1.  Pray for the church in the village of Ouega.  Their doors have been shut by force by the villagers. 

2.  The men leading the church of Ouega said yesterday, "Pray for us for next Sunday (Oct. 1) we will start worship services again.  If we die, we die.  If they destroy the church, they destroy the church.  But we will preach Christ." 

THE STORY:

I want to take you back to Ouega (way-gah), an Ayizo village that is entrenched with Voodoo worship.  We've had a number of experiences there which you may recall.

~A medical clinic.  Even though Jeff had approved the clinic's presence with the government officials of the village ahead of time, the morning the volunteers, trucks, and medicines arrived the officials said that we couldn't have the clinic.  They knew we were going to teach Jesus, and didn't want Him in their village.  When the villagers heard that free medical care had come to them and their officials were refusing, they put great pressure on the officials, and we were granted the right to minister to the people.  Two men from a neighboring village of Xosevie (hoe-sev-ee-aye) accepted Christ and invited us to start a church with them.  Xosevie is still growing in Christ.

~A preaching point was started in Ouega.  But after about 2 months we were commanded by the ruling Voodoo priest, Papa Fa (the high priest of divination) to leave.

~A prayer walking team. We walked and prayed with them through Ouega when Jeff received word from Papa Fa that he was angry that we always came to the village to greet folks and never greeted him, and that now we had a group of visitors in his village and we hadn't brought them to see him.  We'd thought he wanted nothing to do with us since he threw God's Word out along with us.  Jeff apologized to Papa Fa, and the prayer walking team prayed with him.  We've maintained a relationship with him.

~A new preaching point was started.  About 1 year before we went back to the States for my medical care a small group of believers started meeting on Sunday mornings.  While we were in America an established Baptist church aided the small band of Ouega believers to build a cement block building.

~Yesterday, Sunday, Sept. 24. We learned that Ouega's doors have been shut for two months!  Another "church" (whether real or a cult we do not know) in the area had a pastor who took advantage of a married woman in the church.  Polygamy is culturally acceptable here.  Fraternizing with the opposite sex before marriage is culturally accepted morality.  But touching someone's wife is a deadly act that arouses the anger of the entire community.

~The result.  When the Baptist church at Ouega was having a conference the people of the village gathered together, surrounded them and forced them, through threats, to lock the door and leave.  The villagers proclaimed, "We don't want any churches in our village."  We suppose the foundation of this problem is the other church's immorality.

~For two months.  The church leaders have been attempting to see the political leaders of the village to regulate this situation, but, as I understood yesterday, the political leaders have refused to give them a hearing.

~The men leading the church of Ouega said yesterday before the church at Xosevie, "Pray for us for next Sunday (Oct. 1) we will start worship services again.  If we die, we die.  If they destroy the church, they destroy the church.  But we will preach Christ." 

May God rule hearts, minds and actions!  May salvation come to Ouega.

Yours in Christ,

Barbara, Jeff and Kari (Jeff is still sick...)