The story of the eight men

As promised, Alaina described the entire story she alluded to in her previous post to mom on the phone today. Mom typed it up to share with you all.

THE STORY OF THE EIGHT MEN! - as told by Alaina

Last Saturday night, January 13th, was the night of this occurrence. Alaina shared that although they are safe in Africa, they must always be cautious. For example, going to the washroom which is not a part of their home where they have been staying, but rather outside, is a place you don't go by yourself. Especially at night time, it's like the whole group goes over together she said.

Anyway, Saturday night, everyone had gone to bed. Alaina was wide awake, and it was unusual for her to not be able to fall asleep. She was experiencing a lot of headaches that week, and when Freda, their leader and good friend, discovered she was still up, they ended chatting until 1 or 2:00 in the morning.

As a team they had been made aware that the area they were in was a place where it's hard to pray. There is much witchcraft happening in the area and people in their work deal with evil spirits.

So, we have this picture.. Alaina can't sleep... and as in many hotter climates, there are bars on the opened windows and she is about 2-3 feet from the window. She was praying for some time about protection for the team as she felt afraid.. the first time she really has had this fear while in Africa. Alaina felt she couldn't look to the window, so she slept facing the other way. She knew God was telling her to pray, and had a sense she was protected, so after praying for a couple of hours she feel asleep.

The same night, Martha, a Kenyan student, came in and she was feeling frightened that night. She had been up working on a message to give that next day at church... and not able to sleep was praying and singing. She couldn't look at the window, but felt someone was there ... and turned and saw a hand through the bars. So, at 5:00 in the morning Martha cried out in her language, "You be defeated in Jesus' name!" She just yelled it out! Mercy too had been praying as she had had a bad dream. Freda heard the noise, is scared and came in wondering what is happening and they discovered that Martha had hit the hand of a person that had pulled away and that she had just seen 8 men run away.

They were all surprised that they were not attacked sooner. Alaina said it was interesting that there were 8 of them as there are also 8 on the team - 2 leaders and 6 students. Freda commented, "God showed you what to pray for while you were sleeping. God showed His power through prayer."

So, whenever prompted to PRAY... do so! We do not know what we may face, but God does... and will guide us.

Prayer Requests

• This week they go to work with the Dorobo people, a tribe in the bush. They are one of the 42 tribal peoples and is an unreached group in Kenya. PLEASE PRAY.. For protection and whatever else God would place on your heart.

• Also pray for the team to transition back into their home cultures. Alaina and some others went to a grocery store today and for 10 minutes couldn't speak because there was sooo much food in the store. Alaina said it was like a superstore compared to the past few weeks they had experienced where you get milk from a cow and water from puddles she said. Alaina has 5 more weeks before she comes home, but is feeling the effects already.