Losing One of Our Four Muskateers

Thursday 16 October
Margaret Hull writes:

Hi everyone. There’s lots of activity here this morning. Barb is waiting for the rain to let up a little so that they can make the dash to Air France to weigh in and get boarding passes. Though the plane leaves only a bit before midnight to make its way up to Paris, check in is this morning.

We’re all sorry to see Becky go. She had a good ministry here and all the people have fallen in love with her. Because of her 34 years of teaching experience, being the mother of twins, and losing her husband to cancer six months ago, she has a lot of points of reference with these women.

Not only do we have to be flexible with the hours of electricity that we have, but in other things as well. Last evening at the widows’ meeting (which I hope to tell you about later) we made arrangement for eight women to come here to the mission and I would interview them, get their stories, and take pictures of them. We arranged that two would come two each day for four days. This morning six of them showed up, in the rain! So instead of finishing this blog, I’ll go do interviews.

Lois Wilson writes:

Excuse me…. It’s now Lois writing. My two visitors just left after a wonderful visit. Christine, my prayer partner at Bata, and Marcelline, head of the Bata pre-school. I had the privilege to teach both of these women and to see them both grow in the Lord by leaps and bounds. It’s been exciting to visit with them this week. They came to Bangui to take part in the Seminar taught by Becky Dick. Christine teaches adult women who are either still illiterate, or are beginner readers. Marcelline teaches the wee children of the Bible Institute students. Students bring their families when they come to study at Bible Institute for 3 yrs.

The reason for today’s visit was so Christine and Marcelline could spend time sitting with me to mourn my Mother’s death. I was in PA when my Mother went to Heaven October 2, 2007, but my family here in C.A.R. mourned as well. So today these dear sisters in Christ came to help “share my sorrow”. Such a wonderful family God has given me here in Africa.


Margaret Hull writes again
Margaret again. I wanted to tell you about our meeting with widows yesterday afternoon at Madame Zo Koe’s house. Almost all the ladies were already gathered in the shade on the north side of the house when we arrived. Small tables had been set with soft drinks, sandwiches, and thermoses of coffee and tea. We had barely gotten started when the sky darkened, the wind blew, drops began to fall, and we all dashed to the big porch to continue the meeting.

Becky’s testimony, as she shared her experiences as a widow, was especially effective. Barb had asked me to tell about widows in Portugal and the sadness in their lives, the way they wear their mourning clothes from the day of the husband’s death to the end of their own life, whether it be 10 years or 40, how they go to the cemetery every week to burn a candle and pray for his soul.

What a contrast there is between the widows of Portugal who live in the presence of death, and the widows of CAR who hang on to life! Later we heard testimonies of several of the women, and it was both heart-breaking and uplifting, to hear of their sorrows and yet their hope in the Lord. The meeting ended with a fantastically joyful time of singing, dancing, claping and giving of thanks.