But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded. I have to remind myself of this particular word from God every single day. Despite how many times these tribes of Africa may stab me in the back, I continue to help them. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you have grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. This is why I continue. This is why I work for those working against me. When I first came here, I did not expect them to resist the truth, but I will break through the resistance. I will quit myself like man, and fight.

It happened on a Sunday. Of all days the lords most holiest day, the day that bad should not happen, the holy conviction. Of course it may not have been a Sunday. Only the Lord knows what day it really was that day. These tribes don't take the Sabbath seriously. This is an issue I have tried with all my might to fix. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one, he is guilty of all and if they do not keep this one law, they will all be damned. There are many things that these poor, ignorant tribes will be condemned to damnation for. But God put me here in Africa, because God knows that I can save them. I know that he was right in guiding me here, but I am lost. Sometimes, now I mind you sometimes, I wish that I could wish that I wasn't here. But The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. I often worry that I will not be able to save all of these tribes. If any of them are sent to Hell for my wrongdoing, it is my fault. But I do not put myself to worry. We all have our crosses to bare, and this is mine. I am not better or worse than any other man. For I know the plans The Lord has for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future.

But I do reiterate. It happened on a Sunday. Even if it was an African Sunday, it was a Sunday none the less. I had brought it upon myself to invite one of the few dignified members of the tribe over for diner. We don't usually get any company to eat with us, and for good reason. There is hardly a Christian among these tribes, let alone a Baptist. Not to mention that God had decided this race lesser for a long time. Now I am not a racist by any means, we are after all God's children, and God had done changed his mind about racism. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. That includes these tribes of Africa. However If anyone comes to your home that does not bring his teachings of the truth of Christ, do not receive him into your house. That is why we don't get much company. That and because all the girls of the family have been complaining, about our lack of company. And I am not one to give one of my daughters something just because they complain, that would very much give them the wrong idea. I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. However, this man is one that helps me teach the word of God and Jesus, it is Anatole. I don't really know or care to know exactly how it he occupies his time in Africa, but African Sunday he stands by me and translates my sermons to the Tribe members that come to our church for my sermons. There are not nearly enough to make any kind of difference, but what difference is made I couldn't have done without Anatole, so the very much least I could do is invite him over for dinner.

Now when I invited him over, I invited a dignified, Christian, and I'm not entirely sure exactly what it is that I received. When he walked through the door he seemed normal. His face covered in unholy scares that were intentionally placed upon him for the sake of decoration. Sometimes with all the service he has given me I begin to think he can avoid damnation, but unfortunately it is already too late. It is the Lord after all that said Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you However he had done good work for the Lord, and was unaware at the time but if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. But that was normal. He did not do that to himself this morning, and it had no effect on his character. He was one of the few of these tribes that didn't curse themselves with more than one wife. In fact he didn't have a single wife. I suppose even here in Africa self mutilation is too much of a sin to gain marriage.

When we sat down for dinner, Anatole and I were able to make good conversation. He talked about growing up as an orphan. He was raised by those nice White folk that were here when we arrived, and who supply our food and money. He talked about how they raised him to learn of and love Jesus. He grew up learning both English and Congolese, which is very useful for teaching spreading the word of God. Not as useful as if he were to learn to read the bible in Hebrew like myself, but he is serviceable. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace He was very polite, giving us compliments left and right, although mostly to myself. I do like to consider myself a good host, however that is the Lord's judgement. It is always my honor to Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality towards my guests.

We talked on for a good comfortable amount of time. Leah was rather interested in the conversation, I even made sure that Anatole and I spoke to her a time or two so that she would have the opportunity to speak. I will repay each person for what they have done, and Leah has done well as of recently. She is always a good child. Although often times she very easily gets in the way, she has been the perfect child recently, and behaved herself well at the table. The others however I had to hide my embarrassment from. Ruth May squirmed the entire time in her seat. When we have company of all times, I was ashamed. Adah sat there, eating her food, just sulking. Only bothering to ever pay attention half the time. That girl is far too gloomy, and sulking. Wallowing in self pity from her condition. I've given her enlightenment several times with Colossians 3:22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. and when she is done with that book she is to move onto Thessalonians. This ends her on Thessalonians 5:18 enlightening her of what she has done wrong, and how to fix it. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I've lost count of how many times I have had to give her that Enlightenment, and I don't know how many times I will have to in the future, until I turn around and she doesn't go back to wallowing in her own self pity.

Then there is the family sinner Rachel. All she did all night was slump back in her chair and in certain intervals gawk as Anatole's scares. She even tried to speak without being spoken to, twice. She is the only one of my daughters that would commit the same sin twice. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. I have grown weary of Rachel, and her constant attacks against my God. She flaunts her sins, and her stubborn ways in the face of the Lord and I have done everything I can to fight against it. She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home I can hardly imagine her being partially my child. With how stubborn that young woman is, I would suspect that she is purely Orleanna's. She has refused to accept love, for Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

After a while of speaking with Anatole there was a moment of silence. Then he leaned forward as if to conduct business, and that is exactly what he planned to do. "Our chief, Tata Ndu, is concerned about the moral decline of his village."

This pleased me that he should bring it up. I am glad that on this informal occasion we can fix a few things. And the fact that the chief of this Tribe would agree was just splendid. This evening was beginning to turn over better than I thought. I responded "Indeed he should be, because so few villagers are going to church"

"No, Reverend", he said "Because so many villagers are going to church."

This confused me for a moment. This was Anatole speaking. The Tribe member raised on Christianity, on the love of Jesus. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. How hard is that concept to understand? Anatole must have been confused, or had misspoken in some way. In a calm, clean manner, I spoke trying to let him see his mistake.

"Brother Anatole, I fail to see how the church can mean anything but joy, for the few here who choose Christi-an-ity over ignorance and darkness."

"I understand your difficulty" He responded. He understood my difficulty? I did find this to be unbelievably insulting. For this Tribal member of Africa to say that I am the one with difficulty understanding. I have several years of experience over him, and I have been enlightened by the lord. And he is to suggest that I am the one mistaken. "Tata Ndu has asked me to explain this. His concern is with the important gods and ancestors of this village, who have always been honored in certain sacred ways. Tata Ndu worries that the people who go to your church are neglecting their duties." That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else There is no one like the Lord our God The Lord is God; there is no one else The Lord is first and the Lord is last; there is no other beside the Lord Simply a small number of verses that came to my head at the near suggestion of what Anatole was trying to explain. Are these not clear enough? Is their message not obvious enough? How difficult are they to understand that anyone would think otherwise?

"Neglecting their duties to false idolatry, you mean to say." I graciously gave Anatole the chance to redeem himself. I even gave him the perfect opportunity for biblical quotation Thou shalt not worship false idols He had come to my home and insulted me, however we must Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you have grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Another time that I must remind myself.

"This may be difficult for you to understand." Instead of redemption he chose to insult me again. My one allie in Africa, and here he stands attacking me with words. In attempt to break my collective calmness. "The people of your congregation are mostly what we call in Kikongo the lenzuka. People who have shamed themselves or had very bad luck or something like that. Tata Boanda, for example. He has had terrible luck with his wives. The first one can't get any proper children, and the second one has a baby now who keeps dying before birth and coming back into her womb, over and over. No one can help his family anymore. The Boandas were very careful to worship their personal gods at home, making the proper sacrifices of food and doing everything in order. But still their gods have abandoned them for some reason. This is what they feel. Their luck could not get any more bad, you see? So they are interested to try making sacrifices to you Jesus."

How dare he. How dare this creation of Africa, of God's cursed land talk about my Lord, our Lord this way. That he should talk of God and Jesus as if they were simply here to help those that have no where else to go. That he should think those that God has decided to pity despite their worship of false gods are free to worship as they choose. Thou shalt not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in fire to their gods I used to think that Anatole was an educated man, but his inability to understand this concept has taken that all away.

"Tata Ndu is happy for you to draw the bad-luck people away," he continued "So the village's spirit protectors will not notice them so much. But he worries you are trying to lure too many of the others into following corrupt ways. He fears a disaster will come if we anger the gods." Corrupt ways? He dares to call my ways, our ways, the Lord's ways corrupt? This I could not stand. I did confront to him this blasphemy.

"Corrupt, did you say?"

"Yes. Reverend Price."

"Corrupt ways/ Tata Ndu feels that bringing the Christian word to these people is leading them to corrupt ways."
"That is the best way I can think of to translate the message. Actually he said you are leading our villagers down into a hole, where they may fail to see the proper sun and become trapped like bugs on a rotten carcass." There is a time for everything. A time to tear, and a time to mend. A time to speak, and a time to be silent. It was very clear that Anatole here did not know when those times were. For This was a time for him to be silent. I was tired of this man and his crimes against the heavens. Just what he had said so far was enough to earn him a thousand extra years in Hell. I had to find out who's side this man was really on.

"Tata Ndu asked you to relay all that, did he?"

"Yes, he did"

"And do you agree that I am leading your fellow villagers to partake of the meat of a rotten corpse?"

He didn't speak. He was thinking. What good is it, if someone says they have faith but does not have works? He finally did respond.

"Reverend Price, do I not stand beside you in your church every Sunday, translating the words of the Bible and your sermons?" This was ridiculous. He did avoid the question. Well I believe I have to right to do unto him and he has done unto me

"And, Anatole, do you not now sit at my table, translating the words of Tata Ndu's bible of false idolatry and his sermon aimed at me in particular?"

"Yes, sir, that is what I am doing." Then it has been decided. He is against me. Only a Catholic would be in wrong enough mind to forgive this tribal member after confessing his sin. However I could not forget all that he has done for me. I did offer him this.

"Brother Anatole I pray every day for understanding and patience in leading Brother Ndu to our church, perhaps I should pray for you as well."

"If you are counting your enemies, you should not count me among them, sir, and if you fear the rivals of your church, you should know there is another nganga here, another minister. People also put their trust in him." At this point it was that I had the chance to relax. Anatole continued to attempt to attack my Lord and I with his words, but he was beginning to become weaker and weaker at his attempts. He was failing. I reassured him.

"First of all, young man, I do not fear any man in Kilanga. I am a messenger of God's great good news for all mankind, and he has bestowed upon me a greater strength than the brute ox or the more stalwart among the heathen. Second, I'll point out what you clearly must know, which is that Brother Ndu is not a minister of any kind. His business concerns the governing of human relations, not matters of the spirit. But you are quite right, there is another preacher aside from myself guiding my own right hand. The Lord is our Shepherd." I concluded. Finally putting an end to this conflict. But Anatole insisted on continuing.

"Yes, yes, of course, the Lord is our Shepherd, But I am speaking of the nganga Tata Kuvudundu." Tata Kuvudundu? This man believes that Kuvudundu is a preacher? The mear clueless stupidity left me in shock for a moment. However Anatole's blinding ignorance helped me. This is the moment when I truly understood why the Tribes of Africa did not accept the Lord. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. These people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because they have rejected knowledge How could I not have seen this before? They are blinded by ignorance. They actually think, they genuinely believe, that they are correct. These poor souls really do think that their village gods are the true gods, and they don't understand the truth, because they are too ignorant to comprehend it.

While I was thinking Orleanna went ahead and spoke for herself. "Anatole, what do you mean by calling him a preacher? We thought Tata Kuvudundu was the town drunk." Oh poor Orleanna. Always one or two steps behind. Not known to be very much of a quick thinker.

"No Mama Price, he is not." Anatole said "He is a respected nganga, a priest of the traditions, you might say. He is quite a good advisor to Tata Ndu." This idea of ignorance made me realize why people thought what isn't true. Anatole actually believed that Kuvudundu is actually a religious figure, and doesn't realize the truth.

"Advisor, nothing." I said "He is a rare nut, is what he is. A nut of the type that never falls far from the tree. Where I come from, sir, that is what we call a witch doctor." I kindly explained. He was sweating. He must not had realized how insightful I would be on this subject. But even though, the poor man continued to attempt to defend his unenlightened arguments.

"Tata Kuvudundu looks after many practical matters here. Men go especially to him when their wives are not getting children, or if they are adulterous." These poor people. Anatole's ignorance was beginning to test me. But I remained calm as the Lord, even against Anatole's attacks. Orleanna took the girls to finish the cleaning. Rachel did not leave the table, but I had more than Rachel to focus on right now. "Tata Kuvudundu however should not be considered competition. He deals with adultery, and such matters that should be kept away from the words of Jesus." He deals with different matters? Every matter is the Lords to deal with, not some African tribe member that claims to work with ancient magiks. Adultery is a sin, and should be dealt with by the Lord, as should every other problem. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. "But I assure you. Everyone in the town remembers the missionary times. When Brother Fowls managed to get practically everyone praying to Jesus. The village gods were none too angry at it then." That was the final straw. Remembered the missionary times? Are they not still happening? What am I then? And why is it that this tribe's missionary times are described by that of a Catholic? That I find more insulting than anything else. These horrible images, those of which are far from the truth, I can not imagine how lost these tribes really are. I could become angry, but I should not let the sun go down on my anger, and not let the devil have an opportunity. So I simply stated the truth.

"I respect and value your help. I truly do, however I am very much disappointed in the villagers child-like interpretation of God's plan. I will begin working on a Sermon to fix these misconceptions. This conversation however, is over." Anatole excused himself from the table quickly and left. Finally there was silence.

"Well, that puts a whole new outlook on things, doesn't it?" Orleanna said. She had not earned the right to speak now. Especially not now, but she decided to as well.

"I wonder what outlook you might think that to be" I was tired. Weary, of ignorance. The last thing I needed was a woman trying to preach to me after the failed attempts of an African.

"Well, for one thing, sir, you and the good Lord better hope no lightning strikes around here in the next six months!" Who did she think she was? Who on God's good earth did she think she was to say that? Not only to talk back to me in a disrespectful manner, but to regard the Lord in one as well. The Lord will strike this place with lightning if he darn well pleases, and it is not in her power to say otherwise. I was tired of this, I had to stop it. I had to take a stand, to break through the resistance. I will quit myself like man, and fight.

"Orleanna, shut up!" I commanded firmly. Taking the china plate she had in her hand. She had grown attached to this plate. My wife had grown attached to a material possession. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I took her from her sin. I raised it above my head, and slammed it down hard on the table, cracking it in two. "You were getting too fond of that plate. Don't you think I've noticed?" She didn't answer me. Now, when I address her directly, now when I ask her a question now is when she chooses not to speak! "I had hoped you might know better than to waste your devotion on the things of this world, but apparently I was mistaken. I am ashamed of you."

"You're right, I was too fond of that plate." I am here in Africa to save, and to fix. And on this day, despite the worse. I have fix these two problems. One, a lesson in what to think, but the other much more difficult. The other I must teach these people how to think, so that they may understand the truth. I know that I am righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of me.