From: Emiliano Richards Our dear friends and family in Christ, Our heart-felt condolences go out to the Mandigo family who have just informed us a matter of hours ago that their husband and father, Loren Mandigo, just passed away this morning in the hospital in Migori, Kenya, due to malaria sickness and an upper respiratory infection. We are saddened and shocked by this recent turn of events, and our hearts go out in sympathy to his family during this time. For all of you who have been following the Africa mission reports and updates, Loren Mandigo and his family left for Kenya, East Africa, last October to serve as the Director for the Sutherland Bible College. Kyle Robison, a young missionary from Washington state, also joined them in Kenya to assist with the building projects. They successfully completed the main building and mens shower and bathroom area and planted countless seeds for the gospel in the surrounding communities and churches in the short time that they have been there. Approximately one week ago, Loren contracted malaria and their children became sick also with respiratory infections. No one knew that he was battling malaria and thought at first that it was simply a cold with flu-like symptoms. By mid week he had developed a fever with chills but was recovering well each morning with the fever abating and the family in good spirits. I received a phone call from Lisa Mandigo, Lorens wife, last Friday evening informing me that the family was sick and that Loren was having a hard time taking anything in - even lemon water - but she was of good courage in the Lord. We began to pray for them over the Sabbath and just this morning I sent out an email requesting prayer for them. About an hour after I sent out my email we received a phone call from Lorens sister here in the United States informing us that Loren had just passed away. He passed away around 9:00 pm on Sunday evening, Kenya time, which is about 11:00 am Pacific Standard Time here in the US. Apparently, Loren was fine and recovering well on Sabbath morning with a normal temperature of 98.6 and was reading his Bible and checking some things on his computer. He had worship in the morning with his family and was doing well until the later in the day. By Sabbath afternoon he informed the family that he needed to rest since he was feeling weak. After Bible study, Lisa went to check on him and he still seemed to be doing fine. He was resting in bed and he encouraged her to go and eat and take some time to rest since she had been tirelessly attending to the family throughout the week and helping them in their sickness. After lunch, she went again to check on him and found him to have developed a high fever. Up until this point he had had fevers but had always rallied and recovered in the morning. They decided to see how he would do through the night and how he would feel again in the morning. Sunday morning arrived to find him getting worse and, beginning to worry, Lisa, Kyle, and Victor (our translator), decided to take him to the hospital in Migori. The day passed and Loren steadily got worse. It was in the evening that the hospital staff pronounced him dead. Lisa and Kyle began to do CPR on him themselves and requested for him to be left on oxygen. After 45 minutes they realized that they could not resuscitate him. Because, throughout the week, he seemed to be getting better in the mornings, they thought that he would surely recover from this sickness. His death has come as a surprise and shock. After speaking with Lisa about 2 hours ago I received her permission to share this news with Gods people and to solicit your prayers in behalf of their family. They were en route from the hospital back to the mission school property to inform their children of this tragedy. They are wanting to bury him on the mission property and will most likely need to recover from sickness before attempting to return home to the U.S. I will be flying to Kenya with my daughter in approximately 3 1/2 weeks and will be better able to visit with the family, offer support, and to assess the situation then. Please keep this dear family in your prayers as they grieve the loss of their husband and father and pray about the future direction of their lives. We offer our complete support for them during this time and trust that God will choose to bring a blessing out of this sad experience for His glory and for the salvation of souls. Brother Mandigo chose to give his life in service for His Master and as a result a crown of life awaits him at the special resurrection when he will stand with all those who have died keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus since 1844, and he will see Jesus come along with the 144,000. Let us not grieve as others who have no hope, but trust that his life will be as a seed planted in the gospel field that will bring thousands of souls to Christ in the final harvest. May God bless, strengthen, and comfort his family during this time: his wife Lisa; his children Victoria, Moriah, Jessica, and Jonathan; his mother Elaine; his sisters Cherie and Trisha; his father, nieces and nephews, and other extended family and church family. We salute you, Loren, thou man of God, and thank you eternally for your service for Him who gave His life for you. If you would like to contribute for this familys needs right now, and for their return tickets home (which will total around $7,500 or so), please mark your donations Mandigo Family and send them to: Restoring the Old Paths P.O. Box 84 Helmville, MT 59843
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 05:25:37 +0000
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