Page 146 - Unseen Hands by Nona Freeman

Unseen Hands
we could destroy this work." Within a short time, he had a stroke that left him paralyzed and mindless. He was treated in hospitals for two years without improvement. A witch doctor bathed him in blood regxdarly and per formed many other rituals for a year, without results. His family took him home to die. Later, one of the beaten men, Hailu, prayed for him, and his mind partially returned. Today his wife is a born again member of the new Apostolic church that Hailu built and is pastor in Awasa. He walks with a cane as a reminder of God's mercy.
According to ancient Ethiopian tradition, every ac quaintance of a deceased person is expected to attend the funeral, and someone not buried in a church cemetery is considered lost and without God. Since Apostolics are denied the right to church cemeteries, their faith must supersede tradition.
Erkenesh's older sister Bizunesh knew her one-year- old infant could not live. She and her husband traveled to a remote QTBR ivliere graves could be dug. One week after the death of Moses, five strangers helped them bury their little one. Later another believer named Molash, took her sick baby to Addis and returned to A wasa to care for the rest of her family. Tekle and Erkenesh helped Mamo, the father, find a place to bury the child. When the baby died, Molash was unable to attend the funeral.
On the many trips Brother Freeman made to Ethio pia, on my first visit in 1971, and during the latter trips of others—the Doyle Spearses, C. G. Weeks, and T. L. Craft—all of us saw the evident tokens of cataclysmic upheaval ahead. The first week of April, Brother Wendell called Brother Freeman, regional field supervisor for Africa. "Come and help us," he requested. "The church
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