My parents returned from Ghana and Togo in South Africa just one week before Christmas. Over the weekend, I spent some time editing and typing an article on their trip to be published in their church newsletter. My father's writing just gets better and better and this article was fascinating and fun.
Two of the stories he shared struck me. The first was about how a tribal chief in Togo invited them to sit with him under the Tree of Truth. The interpreter explained that the Chief had put a voodoo curse on the tree so anyone who sat underneath the tree and told a lie would die. The interpreter added that many people had died where they sat under the tree. He continued to explain that the Chief is now a Christian and has ordered his entire tribe of approximately 1,000 people to be Christians, as well.
Sure wish it were that simple in this country. I can't even demand that my children be Christians, let alone 997 other people. And, although he's a Christian now, he still asked my parents to sit with him under the Tree of Truth!
The second story was how he and my mother split up towards the end of their mission and went to different villages with two different teams. That evening, as they compared notes, my mother told about how the Missionaries approached the tribal chief of the village and asked permission to evangelize in his area. A Council Member from the tribe was assigned to work with them. Apparently, the Council Member was quite taken with my 78-yr. old mother and asked her to marry him. She got quite shaken up but politely explained that she was already happily married. He reassured her that there was no problem with that - he also was happily married. But he was willing to take her as a wife, as well. Mom politely declined his invitation. When she told Daddy about her day, he told her that while she was sidestepping matrimony with a Tribal Council Member of one tribe, he was trying to explain to a native mother why he couldn't marry one of his granddaughters off to one of her 3 sons. He made the mistake, apparently, of showing her pictures of several of his granddaughters, including Deanna. The woman was quite insistent that they unite their families in marriage and asked Papa to take one of her sons back with him to the U.S. and marry him to Deanna. Daddy explained that Deanna was only 11 and the woman said that, if necessary, her 38-year old son could wait one year. My father tried to explain that we don't arrange marriages in this country for our own children, let alone our grandchildren. The woman was quite taken aback by that and asked how we ever got anything done RIGHT!
She even dangled the promise of goats and chickens in front of Daddy's nose to coerce him. She was willing to offer quite a nice dowery for Deanna's hand. Papa had to work very hard to sidestep the issue without offending the woman.
My parents returned not having joined themselves or any of their family to an African family, but is seems to have been quite a challenge.
At least now I have a great threat to use on Deanna. "If you don't straighten up and clean up that room, I'll be shipping you off to meet your new African husband!"
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