We have been blessed with five beautiful granddaughters! We also have two foster granddaughters who give us joy. Vina will be 17 in late July. She is from the island of Buru West of Ambon. In 2009 she, with the assistance and encouragement of an older brother, ran away to Ambon.
Vina had been raised in an animistic home, but her mother had embraced Islam after her father’s death, and the aunt she was living with died of tuberculosis, a disease which Vina later had to overcome. After her aunt’s death she returned to her mother’s home. Her mother agreed to marry her, in Vina’s words, “to a mean grandpa”. When she saw her mother taking the bride price from the man, she ran. Her brother thought it would be best for her to come to Ambon. Vina was 11.
She never found the relatives her brother wanted her to meet up with. Our daughter’s mother-in-law met up with her and took her in giving her a home and a job as a household helper. Bethany and Janes wanted much more for her than being a helper. They took Vina into their home as a foster daughter.
Vina had little opportunity to go to school. Bethany taught her to read, then helped her get an elementary equivalency diploma and enrolled her in Junior High School. We have promised to go back to her home island with her when she graduates junior high school.
Since I knew that Vina had been back to Buru once, I thought it was safe for her to return. I mentioned in a recent worship service that we were going with Vina to her home area. Surprisingly she reacted, “I can’t go there!”.
I thought we were dealing with teenage fickleness until she talked with Bethany. She wants to go to her home island, but is afraid to go to her home town. She has never been back there. When she returned earlier she went to her brother’s home in a town far removed from her “trouble spot”. That is where she wants to go again. We will take her there.
But as she reflected on the message she had heard that evening, she came to the conclusion, “Maybe I need to go tell my mama about Jesus!”
Before concluding Vina’s story let me tell you about the message and the messenger in the worship service. A friend and co-worker who had seen much fruit in his evangelistic efforts is will us. He is trying to determine if he can return to this country and to assess ministry opportunities in our town.
I had asked him to share some of what he had learned from his experience of seeing evangelistic fruit which eventuated in anger crowds seeking to do him harm and to destroy his home. He and his family escaped because they were in another city for a conference. The house was spared because his landlord convinced them not to destroy his property.
He spoke of the importance of being true disciples/followers of Jesus. He reminded us that a radical follower of Jesus must not unduly love or cherish his own life (Luke 14:26).
He is back in a land where his life was threatened, seeking out people of the same religion and ethnicity as those who threatened him, because without Jesus they will be lost for all Eternity. In the course of the message, he shared, “If I go from my boarding house across town to the section where these folk live, I must take two mini-buses. If I go that far and spend that money, it is a waste if I do not share the Good News.” At that time he had been with us less than a week. Already he had shared the gospel with more Muslims than all the rest of us over the past month.
Vina is fearful that if she went back to her home town, her mother might try to force her to marry the older man. She is very afraid of the wicked old man who wants to marry her. But after thinking about the message shared by our friend, she concluded, “Maybe Jesus wants me to go and tell my mama about Jesus, even if something bad happens to me!”
We appreciate that heart!
We will take her first to see her older brother and we will seek his advice about whether or not she will try to visit her mother.
Please pray with us!
 |
| Vina’s home island, a night’s ferry ride west of Ambon |
