A Giant Retirement

We recently went to our first retirement celebration here. It was a very big event for us for three reasons. First, it was the retirement of the church’s only female leader who was in charge of something other than a women’s group. In fact, she was the director of one of the Bible schools, and since she had a master’s degree in theology she was one of the most educated theologians in the church. This came about because her now deceased husband had spent many years at a seminary in another African country, where she also studied. She sometimes had a hard road behind the scenes for being a female leader among all male pastors, but she was extremely dignified and wise. Losing her in leadership is a big loss for the church.

The half-blind man to the left is dancing and gathering more
thanksgivings from others who come to dance with him.

On a second related note, there were some very nice testimonies about her, even from Muslim leaders in her town. One told a story about how someone came across her for the first time in the marketplace and afterward remarked that she carried herself like a giant and she dealt with people with a “heart like a man’s.” Which I later found out is a way of saying that she was courageous and not timid. Many people repeated how she was so compassionate like a mother though, and helped anyone who came with a need. An old half-blind man came many miles from the neighboring country to do a dance and tell his story, that he had come to study there, hoping to do so in brail. But after she prayed with him he gained his sight well enough to learn to read and write. He received so many blessings at the school that he had to come to this celebration despite his family’s protests, remarking that he wouldn’t miss it even if it meant he’d have to ride an old donkey all the way back home!

Lastly, the celebration was a great chance for our children to enjoy the run of a large campus-area and play with various children of students. We were hoping they would like the atmosphere, as we hope to bring them to the school more to increase their interactions in the local language. It was a great start for a place where we’ve even thought of having an extended stay to really immerse them in local culture without any school time or walls to hinder their interactions. But we’ll see what 2018 brings!

-- El Padre