The Ohio Independent Baptist, December 1964

• r1ca Congo Missionaries Reass igned . . . to other fields Streets transfer to Monrovia, Liberia By Howa rd a nd Irene Street Greetings in the Lord. Our la t etter to you in July was full of praise ind thankfulness to the Lord for )ending us back to Kitwit. We were fincting our pla~e of service and re– oiced to see the Lord at work in he hearts and live of o many. The •vomen s Bible c]a s have reaohed )9 in Attendance. The deacon w·ho lid not want us to return began 1o ,how signs of friendline . The bles - ng of the Lord W·a upon the pri on )ervices as well as at the Army Camp tmong the soldiers. Pastor Mukenze Daniel had found hi way to Kiitwi t 1nd what a time of rejoicing a we ileard him tell of his experiences with reunesse and how God ,protected him Pangu Emmanuel, a fine Christian ~entleman in government service, and 1is wife were safe in K<itwit. The f eunesse had beaten him tand lefrt nim for dead, but by God' help and 1is wife's ability to outwit them he Nas spared. Two village pa tors ar– '"ived safe]y to If.ell of ,their experi– !nces. Unrest cont inues A group of fot1r was en t by the ocal governmen,t to talk the J eunesse n coming out of the forests, return to villages, make their garden and live ikc people in tead of animals. They "cached only the first rrver beyond Kitwit where two of the fot1r were killed and the other two, one ot1r :hristian friend, have a ren1arkable ,tory to tell of ad's protection and deJi, 1 erancc while even in the hands c,f the cne1n}'. 1~o be sure trotrble. unre t, killi11g, Jooti11g, pillaging con– tinued, but we l1ad given 110 tl1ot1gl1t hat it \\-'Ot1ld reac l1 u ·. We ha(I so much l<) rejoice over, the 1 ...ord l1ad se11t ti l'>ack a11d we fl;Jt so st1re He ,.vould 1,rotect LI. '"f'he11 thi11gs IJcga11 to fall ,apart. Jut aero s K\\•ilLa Jl i 1 er r l)el ba11d ~11, 1 ad d a 11earl1~ 1 villiag~ to t I fool, cl(> tl1i11g a11(J ,vo111en. 1\ f olic 111a11 Yt'a cat1gl1t aidi11g tl1e relJ– el . ~ al, >teur "A' r cat1gl1t i11 tl1e a t >f \\ ant i1 g to cut tl1e lectric v. 1 ir oJ lHE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST the city. A rebel lipped in.to the city-market .to buy food, wa appre– hended 1 by oldier , to ld where others were hiding, then ome 20 miles from Kitwi.t the soldiers found them and killed so many they just threw the bodie in the river. July 21 t while Pastor M. Daniel wa sitting on our porch a radio m,essage came that the rebels had attacked hi mi ion po t and de troyed it. July 28th Pa tor Pamba Felicien ·and wife, Catherine, buried their 2 1 h year old on who died suddenly. July 31 t fthe debe,1 attacked Kitwi,t at 7 a.m., triking fir t and hard1e t on our mis ·ion hill. Battle rages For three days and nights .the battle r·aged, oldier keepjng con tant vigil at our mi ion hooting down the hill at the advancing enemy. We have a bullet hole in the roof of our home to remin,d us they were clo e and meant bu ines . For 1 those three day and night we got little re t and by 3 p.m. Aug. 2nd when the clo e shooting subsided it was a welcomed relief. We had no ,thought of leaving. Our soldiers had fought a good battle and driven the enemy back. We had confidence in their ability. But all over the Congo the ituation began to deterior ate rapidly. When the American Emba y learned that 2000 rebel were arna ing near u for another attack they advi ed u to leave. Fot1r of us came by MAF plane on Augu t l 1th. The three Mennonite familie can1e ot1t a few day later by D -3. Upon ot1r ar– rival 10 I ~eopoldville we found 1111 - \ton aric~ pot1ring in tron1 all over tl1e C '011go, h,tving fled their station~ l,ccat1~c of rebel occt1pat1on or ac– t1v1t1cs which maclc it t1n~afc for the111 to re111ain. Septc111ber 7th the ccond attack "'' as 111ade 011 K1tw1t, \at11c fo1 cc anti detcr111inatic)t1, st11kir1g first a11tl l1,11 (l– est at Otar n1i sson. 011ce 111orc tl1e sc>l diers repttlscd tl1c111 ar1ti Sa \ CLI the ci t}' . A week later ar1 attac~ \\,l\ 111adt: 011 tl1e atholic 111i s ion 011 tl1t: )J)J)O it l)ank c>f t}1c K\·Vilt1 river fro111 l(itwit. "'oldi er l1av • l)ec.:11 guar li11g tl1e 111i sicJ11 si nce: Ja11uar\' so w rt; ¥ r c a c J)' t or t h t: r h l s I\·\' 11 e11 t I 1 ) ' s t rL l c k , 11d \·Vere al)le to ll f ntl tl1e 111i s i )11. • • • Some of the men wanted to return to Kitwit thi week, but were advised not to come ince the mentality of the Kitwit peop]e i changing and tihe ituation in the city itself is not good. Paul Nganga, ,a fine christian m·an, sa id he would let them know when iit was afe to 1come. Were we not seasoned Chri tians we would be proned to question ' W,HY ' to all of thi . So short a while here when the Lord worked miracles to get u back . Thinking fully to pend a term and now brough•t to a , udden clo e by re,bel activitie . Most of our Congo mi ionarie have been reassigned to other field and we too, have been cleared by the Home Office to proceed to Mon– rovia, Liberia where we are to do the ame type mini try we have done in Kitwit. It will not be ea y to ]eave after ,pending the better part of 26 • year 1n ongo. Our heart hall alway be with the Congole e Chri tian and we covet your prayer for them a they mu t remain no matter what they are called on to uffer. Al o pray for u a we tran fer it:o Monrovia, that we may be a help ble ,ing to n1any there. Howard i jt1 t t1p from a three– week bout of viral hepatit1 and i till weak and tire ea iJ 1, . He i low– ly regaining hi trength and \.\e want to thank ) ' Otl for praying. A hip Jea\re Matadi October 11th for ~[on– rovia and we \\ 1 ill le,1\ c on it. Ho\.\ ard need the rest and we are st1re it \v 111 <.Jo hin1 good. 11an} of ) ot1 ha, e ""ri tte n letters of encot1r cigt: n1ent anti we \.\ ant to thank. ) ot1 tor tl1e111 THE WISE MEN 0 ....W ,, crt: the.;\ , t 11 at ( ' h rt ,t111a, 1·ve, Wt1t) \,l\\ anLI trttl)' r~ati tllt: ,t,1r, \\' h<.)\c heart, ,,crt.= ht111gr\ lt) 1c~~1,c I ts 1\1c,,,1ge a, 1t llL)I1 dfar! 'o JC\\' ttu·11cli lL)\\ cll ll tl1c Betl1lche111 I O,llf "l t) sec k for 1-1 i 111 ! '"f'hc 1 \\'ere t 11\! ,, isc, 1\ s thr )t1gt1 tl1c ~a11cls tl1cir L,ltlllJ .stro lt: Ii ~11 'atl1 tt1c star-,J)icr ell l~ast ~r11 ski :.s. DECEMBER, 1964 PAGE 7