Page 21 - Unseen Hands by Nona Freeman

Time and Again
enrolled in school. Angrily, his parents brought him home again to assist in the unending toil of the farm.
He helped for another year, then made his decision: "I must have an education at any cost."
Seeing his determination, his parents did not stand against him, but neither could they offer him support. His brother-in-law who lived near the mission would welcome him only as a full-time farmhand. He could not find a part- time job to provide the barest necessities. Eggs finally solved his problem; scouring the villages and farms, he bought eggs cheaply and sold them to the merchants in town for a small profit. The proceeds bought clothes and school needs, and he completed eight grades in four years at the mission school.
From age eighteen Tekle suffered a chronic type of hemorrhaging dysentery. Neither ancient apothecaries nor so-called "holy waters" nor modem doctors gave him relief. His left leg shriveled fi-om a large boil that had him continually groaning with pain for three months. As the woman who touched the hem of the Savior's garment, he suffered many things a t the hands of many physicians, even blood poisoning from unsterilized, hypodermic needles.
One day he dragged his frail body onto a rocky ledge to bask in the sunshine, utterly miserable with pain and nausea. A young boy, full of the Holy Ghost, saw him there and said in compassion, "Jesus heals, even today."
Tekle's familyreligionmademuchofthe trinity doc trine, often referring to "God the Son." His full given name, Teklemariam, means "the son of Mary," but he knew nothing of Jesus. "Where in the world can I find Jesus?" he asked, bewildered.
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