Previous | Next 

Jameel’s dream

Janine Bergdahl

Ours was a short career in missions. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. We were in for the long haul – but things went drastically wrong.

We came back sort of like heroes. People felt sorry for us. (We felt sorry for ourselves, too!) There was some sort of redeeming fact in that we were kicked out of the country. (We weren’t actually kicked out – we left before the deportation papers came – but kicked out is exactly what it felt like.)

The truth of the matter is that we had to leave the mission field because my husband was “too old” – a direct quote from the Vice-Chancellor of the University where Tim was doing graduate work. There had been many political problems on campus, stirred up by “terrorists”, and all of them were older students. Get rid of the older students, and get rid of terrorism – that was the plan. With that ruling, our missionary career came to a screeching halt. Try as we might, we were unable to stay in the country.

We were just getting used to things there. We knew the language. We could nod our heads in the right way. I had learned to make great curried meals. We had made friendships. We had survived all those nasty diseases and weren’t spending as much time in the doctor’s office anymore.

I had recently found my niche in this male-dominated society. I answered letters that came in to a gospel radio program in the language of our targeted people (the only Christian program available in their language). We received lots of letters, and I wrote each person back, sending gospel cassettes and Bible portions as quickly as they were translated into the language. (I had to use a man’s name, for common decency in this Muslim society would not allow men and women to write each other.) Things were happening in this country, and we committed ourselves to a lifetime of service.

We had just adopted a daughter in our new country when everything was pulled out under from us. She was only three months old when we returned home. We suddenly found ourselves landing back in the US, with video cameras recording Kayleigh meeting her relatives for the first time. It had all happened so quickly, and it is still a blur.

We were broken people with many more questions than answers. We had just spent 15 years of our lives preparing for, and then adjusting to, missionary service. It had cost thousands of dollars to send us there and set up our home. It had taken years to learn the verb forms and proper grammar. Why was our service so short? Why did God have us leave our families only to snatch us back into our home culture so soon? Was it worth the cholera? The hepatitis C? The robberies? The leers from men? The constant sweat? It had been so very hard. Had we accomplished anything?

Then I had a dream. I’m not much into dreams, and I rarely remember them, but this one is still vivid. This one was from God. I was standing on a street corner in heaven, and a man walked up to me. He was dressed in a white shalwar kameez, with a large turban on his head. He was young, and I knew immediately that he was one of our radio listeners. He asked me, “Are you Jameel?” Surprised, I answered that I was, and asked how he knew my male alias. He answered, “I’m here because you sent me a Bible.”

I remember our short service overseas in the context of that dream. Was it worth it? By all means, yes! We have never for a moment regretted our obedience to God’s call, hard as it was. God did use us, and God gave me just a glimpse of the future, when some day I’ll be able to meet this man – in heaven!

Tim and Janine Bergdahl now live in Fresno, Calif., where Tim is Director of Programs for MBMSI. This article is reprinted, with permission, from True Life: First-hand Stories of Mission (MBMSI, 2000).

Previous | Next 

Last modified January 11, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.