Participants:
Series Code: AFM
Program Code: AFM000012
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01:09 Some say that some places in the world are just too hard
01:12 to reach with the Gospel and the three angels' messages. 01:15 Guinea would probably fit into the hardest to 01:18 reach of this group. 01:20 Dominated by a resistant religion, racked with poverty 01:23 and corruption, bordering on the brink of political 01:26 and social meltdown, her need of the Gospel 01:29 is apparent. The outlook would leave the average 01:33 evangelist shaking his head in dismay. 01:36 This is truly a story, the story of the Gospel going 01:39 forward in Guinea, that only God could write. 01:41 For on the hearts of many of the beautiful, vibrant 01:44 spiritually hungry people of this land, He is 01:47 inscribing His Gospel. 01:49 Marc and Cathy Coleman founded the Susu Project of Adventist 01:53 Frontier Missions in Guinea in the year 2000. And after 01:56 several years of learning the culture and language, 01:59 launched into an active ministry of medical missions, 02:02 friendship evangelism, and development work. 02:04 As young people started to convert, education later became 02:08 part of this program. Now, many years later, 02:12 a thriving church and school, a lay training program, 02:16 and local leaders fill their places. God has shown once 02:19 again that no place is impenetrable, impermeable 02:23 to the G ospel, because God is bigger than all of 02:27 the challenges. 02:30 Hello, we are the Colemans. My name is Marc. I'm Cathy. 02:34 I'm Rebecca. And I'm Chelsea. 02:35 Many people have asked 02:37 us what it was like to live 02:38 in a country like Guinea, 02:39 where we worked and 02:41 lived for 10 years. If I were to think of one 02:43 word that describes the country of Guinea, I would 02:45 have to say, colorful, very colorful. 02:48 Vibrant. 02:49 It was very hot. 02:50 Expressive. 02:52 It was a place that was often on the brink of war, very unstable. 02:56 Often lonely. 02:57 The food was really good. 02:59 Full of corruption. 03:00 And we could go on and on with both the good and 03:03 sometimes the bad, but these words together 03:07 describe a picture of a place desperately in need 03:09 of the Gospel. Come with us for just a few moments 03:12 and let us take you deeper into the story of what 03:14 it was like to be pioneer missionaries in the 03:17 country of Guinea. 03:38 I'm with Isatta Coker. She is the eldest child 03:42 of the seventh wife 03:44 of a very prominent 03:47 government official in 03:49 the country of Sierra Leone 03:51 at that time when she 03:52 was a child. 03:53 Everyone has an assigned role, an assigned place 03:56 based on the mother's age and the mother's position 03:58 as the wife. And Isatta had a special role as the oldest 04:03 child of the seventh wife. In fact, her brothers and 04:07 sisters call her to this day, "Mom. " 04:09 At the age of 16, Isatta was already consumed 04:14 with the cares of taking care of her younger brothers 04:17 and sisters, and helped her mother extensively. 04:20 But she had an interesting experience at this age 04:22 that led her to Christ. 04:24 It is very difficult having to live with your parents - 04:30 all of them are Muslim, and you decide to pick 04:33 up the cross and follow Christ. When I was around 04:37 the age of 16, I was staying with my siblings, my half 04:41 siblings. And I am very close to one of them 04:45 clalled Jusefo. 04:49 So one day he came over to me. He was so excited, 04:53 running and he came and said, "I want to share something 04:56 with you, and I want it to be just a secret between 04:59 you and I. 05:02 I was accompanying my girlfriend, and I heard 05:06 a sermon. And this is not my first time I've been hearing 05:10 about Jesus, and it kind of touches me a whole lot. " 05:13 Then he went on and started sharing everything 05:17 about how Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, 05:20 what Jesus Christ went through dying on the cross 05:24 to save us from our sins. So I became interested. 05:28 So one day, he and I decided to go to the church. 05:34 There is no way my father should get to know about 05:40 this because he would disown me and drive me 05:43 out of the house. But by then I had a boyfriend 05:46 named Sheik. He, too, got interested at some point 05:50 in going with me. But there was some kind of 05:54 misunderstanding. He got angry, so he said I'm not 05:57 supposed to go back to the church. I said, "No, I'm 05:59 going to go there. Nobody will stop me. 06:03 So one day there was a fundraising service. 06:13 I was in the service. I was really enjoying the service 06:16 and singing good songs, and suddenly I had somebody 06:20 tapping my back. "Somebody is calling you outside. 06:23 Somebody is calling you outside. " I said, 06:25 "Hold on. I'm coming. " He said, "Somebody wants 06:27 to see you. The person said that if you refuse to come 06:29 he's going to come in. " I said, "Okay. Hold on. Let 06:32 me go and see this person. " To my greatest surprise, 06:35 it was my boyfriend waiting outside. I said, "Come in!" 06:38 He said, "I told you not to come here. " 06:41 Then he grabbed my hand forcefully and started 06:44 pushing me. "Why are you treating me like this?" 06:47 He said, "I am not coming to the church anymore, and I 06:52 don't want you to come to the church. " 06:54 I said, "I'm sorry. It's not going to work that way. " 06:56 He actually beat me. 06:59 He said, "Well, I'm going to talk to your dad." 07:03 It was the saddest day. He said, "What? You mean, 07:06 my daughter is going to church?" 07:08 But I just stood silent, speechless, because it 07:12 was a shock for me. And my dad asked me, 07:15 I said, "Yes, sir. I've been going to church. " 07:17 He has a big ring, a heavy, thick silver ring on his hand. 07:22 He hit my face. "Who allowed you? 07:26 It is an abomination for you to be going to church. 07:29 Don't you know that? Are you trying to disgrace me?" 07:32 I stood there speechless, just crying. 07:34 At some point he calmed himself down, and he said, 07:38 "I want you to promise me you will never go to church." 07:43 I actually accepted in front of him, but my intentions were 07:48 different. The day he found out was the worst. 07:53 He said, "So, you defy me. You defy my words." 07:58 He was so angry. So my mom, as soon as she overheard 08:03 the conversation, she came running. 08:09 She said, "Let us drive her out of this house because 08:12 she is a disgrace to the family. " 08:14 My dad drove me out of the house, and they took 08:18 all my things. I only had one outfit with me - the one I 08:21 had on is what I went out with. In the evening I would 08:24 come around the house when nobody sees me, just my 08:27 siblings, and they would give me food. 08:29 Finally, my mom went to some people, all the people 08:33 who are well respected in the community, she spoke 08:37 to them, and they came to my dad, and they talked to 08:41 my dad. He asked me again that I should promise him 08:45 that I will not go to the church. 08:50 I could not make the promise again. 08:53 By then, he fell sick, seriously sick. 08:57 My dad and I were so close. Even with all that 09:02 had happened, I was the only person that he 09:05 allowed to cook his food, sit beside him to eat, 09:10 give him his medication. Everything is all Isatta. 09:14 One day, it was getting worse. It was hard for me 09:18 to understand that he was dying. I said, "Dad, I want 09:21 you to take Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. " 09:24 I said, "He's the only one that can save you. " 09:28 I said, "Prophet Mohammed cannot save you. 09:30 You have to accept Jesus Christ as your 09:33 personal Savior. He is the one that died on the cross 09:37 for you and I." By then I was crying anyway. 09:40 I said, "Dad, this is the only opportunity you have. 09:45 When you die, it's finished. Just talk to me. I beg you. " 09:49 I was pleading with him. 09:51 He said, "I will never ever accept Christ as my 09:56 Savior. Prophet Mohammed is my savior. " 10:01 That was the end of our discussion. I left 10:04 crying because it was hard for me. 10:14 Coming from a Muslim background, accepting 10:18 Christ as your savior is not an easy task. 10:25 I just want to encourage, whether you are a Muslim, 10:30 Buddhist, whosoever you are, that Christ is the 10:35 only way, the truth and the life. There is no other way. 10:50 Holidays are important in Guinea, just as they are 10:52 in every other country. Here it's been interesting 10:55 for us to notice how much people will, who are just 10:58 barely eking by in existence, will go into 11:01 six months debt just to be able to pay for one set 11:06 of clothes to wear on this very special religious 11:11 holiday. 11:15 One day, Abubacar came dressed in his fine, 11:20 what we call a boubou, a robe. 11:23 And he did a little dance 11:25 as many people do when 11:26 they get new clothes. 11:28 And he was showing it to me 11:30 and dancing around. And we joked around and talked 11:33 a while, and I admired his robe. Then he got deadly 11:37 serious. He went and he sat on my motorcycle. And he said, 11:41 "You know, this is my last Muslim holiday." He said, 11:46 "I want to sell all my boubous." 11:53 Well, what do you want to do that for, Abubacar? 11:59 "Well," he said, "I want to follow Christ." 12:07 He was dead set on selling his boubous, and I said, 12:10 "Well, you really don't need to sell your boubous. 12:14 I mean, it's all right for Christians to wear boubous." 12:17 But to him it symbolized all that he wanted to leave 12:20 behind. 12:28 He told me later. He said, "What happened was 12:33 I had a dream." 12:36 And in that dream, he had on 12:39 a stained, dirty dark robe. 12:43 And people were ridiculing 12:47 him and saying, "Look at your life. Look at you. " 12:49 And in a social society like this, the criticisms of people 12:54 hold extra weight. So he felt his sinfulness. 12:58 But before him on a table in this dream was folded 13:01 a beautiful white robe. He understood this to 13:05 mean that Christ was offering him a new robe of 13:08 righteousness. 13:14 Abubacar recently has been 13:16 facing many trials. 13:22 One day, during the month of Ramadan, which is the 13:25 fasting month for Muslims, I made a plate of rice 13:28 and sauce for him. So I went to hand him the 13:32 plate of food, and he refused. 13:40 Then a couple of days later, I said, let me try this again. 13:44 So I said, "Abubacar! Abubacar, here." 13:47 He said, "No, no, no, Mama. I'm not eating." 13:50 I said, "You're not eating?" I said, "Abubacar, have you 13:56 become a Muslim again?" 13:58 He put his head down, and he said, "Mama, you know 14:02 when I went for my vacation in June?" I said, "Yes." 14:06 He said, "Well, you know, I traveled all the way there 14:09 to spend time with my family and my friends." 14:12 And he said, "My aunt greeted me coldly. And the first thing 14:17 she said was, 'Take the kettle and do your abolutions. ' 14:22 Which is your preparation for your prayer. 14:25 'It's time for prayer. It's five o'clock. 14:28 Let's go to the mosque.' 14:31 Abubacar thought for a moment. That's when the 14:35 struggle started. Because he knew he had already 14:39 confessed Christianity. So he refused the kettle. 14:44 And we was going through this battle. Well, finally, 14:48 someone else came by and said, "Hey, Abubacar's here! 14:52 Abubacar is here!" They were excited to 14:54 see him because they hadn't seen him in a long time. 14:56 They asked him, "Have you eaten?" 14:59 He said, "No." They said, "Have you gotten water?" 15:02 "No." They said, "When you're finished, 15:04 food is here for you." 15:05 But the aunt said, "There is no food here for him. 15:09 Don't you know that Abubacar has changed his religion? 15:13 He is no longer Muslim? That he has become a Christian? 15:18 So there's nothing here for him." 15:20 They even told him, "If you get sick, there's nothing 15:25 here for you. If you need to find a wife, go to those 15:30 Christians. That's your new family. If you need anything 15:35 forget about it. We are no longer here for you. 15:38 We are no longer your family." 15:40 He hadn't anticipated this at all. 15:43 He came for a friendly family visit, 15:46 and there he was rejected. 15:51 They refused him water, the basic commodity of life. 15:56 They said, "Nothing here - we are no longer your family. 16:01 Go to those Christians." 16:09 The next day, he came back to the house, and the tension 16:13 started all over again - the arguing and the fussing 16:16 and the fighting started all over again. 16:18 They called him a dog. They called him terrible names. 16:23 They called him a roach. You're dirty. Just get out of here. 16:27 So he felt it wasn't safe for him, and so he found refuge 16:31 in another house for a period of time until his 16:34 vacation was over. And then he came back. 16:37 And so I asked him at that moment after he shared his 16:42 story, "Abubacar, several months have passed. 16:46 How come you didn't say anything to us? We are 16:50 your family here." He said, "My family rejected me 16:53 there, and I was afraid if I told you that I was confused 16:57 and that maybe I didn't want to be a Christian anymore 17:01 that you would be mad at me, too. That all of you would be 17:04 mad at me, and that all of you would reject me. 17:06 I said, "Abubacar, no way." 17:11 I said, "There's no way 17:12 that we could ever reject you. 17:14 I said, "In Christianity, that's something 17:18 we don't do." I said, "The love of God compels us to 17:21 love others and to seek to draw them closer to Him. 17:24 You have your Christian family here to support you 17:28 and to surround you with love during your trials and 17:31 through your temptations." 17:35 So it's been a long journey for him, but a very positive 17:39 one. Every day he's making new steps. We just praise 17:42 God for that experience, one that showed us that after 17:45 the missionaries have done all they can do, it's still 17:48 really the Holy Spirit that must win that heart 17:52 to Christ. 18:08 On this particular Sunday, it was a normal day. 18:10 I went up top to put out clothes to dry. 18:13 I heard Bubuti's bowl topple to the ground, and that 18:18 meant he was thirsty. So I said, "Okay, Bubuti! 18:21 I'm coming, I'm coming. I'll be there in a minute." 18:24 After I finished putting the clothes up on the line, 18:27 I walked downstairs. I approached him, got his 18:32 little metal bowl, went, filled his bowl with water. 18:35 As I was placing his bowl 18:37 of water down, suddenly 18:40 he lunged at me. 18:43 We started fighting. I was flinging him back. He came 18:46 and he lunged at me again. And I was so angry. 18:49 You know, in my mind, I was like, what's going on? 18:52 Bubuti, what are you doing? 18:53 Blood was dripping, dripping and I had been wounded. 18:58 I had this big hole in my hand from his bite. 19:03 I could just call out, "Marc, Marc, Marc!" 19:06 I said, "Call our doctor friend, Dr. Baldi." 19:11 We had our two student missionary nurses here 19:15 at the time. So they went and got the gauze. They 19:18 went and got the sterile water. They went, you know, got 19:21 everything - the suturing kits, everything. Everybody was 19:24 nervous, and we all knew at that point, that it was a 19:28 satanic attack. We all knew that that evening we were 19:32 supposed to start the culture study that was 19:34 going to be a tool to opening up an avenue 19:37 to reach the Susu people. 19:39 Prayerfully, Dr. Baldi went into caring for my hand. 19:43 But the unfortunate thing was he didnt' have any 19:47 anesthesia. And so as he started with that needle 19:51 going directly into my wound, it was so unbearable. 19:55 Tears start streaming down my face. The doctor was, 19:59 "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, but I have to do this." 20:02 And by the time he finished, I was so exhausted 20:06 from the pain and the crying. He had put three 20:09 layers of stitches between my hand and my fingers 20:12 to close the wound. By that time he had given 20:16 me some pain medicine. And here, the strongest 20:19 thing that they have is Tylanol 3. So that's not 20:23 too strong, especially when you're in pain, 20:25 the type of pain that I was having. 20:30 The next day came, and the second day arrived. 20:34 And I started having a lot of pain. 20:38 So we called the doctor. He came and saw a lot of 20:41 pus, and he saw that the infection was building. 20:44 And none of us thought that this was going to be 20:46 something really serious. We just thought it 20:49 was a wound, and it was going to heal, 20:50 and go back to normal. But that's not the 20:53 course that it took. 20:56 By the fourth day, it became really unbearable. 21:01 And I found myself in my room with my hand up in the air, 21:06 just singing, saying, "Lord, just please help me." 21:09 And I went through hymn after hymn, after hymn 21:12 just trying to occupy myself so I could bear the pain. 21:16 And it didn't really help to know that when your 21:19 neighbors came, they wanted to sympathize with me, 21:22 but they came and they said, "Oh, we heard that you were 21:26 attacked by a monkey. And, you know, we had 21:29 some people here in our same neighborhood that 21:32 were attacked by monkeys, and they didn't make it. 21:34 They died." 21:37 By the fifth or sixth day, it became really 21:40 unbearable and the pain started lodging in my bones. 21:44 And I thought, oh, my goodness, am I getting 21:47 a bone infection now? The medications that they 21:49 gave me weren't helping. It just increased, increased, 21:53 increased. And so, in the back of I mind, I felt, 21:57 Am I going to die here? 21:59 Dr. Baldi suggested that we go and do surgery 22:04 at the local hospital. 22:05 Well, that was a scary thought for me, but by that time, 22:09 I didn't have any choice. Here the hospitals are 22:13 very scary. It's not like the hospitals in the 22:17 United States. So my husband, Dr. Baldi, and myself, 22:21 we went to the hospital. I really don't remember much 22:25 because by that time, my state of mind wasn't 22:28 really focused. But I remember them taking 22:33 me into the operating room, and he assured me that 22:37 things would be okay. 22:38 He just told me to relax. And, of course, the next 22:43 thing I knew I was in the recovery room. 22:47 Well, we got home, and within two days again 22:51 the infection was terrible, and the pain was 22:55 unbearable. And we finally shared with the doctor 22:58 "Doctor, this isn't working." 22:59 He said, "The best thing that you can do, Cathy, 23:03 make sure that you get on a plane today or 23:08 tomorrow. You're at a critical state right now, and you 23:11 you need to get out of here because there's nothing 23:14 else we can do for you." 23:15 So, without any promise of a ticket, without any 23:19 assurance, I packed my bags, and I said, 23:23 "Honey, let's go." 23:25 But by that time, my hand stank. The odor was 23:30 terrible. It was like something that had rotted. 23:35 But I didn't want to alarm my family, so I kept my hand 23:38 kind of close to me. And even for me to 23:41 raise my hand a little bit, the stench was so 23:45 terrible, but I kept it at bay so that at least my 23:49 children wouldn't be alarmed. 23:51 I just received my ticket at eight o'clock, and 23:54 in less than two hours the plane would leave. 23:58 As I was on the plane, it really was terrible. 24:03 There was a lady who was sitting next to me, 24:06 and she had been complaining. 24:09 "I'm not supposed to be on this flight," she said. 24:12 And then she noticed my hand was bandaged. 24:15 And I shared with her that I was attacked by a monkey, 24:17 and I was going home to get treated. 24:19 She said, "I'm a Christian." And she started reading 24:22 from the Psalms. Then she said, "I want you 24:24 to read, too." She said, "God has a plan for you." 24:27 She said, "Now I know why I was not on that last plane." 24:32 She said, "God intended for me sit next to you, and to 24:37 encourage you, and to help you." 24:38 I didn't feel any pain any more during that 24:42 time while I was on the plane. 24:44 We arrived in Texas. The Freeman family was there 24:47 to take me directly to the hospital. 24:49 The physician there said, "You need to have 24:52 emergency surgery right away." He said, 24:55 "Two days ago, I had a dream that I would be working on 24:58 a missionary." 24:59 All I could do was just say, "Praise the Lord! 25:01 Praise God! Praise the Lord!" 25:02 I said, "God, you are faithful." 25:05 You know, when we go out in the battlefield for the 25:10 Lord, Satan is always nearby to discourage and to 25:14 remove, if possible, the missionary. 25:17 But I thank God that He allowed us and gave us the 25:21 strength to continue, come back, and to do His work. 25:25 I solicit your prayers for the Susu people, 25:30 for this project, because Satan is here, and he 25:33 doesn't want these people to know Jesus Christ. 25:43 I've wanted to be a student missionary for 25:45 a long time. I kept thinking about it through college, 25:48 and each year passed. 25:50 Finally, after my fifth year... 25:53 When my family came to 25:54 Guinea, I was four. 25:55 I was born in Cleveland, 25:57 Ohio. My first time going 25:59 back after we came, 26:00 I was seven. And I don't 26:04 really remember anything different. 26:06 I mean, I could tell the difference between Guinea 26:09 and the States, obviously, like how everything is 26:12 so more modernized there. 26:14 Thinking, actually, got me looking into it with AFM, 26:18 and from there on, it's all history. I ended up 26:22 coming out here, and now here I am in Guinea. 26:25 I go to Sabbath school with the other kids my age. 26:28 My mom teaches that class. I'm fourteen. 26:30 I'm in choir. That's really fun. That's a different 26:33 experience. I don't think it's like normal choir. 26:36 But it's still fun. It's fun singing at church 26:39 really cool songs. Different songs in different languages. 26:43 I have to say that I don't understand all of the 26:45 languages we sing. 26:47 God definitely had His hand in bringing me here. 26:50 My assignment here in Guinea has been to teach. 26:54 Teaching Beca and Chelsea. Beca is in 12th grade, 26:57 Chelsea is in 8th grade, and also Fred, another 27:01 part of the team. He's also in 8th grade with Chelsea. 27:04 I do coordinate for adult Sabbath school sometimes 27:07 because they like to rotate people and get the young 27:11 people involved. Sometimes I get nervous, but I know 27:15 it's helping. It's helping me to prepare for later 27:19 on in life. 27:21 I'm kind of learning the ropes as I go. That was 27:23 definitely a challenge, but it's been very fun as well. 27:26 I've enjoyed spending time with them, getting 27:28 to know them. 27:29 I can say I have two homes. Sometimes when 27:32 I refer to home, my parents, my family have 27:35 to ask me, "Which home are you talking about?" 27:38 I have to say Guinea or the States. 27:40 One lesson I've learned since being here is 27:45 one in simplicity. It's easy at home to just 27:50 get caught up and surrounded by so many things. 27:54 And here I don't really have that. And I've learned to 27:59 enjoy just not having to worry about so much stuff. 28:04 Through all the challenges I've faced, I have become 28:08 a stronger person, and also learned to rely more upon 28:12 the Lord. God definitely had his hand in bringing 28:16 me here, and I wouldn't have had it 28:19 any other way. |
Revised 2014-12-17