By IVY PETERSEN
LLEN WHITE'S STATEMENT "THROUGH THE two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions" (The Great Controversy, p. 588) led my husband, Louis, and me to prepare and present weekend Bible conferences on these topics in various countries in the Southern Africa Union and beyond. We entitled the first series "Proclaiming the Sabbath More Fully."
Here are three experiences based on entries in my 2001 diary.
April 26: Botswana
We were to present the Sabbath Bible conference in Maun and in Francistown, with a week of leadership training seminars in both places in between. We carried with us an overhead projector, screen, public address system, camera, and boxes of books and handouts. At the border we were ordered to pay
10 percent of the value of the equipment before we could enter. We told the customs agents that we didn't carry that kind of money. "Then go back home and get it," we were ordered.
Did they really expect us to drive 1,500 kilometers to get more cash?
Lord, what do we do now?
Don't leave, we were impressed. Keep talking.
We did, and we were allowed through at last, with stern warnings for next time.
April 27: Gaborone Airport
We were just about to board the plane for Maun when I discovered that the right lens of my eyeglasses was missing. I immediately went cold all over. Lord, you know my right eye is practically useless, I prayed. With all these appointments, I need my glasses. Please help me!
A voice came over the intercom: "The flight to Maun has been delayed." Thank you, Lord.
I dashed into the airport check-in lounge, wondering how on earth
I would find a bit of glass on this shiny white-tiled floor, under all these hundreds of tramping feet. First I searched the baggage counter, then the vast lounge area, then the curb outside, then back inside, then back to the counter.
And there, neatly propped against the wall under the ledge, out of the way of the busy feet, was my lens. Any thank-You I can say is entirely inadequate, Lord.
We arrived at the bustling airport of world-famous Maun, on the Okavango Delta, and waited for our luggage. Louis's suitcase was there, as was all the equipment. "Where's my case?" I wondered. The airline employees weren't very helpful. "Your case must've gone on the Johannesburg plane by mistake," they surmised. "It'll get here in a few days," they tried to assure me.
"But my first meeting is tonight," I said hopefully.
Dear Lord, the clothes don't matter all that much. I'll have to buy or borrow things to wear. But most of the handouts for my presentations are in that case.
Louis left the terminal and sauntered over to where the plane was still sitting on the tarmac. He peered into the open baggage compartment and asked the loading crew to allow him to search inside. There lay the green case, at the bottom of the luggage stacked for the next stop.
Lord, somebody's not happy with what we are doing, but You are stronger. You have my humble gratitude, now and forever.
We recalled the promise "Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear" (Isa. 65:24).*
JULY 25
We arrived at the Namibian border post, 1,450 miles (900 kilometers) from home, and were asked to produce work permits to enter Namibia. We were completely ignorant of such a requirement. There followed an hour's pleading: "We are going to present training seminars. . . . Our work is totally voluntary, unpaid. . . . It is church work, not business. . . . We've never been asked for a permit before."
Our passports were stamped "Entry Denied," and we were curtly told to go back to South Africa.
I was close to tears as we sat in the car in the tiny noman's-land between the border posts. Lord, we have a weekend women's ministries rally coming up in Tsumeb, 2,270 miles (1,400 kilometers) away. People will travel long distances for this. Then, dear Lord, we have four weeknight leadership seminars for the Windhoek churches. What will happen there? And the Sabbath Bible conference at the Rehoboth Spa, booked and paid for. Lord, this is our extremity.
We called Windhoek with our sad story. The Namibia Field president, L. Mubonenwa, told us he'd try to get help the next day. Louis wandered into the South African border post and disconsolately announced that we had been refused entry. The head of the post "happened" to hear him and asked why. Louis explained our predicament and mentioned Mubonenwa. Oh yes, the Namibian head had "happened" to listen to his religious radio broadcasts.
"Tell him to go to home office tomorrow," the supervisor said. "We'll see what we can do."
We spent the night at a little camp near the border. The next morning Mubonenwa went to the home affairs office in Windhoek and stood around in the foyer. What should he do now? The minister for home affairs "happened" to walk through just at that moment. The two men glanced at each other, and glanced again. It just so "happened" that they had worked together on a project many years ago. Mubonenwa explained our situation and showed the minister a copy of our program. "A seminar on family violence?" he asked. "This is a community service! Let them in, but they must report here tomorrow."
And so, after 22 hours on the border and at least three more "coincidences," we were in Namibia, eventually able to meet every appointment. Coincidence? There's no such word as coincidence in heaven's vocabulary.
We recalled another Bible promise: "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him" (Ps. 37:7).
November 16
Lesotho was the easiest country to get into, not a spot of border bother. We were going to present for the first time our second Bible conference, "A Matter of Life and Death," on the subject of death and Satan's end-time deceptions. After the Friday evening meeting we returned to our room on the sixth floor of the Victoria Hotel in Maseru to collate some handouts.
Questions for Reflection or for Use in Your Small Group
1. What Bible promises are you especially fond of? Why?
2. Briefly describe an incident in which you felt that some barriers were being placed in your path to prevent you from making progress in your spiritual pilgrimage. How did you overcome the obstacles?
3. Does God always eliminate barriers that stand in our way? Or does He sometimes send us on detours that more completely fulfill His will? Share some examples from your own experience.
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Louis moved the large television set off the desk and onto a low seat next to it, and we got to work. Eventually we slept. The foot of the bed was about one meter from the desk.
In the early hours of the morning we were awakened by a horrendous crashing, screeching noise that seemed to go on forever and made us wonder if the roof was collapsing. When it was quiet, Louis put his hand down next to the bed and felt something large and hard on the floor. When he switched on the light, we saw the heavy back section of the TV set sitting a couple inches from where his head had rested on the pillow. The set was on its face on the carpet, some distance from the seat where it had been placed. The back section and the tube were broken, and screws and bits of glass lay embedded in the carpet.
We spent many hours puzzling over this event before we spoke to anyone about it. We told our story and left contact details at the hotel's reception desk, but we heard nothing further from them. Our program was fully and successfully completed. Our brothers and sisters in Lesotho had just one explanation for what happened that night: a television set was thrown at us because, through this Bible conference, we were directly intruding on the enemy's turf.
These words of Scripture came to our minds: "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them" (Ps. 34:7).
Thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord.
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*Bible texts in this story are quoted from the New International Version.
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Ivy Petersen is women's ministries director for the Southern Africa Union.
