After another writing hiatus, I'm about to overwhelm you all with some thoughts... the first of three blogs to be posted today. - A
I really have it easy here.
“Are you crazy, women?” Some
people might say, “Pit latrines, no running water, and limited electricity are not elements of an ‘easy’ life.” To you doubters, I respond, “It’s all about
perspective.”
Sure, I may have involuntarily become a vegetarian because
of the diet here, I may still be living out of a suitcase because wood is so
expensive (and have therefore not yet bought a wardrobe), and rain water showers may be ice-cold, but if that’s all I have to
complain about, what a life I live! I do
not face daily government persecution. I
do not face heavy persecution from other religious groups on a daily basis, and the
path has already been cleared for me as far as evangelism goes among the
people groups I work with (figuratively and literally… however pot-holey the
roads actually are).
It’s not like this all around the world, and it didn't even
used to be like this in Guinea Bissau. I
am currently reading a book called Lus Numia na Sukuru about the history
of the evangelical church in Guinea Bissau from its foundation in 1940 until
Guinea Bissau’s independence in 1974. If
it wasn't written in Portuguese Creole, I would definitely recommend it to all
of you, however, I imagine that most of my readers are not fluent in Creole. J
The story shares of the trials, journeys, and exciting times
of the (then) single missionary Bessie Fricker.
In 1940, Guinea Bissau was still under Portuguese rule and Catholicism
was the main religion. The sending
mission board was told by the government that “there were enough Priests already
in Guinea Bissau to satisfy the spiritual wants of the Guinensi people,” and
they therefore rejected Bessie’s application to enter Guinea Bissau.
Bessie was strong in prayer in the face of sickness,
religious persecution, and “sorry, I can’t help you” ’s. Today, the Evangelical church of Guinea
Bissau, though centralized in Bissau, is wide-spread, locally led, and full of
sincere believers in Jesus. Whooo God!
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