Four eggs and a Bible
Anne Gihlemoen
- a glimpse from everyday life of a missionary
One Sunday afternoon in 2011, a gentle knock was heard on our door. I opened, and a man in black pants and green shirt stepped in. He was carrying a Bible in a brand new cover and a little black plastic bag, where in he had four eggs. This man had also passed by three weeks earlier to buy a new cover to a very, very worn out Bible, that lacked both the cover and most of Deuteronomy and the New Testament ended in the middle of 2. Thessalonians. It simply was not usable anymore. But he could only afford a new cover. So my wife sold him a cover, and with a gentle smile, laid a new Bible inside it. The whole man lit up with gratitude! And now, this day, he came back with four eggs. I recieved them with equal gratitude. But actually, the true recievers of these eggs should have been the Seventh day Adventists Biblefund in Denmark. Because that is where the money came from, that made it possible for us to give this man a new Bible.
You see, one day earlier on, I had been contacted by the Seventh day Adventists Biblefund in Denmark, they told me they would like to support 15 orphans in an orphanage in Dar Es Salaam with a Bible each. They wondered if I could help them, wich I did of course. I ordered 15 Bibles from Soma Biblia in Dar es Salaam + five extra to the orphanage. The coworkers at Soma Biblia wrote the names of each child in the Bibles, and dropped the gifts off at the orphanage. I paid for the Bibles to Soma Biblia, and when the Biblefund in Denmark later transferred money to me, they left me a message that if there was any money left over, I was to use it for Bibles to those who really need it. And guess what: there was money left over for three Bibles! And when the man with the worn Bible stood on our doorstep, we immediately understood that one of the Bibles was supposed to be given to him. The man that later showed his gratitude to come by with four eggs.
Maybe I should have brought the eggs to town, to the man that is selling Daga on the market in Sumbawanga? He was a Seventh day Adventist. Often when I went to the market, I stopped and talked with him, and for the holidays we exchanged bookgifts. One day at the market I told him about the Bibles from the Seventh day Adventists in Denmark, and he lit up! ”Ah really? That is my church!” He was so happy that his church wanted to help with Bibles in Tanzania. And so do we! We find great joy in the wide network of Soma Biblia and the missionaries, that help us spreading Bibles in Tanzania.
Peter Olofson