Faith finds a way

The Methodist Church was well represented as were the Baptists, Anabaptists, Seventh Day Adventists and Anglicans. The Catholic Church was not to be left out. As funds started flowing in, the open-air chapel gave way to a more permanent one built of wood. In due course, an organ was added. A pulpit and benches made it convenient for the priest to have a captive audience. From time to time, the strays had to be brought back into the fold and this meant visits to their homes, meeting irate wivesand sometimes the village chief who felt his foreign funds bred competition.

If the Baptists set up a simple outdoor surgery, the nuns set up a maternity ward. There were practically no roads. Those that existed were carved out by slashing the brush and the cattle walking over well-worn paths. Pastor Jonathan was the first to use a bicycle for his trips. This enlarged his parish. But the nuns were not to be outdone. They importuned the Holy Father to present them with a Morris 8 to bring pregnant parishioners to their maternity ward.

Sister Frances soon learnt to handle the Morris adequately, but her Mother Superior decided it was not for her. So Sr. Frances ferried her. The two were now a familiar sight. Many a time, as Pastor Jonathan cycled his way, they would pass him like a breath of fresh air and a “God bless!” would chime in his ears before they disappeared in a cloud of dust. Much as he tried to obey the Ten Commandments, he could not help feeling the green monster overpower him.

One day whenhe was bumping along he caught sight of the Morris. It was quite still. He could see two figures standing by it. The bonnet appeared open and they were looking in. He made a slight detour so that a hedge row separated him from the main path and he wheeled his bicycle to a halt.

Ministering to humans was one thing, but cars were beyond him. In fact, the pastor had been this morning to the house of Otieno, the car mechanic, but he was under the weather and he came back after acquainting the latter’s wife both with the wrath of God and His mercy if Otieno reformed himself. He stacked his bike against the hedge row watching the developments. A little doubt clouded his mind. Was “voyeurism” included in the Ten Commandments? It was too late now. He saw Sr. Frances make some ineffectual efforts to start the car. She came out, shut the bonnet and moved off walking with the Mother Superior back the way they had come. Hitching up their gowns a couple of inches off the ground, they trudged in the hot soil.

PastorJonathan went off to see some others of his flocks and it was almost two hours later that he passed that way again. The car was still there and so he detoured again to take advantage of the hedge row. And who should he see traipsing back but Sr. Frances and her Mother Superior. Sr. Frances had with her the black Gladstone bag she invariably took when attending to her women patients. The pastor watched goggle-eyed as Sr. Frances came up to the car and took out an enamel urine pot from her bag. The pastor knew vaguely that the urine of suspected pregnant women was used for confirming their condition. But Sr. Frances was neither taking a sample for testing nor throwing away the rest. With the Mother looking on, she seemed to say a silent prayer. She opened the fuel tank cap and poured into it a faintly amber liquid. Then she nonchalantly opened the door and Mother an she got in. She switched on the ignition, the engine sprang to life and they made a quick get-away. “What faith! What faith!” Pastor Jonathanmumbled, as he raised his eyes silently to the Lord.