SHE WAS DEAD BEFORE HE HELPED HER
April 19, 2007
by Ian Fallis
The shamans said Maria would die, and she did.
Missionary Andrew Ferguson and his family were in a Southern Tepehuan village in Mexico over Easter. Many people in the village came down with a virus, including most of the Fergusons and Maria, the young daughter of Faustino.
Faustino visited Andrew and his wife, Anne Marie, to ask for some Tylenol to help with Maria's fever. "We gave them some and suggested they take her down to the clinic. They said they would, but they didn't and she got worse."
The following day, Faustino's aunt told the Fergusons that Maria had died.
But Maria was not dead. She was near death from dehydration because she was vomiting and would not eat or drink. Andrew went to the village clinic, where the nurse told him she did not have any intravenous needles small enough to rehydrate Maria, but gave him a syringe and suggested he use it to give her fluids by mouth.
Praying, Andrew squeezed a little fluid into Maria's mouth. She swallowed, and he was able to help her drink more. Maria began to respond to the liquids, opening her eyes and breathing a little easier. But she was still in mortal danger as Andrew needed to return to his house. He showed Maria's family how to use the syringe before going home.
When Andrew returned Maria did not appear to have improved, and no one had used the syringe. They told Andrew she didn't want it, but when Maria cried out for her mother and asked for water, Andrew began giving her serum again.
Maria's grandmother became agitated, then angry. She accused Andrew of hurting the child, and wanted him to leave her alone. He felt forced to comply with the family's wishes. Andrew watched, praying, and a couple of times asking to give her more serum, to no avail.
"Faustino was just sitting there. The mother was sitting in the corner crying, the grandmother was muttering away about what the shaman had said. It was like they had already accepted she was going to die and were just waiting. I didn't want to watch so I left," Andrew wrote.
The whole Ferguson family gathered and prayed for Maria. Not two hours later they got word that she had died.
Later that day Faustino came to Andrew's house. As they chatted over coffee, Andrew understood why Maria's family had thought she was dead before he had come to help her.
Two Southern Tepehuan shamans had told the family that Maria was cursed and could not be saved. Then a third shaman told the family she had seen a vision of Maria's scarf in the burial grounds, signifying that it was already too late -- Maria would die.
"That's why they wouldn't give her the medication," Andrew wrote. "They courteously allowed me to give her serum for a while, but wouldn't themselves when I was gone. Maria was already dead -- the shamans had said so."
Andrew and Anne Marie know the Southern Tepehuans have a completely different outlook on life -- and death -- but they were still shocked and saddened by Maria's death.
"We expected it and have been trained to identify and incorporate it as we seek to communicate cross-culturally, but even with the expectation and training, we find ourselves surprised by how different their world view is from ours.
"We never imagined though how serious the ramifications could be. … Yes, it's pretty cool learning how another culture thinks and acts, till it costs the life of a child."
Thank you for helping to make this training available to even more missionaries by participating in the expansion of the Missionary Training Center in prayer and giving.
- Sixty-seven students will finish their missionary training and graduate May 19. Thank the Lord with us for these new missionaries who will help expand the reach of the Gospel to every tribe. Pray for them as they embark on partnership development.
- Thank the Lord with us for the volunteer work team from Cascades Baptist Church, who worked on a new four-unit student apartment building; for a team of volunteers from Alabama who are in the midst of two weeks of work; and for a team from SOWERS who are working on a new RV site for volunteers and other visitors. If you'd like to know more about volunteering to help at the center, contact Gene Miller: eugene_miller@ntm.org
- Thank the Lord with us also for a $300,000 gift toward construction of new facilities. Pray for additional needed funds for student housing and classrooms.
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