Two missionaries who were brutally attacked while in Kenya, Africa say they will return to the country in January. 66 year-old Eloise Bergen and her husband, 70-year-old John Bergen, are missionaries for "Hope for the Nations," an international charity focused on building orphanages, developing poor communities, and feeding children. The Bergens were attacked at a farm house in the town of Kitale, Kenya last July. Five men broke into the house and brutally beat them with machetes and clubs.
Despite the horrific pain of that night, the couple says they don’t hold bitter feelings towards their attackers, who are now in custody in Kenya. “I didn’t have to forgive my attackers because there was never a moment I was angry at them, or bitter towards them,” John Bergen said.
The couple is on a speaking tour, raising money for six orphanages in Kenya aided by "Hope for the Nations." They talk about their traumatic experience in a matter-of-fact tone. The couple also keeps a sense of humor, because they say “we’re just so happy to be alive and have all our arms and legs and our minds.”
In January, the Bergens return to Kenya to coincide with a court hearing. The Bergens will testify in court.
"We will go back in January to meet our attackers again and tell them how much we love them," John Bergen said.
The Bergens will stay for several weeks to continue the missionary work they started. "Drilling wells and growing food so that these kids have a normal life is so important. It's imperative that we go back and do that," John Bergen said.
Doing a news interviewAlong the same lines (sort of), here's a quote that may interest you. Some of you may know Dick Bransford, the author of the comments:
Let me warn you people who are my age, a cruise in the Caribbean will NEVER compare to a week in Goma, Mogadishu, the Horn of Africa, or the variety of other hurting spots in the world. Maybe I will write you in a week suggesting that some of you put away your golf clubs and go to Goma. Maybe some of you will hold a hurting or dying child in your lap for just a few hours. Maybe He wants to invigorate your heart again with the woes of a hurting world, and maybe he wants to mightily use you in the lives of some.
- 68-year old Dick Bransford (director of Bethany Kids Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya), upon being asked by Samaritans Purse to go to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (a very dangerous place right now) to help injured people (November 2008)
1 comment:
We strongly support Dr. Dick Bransford and he comes to our church occasionally. Our church sends our people on short-term mission trips to Kijabe pretty often. I think he has an intern preparing to take his place. Peggy G.
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