Case Dismissed!

I just received this e-mail about Tom Randall this morning from his wife Karen.

Dear Friends,
I just got off the phone with Tom and the case was dismissed! WE are thanking the Lord for His goodness and His protection.
The story started with an accusation from an 11 year old boy that he had been kidnapped by Tom, Toto, and another Filipino man. The mother is a vendor in town and was widowed around 4 months ago and this is her youngest boy. Today when the boy was questioned very carefully by the District Attorney he told his story. But the mother began to cry during his testimony because she felt bad about how things were turning out. She didn't know about Sankey Samaritan Home, about Tom, or about how great a place Sankey really is. After more questioning the boy began to waiver in his answers and soon it was clear that he wasn't telling the truth.

The District Attorney was a lady around 40 years old. Our lawyer knew her and told Tom that we got "lucky" because this one is honest. And it turns out she really was. She refused to take the case before any other judge and threatened to investigate the policemen working on this case. She even told them she could get them reassigned...maybe even to Mindanao...which is like Siberia! So the good thing is that the case was dismissed but now the judge at the hearing, the mayor (we think he was in on it), and the policemen are mad. That can be dangerous for Tom so he is spending the night at our camp around 40 miles away. There are 24 hour guards there which makes us all feel better. Then on Friday night he will stay in a hotel in Manila and fly out Saturday morning as planned.

One of the things I wondered about was this woman and boy. We all knew the boy was lying but we still aren't sure if the story came from him or the policemen or even someone else. Our feeling is the boy and him mom were just being used. At one point in the hearing Toto very quietly asked the boy if Tom was the American who kidnapped him. He had to admit that Tom wasn't the one. That's when things began to fall apart. But the good news is that we think we can help this mom and boy. We are thinking she probably doesn't have any money to send him to school so we can do that for her. We'll see if they will accept that. We hope so.

I just can't tell you how much we have felt your prayers and your love for us. Thank you for standing with us through this. Please continue to pray. Some friends gave me Psalm 27 to read today. I've been hanging on it! Read it to see why!

Love, Karen