Ruth

Tonight a worker and friend from OBG came home to spend the night and hang out with our team. She is a beautiful and lively girl…Ruth is the daughter of the pastor whose church we visited and worked with while in Nakuru a few weeks back. I want to tell you the story of Ruth and how she came to live in Nairobi. Ruth comes from a Christian home and was raised as a pastor’s daughter. Ruth was in high school during the last presidential election and has a testimony of forgiveness that is amazing. After the election results came out Ruth remembers being in her house alone while her father was out looking for her sister who had gone to the market to buy some needed supplies. Fighting had broken out so quickly Ruth’s sister Lana didn’t even realize she was in danger when she left. While her father was out searching, the power and phone lines were cut off and Ruth fell asleep on the couch in her family home right on the compound of the church and school. She remembers being awoken by a mob of men who pulled her off the couch and out the door. They had machetes and arrows with poisonous tips. These men were in search for a young man who was of the tribe they were after. They had seen him come through the compound fence and thought Ruth was hiding him. In these moments Ruth’s life was threatened…as they went to kill her for not revealing the young man’s hiding place someone found him so he ran from the kitchen in hopes to escape. In that moment God saved Ruth’s life. Instead of killing her, the men fled after the young man trying to escape. In the process, the man ran into the church, grabbed onto a post because they wouldn’t kill him in the church, and was nearly beaten to death. Ruth says there are still marks on the floor of the church from where the timber they were beating him with hit the floor. The police eventually came, rescued the young man, and the mob of men vanished into the crowd. Many of the sought after tribes died or fled from their homes. Ruth’s father again would not let her or her siblings leave for fear of them being shot or raped in the aftermath of the election. I cannot image living in that type of fear. After Ruth’s experience she could not handle living in Nakuru so she came to Nairobi to go to college. It took her 1 full year to gather her courage to return to Nakuru. When she returned she didn’t see familiar faces, and realized that many of the people who were once a part of the church were no longer there…some of them died while others fled. Her church is now filled with many women from the tribe of men who threatened her life and killed many people. At first she was so angry, but God, after 3 years, is teaching her to forgive. She says she must forgive as Christ has forgiven her. Although you could still see the fear on her face and hear it in her voice, Ruth is learning to not fear evil…she knows that God is with her and comforts her. To hear her tell this story with so many haunting memories and terrible details was a chilling experience. As I sat and listened I was thankful for God’s mercy and goodness towards her. As she ended, she said that God allowed those men to threaten her and almost kill her so that young man had the chance to escape. If they had not been with her, all of them would have been searching the compound and found this young man. Here she lived through a terrifying experience and she was thankful because God used it for good…to save the life of another. What a precious heart she has. I am thankful for both of their lives and thankful that He is bringing healing to Ruth’s heart and life. I ask that you pray for her during the upcoming voting. She must return to Nakuru to vote and is very anxious about it. It is here where yet again the outcome of this vote will again greatly affect the lives of many people. If the new constitution passes, then land will be taken from a tribe and given to another. Many people are afraid that this will again cause unrest and fighting in Rift Valley which is where Nakuru is located. Please pray for safety and peace for the people here in Kenya.