by a Team Expansion worker in a sensitive location
She watched, listened, and finally danced with joy!
Bei’s face and hands are weathered and wrinkled beyond her 50-some years, but she exhibits the strength and agility of a much younger woman.
We first met Bei after we were able to take her very ill daughter to the hospital. Bei couldn’t have been more thankful.
After that, she began to watch. We built a prayer/residential bamboo hut in her village, and she would come and watch without saying anything.
When we started fellowship and prayer at her village, she came and listened.
From Observer to Participant
After some months of quietly watching and listening, she declared that she too would follow Christ Jesus. She was immersed in a beautiful river near her village.
After the baptism, we joined together in singing and prayers. As we walked back to the village, Bei danced for all of us. She was so very happy. Before this, we had only known her serious side.
We’ve seen so much joy in Bei since her baptism. She loves to give. She brings her money for Sunday offering. She brings sticky rice for me. She sends home vegetables for my family.
Her Heartbreaking Story
But as we got to know Bei more, we realized her life has been submerged in pain and sadness.
She lost her father before she was born. When she was very young, her mother also died. After that, she was raised by one of her mom’s brothers, but when she was still 10 or 11, he sold her in marriage to a man more than twice her age.
“I was sold for two bags of rice, one pig and sixty rupees.”
With a sad and painful look she told us, “I was sold for two bags of rice, one pig and sixty rupees.”
The man who bought her treated her very badly, hitting her countless times. She still carries scars over her joints and wrists.
For the last 12 years though, her husband has been paralyzed and confined to his bed.
Her sons are poor and can barely take care of their own families, and so she carries the burden of providing.
She is an expert midwife. She helps women deliver, and the families pay her small amounts. With whatever income she thus gathers, she runs her house.
Her woes have not ended. The ailing husband still threatens her with dire consequences.
Most of her sons and some villagers started avoiding her when she became a follower of Christ. Some scolded her fiercely for leaving her old faith. But she was not shaken.
Clinging to the hope she’s never known before, she joyfully declared, “Whether I live or die, I will not leave ‘Jisu Baba’ (Daddy Jesus).”
