The enemy uses many avenues to discourage missionaries and reduce their already too-few numbers. Our editor once said, “Fighting on mission front lines makes you painfully aware of the fact that prayer support is never a luxury; it’s a matter of life and death.” Our family can attest to the truth of that statement. We have never felt in such danger as we did on Sunday evening, November 4. However, God spared our lives, and we want to praise Him through this testimony.

We were on our way back from the Ouagadougou airport in Burkina Faso where we’d escorted our supervisor for his flight. It was around 10 p.m. I was driving the car, and Elmire, Eliora and a couple visiting friends were riding with me. After 710 kilometers of driving, we stopped in Parakou to get some gas. 210 kilometers remained between us and our home in Kandi. We debated spending the night in Parakou to avoid the risks of driving at night, but we convinced ourselves that we needed to get home at once. After all, we’d already passed through the areas where bandits are known to operate.

About 140 kilometers later, just 70 kilometers from home, we came upon a bad section of road. Driving slowly and maneuvering around potholes, I saw some vehicles about 150 meters ahead with people moving around them. Looking more carefully, I noticed some of the men were armed. They saw us and began running toward our car. Immediately, I shifted the car into reverse and began backing away as rapidly as I could. Shots rang out, and our front passenger window glass shattered. As our car swerved off the road and into the bush, three men surrounded us and ordered us out. They were very angry at us for attempting to escape.

As they marched us back to join the main group of bandits and victims, we prayed aloud and sang songs. This made the bandits more violent. They hit Elmire and me with the flats of their machetes. One of them hit our friend on the forehead with the butt of his gun.

They forced us to lie face down on the ground with the group of other victims. Since I was holding Eliora on my chest, they let me lie face-up, but one of them stood by my head to make sure I didn’t watch them.

There seemed to be about ten bandits. As we waited fearfully, they stopped more cars. They took everything of value we had—mobile phones, digital cameras, traveling documents and many other things. For more than an hour, they interrogated us, accusing us of hiding more money and demanding to know where it was.

Through it all, I prayed and Elmire sang. Hand in hand, we asked God to intervene even as we prepared ourselves for the worst. The bandits were shooting at other cars, and we heard the frantic screaming of the wounded. We were all very scared. We didn’t know what fate the bandits had planned for us. I felt very vulnerable as I held Eliora, my precious baby daughter. She wanted to look at the strange men, and she couldn’t figure out why we were all lying on the ground in the bush and not saying anything to her.

As I was looked up at the stars, I earnestly prayed to God to send His angels to stop the evil. A few minutes later, I noticed a shooting star on my right, and then another on my left.

Suddenly, we saw flashing lights and heard a siren. Thinking it was a squad of police cars, the bandits fled—we were saved! It turned out to be only one police car. The officer was off-duty and out of uniform, traveling back from a visit with his family, but thank God he was driving an official police car, the police official’s car!

Needless to say, we and our friends are still dealing with the trauma of this hellish experience. But Jesus is the Great Physician of body, mind and soul. We believe that He is not in the business of needlessly risking the lives of those working for Him. This experience confirms in our minds that we are here on a very important task indeed. Please, God, open our sleepy eyes so we can catch a glimpse of the war machinery of the great controversy between Christ and Satan that rages around us.

Thanks for your prayers and support. We need to remain God’s channel of healing and love so that our Dendi people will invite him to reign in them.

“For every trial, God has provided help . . . The Holy Spirit will teach us how to appropriate every blessing that will be an antidote to grief. For every bitter draft that is placed to our lips, we shall find a branch of healing” (The Ministry of Healing p. 248, 249).

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

In recent years, random criminal activity has become a very significant threat to the safety of AFM missionaries. As governments destabilize, armed crime escalates. This can take many forms, including armed assault, hijackings, and robbery. The Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C. estimates that over 500 million small arms are in the hands of non-military persons worldwide.

• How to Survive a Hijacking
• Stop the vehicle.
• Remain calm.
• Apply the handbrake, but keep the engine running.
• Leave the vehicle in neutral.
• Get out, but leave the door open.
• If requested to do so, put your hands up.
• Don’t look directly at the hijackers.
• Be compliant to demands.
• Allow the hijackers to depart without interference.

(Adapted from Security Awareness, United Nations)

• Twitter