Snakes!

The rainy season has started. People always look forward with anticipation to this season. The rains bring a refreshing coolness after a long period of heat and dust. But more importantly they are a sign of hope for food; at this time of the year food stocks from the previous year’s rainy season are about to finish. As soon as the first rains fall, you especially see men early in the morning wearing their old clothing and heading towards their farms. Some use bicycles, while others walk. The two tools they always carry are a cutlass and a hoe which is an iron shovel attached to a curved stick with which they plough their land. However, working on the farms is not without danger. During this time many farmers are bitten by poisonous snakes and sometimes this can even prove fatal.

Even in our home we sometimes find very thin poisonous snakes which are able to enter houses under the doors. We had an incidence of this during the past week when one evening we saw a snake in the house and were able to catch it before it had an opportunity to hide in a corner somewhere. This was really fortunate, as Micah loves little creepy crawly creatures like worms, crickets, spiders. He regularly catches them and then shows them to us, full of pride at what he has been able to do! There is not a lot of difference between a long worm and a small thin snake in Ghana, so we’ve now made sure that all holes where a snake might try to get in have been closed.

We are also regularly visited by people with snakebites. This happened twice last week. The first man was bitten on his hand by a thick short snake. The snake was hiding in his yam seedlings. He was able to shake the snake off and kill it and then came to us with the dead snake. The second man was weeding on his farm when he was bitten on his leg by a snake.

"the short thick snake"

Why do these people visit us? A missionary who worked with our church in the past introduced a “shocker”. A “shocker” is a small tool which we can make locally. It is able to produce electrical shocks around the snake bite which neutralises the poison as long as the treatment takes place within about one hour of the person being bitten. The cost of this treatment is about 1 euro which covers the purchase new batteries needed for each “shock”. A treatment in the hospital costs between 50 and 150 euros!

"the shocker"

"applying the shocker"

In many villages where we have a church, we have introduced the “shocker” and of course we ourselves have one for people in our neighbourhood. The “shocker” serves, first and foremost, as a lifesaving gadget but it also gives us the opportunity to build bridges for evangelism; a word of encouragement, a short prayer, something to eat or drink or medical care if the treatment with the shocker is not sufficient..... giving many people pause for thought........

PRAYER POINTS:

Praise:

• Thank God for the early start of the rainy season

Prayer:

• for a good farming season
• for protection for the farmers


• for funds to make more shockers (each 'shocker' costs about 10 euros but they are sold to the villages for 5 euros)
• that through the love and compassion of the 'shocker service' people will be attracted to the 'Main Shocker' (Numbers 21:8)

Peace!

'Tamale Mosque'

Some of you might remember that in April 2006 we wrote about Rahman. At that time he came to visit us in Yendi. When he was quite young he learnt to read the Koran in Arabic. Besides that, he also studied parts of the Koran. Therefore, he could lead prayers in the Mosque and people visited him to ask for advice in times of trouble and he received the title called ‘Malam’. Because he has been given that title, family and people from his community owe him a lot of respect. Over the past few years he has been involved in a dialogue between Muslims and Christians. Abukari and Rahman are cousins and good friends and Abukari visits Rahman regularly. When Rahman visited us about three years ago, a newly built Mosque was inaugurated in the village in which we live and as a pastor (working among Muslims) Abukari was invited to join the occasion. He went together with Rahman. During the speeches the preacher referred to Christianity a number of times. After the ceremony was over, Rahman expressed his surprise about this; ‘why did they not preach Islam and morality rather than warn the people against Christianity?’ This started a long discussion between Abukari and Rahman. They talked for a number of hours during which time they read and referred to passages of the Koran and the Bible. Rahman finally told us that within Islam he misses the real joy and peace the Christians display and that therefore he wants to become a Christian. It was a real breakthrough; for over five years we had prayed for him. It was also a breakthrough because he was so deeply rooted in Islam and because of his position in his community. Since then he has faced opposition when people have got to know that he has become a Christian.

Since that time Rahman has been secretly attending Church and at the same time observing the Muslim prayers in the community Mosque just to keep peace with his family, friends and the larger community. During these years of hide and seek a lot of things have happened. Although Rahman tried to hide his new found faith from family members and friends, his new life in Christ soon began to betray him (2 Cor.5:17); many friends have come to ask him why he is behaving differently these days. His answer has always been simple, 'it is Jesus'. Some of the friends who heard of Rahman's response were quite embarrassed and did not take it kindly, so they decided to incite the community against him by broadcasting or spreading the news of his conversion for their own selfish ambitions. As it says in Philippians 1:17-18, "The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposed that they can stir up troubles for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice”. While Rahman was still trying to hide his faith in Jesus, people in the neighborhood were laughing at him because they heard he was a secret follower of Jesus and of course by his fruits he was a different person.

'after prayers in the Mosque'

Just this last week a senior Imam, who coached Rahman in his Islamic studies and practice when he was young, heard the news. He decided to visit Rahman with three other Imams. In their interrogation, Rahman affirmed what they heard to be true. The senior Imam in his early fifties began to cry and wail uncontrollable, in the midst of his wailing this was what he said, "Even if you were irresponsible and a drunkard it would have been better than becoming a Christian." At the end of their meeting one of the Imams borrowed Rahman's only Bible.... Having gone through all this, Rahman has now decided to officially and openly break the news to the family this next week. He has also made up his mind to start fellowshipping with a Church (with a lot of Dagomba Christians) in the community. Rahman urgently needs your prayer support and encouragement to soar through these unprecedented storms.

PLEASE PRAY:

• For Rahman to be able to stand and be bold to the pressures of the family and community.
• For his wife Samira who is not comfortable with the situation and thinks it is disgraceful.
• Pray that many Dagomba people who have seen the light will be encouraged to embrace it regardless of the storms.
• Pray that Rahman will find friends who will help him in his Christian journey.