“Teaching in the village of Avédjin”

April 15, 1998

  A few days ago I asked you to pray as I began to teach in the village of Avédjin. Unfortunately, this did not go as I expected. I was supposed to start teaching out there today, but when I arrived, none of the people who were supposed to be there were even at their house. I knew right away that something was wrong. The man of the house had traveled to the north to arrange the graduation of his son from an apprentice program that he had participated in. Most of the other people from the extended family had gone to their farms, and a couple had gone to market.

  My friend and language teacher, Joseph was with us. The people that I know in Avédjin are members of his extended family. He was really puzzled by the fact that they were not there. After waiting for a good while, the lady of the house finally showed up. Joseph talked to the lady for 45 minutes to an hour while Melanie, Hope and I waited.

  I’m going to try to make this story a lot shorter than it really was. The lady detailed all of the family problems for him, and also told him how pagan the village is, including her family. Her husband is a big fetisher (witch doctor) and she said that when he offers sacrifices, lots of people come to sing and dance. She even said that people come from other countries (like Nigeria, Togo, and even Gabon) to buy charms from him.   She told him that she had, at one time, become a member of the Catholic church, and had even been baptized. She also told him, however, that she didn’t know if she could ever become a Christian (As opposed to a pagan, not as opposed to a Catholic. She was never really serious about Catholicism.). She also doubted that her husband could ever become a Christian.

  I also saw, for the first time, a big idol in their house. The people had left a door open that had always been closed before. From what I understood, this idol had apparently recently possessed several people.  Apparently, most of the villagers are serious pagans. There are several big fetishers in the village. The delegate of the village is a big fetisher, and even has several members of his cult living with him. It is a PAGAN environment!

  This all surprised me so much because this man from this family had asked me repeatedly when I was going to come start a church in their village. He had told me that he had been talking it up with his neighbors, and that they were beginning to think he was a liar, because I hadn’t yet come to start something. He more or less led me to believe that the people were ready.

  I am not sure where the story is going from here. We are planning to go back out there on Saturday. I don’t know if I will be able to teach then or not. Please pray for a softening of the hearts of these people! Pray that a lot of people will come to hear my lesson. We know that these people are not equipped to say whether or not they want to become Christians until they have heard God’s word. Pray that they will be willing to take this initial step. Pray also that I will be able to communicate effectively in the Aja language. Pray that God will help us learn more about the culture from this incident. Pray that the Spirit will guide us as we seek the next steps.

  Pray that we will have the ability to discern what is really going on. Pray also that God will lead us to the people who are really receptive (both at Avédjin and in other villages). I also asked you to pray about our water and electricity situation. We have not received any rain since I made the request. We did, however, receive water the day after I requested prayers. Our city water supply was on ALL DAY. This is the first time this has happened since we returned from furlough. We were able to fill up our cistern and our water tower. We praise God for this blessing. The water shortage continues to be a problem, in fact the city water is cut off as I write. Please continue to pray about this.

  Our electricity situation is about the same. It is off several hours each day. Despite this fact, we are coping fairly well at this time. Please pray for our patience and for the electricity shortage. Everything that we have heard has lead us to believe that this may go on for over a year! We will need patience. It would also be helpful if you would pray for cool weather. We thank you for all of your prayers! They make a difference. We believe that God listens. Better go. I’ll give you the update on the Avédjin situation after Saturday.

–Greg Bailey

The story continues: