Urgent Update From Kenya - Dave Zavala

Please pray for Pastor Dave Zavala and his Family and  James Nika and his family during this dangerous time. On the 27th of December, 2007, Kenyan Elections started Kenyans started voting from 6am to 7 pm. The voting process was peaceful all over the country; this was the highest voter turn out at polling stations in Kenyan history. The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) took many days to announce the results, they would announce the results a bit at a time, the opposition leader, and Raila Odinga seemed to be leading the elections for a while.

On the 29th of December the ECK had not finished counting votes yet & the people of Kenya got angered by the delay in the results & rioting began in various parts of Nairobi & Kenya. The leading presidential parties of ODM & PNU found out that there were errors in the numbers that were announced by the electoral commission & both parties spent Saturday night with the electoral commission going through this numbers & they found a lot of errors.

Pastor Dave was not sure if he should have Sunday service at the church due to the insecurity in Nairobi. He was concerned about his family's safety at the same time he wanted to be there & feed the sheep that the Lord had put him over. So after much prayer he got a peace about leaving his wife & daughter at home & go to church with Tom Rees. About 30 adults showed up for the service. They had a modified service, no children's ministry. Dave taught on Romans 13 & they had a time of praying for the nation of Kenya, tea and fellowship afterwards. We Thank God that Sunday morning was peaceful.

By Sunday afternoon, the Electoral Commission started announcing the results again & people protested the numbers were wrong and  they had evidence. The European Union members who observed the results also agreed that they were in doubt of the results being announced as some numbers were not accurate. The old president Mwai Kibabki seemed to have caught up with votes all of a sudden. The Electoral Commissioner refused to listen to the complaints & called for the Police & asked everyone to leave the building. Later he announced President Mwai Kibabki as the new president. He announced it on TV. 10 minutes after this announcement riots started popping up all over Nairobi & other parts of Kenya.

Dave kept receiving phone calls all evening until midnight from his congregation who live in the slums, they were letting him know about the riot mobs in their neighborhood, fires & looting & they were asking for prayer for their protection. They all stayed up until early hours of the morning, they stood outside their houses with their bags & their kids so that incase the mobs came to torch their houses down they could run away to safety. Kenyan national team members, Joyce & Eunice were in the same situation. They called Dave saying their neighborhood houses were on fire and no one could go get them, all Dave could do was pray that the Lord would protect them.

That night the president banned all live media broadcast. The next morning the news reported that there were over 120 people killed in Kenya overnight. That day was declared a public holiday (more like curfew day) Dave tried to go to a near by store to get drinking water & some extra food supply incase the situation in the country were to get worse. But he was surprised to find out that the store was short of food and there were such long lines of people waiting to buy food stuff at the stores. Basic foods like bread, milk & eggs were out (not even a hot dog insight). There was a lot of tension in the air with the people shopping & the store keepers.

Pastor Dave picked up Eunice with her kids & Joyce's kids to come & stay at the guest house until things calmed down in the country. Joyce decided to stay back with her mom & husband. Please continue to pray for their protection.

Missionary James Nyika has reported the same kinds of things are taking place in all parts of Kenya.  James, his family, and other Sudanese are taking refuge in James' small rented home. They do not know how long the food will last! Due to all the insecurities in the country, they are not going out of there houses. No one knows when the situation in the country is going to get better. So it’s our humble request that you remember our brothers and sisters in your prayers that the Lord would continue to protect them & the church congregates, & that Lord willing, peace would return to the country of Kenya.

Saving Grace Missions Pastor Rob Douglass and Pastor Chris DuPont of Calvary Chapel Victorville have postponed their trip to Nairobi and Sudan. They were scheduled to teach a three day Inductive Bible Study (IBS) at CC Nairobi and then go on to Sudan to join James Nyika for the mission’s conference in South Sudan. Pastor Rob Douglass has been in constant communication with Dave and James and we continue to keep you updated. We see this kind of thing all through the book of Acts and are confident that God will be faithful to make his greatness known through this.

Dave and James are trusting that the Lord has every thing under control. Thank you & Happy New Year!

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