Day 24: Moka: Saturday, February 10, 2018

Hebrews 9:27 “It is appointed for each man to die, and then after that comes the judgment.”

Ps. 69:3 “I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.”

THIS ENTRY IS A LITTLE EXPLICIT. SO BE ADVISED.

This morning is sobering for me. When I woke I went and got my breakfast and was making coffee when 3 ladies came into our yard. I normally don’t have anyone help me on Saturdays because I know they too have their house work. I asked Caleb through the door to tell them I don’t need help today. But that is not why they had come. One of the women of the village was in childbirth in the village and they came to me to ask for medical gloves. I asked them why they needed medical gloves, and they told me they woman had given birth, but her placenta was not coming out. I decided to go down with them to see what was happening. When I got to the shack where the woman had given birth, I saw the woman on the floor and I could see the serious concern on all the women’s faces. Garo was there with a plastic rice bag as her ‘glove’. That alone probably had cut the inside of the woman. I handed the gloves to Garo and then asked the women who were present all the questions I could think about regarding a placenta (I am no mid-wife and don’t know everything regarding childbirth, only what I have experienced with my own child-birthing). They all said they had tried many things, but the placenta would not come out. The woman was still laying on the floor, and there was blood everywhere because of the bleeding. She was moaning, and her black skin was now yellow. I asked how long she has been bleeding, and they all advised me that it had been hours. I realized that this was much worse then I thought, so I yelled up the hill to Caleb to send me our Satellite phone (thanks again to all of you who donated to that project; our sat phone is our only mode of communication in Moka, and it is vital to our ministry). Elijah came running down with the phone and I immediately called a nurse at the mission-base clinic. I was able to get through (which is not always the case). As I was explaining the situation to the nurse over the sat phone, all of a sudden I heard all the women begin calling out the woman’s name. I walked back over to where the patient was, and I saw she was dead. Just like that her soul was gone from her and her body was limp. I cried out to the nurse on the phone, “SHE JUST DIED!” I was beside myself. I couldn’t save this woman from death; I didn’t even help her. I felt helpless myself. All the women of the village started to wail; at least 20 women were standing with me and they were screaming and crying. Many were throwing their bodies on the woman who had just died. She was lying there naked with a newborn baby by her side, but now she was dead. I was the missionary lady, with the sat phone, with no answers. It humbled me to think that I am a missionary and I knew I WOULD see difficult things like this. I just wasn’t expecting this during the first trip to Moka. The woman who died was in her early twenties. She had come to my house a lot during the past month. I knew she was pregnant. I just talked to her the other day about the skin fungus that was all over her body and how I would bring her medicine the next time I come to Moka. We ate dinner at her parents’ house the first week were here. She had never heard the Gospel message; she never once came when Caleb preached the Word; and shame on me, I never personally told her the Gospel either. They re-dressed her dead body and placed her on a dirty foam mattress. From the shack where she had given birth they carried her to the underneath of Garo’s house. This is where they would hold the “funeral”. To see them all, with no hope, throwing themselves on her body, was very sad. Caleb and our two kids came down. I was crying and so sad. My merciful Bella didn’t really understand but she did know that I was sad, so she too started to cry. The wailing alone of the people can overwhelm you. The four of us went back up the hill to our stick house. I could still hear the wailing from our house, and I was told that this wailing can go on for days. By God’s mercy the baby lived, it was a boy. Now the grandmother will be taking care of this baby. The husband is not in the picture; he has abandoned his family. I am tired from crying; I feel weak. Please Lord, “Use this situation for Your glory and the advance of the Gospel.” Later in the day some men came to tell us that nobody “just dies”. As animistic people, they believe that if you are doing ‘bad’ then the evil spirits will get you. The evil spirits might “get you” through a snake, or a crocodile, or a tree falling on you, or in this case, dying in child-birth. Because this woman died, she obviously was doing ‘bad’ (according to the worldview of the animistic people of Moka). We went on to teach them that their customs/traditions/worldview, and what the LORD says are two very different things. The worldview of animists in Moka is contrary to the Scriptures. The whole world lies under the influence and power of the Evil One (1 John 5). We are all dead and doomed in sin and only Jesus holds the key of life. Caleb told these men we all deserve death because of our sin. At the very beginning when our first father Adam sinned, we all sinned with him and died with him. Caleb quoted Scripture, one being Hebrews 9:27. The men didn’t seem upset with what we said; instead one of the village leaders asked Caleb to come down and preach at the funeral. “Oh Lord I see good coming from this; let your word go forth!” About an hour later we went back down the hill to be part of their “viewing”. Her body still lay on the mattress. Her newborn baby was placed next to her head, and the dead woman’s mother was wailing over her. Our family sat down under the house with everyone else. We sat for a while, then Caleb preached. He preached from John 11. Lazarus had been dead in the tomb for 4 days, but Jesus raised him to life. In John 11 Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” Caleb preached the Gospel to the people. About 40 adults were preset and heard as Caleb preached the Word in the national language. Caleb pointed at all of them and then said we don’t know the time that God has appointed for us to die, so you must be ready NOW, not tomorrow, not a year from now… OH how I pray that many were touched by the power of the Holy Spirit and His Gospel. The people of Moka are slaves to their animistic customs/traditions (in much the same way as Americans are slaves to comfort, entertainment, and money). We are praying for the power of the Gospel to transform this village. I am praying that the Holy Spirit will be working in all the hearts of the Moka people. Elijah and Caleb left shortly after that. All the men were leaving to go dig the grave so there was no need for them to sit there anymore. Bella and I stayed a little while longer. Bella would whisper to me and ask things like, why does she have a baby? Why did she die? Why is only her head sticking out of the sheet? All are good questions. All are part of life here in Moka, and everywhere in this cursed world. There is no “shielding” my children in this life we live as pioneer missionaries bringing the Gospel for the first time to a remote unevangelized village. May the Lord give me strength to answer questions wisely and biblically. Only through God’s Word can you have a true worldview. May my children learn from all the circumstances we will come across. Most of the world experiences death differently than America portrays it. My prayer for this day is that God’s glory will out-shine all evil, and may His Word go forth with unstoppable power. May we not grow weary in doing good, knowing that in due time we will receive our reward if we do not give up (Gal 6:9). Thanks be to the Lord Jesus that He has defeated death for all those who believe in Him. He was raised from death because it was not possible for death to have power over Him. In Adam we all die; but in Christ we will be made alive (1 Cor 15). Lesson #24 You never know when your time is to come…We must be ready!