GHOST RUN (Part 21&22) – OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE

PART 21
“GHOST RUN!”
©️Opeyemi O. Akintunde

“ Adenike! Adenike! Wake up! I said go back to Captain!” I heard the Stranger’s voice…I opened my eyes but I couldn’t see him anymore…

“ Stand up and turn to the left!” I heard His voice say to me…

I wondered silently who the stranger was as I stood up and followed his direction…

Hebrews 1 came expressly to my heart… “Ministering Angels!”

“Oh!” It dawned on me quickly…

“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1: 14

“ Turn right and keep walking straight ahead!” I obeyed quietly and then the voice clicked… it was the same voice that told me to Run!

Why did the voice tell me to run from Captain’s place in the first instance and now, he is asking me to return to him…

I was ruminating over this, for the next few minutes. I was so deep in my thoughts I didn’t know I was already at Captain’s camp.

“So quick!” I said to myself

“ She’s back!” The lady from whom I escaped shouted….”Thank you Jesus! Thank you Lord!” She said

I saw Captain give a sigh of relief….and gently he said…

“ I told you she will be back… God told me she would be back!”

“ Adenike! I am sorry, I am sorry for doing this to you! I thought this would prepare you adequately for your trip to Mororo. I didn’t know he wasn’t capable of protecting you while doing his job!” My father was saying…

“ His Job?” I was lost especially hearing Captain and the Lady calling God and Jesus!

“ My name is Tunde Sword, a one time missionary who lost his wife and three daughters to mission work to the Peleta people. After I lost my family, I went back to God and through that I found healing and wisdom. After 5 years of training under God, I went back to Peleta and won the town for God! After that victory, the Lord gave me this new assignment…Training the missionaries to be…!” Captain said and I looked from him to my father and back to him…

“ Are you trying to tell me, all you have been doing to me for the past few days has been me under training?” I asked hoping I was wrong…

“ Yes!”

“I know how strong willed you are and I knew if I told you to attend a missionary training in a bush, you wouldn’t agree!” My father said

“ That was why I told him you needed to pass the first stage of convincing me that you are sold out for the mission work!” Captain said…

“Other students do not go through this phase, because they come into the academy willingly and know what they are getting into, but your case was different!”

“ So did I pass the test?” I asked

“ Unfortunately No!, you bailed at the last minute. Grace told me you accepted her advice of deceiving us…”

“ But That was after 3 days…!” I said

“ It doesn’t matter how long you have stood for the Lord on the mission field, one minute of going back on your stand can end you in the grave… The mission field is not for the faint at heart… Our anchor scripture which is the first lecture you ought to receive here is Luke 9:62 where Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for SERVICE in the kingdom of God. So I am sorry to say this Madam Adenike, for facing three days of mild persecution and backing out at the last minute, I will advise you forget this journey to Mororo, because you will face worse persecution…”

“ What persecution could be harder than losing my husband and my fiancé?”

“ Which could have been avoided if you went about things the right way! I lost my family because I was stupidly headstrong and unprepared like you!” Captain retorted…

“Mr Tunde, Please that is why I brought her here for you to prepare her for the mission field!” My father said, I could see the love and fear in his eyes. He didn’t want to lose me…

“She is not ready!” Captain who I just realized was Tunde sword said.

“ She is !” My father said

“ Is she?” Tunde sword replied looking straight at me…

“ I am!” I said finally

“ Are you? Are you ready to stay in this Bush for 6 months without seeing any member of your family? Are you ready to eat only once a day? Are you ready to pray for 7 hours everyday? Are you ready to….?”

PART 22
“GHOST RUN!”
©Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

“I am ready!” I said

If I knew what those words meant for Tunde Sword, I won’t have said “Yes” in a hurry. Maybe I would have returned home first, recovered from the pain of the past few days before starting the real missionary training…

I was given a new tent that had a bit of comfort in it. A bed was there, a cupboard for my clothes and books that had been stacked in there, a solar powered Fan. I noticed everything there was solar powered.

Reme! Yes Reme was not dead, it was all part of the plan! When I saw him, I was so joyful…

“I am not dead!” He said smiling “Obviously!” I replied

“I am Remilekun Ayoade!” He stretched his hands towards me and his smile was peaceful. I was happy he really did not die on my account!

“And I am Adenike Badmus!” I said returning his smile… “So how long have you been here?”

“Three awesome months!” He said

“Awesome… can anything be awesome about this place?” I said raising my left eyebrow

“Sure, just give yourself 3 weeks and you will be glad you stayed!”

“Let’s hope so, I am glad you didn’t die!” I said and with that I gave him a hug…

“Hmmm….” Mr. Tunde Sword (Captain) cleared his throat from behind us… “Remilekun, you should have told her that is not allowed here!” Tunde said…

We are not doing anything!” I said in defense

“Rule 5. No falling in love, no romance, and no hugging or any other sexual act is permitted on the camp between opposite sex!” Tunde Sword said

“Yes Sir!” I said as Remilekun smiled. I had just been given a second chance and I wasn’t ready to lose it.

“I am sorry, Brother Tunde!” Remilekun said…

****************
“Most Missionaries go into their mission fields foolishly carrying the banner of the Lord so high from the gate of the village. They make their intentions so visible that the evil powers in the village already see them as a threat!” Tunde Sword said in the first lecture…

“Which has been the mistake of most African missionaries!” He continued

“Missionaries will always be a threat to the evil powers of a village!” I said as I was a student who liked to question my teacher’s every statement…

“Yes, you are right but in every town, city, or village, there are powers that be, there are human agents in charge of the place, you don’t enter a place with boldness to rid them of that power”

At this point, I kept quiet because he was beginning to make sense!

“There are Lions in the Land, which if you go headstrong against, you will be devoured by that lion, but if you stay above the ground probably in a tree and throw down a net or let down an iron cage over the Lion, you would have captured the Lion. This reminds me of the Peleta people…!” He was saying…

“Peleta people? The stranger I met in the bush showed me the Peleta people yesterday…!” I said

“Yesterday? Peleta people? Where?” Captain said very confused

“In the bush…”

“Peleta is not in our country, it is far away in one of the eastern nations, which will take you a month of travelling by foot and you were only gone for about 25 minutes yesterday” Captain said

“25 minutes!” I asked not believing what I was listening to… “Yes!”

I narrated all that I experienced with the Stranger and I was most shocked to realize I was only gone for 25 minutes.

“That must have been the Angel of God… Adenike, when I was going to Peleta as a young missionary, I had sent a letter informing the king we were coming to run the land through fire! That was our great undoing. The Peleta people had put in place their special net for capturing invaders. I was not wise enough, I went with my kids and wife, we were captured and right before me, my family was burnt to ashes…”

“Jesus!” I exclaimed

“They let me go saying I should go tell others that Peleta was not a land for my God!”

“Hmmm, so are you saying it is wrong to go into a mission field with the full intention of evangelizing as an obvious front! I asked

“Exactly!”

“So how do you reach out to them?”

“That is your first assignment? Adenike, how do you think you should have reached out to the Mororo people and won them over to God without carrying your Bible and proclaiming Jesus as Lord from the gate of the Land?” Tunde Sword asked me.

In all my years of being called a super smart girl, I have never experienced a blank period where I became lost of ideas or inspiration…

“Sir, are you saying we could lie about our intentions as missionaries?” I asked very confused

“Did I say that?” He asked sheepishly

“ Sir, you said we should not tell them the truth about our intentions, but we need to tell them something, if we don’t say the truth, then we will have to say the lie, which I think is a form of unrighteousness and I don’t think the seed of unrighteousness can produce righteousness in the land of a Mororo!” I said not caring what my missionary teacher believed….

Everywhere went silent and Tunde Sword smiled and shook his head….

“I never said you should lie but you will have to not tell the main truth, but another kind of truth!” Tunde Sword said and honestly I was confused…

“What is this man saying?” I questioned within