An Opportunity to Help

Some of you know my friends back in Webster Groves, Missouri, the family of Mike and Karen Smith.  If you don't know them, I guess there's a (slight) chance you might remember them from a post I did back in March when it was announced that they would receive the Froebel Gaines Family Award, which by the way was presented to them October 16th at the 2010 Statesmen Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Congrats again, Smiths!

As I mentioned in that previous post, the Smiths have been very active in ministering to the people of Kenya through Get the Word Out, Inc., a missionary organization founded by Karen.  One of the really neat things I didn't mention in that post was the impact that GTWO and the Smiths have had on the life of Esther Tudo. Here is a story about Esther that ran on KSDK Channel 5 in St. Louis early this year:

The good news is that this summer, Esther returned home to Kenya, doctors having successfully treated the cancer that had been so imminently life-threatening.  The bad news is, as Karen says in the TV story, Esther is the face of so many other children in need.  Yesterday, I got a message from Karen about one other such child.  I don't normally use this space for things like this (in fact I don't think I ever have), but I wanted to forward her message on so that as many people as possible could prayerfully consider if they might be able to help out.  Here is the body of the message Karen sent:

Here’s the deal… there’s a young boy in Kenya whose name is Koech (James Koech Lokwakapel).  He has been diagnosed with cranial sarcoma and the doctors after treating him for over 2 years (for malaria, tuberculosis, even removing his spleen) can do nothing else to help him.

Enter Dr. Rob Hanson and St. John’s Mercy Hospital… both are ready, willing and able to treat Koech and attempt to save his life.  Awesome God, mighty servants!

The problem… the US Embassy in Nairobi is refusing to give him a medical visa because of “a spelling error of his mother’s name.”  The error has been corrected, everything verified, but no one will respond.  US Senators have attempted to help but without success.

So…I’ll be traveling to Nairobi on Monday, Oct 25^th,  to  go personally to the US Embassy as Christ’s ambassador and to stand in the gap for Koech – my hope is to bring him back by Friday, Oct 29^th.

What can you do?  PRAY, PRAY, PRAY.  Pray for favor, pray for justice, pray for victory in Jesus’ Name!  And you can help financially – we need to raise $3000 for plane tickets, and for expenses to bring him back for treatment.

As you know…all contributions are tax-deductible by IRS guidelines as we are a 501(c )[3] organization. 

Thank you for your partnership -  we work together against Satan’s plan to destroy and have the honor to bring help to a child and glory to God!  He is MIGHTY TO SAVE!

If you're interested in helping, here is their contact information:

Get the Word Out, Inc.
PO Box 190242
St. Louis, MO 63119

Get the Word Out, Inc, is a 501[c](3) and all donations are tax-deductible under IRS guidelines. Contributions should be made out to Get the Word Out, Inc. and should be mailed to the address above.