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Andrew and Barbara Hinderlie
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Rwanda, Africa
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Dear Friends in Christ,
I had the opportunity to travel to the southern part of Madagascar last month to visit a regional seminary, STPL Bezaha, which is supported by ELCA Global Mission. It was great to be back in a village where life is slower than the big city of Tana. Although the main purpose of the visit was to accompany the new Theological Education Follow Up Coordinator of FLM, I did take the time to have interesting conversations with students and faculty at the seminary. One of my questions to the students was regarding how they came to be pastoral candidates. Here is one of their stories....
Gaby’s father was a policeman in Morombe so Gaby became a policeman. As a policeman he became part of a gang of corrupt police officers. A gangster revealed in court that the police were part of his operation so an investigation was done and the accused were moved to Antananarivo while they were being investigated. There he heard the call of God. He was drunk on December 22, 2007 and at 4am he woke up. In the darkness, he saw a large tamarind tree and a dog. The dog was coming to bite him and for the first time in his life he called, “Jesus protect me” and the dog went away. Then a voice said,” Do you want to be in prison or do you want to preach the Gospel?” On December 23, he continued to drink. On December 24th the voice continued to say, “Do you want to go to prison or do you want to preach the Gospel?” On the evening of December 24 he went to church and repented. After Christmas he returned to Tulear and two weeks after that, all his police friends were found guilty of banditry. He was set free. Because of this, he decided to become a pastor in order to preach the Gospel. He is about to begin his final year at seminary.
Giving thanks once more to all of you for your support and prayers.
In Christ, the Hinderlies
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