Dad and I were just talking this afternoon and reminding each other of some of our experiences with strange situations through the years. So I thought I would share a few of those with you today.
I thing you kids were all away at school when I had the little orphaned baby to take care of at Santidougou. The mother had died when the baby was only a couple days old, the father was not able to handle the situation and neither was anyone in the family. So I offered to take care of the baby. We fixed up a little bed for her with lots of soft baby blankets so the wee little one would feel secure. I hunted out diapers and baby clothes I had from you girls, and took care of her at our house until a solution could be found for her. Our yardman and his wife had not had any children and wanted a baby and so it was finally arranged that they "adopt" the baby - nothing official, except in the eyes of the church and the community. The baby was actually from Dafinso from a Christian family there. And so I lost my baby - but watched her grow up in the yard next to ours.
We had to deal with a lot of deception when we went to live with the Bobos, although we were not saware of it at that time. But we found out many things later on as we learned the language. No missionary had spoken the local language in Santidougou for years - since the departure of the Richard Johansons during the Second World War - and so everything went through translation, and the missionaries were basically told in Jula what the local people wanted them to hear.
When we first arrived, there was Yusufu, the lay preacher. He had featured in a field book of testimonies written by missionaries, and he was a kind little man from Kuruna, with a wife about his age. He preached often in the church and the district. After we had been there a few years, we found out that he had a second wife - one for church and one who stayed home in his town of Kuruna! And had his children! So he lost face, and went with the Apostolics who came into the area about that same time.
Then there was Daouda from the village. I had known him as a teenager and liked his wife. They did not have any children, but finally a baby was born! Everyone was very happy - in fact, they brought the baby to the church to be dedicated. Later we found out that actually it was not his wife we knew who gave birth to the baby, but another wife whom he had taken on the side. But the first wife brought the baby to the church as her own to be dedicated. Only the missionaries - us! - were in ignorance!
Paul worked for my parents when I was a teenager at Santidougou. My mom taught him to cook and he made the best bread around! Plus cooked regular meals for us. He was from the town of Leguema but lived at Santidougou because of his work with us. When we first went to Santidougou, Grandma had taken on Yusufu as a houseboy and taught him a few things about cleaning the house. But she suggested we also take Paul on as cook since we were in language study and needed to spend our time in that. He had deteriorated greatly since my mom had had him. His clothes were always unkempt and he had also become a big man in the village. So he would come to work in the morning, get the fire started in the outside kitchen and set water to boiling for doing the dishes. But soon after he would be off to the village or across the road to take care of all his own affairs. I would try to talk to him, but by then he had become a big man in the village and felt that he was in charge not us - even though we paid him a salary to be there to work. One thing he was still great at - he made the best bread you ever tasted. So I had him teach Yusufu how to make that bread recipe. We finally had to tell him that his affairs were too many for him to be working for us and dismissed him. He was not happy, but it was for the best. He too took a second wife who could have children for him, as he and his first wife had had to adopt two children from other tribes as she could not have children.
Yusufu the lay preacher and Paul and some other dissidents got connected with another group which never was very strong, but they did have regular church meetings also, and I think they are still in existence, the Apostolic Church.
There was another Alliance preacher, Michel from Sekwona, and when it was found out that he smoked a pipe, he too left the Alliance and joined the Apostolics. And so the Apostolic church grew, thanks to the Alliance dissidents! In later years the Apostolics grew quite large in Ouaga and they also sent missionaries to our area to work. To my knowledge they are a recognized church there in the Protestant community of Burkina.
Another strange thing that happened back when Dad was first field director and we were living in Bobo. The Boni family from the Bwa tribe were a very well known political family and were Protestants in name at least. There was a Boni son, kind of a playboy, and during an incident in a local night club in Bobo (the 421 Club) this young man was shot and killed. They came to the mission to arrange a funeral for him and to find a pastor to preach the funeral sermon! Wow - that was a big responsibility for a young missionary. So Dad quickly got togerther a message (which he still remembers) - a real Gospel message as he had all those unbelievers there as a captive audience - and he took care of the funeral and gave his message that day. The Bobo church was packed out with dignitaries as the Bonis were very popular people in the government of Burkina (Upper Volta at that time). The father was even talked about as being a candidate for president of the country.
When we talk together, discussing all of the interesting experiences of our lives past, we are grateful for the Lord's leading in so many unexpected ways. God gave us wisdom even as young missionaries when we walked into difficult situations. And now God is giving us different and new (to us) ministries right here where we live in this insignifcant little town of Toccoa. Thanks to all of you, our children, we can also look forward to a great visit to our origins in Boboland! God is good - all the time....
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