A study in contrast: I visited both a widow and a widower this week. Two different persons, two different ways of mourning. The first lady, in her early seventies, had cared for her 97 year old husband, an invalid for years. She is holding all the cultural rules of the heathen. She wore clothing draped around her and underneath, some of which her husband had worn at death. She sat on a small wooden stool with a white piece of cloth around it. No one else sits on that stool, and she does not sit on anything else. When her husband was buried, they had covered the casket with a white cloth, torn part of it, and the family grabbed it as they parted with the dead, and cut the cloth. Now she sits on the cloth. If she does what is traditional, she will put a portion of her food and drink on the floor beside her - her husband's portion. She cannot attend church. All these things are to protect her so that the dead spirit of her husband will not return and give her major problems. At the end of six to nine months, they will "poeroe blaka" - "take away the black", and her mourning period is over and she can resume normal life. Although this lady is, we believe, genuinely saved, based on her personal testimony, her life, and her faithfulness to church. However, she is one of the few believers in the family, and unwilling to stand against family tradition. As a church, we continue to visit and pray with her during this difficult and spiritually dangerous time.

The other man in his early sixties lost his wife unexpectedly after an attack of sickle cell disease, leaving him with two young girls to care for. The dead family's representatives usually come a week after the burial to enforce all the heathen system. The captain and the family of the wife asked about coming to the man in a week to set the rules. The preacher from Winti Wai told them they did not need to come. The church would take care of mourning. The preacher pointed to a woman sitting near the captain. "You see that woman? You see how healthy she is? She kept the mourning for her husband just as the church asked, and no spirit troubled her." There was no further comment. We, of course, do none of the heathen rites. We simply have the person keep apart from seeking another partner, to live quietly and respectably for usually about six months. We encourage regular church attendance, and try to visit the person frequently during mourning to support him.

We have seen a substantial change in the burial situation in Paramaribo among our Bush Negro families in the 22 years we have been here. The family ties to the heathen culture are slowly weakening. However, the heathen family often will allow the Christian to have a Christian burial, but they will "do their own thing" in the heathen way apart from the Christian burial. Often the family will basically abandon the Christian, a very difficult thing for our people. So we have continued to have special services before the burial, the burial service, and then we have continued to have a service at one week and six weeks after the burial, as well as approximately six months later, when we thank the Lord for His protection and blessing of the family. These services replace the heathen services which they traditionally hold. We do this for two reasons. First, it is an opportunity to witness to the family which does attend - to the power of the Lord, and the love of Christians for each other. Secondly, it is important to give moral support to the person who has lost the loved one, especially when he is abandoned by family, who will still hold their heathen rites. I have seen persons in the USA have lots of visitors at the burial, and then they were pretty much alone.

Please pray for us. We will be having a service at the main church next Tuesday night, six weeks after the death of the wife. Pray that some unsaved will attend and respond to the gospel. Pray for encouragement in the life of the husband as he faces raising two young girls, 10 and eight, while in his sixties. Pray that he will remain pure, and that after the period of mourning, if indeed he should seek a wife, she would be a true believer.

Special request for prayer: Our leadership will be meeting with our bus driver to set his schedule and work out paying him.

Further prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for serving the Lord
2. Our continued spiritual growth
3. Special services over the holiday season
4. Safety in traffic. During this year, there are constant long lines of traffic especially getting to our churches and our people, with long delays.
5. Independence for the churches
6. Projected new Bible Institute as well as the standard Sranantongo Bible Institute