protection. The man screamed at him not to
call upon God (maybe because our barrio is full of witches) and shot
twice at Ali, missing him both times. They then snatched up some tools
and a cell phone and fled. Thankfully the bullet passed through and hit
no bone, organs, or major arteries. I found out how fast this car can go
as I turned it into an ambulance. Though he lost a lot of blood, Mario
will be ok, thank the Lord.
Now what?
Brethren, we must
have professional armed security 24/7 to continue in the barrio of
Nejepa. There are many souls out there that I believe the Lord would
have us reach. But I will not put our men in this type of peril. Our
people are willing but it is past time to bring in the professionals.
The police feel strongly that this is the right move, as well. The best
price that I have found for the professional security is $760. per
month.
I have put our building
project on hold. We have two men watching the property for this next
month. Ricardo is a combat experienced man who lives in this barrio and
knows its ways. However, this is just a temporary fix.
You, our supporting
churches and friends, have been generous to us in many ways. You send us
faithful support every month. You’ve raised money for special needs.
Some send us birthday and Christmas gifts. You've sent us money for this
building project. And you pray for us. Your prayers may have spared the
lives of these young men. This is all appreciated more than we can
describe. However, this need that I present to you, though it is huge,
it is as serious as it gets. I tried to get by on the cheap, guarding
the property with the support that we have. However, I can no longer do
that. Pastor, please email me to tell me if you can help with this need
on a monthly basis. If you cannot, please email me telling me so that we
can soon make a decision concerning the future. Thank you for
prayerfully considering this urgent need.
For souls in Nicaragua,
Ken and Krista Dowell
kenandkrista@yahoo.com
