Saying goodbye: hope, joy and the family of God

A fitting way to end it. So was my final night in Godoholo, Suriname. After nearly 14months doing ministry and living life in the well-known Aukaan village on the upper Tapanhoni River, the last goodbyes, embraces, poignant words and sincere expressions of gratitude were given on a most edifying and God-glorifying occasion. And oh yeah.…It was an absolute blast of a time.

During the months preceding my departure, I had been planning exactly how I wanted my final night in the village to be spent. Of a joyous and fun-filled evening, there was no question. A big party was going to be in the mix. Exactly how it would be done, what the content of the program would be…well I didn’t figure all that out until about 10 P.M Tuesday October 12 –when the party was over.Despite logistical uncertainties such as how much food to buy, how many people would actually show up, would the village have electricity, everything went unusually smooth. I had concerns about whether or not non-Christians would come and how “Christian” the fesa “feast”/party would be. Well, the party was 100% Jesus.

Members from the congregation wrote out a program that was full of worship music, reading of scripture, testimonies and dancing. Our second song was a bold mockery of the traditional village healer called the "bonuman. I knew some of the village leaders who had no regard for Christianity would come as I had invited them and who would stay (at least out of respect for me). Sure enough, they came, with many others who have yet to set foot in the Church but who heard the Gospel message, saw the Holy Spirit working and who I know witnessed the Joy of the Lord. I later felt conviction and regret that I was concerned the party might be “too Christian”. Praise God it was! What a lesson for Mr. Missionary.

At the scheduled starting time there were about 10 people there and I was consequently discouraged that perhaps only a handful would even come. Well, we started singing worship songs, the same ones sung acapella every Sunday assisted only by one tambourine. But as the minutes passed by people filed in. A majority stayed on the outside fringes watching but hesitant to be a part of “church”. People gave the most loving and emotionally-stirring words, especially those whom I was closest to. Various people came to the front, sang, presented gifts, preached the message of Christ boldly. I was excited at the opportunity to speak in front of such a big group. It was by far the biggest audience to which I had the chance to “preach”. I gave my sincerest gratitude to the people for allowing me to live with them for that time.

My words of thanks were anything but a pretense to reality –the Aukaaners of Godoholo were generous, hospitable, warm and welcoming. I can’t recall a day without receiving at least one free meal from somebody. Little kids would shout my name out and give me hugs whenever I passed by. You realize why the Bible says the poor are blessed in God’s eyes. Prior to my departure, villagers made laments about my leaving and incessantly posed the simple and yet painfully difficult question: “when are you coming back?” When it came my time to speak I projected what was on my heart. I answered the question of my return as a segue into the deeper and preeminent issue of death. The truth is only God knows when or if I will return. Tomorrow may never come. I may return but you may be dead. My going back to the U.S. can be perceived as “death” in a loose sense if I never get the chance to come back to Suriname and we never meet again. This, then is a rather sobering occasion… unless of course, you’re part of the family of God. Unless, you know Jesus as your savior. Only if you have sincere hope for the life eternal. I gave them the Gospel message. Jesus calls you to come follow him and offers to free you from what you fear most and from which you cannot escape. If you are part of God’s family there may be sadness, but not the kind of those who have no hope.

I exhorted them to not turn their heads the other way and ignore an offer of hope they’ll find nowhere else. There were plenty of “amen’s” from believers in the village who knew full well, even if the worst possible scenario were to occur, death, we know we cannot be hurt by the eternal and absolute second death. We'll meet again regardless! You often wonder what becomes of a message, preached without a microphone, interrupted by kids playing, babies crying and even hindered by my own fit of coughing. But the Word does not return void as we know.

I feel my message was very symbolic and representative of my ministry in Godoholo. I had many opportunities to share the Gospel message, to get to the root cause of why people won’t come to Christ and why others do. The Holy Spirit must do the work in changing lives. A missionary’s role is to bring the Word to them. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. Romans 10:17 God is good. He blessed my two years as a journeyman and my one year, 9 1/2 months on the field. It will be exciting to see either in this life or the next what fruit was borne of my truly short time working among the Aukaan people.