“What is your advice to me now?” I asked my friend Nassirou.

“Continue your work,” he said. “Whatever you came to do, continue to do it.”

This was the second sign I needed from God—reassurance and confirmation.

God’s first sign was His miraculous recovery of our camera and other items stolen from us by bandits after I took pictures at last year’s Eid al-Fitr festival (Jan. and Mar. 2008 AF).
Nassirou is the young man we prayed for last October when he came under spiritual attack in the aftermath of the incident at the Eid al-Fitr festival. The Lord healed him in a clear demonstration of His mighty power. In the months since then, I didn’t have much opportunity to talk to Nassirou. To ease tension in the community, I appeared less in public. I had been meeting with 25 or 30 people a day, but I reduced that number to two or three. I spent more time working on the cultural information we had been gathering to begin developing an evangelism strategy.

This decision to withdraw a bit turned out to be God’s providence. I began to learn that many of the people I had been meeting with had been trying to avoid me. Some fanatics had threatened to hurt them if they associated with me. The groups I practiced language with and even our neighbors were secretly very uncomfortable in my presence. I was also surprised to learn that Sabila’s father (Nov. 2007 AF) was also attacked spiritually and got sick the same day as Nassirou. He had been the one who encouraged me to take pictures at the Eid al-Fitr festival. I was just hearing all this for the first time after six months.

On March 12, Elmire and Eliora left for Ivory Coast, our home country.

Elmire was six months pregnant, and medical workers were on strike in Benin, so we all thought it best that she go to be near reliable medical help. So, I was alone in Kandi and getting back on track with work. For two weeks, I averaged 10 contacts a day, and people seemed glad to see me again after my hiatus. My motivation and enthusiasm were returning.

One day, I decided to invite Nassirou to visit so we could talk about the state of the Eid al-Fitr tension. I wanted to know if my instincts were correct and I should resume broad interactions with our community. After the incident in October, all kinds of false accusations were leveled at us—that I had insulted Islam and had no regard for the sacred sites, that Elmire was leading the women in our quarter astray, etc. But during our conversation, Nassirou told me of even more things I hadn’t known about. He explained to me in detail how people had cursed him for being my friend, prophesying that his leg condition was just the beginning, and he would get sicker and sicker. People insinuated that he had been collecting money from me to betray their community and their religion. They had warned him that I was very dangerous, that I was one of a team of four men who had been sent to four major towns to destroy Islam. What a dark picture and cruel propaganda against us and our mission! I was speechless. I became concerned about all my friends and collaborators. Hadn’t I used appropriate tact and caution in my approach to these Muslim people? Had I already doomed my ministry here? I wasn’t afraid for my life. I feared dishonoring God by jeopardizing His plans for our work among the Dendi people. When I was finally able to speak in my shock, I asked Nassirou desolately, “Do you think I am dangerous?”

“I don’t see anything that makes you dangerous,” he replied. “If you came with bad intentions, we shall know in the future.”

I asked him again, “What is your advice to me now?” His affirming reply was more than just a friend’s encouragement. It was God speaking to me. I believe the Lord was showing me the two sides of our mission like the two sides of a coin: opposition and attacks from the enemy, which will certainly continue, and understanding and progress in the work as long as we remain totally surrendered to Him. My apprehension was transformed to hope. Like Nassirou, most of my collaborators and friends are devout Muslims. But they have seen my respect and sincere admiration for some practices in their religion. They have understood that part of my work in the future will be to test the Dendi people on the practice of religious liberty as recommended in the Quran. They know I have no animosity against their faith and religion. Rather, I have been drawing them toward deeper truth about God, pointing to verses like surah 10:99: “And had your Lord willed, those on the earth would have believed, all of them together. So, will you (O Muhammad) then compel mankind, until they become believers.”

I thank God that not only my friends encourage me to carry on with my mission, but important decision makers like the head Imam see my sincerity and continue to support me as long as I don’t offend their faith and divide their community. Only God knows how long this support will last with the nature of our mission. For now, I can say like Moses, “O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand” (Deut. 3:24).

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