Sister Agnes Gabito FSP,
A Filipino missionary

In Taiwan for 24 years

LEAVING HOME
In the year 1963, two weeks after my final vows, I left the Philippines and went to China to spread the good news with Chinese brothers and sisters. I spent almost half of my existence in that mission as other missionaries did, and I would willingly share a few of the truths I discovered and lived during those 26 years away from my own country. Those experiences were precious and have become a part of my life.

STRANGERS
One day, a man I did not recognize anymore, came over to me with this wife and the two children, a boy and a girl. He said: “Do you still remember us? We were here some years ago and you told us something we never forgot so that both of us decided to become a Christians. Now we are here to tell you that we are married in the church and also the children are all baptized. We have been touched by God’s Grace. We have come to visit you and to say thank you very much for sharing with us the faith which is now as precious to me as my own life and my family?

NEW CHRISTIAN
Recently, a young lady was baptized because of the new word shared with her. Her name is Miss Chang Huei Liang, her new name is now Teresa. Really, I don’t know how to express how I feel… I mean, I am very happy as a religious and as a missionary sister.

OPENING HEARTHS TO LOVE
Many things happened in a minute, in an hour, in a day, in a week, in a year and most especially with in those 26 years. And never do I forget that every event in my life is a deep, deep truth of the love of God for me. I learned to listen, to be silent, to searched, to grow in understanding with my new non- believing brothers and sisters in Christ that they too may one day learn to know Christ.

Missionary life means becoming one with them, meeting the people of God, sharing their joys and sorrows, opening their hearths to the promptings of Christ. 

 

By Fr Joseph Panabang SVD

When I arrived in Ghana, a veteran sister repeated the same advice I receive in the Philippines from other veteran missionary priest: “For the first three months, it is really hard. But do not worry; the coming months will be harder!”
* * *

Ntankoro is my oldest and the biggest village but it is plagued by the idea that the priest must support the, the laity by giving them food, clothing, money and such, like with the laity with not supporting him in return. The Church President of this village unfortunately did not have a good name. He is said to have consulted a fetish priest and killed sheep for the river gods when under pressure. He was very sick then.

During my visit, he said that he had a dream and wanted me to interpret it. This was his dream; he was holding a cup of water and he wanted to give it to me. But while offering the cup he was saying, “It is good or bad?” Now, he wanted to know the answer. “This dream is interesting, “I said. Then, like Joseph the Dreamer of old, I proceed: “The meaning of your dream is this: you must support you priest materially and spiritually. The water symbolizes the blessings the priest gets from your support and also the blessing for you in return. The question, ‘Is it good or bad? Is the voice of the devil tempting you? So then, obviously the answer is, ‘Yes, it is good.’ It is good to give the cup of water to the priest, for Christ said that he who gives a cup of cold water to one of his disciples will not go unrewarded.” Whew!
* * *
Kwasi, one of our Church members, was suffering from a big infected swollen wounds. He asked me for medicine and I said to him, “Do you know the guava tree?” “No father.” So the interpreter showed him a guava tree. I continue, “Now, take the fresh leaves, boil them, then take the water and wash the wound everyday. It well okay in time. “Shaahhh, I thought a foreigner could never be an herbalist,” Kwasi broke out.
* * *
An old loving sister tenderly advised me: “Here in Ghana, there are only three things you need in order to be successful and happy. Number one: Patience. Number two: Patience. Number three: Patience.
* * *

Here, they call me ‘small boy.’ I like asking them to guess my age because they always guess it is below 30. I told them that I am 35 years old; they would not accept it. They said that I was lying. One time, I was about to start the Mass when I discovered I did not bring the Mass kit containing all the paraphernalia for the Mass Putting back my vestments I drove back to the main station. During the homily, I told them, “You saw me going back to get the Mass kit. I forgot it, I forgot it. Now for those who never believed I am already old. They will not believed you because you have no authority yet, not being a member of the elders (mpanyimfo). Ang hirap, akala ninyo.

By Sister Marcelle Theresa, SPC

Sr. Marcelle Theresa a placid and unflappable Filipino Sister from Cagayan de Oro City, find herself in the midst of the INTIFADA: the prolonged Arab uprising in the occupied territories. She is bewildered but she trust in God and asks Him to lead her on quietly in faith.

            In 1967, a war between the Arabs and the Israelis resulted in the occupation by Israel of certain Arab territories: Sinai, Gaza, Golan Heights, the West Bank and a part of Jerusalem. Sinai has been returned to Egypt but the other territories remain under Israeli control.

MANILA TO BETHLEHEM

            On September 1, 1985, I arrived in Bethlehem, on the famous West Bank of the Jordan. In order to join the teaching staff of Bethlehem University.

TOWER OF BABEL

It was a happy university, like one big family. Basically, it was no different from those I have been used to, except that English was not the only language spoken around. I found out that Arabic was the primary language and one could also get by with French. In fact, there was many languages as there were nationalities.

PROTEST AND DEMONTRATIONS

            I also that there was, with out fail, a weekly interruption of the classes. It was a normal thing although no one could ever tell which day in the week it would happen. Most of the time it would, come from the student leaders. After a while, I got used to this phenomenon that I must admit I would be looking forward to it, and I thought a week with out interruption would really be a boring week! It was filled with excitement and, sometimes, one had to run for one’s life, especially when the interruption would turn into confrontation between the students and the Israeli soldiers. But that is not the point. I marveled on how the students had tremendous coping abilities: their being able to concentrate on their lesson and on getting very good marks and at the same time be burning with zeal for their Palestinian cause. I really admired them; I have not seen this kind of the challenge placed in the front of the Filipino students not in this way.

 

 

 

ABNORMAL NORMAL

            After two years of this abnormal’ normal years,’ which in fact managed to comply with the course outline, my own exposure changed from teacher to office worker.

UNIVERSITY CLOSED DOWN

            In November, 1987 the University was closed by the Israeli Military Government for an indefinite period. At first I thought it was the end of ‘our mission here, that we could pull out and go somewhere else, in my case perhaps to where our own sister are, like Peru or Africa.

CHANGE OF ROLE

            Seeing that the University would still be functioning as an entity, I applied for the finance office and, because of my professional training and background. I got the job of accountant. And so

 

 

 

 

By Father Eugene Ryan, SSC

Bursar General of the Columban Fathers

ONE TRILLION DOLLARS. This is the amount owed by Third World countries to the richer nations I did not gradually mount up over a period of 30 or 40 years: It mushroomed in the last 15, and is still growing alarmingly.

This debt is effectively strangling the Thrird World and reducing it to a state that border on slavery. It is tearing apart the economic and social fabric of Latin America and bringing with it what Pope John Paul II recently called a ‘state of inhuman poverty.’ Even the Wall Street Journal refers to the ‘intractability’ of this debt problems and ‘its crushing human toll.’

Many Latin America countries are now so deeply in debt that all their new loans are devoted entirely to paying the interest on the old ones. The result is more debt and yet more interest. They owe so much that to pay it they are siphoning off funds they need desperately to alleviate crushing poverty at home.

The countries of Latin America are responsible for over $400 billion of this trillion dollar debt. $ 400,000,000,000.00: four hundred thousand million. Interest payments on this debt gobble up such a huge slice of export earnings that in  effect these countries are working for the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the a consortium of private banks.

Between 1982 and 1985 Latin America somehow managed to pay back over $106 billion to foreign banks. At the same time they were getting poorer, and fast. Living standards fell 10% in Mexico, 14% in Peru, 17% in Argentina, 25% in Brazil, 30% in Bolivia and a staggering 35% in Venezuela.

Say Cardinal Arns of Sao Paolo, Brazil: It’s impossible to go on this way: we have already taken everything the people had to eat, even though two thirds of them are already going hungry. We must stop giving blood and misery of our people to pay the First World’.

Brazil paid back $69billion in interest between 1979- 85 and its only reward is to be deeper in debt than ever. The Ministry of Planning estimated in 985 that two-thirds of the populations were undernourished. Yet Brazil now trail only the U.S. in the Food exports- soybeans, orange juice chicken and coffee head the long list of food exports.

Bolivia’s Medical Council found in 1986 that 80% of Bolivia’s live in poverty and half of that number live in misery. Of every thousand children born, 253 die before the age of three. In Peru nutritional studies have shown a steady increase in children’s food deficiency. In Lima 24% of all children were undernourished in 1972. By 1985 that figure had jump to 36%. This is the human face of what many of the world’s financial institution regard as a’ technical problem.’

It is not difficult to understand why this debt is the overriding problem for the Third World. Any assistance or any solution that is not taken in the framework of this problem is only a patch that will never hold anyway since the whole fabric is rotten.

HOW DID WE GET THERE? How in the name of all that is holy could countries rack up such debts in such a short time?

Buying on credits is the only way to for most people to afford home ownership or fund their own or their children education. The vast majority of them pay back their loans successfully and are better off as a result. In the same way, there is nothing infamous or irresponsible about corporate or national debts. It is an integral part of the workings of a modern economy. Our world today could hardly function with out it. So how could a normal economic phenomenon like national debts turn into such an intractable problem?

The ingredients that went into this mess were mainly greed, corruption, stupidity and expediency with a very small dash of honesty and common sense. Like most other messes in this world we find quite a few factor involved.

Until 1973 the Latin America debt was not a great problem. Then came the oil shock. Led by Saudi Arabia’s sheik Yamani, the petroleum exporting countries formed a cartel (OPEC) and raised the price oil. They did not just raise it they blow it right out of water. On October 15th, 1973, Persian Gulf oil was $3.65 a barrel. When the cartel finished their meeting, oil was jacked up to $17.00 a barrel. The Latin American countries had no chance. They had one choice-borrow more money to pay for the oil or watched their economies grind a halt. They borrowed up to this, private banks held only 22% of the Third World Debts, but they wanted the larger slice of the action. Here was their chance. In the next eight years they pushed this sliced to 60%. They were now in this game in a big way. The International Monetary fund, The World Bank, the other government agencies steeped out of the way to make room for the high rollers. Even they did not have that sort of money. Then came the second shock. In 1979 the price of oil was raised again from $ 17.00 to $ 34.00. This was the final straw. The destruction of the debtors nations was well on the way. Now they were getting so heavily into debt they could not pay the interest.

After the first oil shocked in 1973 the debtor nations were barely keeping their heads above water. Any further waves could drown them. And inevitably, the waters got tougher- a lot tougher.

As rising oil prices fuelled inflation, interest rates started to rise. They reached a peak in May, 1981, when the interest rate hit a staggering 21.5%. You will get some idea of the effect of this when consider the result of mere 1% rise in rates: Brazil annual payments go up by $580 million and all of Mexico’s tourist earnings for a year are wiped out.

            But we are not finished with the disasters.

            As the world started  to go into recession ,commodity prices tumbled. The price of thirty primary commodities, on which the Third World depends heavily for export, shrank 34% between 1974 and 1985. For the First World this was a bonanza. The economist estimates that the West saved %65billion in 1985 alone in lower commodity prices- complements of the Third World.

            Reeling from this triple blow- the oil price rise, the interest rate rise, and the fall of export prices, Latin America was now getting into spiraling debt situation, borrowing just to pay interest on the debts. The strain was too great and the first crack appeared in 1982. Mexico threatened to default.

            WE CAN NOT EXONERATE the military Juntas and civilian elites who run the Third World countries. Their inefficiency and corruption has contributed very largely to the present economic morass and its consequent toll of misery.

            Morgan Guarantee Bank estimated that between 1983-85 out of all the new loans given to Latin America 70% were shipped back out. This is grand larceny on the grandest scale. A lot of these billions left literally in suitcases. The Bank even stooped low enough to send couriers for the money. One banker in 1986 admitted that his bank regularly ‘sends a guy with two empty suitcases’ to Mexico City- and this despite the fact that Mexico was broke again and currency controls were in effect.

            A former U.S. State Official points out: ‘Bringing back even a fraction of the $130 billion or so in “flight capital” would take care of the region’s debts- servicing problem for years to come.’

            Any chance? Not a hope. There are so many countries, too many people, too many hiding places.

            During the ten years 1972-82 the OPEC countries were awash with money and so banks were awash with money to lend. This meant ‘easy money’ for the Third World countries. Who jump in immediately? The Generals, and there were a lot of them around in 1972.

            The International Peace Research Institute in Stockholm estimates that 20% of the Third World debt can be attributed directly to arms purchases. Between 1978 and 1985 the Third World ordered an estimated $258 billion in arms and actually took delivery of $220 billion of it Included in this were 13,960 tanks and self- propelled guns, 27,605 armed trooped-carriers, 4,005 combat aircraft, and 34,948 surface-to-air missiles.

            We have seen that oil prices soaked up 25% of Latin America’s external borrowings. Military spending accounted for another 20%, ‘capital flight’ for a further 15%. That really did not leave too much for productive development- and even that was savaged by waste and theft.

            The Dominican Republic has a debt that has been steadily rising for well over ten years. When asked where the money went, Vicinio Castillo, one of the legislators, said in disgust: ‘It just went.’

            Bolivia got a bigger oil refinery than it could ever need. It has never operated above 30% of capacity. It cost $200 million - $120 million over the estimate. The same thing happened with the metal and oilseed processing plants. Yet there is nothing for health, education or basic agriculture.

            General Anastasio Somoza pocketed most of the funds for the reconstruction of Managua after the earthquake. In fact, his hand was in the till right until he was forced to out in 1979. The country owned $4 billion. He left $3 million in the Treasury.

            In assessing culpability here we must bear in mind how the banks threw their customary caution to the winds. They were reckless in their haste to get into this lucrative game. They were fully aware of the extent of inefficiency corruption and outright theft. The proceeds of these activities were welcomed back into private accounts in these very same banks. Most of the people responsible for the mess are either out of the office or outside the reached of the law of both. The victims of this- those citizens who were effectively ripped –off now find themselves paying the penalty, as Cardinal Arns has said, ‘in low salaries and hunger.’

            THE WHOLE THIRD WORLD debtor- to- debtor relationships resembles a giant poker game. We see the classic poker game tactics of bluff and counterbluff. The tragedy is that the stakes are the lives and well-being of millions of people.

            To paraphrase Winston Churchill: Never in history have so many nations owned so much money with so little hope of paying back .’ It is frightening game for lender and borrowers alike.
            There are five players in this game: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Bank of International settlement (BIS), the Private Banks, and the Debtor Nations. How ever, standing behind the table, and not taking part officially, are the two must powerful ‘players’ of all: the group  of Ten and the U.S. Government.

            The group of Ten is made up of the General Banks Governors of ten of the World’s wealthiest countries: the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Sweden. Because of their wealth and this group effectively controls the IMF and the World Banks, and for all practical purposes they are the Banks of International Settlements. The U.S. by the special rule has de facto veto power on all the important decisions of the IMF.

            The Banks will not move with out approval from the IMF and the World Bank

            If you were a debtor nation how would you rate your chances in the company? The two onlookers can see your hand and they control all the other players at the table!

            Blinded by the vision of huge profits and their haste to into the game the banks dispensed with their normal caution. In their greed the banks had been totally reckless-they have acted with complete disregard for what their customers were doing with their loans and what the outcome might be for their own shareholders.

            In 1983 the total combined capital (shareholder’s equity) of this ten banks was $22.6 millions. Their loans for Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina alone came into $40.4 billion. When the bank loses its capital, it must by law close its doors. That was 1983. Today their position is infinitely worse. You can see why they do not sleep well at night. If this country said: ‘Enough is enough we are not going to pay’ then the loans would be in default, and would have to be written by the banks. In the process all the shareholders’ Equity would be wiped out, and more. And it is that more that spell bankruptcy.

            After five years of make –believe the banks are beginning to show some realism. The market- place give them no option. In July 1986, the firm of Shearson Lehman placed a market value on the debts of Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. In July, 1987, they were valued again.

            The economist reports: If loans were to be valued or sold market prices, the Banks’ loss would be twice as bad a they have admitted to. Even worse, the downward drift of prices shows no signs of stopping’.

            The banks are shaky and worried. That part of the reasons for their violent action at even a whisper of default.

            For the countries who cannot pay there are no bankruptcy proceedings. So why Third World Nations simply declare the bankruptcy and forget about their debts? Take what happened in 1982 when Mexico hinted at default. 44% of the capital of the nine largest U.S. banks was tied up in Mexican loans. If Mexico defaulted, 44% of the banks capital would have to be written off, and their stocks would plummet on the market as shareholder fought to sell out. If other debtor nation followed suit, worldwide financial panic would be inevitable. The U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the IMF, the World Bank and the private banks all hit the deck as a team. Mexico had no chance. She got some concessions, dropped default threats, was loaned more money, and ended the day more in debt than ever.

            The debtors are isolated at the gaming table. The IMF, the World Bank, the BIS and the private banks are interrelated, or have cosy business arrangements with one another. They have an underlying unity of purpose that surfaces at the slightest hint of default.
The only hope for the debtors is to present a united front to their creditors. Despite their cultural and political differences there are signs that this happening. They meet regularly at ministerial level and are actively considering rebellion against the IMF and the other creditors.

            So far, the rhetoric has greatly outweighed the action. However realizing the penalties that can be invoked by the creditors it is not surprising that when IMF will cracks the whip, they all eventually fall into line. They are realistic enough  to know that they dare not to cut off other access to a new capital, and that eventually, whatever they propose must be acceptable to their creditors.

            IS THERE A SOLUTION? In May of this year, standing in the rain in Villarica, Paraguay, Pope John Paul II, told 300,000 campesinos that living a Christian life ‘does not mean simply accepting with resignation the difficulties you encounter’.

            The World debt problem is manageable. What is worrying and troublesome is not the debt itself, but the combination of debt and instability with its consequent economic paralysis and human misery.

            For a country to keep paying beyond its mean ultimately leaves only default or political upheaval as option. The only hope for attacking poverty is economic growth, and it cannot be generated under the burden of debt.

            Robert McNamara, President of the World Bank, was very pessimistic about our hopes of lessening the gap between the rich and poor nations. The problem is not a matter of economics, he said but a question of morality.

            None of the billions owed by the Third World have been paid back- in fact most of them are now even more heavily in debt. The prevailing strategy has been to keep muddling along. It is becoming clear to both sides that this approach is no longer enough. Up to now all discussion has been financial or economic, but a Robert McNamara pointed out, the moral dimension of this problem must be faced.

            The news is not all bad. A good omen for the future is the seriousness of discussion on this debt problem. The proposed solutions are becoming as ‘numerous as the sand of the seashore.’

            We could not be qualified to attempt a solution on our own. However, we are qualified to have our own principles clearly defined- in other words that we would be consider essential in any proposed solution and what we would reject out of hand.

• A clear line must be drawn between ‘old debt and new debt’. What is past is past. Economic growth cannot be generated such a burden of debt.
• To a large extent the old debts must be written down by the banks.
• No debtor should have to borrow just to pay interest. And that stage a debtor would need emergency assistance and advice- not unthinking escalation into further debt.
• Growth inquires investments, not just in infrastructures but also in education, in health, and in social welfare.
• No variable interest rates should be permitted, and all existing one should be rescheduled to fixed rates. For Latin America, a 1% rise in interest rates means 1.6 billion in extra payments each year. Interest rate can swing by a lot margin than this.
• Debt Service payment should never exceed an agreed percentage of export earnings.

 

You do not have to be financial genius to come to a reasonable understanding of this problem or what it is doing to our lives and hope of the people of Latin America.

Our duty as Christian is to first inform ourselves and then inform others.

 

 

 

 

 

By Sister Ines A. Tan, FMM

OFF TO CHINA

             I was born and grow up in Luzon, in the Tagalog region of the Philippines. Soon after I became a Franciscan Missionary of Mary, I was sent to Macau, a Portuguese Colony, a peninsula attached to the mainland China. Ninety eight percent of the populations are Chinese. It only takes ten minutes walk from the border to go to the nearest market of China. Many people here go there almost everyday to buy fresh fish and vegetables.

AFRAID TO LEAVE THE HOUSE

            When I first here, I felt stripped of so many thing such as my family and friends, culture, my country, and I felt deaf and mute and so illiterate. I was even afraid to go out of the house because I did not know how to ask people in case I lost my way.

BACK TO KINDERGARDEN

            I was sent to Chinese University in Hong Kong to study Chinese for two years. I felt I was a child again, learning to pronounce words. It really demands great humility and loving perseverance to learn the Chinese language. Cantonese is one of the most difficult languages in the world; the teacher had to correct us several times just to pronounce a single syllable. We had to sit for written and oral examinations every week and every semester before we could proceed to a higher level. Every day, I was memorizing the old and new vocabularies to be able to cope with my languages studies. I gave up writing letters to my valued friends and playing the guitar, and id not even have time to repair my clothes. Even while waiting for the bus, I was holding cards, memorizing. Out of the thirty two students, we were only three who persevered. One day, we asked ourselves what is in that give us the urge to go on? We came up with the same answers: I t is the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues in the form of our enthusiasm to learn.

LOST

            After two years study, I came back to Macau. At that time, my Chinese was still very poor and I could not even read even a simple Chinese sentences. The famous Fr. Mateas Ricci, SJ took twenty years learning Chinese before he went to Peking, China. For the Chinese people, it takes years before they can read the newspapers properly. I was rejected in the first pastoral work that was planned for me because of my language difficulty, after two years of my hard study, I felt prostrated and useless. I remember how every day after mass, I spent sometime in front of the crucifix, praying, “Lord show me the way”.

WALKING THE STREET

            One day, I inspired to do what St. Francis did when one of this brother asked him, ‘what is a missionary work and how? St. Francis called his brother and said to go with him and they walk around the town, then walked at home. I took my map and walked in the street. Every day I went farther and farther. One day, I reach the prison and I met a Filipina sister; then and there, I started my acquaintance with the prisoners.

HAPPY PRISONERS

            The prisoners were happy with my visits and had patience to listen to my poor and broken Chinese. After a month, I was dynamics and drama to the young prisoner. After a few months, I started working in the diocese’s family life apostolate. I was given the little ‘field worker’ but their was no plan of what to do. Since I was already acquainted with the prisoners I thought, of conducting Marriage Enrichment. The husbands are prisoner and the wives go there to attend the session. Because of my language difficulty, I used slides, pictures and group sharing. For the deepening of the message of the message, I assigned participating couples to study and prepare. They are not Catholics. But for the past three and a half years, I always receive applications to start a new group, as one group finishes. Almost every afternoon, I do home visitation. I visit the families of the prisoners attending the Marriage Enrichment and the families of the new immigrants from China oftentimes, the wives, the wives of the prisoners cry to me their heartaches and hardships while the families of the new immigrants seek more information about Macau’s law and social benefits.

            As I start my seven year here, I feel like a member of their families with whom they can talk and share their joy and sorrow.
(To be continued)

 

By Sister Docilia Pizzaro, FSP
A Filipino Missionary

Pakistan is South Asian nation with over 100 million people. The land has a history of civilization at least 2,300 years old, but Pakistan as a nation is just 42 years old. Catholics comprise about one half of one percent of Pakistanis.

THE DAYS BEFORE TV

In those days when videos were not yet in circulation and film- shows were still in demand, we arranged to visit that ‘basti’ (barrio) of Quetta in Baluchistan with our film, “ Sacrifice of Isaac.

WE SET OUT

The Parish Priest, the catechist and we- the Daughters of St. Paul- boarded our jeep and brought our film projector along. We reached the place in time but no body was there yet. So we started to prepare for our film show. We brought with us along the extension wire because during that time electricity had not reached many villages yet.  We had to go around and see which family can lend us a plug for our film projector.

THEY CAME IN DROVE

Meanwhile, the people started to arrive. They had to walk miles and miles. The catechist had told them that we were coming for thee film show, so they were exited and eager to see something.

UNDER THE SKY

We usually held the film- show in the open air, under the sky, so we had to wait until it was dark. Finally our film projector was ready. The wall was our screen and the people squatted on the ground all ready for the show.

URDO

We started the showing- the film was in Italian, translated to English and then into Urdu (the local language).

ON THE ROOFS

People were everywhere, on the roofs, on the trees, on the poles everybody was quit, attentive and very interested to see something moving in the wall.

 

ABRAHAM’S SACRIFICES

The part of the film towards the end was when Abrahams was about to sacrifice Isaac, very thrilling. We know what happened: the angel stopped the hand of Abrahams when he was about to strike Isaac dead and, in his place, a lamb was caught an sacrifice instead of his son. Then in the film, we saw the picture of Abrahams embracing his son dearly and crying with joy.

TAKE MY DAUGHTER

When the film show was over, in the wink of an eye, the people all disappeared and went home. The came a mother with her 16- year old daughter. She said, As Abraham offered his son to the Lord, now I’m offering my daughter to you, take her to the Lord.”

DILEMMA

We remained speechless fro a time, we didn’t know what to say. The then priest explained to her that we could not take her daughter with us like that: ”Thank you for your beautiful offer. We will not take your daughter with us. She will return with you, and together you and she and your family well serve the Lord with the same faithfulness as Abraham.