“I Should Go With Her”

December 2002 report…….

A young Christian women from the Gbakonou (BAW-koh-new) congregation died while having a cesarean section at the hospital in Azove. The child, her first, is still alive. After the family was told that the sister had died, they were given the body to take home for burial. They strapped it to the back of a motorcycle taxi driver and headed for her village some fifteen miles away.

As they entered the village, dead sister's mother, who is not a Christian, saw the body and was overcome with grief. She cried out, "I should go with her. I should go with her." She ran back into her hut and grabbed bottle of concentrated insecticide and gulped it down. Within thirty minutes, she too was dead.

It was a devastating day for the family, the village, and the church.

When a child dies, Aja mothers often cry out, "I should go with her." It is too much for them to bear life without their child.

The eternal fact of the matter is that when the unbelieving mother killed herself she forever separated herself from her daughter.

It did not matter what she believed, nor what she did not know. Her false faith and lack of knowledge would not leverage her a place with her daughter. It was an eternal mistake – mistake based upon traditional beliefs.

That is one of the main reasons we are here: beliefs alone do not save anyone. A life based on the correct beliefs is acceptable to God. Aja evangelists are laboring to share the message of the savior with their people. This week two evangelists told me about people who are about ready to become God's people in villages where they are preaching. Please continue to pray for these evangelists, and us as we follow the Lord's lead.

Our daughter, Heather, continues to struggle with sickness. Please pray for her.

...Richard