February 9, 2004

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf these days. We want to share a couple of items with you for both praise and prayer.

Praise that the auction of our house has been stopped. We were able to get a three-day stay order on the auction the morning of February 6 so that the matter could be properly investigated. That afternoon at 4:00 p.m. when the auction was scheduled, a group of four lawyers descended upon us like vultures. They had obviously planned to make a killing out of this sale and had put into fine print on the auction notice that “unauthorized people” could not participate in the bidding. They went away very upset that an investigation would be held on the ninth (today).

This morning our landlord was able to extend the stay order until February 25. A thorough investigation into the reasons for the auction was ordered by the courts. In the meantime our landlord has decided he will do his best to sell the house himself. He can get a much better price this way. He had a couple of buyers look over the house today and they seem seriously interested. He told the buyers in front of us that they would have to let us stay here at least until the end of 2004 since we have paid rent until then. The buyers assured us they were happy to have foreigners rent it. So we feel quite confident that the sale will go through soon and we will be allowed to continue to live here. Pray this will work out. That will be a wonderful answer to prayer!

Pray for Margie’s brother, Bill Anderson (77), who is a retired Presyterian missionary from the Sudan. He was hit by a car when he was walking to an early morning prayer meeting on February 4. He was flown to an excellent hospital in Spartanburg, South Carolina, 50 miles from their home in Clinton. He had some head injury from going through the windshield of the car that hit him, but that has not proved serious. His pelvic bone is broken in several places and cannot be set. One leg is broken in three places. It had to be set through surgery and he has a lot of “hardware” especially in his ankle. He will not be able to put weight on it for at least six weeks. Bill has developed diabetes in recent years. Pray it will not retard the healing. His wife Lois was not with him at the time of the accident but has been with him in the hospital. His two daughters flew in from Nairobi, one son from Rome and another from Mississippi to be with them at this time. They plan to return to their homes this week except for his oldest daughter, Sylvia, who is a nurse and will stay on to be of help for a while. Praise that Bill is recovering as well as can be expected. They say he is even beginning to joke again! Pray for steady and complete healing of the broken bones. Pray for strength for Lois, who has health problems too.

Praise that our rejuvenated 1986 four-wheel-drive Toyota land cruiser will be returned to us February 12 after more than a month in the repair shop. We hear that it is now in excellent condition, for which we are very grateful to you who have made this transformation possible!

Keep praying for a house for the McBanes. Several possibilities are now before us. Pray that the right one will become available in time for their arrival later this month.

Thank you for standing with us so faithfully in these matters.

In Him,

Fred and Margie Stock

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 198