BEYOND OUR WALLS

             WE ALL KNOW MISSIONARIES HAVE TROUBLE JUST AS SURELY AS THE REST OF US. That’s one of the reasons they want our prayers.  And the troubles come whether or not we pray for the Lord’s protection.  Maybe you remember how Eliphaz the Temanite slammed Job with the reminder that all of us are born to trouble, “as the sparks fly upward.”  (Job 5:7)  

            Yet, the Lord has taught us through the sacred Scriptures that He expects us to pray about things and to expect results. And many of us don’t find it especially helpful when a prayer seems not to be answered and someone tells us that is God’s way of saying no to our request.

            This isn’t the place for a dissertation on prayer, but it seems in order to keep a few relevant things in mind.  One is that God is sovereign.  He is not our errand boy.  He is aware of the total situation and allows trouble and circumstances we don’t like and protects us and brings relief from trouble according to His comprehensive knowledge of what is ultimately best.  In spite of this, He has also told us that prayer changes things.  How that works in all its detail apparently is beyond our capacity to understand, and we have to accept it, to some degree, by faith.

            Still, many missionaries claim that they have sometimes been able to sense the power of people’s prayers in their work, and there are verified cases of answers to prayer that serve as evidences that God is at work and somehow  responds to prayer.  Such cases bolster our faith for the times that we find it difficult to understand just how our Lord is working. 

            One such verified case is what happened to a missionary in Africa who had to make a trip for absolutely  necessary supplies.  But he knew   there were people who would kill him if they caught him alone on the trail.  He had no realistic hope of getting home alive, but he made it back without incident.  Later, he learned that those who would murder him had found him asleep along the trail but did not attack.  Their reason? There were several men (angels?)  guarding him as he slept. It also happened that a prayer supporter in the home country got up that night with a felt need to pray for the missionary, and he roused others to pray with him.  The number of people the killers saw guarding the missionary matched the number praying for him. 

            Modern skeptics tend to doubt such stories, and with some justification.  But this one appears to have been verified by a professionally trained and cautious anthropologist in contact with the missionary.  While this example is more dramatic than most, there are other miraculous and near miraculous answers to prayer that encourage us when we can’t see or understand  what God is doing or how.  Put such cases together with scriptural assurances of the importance of prayer, and it seems in order for us to pray regularly for missionaries and their work and remain in close relationship with  the God who prompts us to go to prayer.

            So, what kinds of troubles have the missionaries had that First Presbyterian helps support with funds and prayer?  First, John and Gwen Haspels and their Suri colleagues have suffered two  serious accidents since the Haspels’  recent return to Ethiopia, the first since they began their work among the Suri twelve years ago.  One wonders, sometimes, why God allows serious trouble but seems to  alleviate it through circumstances bordering on the miraculous. 

            Dr. Haili of the Suri Project staff and three Suri were going to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capitol, in the Project pickup with Dr. Haili at the wheel.  Two of the Suri were going to Addis to dub the Suri language to the Jesus Film.  Something snapped, Dr. Haili lost control of the pickup, and it ran off the road and into a house  where a wedding party was in progress and an elderly, bedfast woman was in one of the rooms. The house was damaged, but no one was killed or injured.  It was a Muslim community, and the party was 400 miles from home.

            A man living in the next house turned out to be the brother of a medic who had worked in the Suri town of Tulegit, where the Haspels are based, and he knew Dr. Haili.  Then, one of the investigating policemen was the son of one of he Christian pastors in the Ethiopian community of Dembi Dollo.  He gave good counsel and encouragement.  Moreover, the Muslims of the town  held the opinion that God had protected the people in the house and in the car.

            The other accident happened near Tulegit.  One morning the mission’s  tractor  pulled a trailer loaded with bricks and sand over the mountain to the Baale community of Kibish for the construction of a new church. The tractor was returning  to Tulegit with about 25 people on board the trailer.  Within a mile of Tulegit, on a steep grade, the driver lost control, crashed into a termite mound, and crunched to a stop with the tractor broken in two and the trailer lying on its side.  Ryan Turner, a Presbyterian volunteer, and John Haspels raced up the hill and found the injured sitting in scattered groups of two or three people staring off into the distance in shock.  A crowd had gathered, weeping and wailing.  John took the first load of injured to the clinic in Tulegit, while Ryan stood there trying to figure out what he could do. He didn’t know the language. He fell to his knees and prayed for comfort, healing, and the peace of God.  Suddenly the weeping and wailing stopped, and calm prevailed by the time John returned for more of the injured. Two of the injured died, one soon after being taken to the clinic and the other from internal injuries as the result of walking home the next day.

            One never knows when such things will happen.  Doesn’t it seem in order for us, even though we are ignorant of how our incomprehensible God works, to pray for the protection, safety, judgment, and effectiveness of those taking the gospel to others?

            No, the Suri/Baale workers are not the only ones to suffer trouble.  The middle of May Joel and Barbara Trudell had their seven year old car stolen from a guarded parking area in Nairobi, Kenya.  They were asking the Lord to guide them as to when to give up hope of getting the car back and how they should proceed if they need to purchase a new one. Since the car is important to their work, they pray that the event will not sidetrack things for too long.  It sounds like some prayer is in order here.

            In early June Barbara had to attend a 3 day meeting at Wycliffe’s German office, and Joel had to go to the Kenyan coast for meetings.  They both travel a lot, so prayers for their safety are in order.  Joel will be in a malarial area for the meetings, which, in view of his health history, is a special threat to him.  Prayer?  Barbara was recently re-elected to the governing board of SIL International, so she is involved in making decisions concerning SIL’s international policies. Prayer?  

            You have heard about the trouble in Indonesia, much of it near where Donna Evans did her linguistic work and Bible translation.  She is in danger from time to time.  Doug and Sherry Barron travel to different parts of the world and need our prayers for safety and effectiveness. 

            Turn to page 3 of the Missions Directory for ideas  about  praying for  missionaries. Then turn to the descriptions of the work of our various missionaries and lift them up before the Lord.

Return to home page

Send comments, suggestions, and requests to Alex. F. Burr or send email to aburr @ zianet.com.
Technical assistance and net access provided by zianet.com .
Last update 2007-07-06 21:47:48