Wonderful answer to prayer from our workers in Tunisia!!
Election
Update
Thank you for
praying for the first ever free elections here in our North African country on
October 23. God heard the prayers of the many and answered.
The day of the elections, the process went smoothly and peacefully. All
over the country people lined up outside schools and other public buildings
waiting their turn to freely vote for the person they individually chose.
The Islamic
party many were worried about did fairly win the majority of the seats in the
constitutional assembly. They will be forming a new coalition government
that should be announced within the next few days to a week. Realizing fear
about their leadership has spread, they have made great attempts to calm the concerns
of the general population by publicly re-emphasizing their moderacy, and their
desire not to change the freedoms of women or the nonreligious law system of
the country. There have been pockets of protests and disputes in
several places in the country, but overall the atmosphere is peaceful and
calm. For months we have seen an increase in armed policemen around our
city, but have not felt our safety threatened in any way since the
elections. Incredible how "strange" becomes the "norm"
after a while. It is not unusual to now drive down the street to the
supermarket and pass a police officer with an uzi machine gun in his hands.
Though this new
Islamic leadership professes to remain moderate, we are wondering what longer
term changes will happen in the country. We might see a completely
different country 10 years from now. This re-emphasizes to us the reality
that we have an open window of opportunity in this country now that might not be
here in a decade. But wow, what God can do in a country in a
decade!!! Amen!
Election
Update
Thank you for
praying for the first ever free elections here in our North African country on
October 23. God heard the prayers of the many and answered.
The day of the elections, the process went smoothly and peacefully. All
over the country people lined up outside schools and other public buildings
waiting their turn to freely vote for the person they individually chose.
The Islamic
party many were worried about did fairly win the majority of the seats in the
constitutional assembly. They will be forming a new coalition government
that should be announced within the next few days to a week. Realizing fear
about their leadership has spread, they have made great attempts to calm the concerns
of the general population by publicly re-emphasizing their moderacy, and their
desire not to change the freedoms of women or the nonreligious law system of
the country. There have been pockets of protests and disputes in
several places in the country, but overall the atmosphere is peaceful and
calm. For months we have seen an increase in armed policemen around our
city, but have not felt our safety threatened in any way since the
elections. Incredible how "strange" becomes the "norm"
after a while. It is not unusual to now drive down the street to the
supermarket and pass a police officer with an uzi machine gun in his hands.
Though this new
Islamic leadership professes to remain moderate, we are wondering what longer
term changes will happen in the country. We might see a completely
different country 10 years from now. This re-emphasizes to us the reality
that we have an open window of opportunity in this country now that might not be
here in a decade. But wow, what God can do in a country in a
decade!!! Amen!
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