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Pray daily for this process

By the time you read this, the Iraqi vote will have hopefully taken place. I only wish I would have received this letter before the vote so your prayers could have been offered. I’m sure however, that in your local churches your prayers for our president, our troops, and our desire for freedom for this part of the world has already taken place.

What many people in America are failing to see is that a free Iraq is a more free world and certainly for the United States.

Here is a letter from one of our fine Christian chaplains in Iraq. Read it and pray. I received this letter from our long-time friends, the Baldwins, who were with us in South  Korea as we stood shoulder to shoulder opposing the North Korean dictator from 1984-1986.

Dear Family and Friends,

This will probably be my last note to you before I come home. This very long journey that we started over 16 months ago is coming close to an end. There is not much time to reflect as we are extremely busy preparing things for the unit out of the 101st Airborne that is taking our place. Several of them are here already with the main body schedule to arrive today. In addition to that, we are preparing for the election on the constitution that will take place on Oct. 15. I can’t say the exact date we will leave, but I expect to be back in Tennessee sometime in early November. 

Let me begin by asking you all once again to pray for the constitutional referendum on Oct. 15. I believe that your prayers made a difference with the elections in January. The elected officials worked very hard to draft the constitution in a way that would satisfy all factions. The Sunnis are the least satisfied and how they will respond to the vote this time is unclear. There are four Sunni majority provinces. If three of these reject the constitution, it will be rejected for the entire country. And if this happens, then the political process must start over with electing new officials to draft a new constitution. In other words, a lot of time will be lost. On Oct. 12, for our Wednesday service, I am having a special prayer service at FOB Cobra for the election.

Also, Ramadan just began and will continue through Nov. 4. This is the holy month in the Muslim faith. The Muslims fast during the day during the entire month. The Muslim cantor sings prayers daily over the loudspeaker system in the city of As Sadiyah right outside FOB Cobra that we can hear every time he does it. Occasionally, when I am conducting our Christian service, we can hear him praying in the background, which makes for a very strange contrast. Historically, there has been an increase of terrorist activity during this time. So please continue to pray for the safety of all our soldiers during this time.

The Iraqi army that is stationed at FOB Cobra with us finished their training. We had a graduation ceremony on Oct. 4 for them to certify their readiness to take over this area of operations. It was wonderful to see the U.S. Army and Iraqi Army standing side by side in unity. After the ceremony was over, the Iraqis broke into dancing. What a sight! I thanked God I had the privilege to be at the event. Despite what you hear in the media, the Iraqi people are working hard for their freedom and have made significant progress in changing their country.

I need to end by thanking all of you that sent me supplies for the soldiers and the Iraqi people. I estimate that I received over 200 boxes myself. We received hundreds of more boxes from fellow soldier’s relatives, work places, and churches. I distributed everything I received. A special thanks goes to my two main suppliers - Madison Creek Baptist Church and Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center.

I thank God for the privilege to have been able to serve with such a fine group of soldiers. We have the best Army in the world. We are all counting the days and looking forward to a joyous reunion with you soon. God bless you all.

In Christ,
Chaplain (CPT) Jeff Ryan
3/278th Regimental Combat Team
Tennessee Army National Guard

(The church’s Web site is under construction temporarily and will be up and running again shortly.)