In Grenada there are usually no busses running on a Sunday. So we usually go to the members’ houses to wake them up and pick them up for church by foot.
On an average
Sunday, the temperatures are pretty high, and with our Sunday clothes we walk
down the streets to look for the members. Most people also live of the general
bus routes.
The people who we go and look for on a Sunday often do not want to come to
church, some of them leave their houses early in the morning to avoid us. Although they would have confirmed their
attendance a few days beforehand.
Now one Sunday, I went to look for a young man and I can honestly say that my life was threatened. It is not uncommon in Grenada to see people walking around with cutlasses or machetes.
As I was trying to “anagkazo” the young man and encourage him to come to church, his father came outside. His father cornered me and threatened me to leave his son alone and he said that if his son does not want to go to church, I shouldn’t force his son. He was swinging the cutlas and came right up to me, face-to-face. I honestly thought that he was going to do something to me as I could see the rage in his face. Just because I was trying to “anagkazo” his son, and his son wasn’t having it.
I left and walked away, I felt so discouraged as I was walking back to church (which was a 20-minute walk). There were also no busses, at the time we only had one church bus and the bus was on the other side of town.
I was sweaty, hot and so discouraged as I stepped into the church.
As I reflect on it now, it is only by God’s Grace that I was not harmed that day. Although I was discouraged, I was encouraged to not give up applying “anagkazo” and to pray more, by the Grace of God the church is growing!
Pastor Samuel Bangura, missionary to Grenada
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