Thursday, February 22, 2007

The 37th good thing about Lagos: News of kidnapped missionaries' safe return.

Just yesterday afternoon I got an email notice telling of the kidnapping of 4 Nigerian missionaries in the Port Harcourt area. It's kind of chilling that Saturday when I was talking with Sister Carlson about how much she loved serving as a missionary in Port Harcourt and was sad to have to leave the missionaries and members there -- at that same time 4 of those missionaries were being kidnapped. I don't know how much the leaders at our conference session knew on Saturday, but I imagine at least by the Sunday meetings they were aware of what had happened -- but nothing was said about it publicly. Elder Cardon did ask the members in the Sunday meeting to pray for the missionaries -- and as I look back I wonder if he had this situation especially in mind -- but that's not an unusual request. I was relieved to check on the internet this morning and learn that they had been returned safely. Many kidnapped oil-field workers are held for long periods of time -- I'm so grateful those young, dedicated men didn't have to deal with a prolonged period of captivity. And yes, I will continue to pray for the missionaries!

1 comment:

BeantownFam said...

Yikes! That's creepy. I'm glad they're safe. I just listened to NPR's On Point segment (done by my visiting teacher Jane!) last night. It was on the oil issues in Nigeria and discussed the militia groups that take hostages and steal oil to re-sell. It's a crazy world you're living in over there!!