And no I’m not referring to myself! I haven’t been holding out on you and keeping a fiancé under wraps. I’m in town for a break and my coworker, Elias has been shooting short little emails as to what’s happening in Wabuku. Yesterday I got an email that Aendrien, one of the new believers had taken a widow, Ame, another believer as a second wife. I was rather bummed in that we’ve already seen such a change in him already that I wouldn’t be surprised if he became a leader or elder in the church in the future. So I hated to see him disqualify himself by taking a second wife. I knew too that my sister, Kayne, his wife, would not be happy – and as a young believer herself, I wondered how it would flesh out. Then today, Elias wrote and said that Aendrien has backed off because Wobre has made an official marriage proposal to this same lady. Not sure that Ame wants to marry anyone but she doesn’t have much say, short of running away to Bayyo, her home village. She’s the one that’s been teaching her kids – her two sons are believers too, along with her oldest married daughter.
Personally, I’d rather that Wobre marry her than Aendrien….for the sake of the church. Wobre is still an unbeliever and he’s determined to take a second wife so for the church’s sake, it would be better for him to take a second wife than the other guy. It’s not a done deal yet but that’s the latest news.
It’s so funny….before we were concerned about the salvation of our friends before but now not only are we concerned about the salvation of some, but we have new ‘concerns’ for these brand new believers – wanting to see them grow and how their choices, even as babes in Christ will affect them down the line, and the rest of the Body of Christ in this little village. So keep praying for your folks if you’re praying for someone individually – or for the church as a whole. Pray for wisdom for us as we disciple and know when to share and how much to share when some of these things haven’t been taught yet.
