We were in our first year in the new position in Gana Ropp, in the
school run by missionaries. My husband and I were among the staff as carers and
mentors. He was also in the teaching cadre and we lived within the premises. In
August 2015, about the end of the second week, violence erupted around us.
Fulani herdsmen opened fire around us that day. Clashes between them and the
indigenous Birom people had turned bloody. Suddenly a man ran towards our wall
to escape the melee. When he scaled the wall the block on top fell off. Bullets
were fired in our direction and there was real fear the herdsmen would enter
the school compound and cause mayhem.
Urgent calls were made to the international and national leadership to
intervene. We had lost a missionary before in the Boko Haram insurgency; no one
planned to die and the ministry certainly did not want casualties. As it is written, "For your sake we are being put
to death all day long. We are thought of as sheep headed for slaughter."
In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us Rom 8:36-37(ISV).
There was real fear the armed men would enter in that night. The order
to evacuate was urgent. I had just started cooking rice and was in the kitchen
when the order to evacuate came. I carried nothing out; not even my husband
could move across the wall to get our belongings. We took our daughter and
moved. The staff fled. Thank God the students were on recess. How would we have
coped? The women were evacuated into the bus to safety and the men were to pass
the night at the mission base. As we left my husband inquired the direction we
were headed for our bus was moving in the direction of the gunshots. “I have been instructed to evacuate” was
the reply he got. Well we drove on to escape; and then before us were the armed
men with their guns! Suddenly the young man driving seemed unable to continue.
He turned the wheel from one direction to another and then the vehicle stopped.
We had run away to escape the gunmen and now had run into them and our vehicle
had stopped, apparently spoiled. Clearly we were sitting ducks! Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil: for thou art
with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Ps 23:4(KJV).
Our driver could not continue. Fear had gripped him. A call was made
through to the national director “We are
dying...” Incredibly no one shot at us or came over to harm us. We realised
then that a mighty soldier is not
delivered by his great strength. It is vain to trust in a horse for
deliverance, even with its great strength, it cannot deliver. Indeed, the LORD
watches those who fear him; those who trust in his gracious love to deliver
them from death Ps
33:16-19(ISV). It was 2 days after that my husband was able to briefly return to our
compound and pour away the food we had left in a hurry. In our shelter I now
sent for slippers, and some had to send for undergarments. Such was our haste. It
was two weeks before we returned to base. Our things in the fridge had all
spoilt, but God has preserved us.
Regina and her
husband are missionaries stationed in Plateau State
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