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April 15, 2008
Dear Prayer Partners,
I wanted to write and ask for your to urgently pray for us as
your missionaries and friends in Kenya, Africa. The value of the
U.S. dollar dropped again against the Kenyan shillings. When we
arrived in Kenya in 2002 you could exchange 78 Kenyan shillings
for one U.S. Dollar. A few weeks ago, it reached an all-time low
of 62 shillings per dollar. Today it fell again and the dollar
is only worth 58 shillings. It is causing a terrible strain on
our financial situation. We had worked it out and thought we can
survive if the exchange stays above 60 and then today it went
below. For those of you who don't understand exchange rates and
the value of the U.S. dollar, this means that we lose money
every time we transfer funds from the U.S. to Kenya even if our
support from the states stays the same. If someone sent $100
last month, it was worth 6400 Kenyan shillings. But, if it was
sent today, it would be worth 5800. Of course, we have to
exchange money in order to live in this economy. The prices for
everything have also skyrocketed because of the crisis. Bread
went from 25 shillings a loaf to 42 this week. Gas was selling
for $5.85 a gallon and now is $6.41 a gallon in just one week.
Please pray because all of the missionaries are suffering.
Many of you know that we lost around $600 in ministry support
this past January to March due mainly to the financial problems
in America. We are desperately trying to make the ministries run
with less money and now this exchange rate drop will make it
even harder to cope. There is such a crisis that our BBFI
Mission is sending out letters asking people to increase their
support to missionaries all over the world. Please pray for your
missionaries.
We are thankful for the fact that we have paid our bills for
this month but are wondering how all is will pan out for next
month. We pray that God will provide as He always has in the
past. We are especially worried about our feeding centers and
school as the price for all the food is increasing almost daily.
Thank you for your prayers,
Bobby, Lisa, Ethan and Conner Bechtel
Serving in Kenya |
