Please Pray for My Sister and Brother-in-Law (Updated)

UPDATE: Thanks for praying - here is an email from my Terry - my bil. Also, I talked to him just a little while ago and although things have not yet returned to normal, some that were evacuated have gone home and things seem to be better. Thanks for continuing to pray that the situation would remain stable and life would get back to normal.

Thanks so much for your prayers. Life is funny and things can change so quickly. Last night we did not know what today would hold. Some of us checked with local officials this morning on the situations. We were assured that things were ok and that we could all go back to the school. People here are so afraid because of what happened around our city and anything unusual will put them into a panic. At the market this morning Cathy talked to several of the people from her Bible Studies. They were also going to be heading back to their homes. We do appreciate your prayers for continued safety and wisdom for those who live at the school. Cathy and I do not live near the school. We are in the city of Iligan about 8 miles from the school. We feel very safe here. Thanks again for your prayers.

In HIM
Terry

Please pray for my sister, Cathy and her husband, Terry. They are missionaries in the Philippines and the city they are living in is under attack from Muslim rebels. I will cut and paste two emails from them. The 2nd email was written about 5:30 am this morning our time (PST) and has the latest news. It is the middle of the night there now so hopefully they are sleeping safely in their home. I will post any update I recieve here. Thank you for your prayers for their safety and peace for their 3 grown children here in the states.

Thanks so much for your prayers and please do not stop now. Cathy and I left Iligan at about 7:30 Sunday morning to go to Cagayan a city about an hour and a half away. We planned to be gone from home for a couple days. A few hours after we left three bombs went off in our city. We heard reports of up to 11 people being killed by these bombs. A few hours later the same group that is responsible for this took over about 5 cities that are just outside of Iligan. The papers report that these rebels have killed anywhere from 24 to 33 civilians. . The Philippine military right now has secured all the cities that were taken and run the rebels back into the mountains. We feel safe here in Iligan. Iligan is being used as one of the cities to evacuate people too. Our schools are closed and there are about 44 thousand people displaced because of these rebels. Most of the displaced people are sleeping in the schools in our city. We just returned to our home this afternoon and were amazed how empty the streets are. Our city is being guarded by the Philippine military and we are under a 5 AM to 10 PM curfew. Again we do not seem to be in danger at this time, but please do keep praying for this situation. The news I just read is that if the group does not get what they want from the government, they will return and try to take some other areas.

No place is safer than in the center of God’s will, and we know He has brought us here. We are not in school this week. It is a week in-between our quarters. We are able to stay home and not be too visible. Thanks again for your prayers!!!

IN Him
Terry and Cathy

Here is a link if you want to read more about what has happened:
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080819/tap-as-philippines-muslim-rebels-9th-ld-fe2a5de.html

Dear Praying Partners,
This is 8:30 Pm on Aug 19. Three hours ago we had to evacuate our training center of all students and staff members. The bad people were coming down the hill and there was a lot of gun fire and such. It was clear we had to get out soon. Please pray. We are safe in this city for the time being. The Philippine military are here and guarding this city. Thanks for your prayers, we will keep you up dated.

IN HIM,
Terry