She hears it multiple times each day. It is the sound of a ram’s horn signaling that another villager has died. Mourners cover their heads and begin to wail. They stream toward a tent where they conduct a ceremony similar to a funeral. She considers the ram’s horn her call to prayer.
When Leslie Newsom, an International Mission Board missionary based in north Africa, cannot sleep at night for thinking about these mothers and children dying of AIDS, she asks God to remind her of the message of hope she brings to them.
“Realistically, for many of these people, there is little that I can do to make a difference in the disease and poverty that is a part of their lives,” Newsom said. “I will continue to do what I can, but I am there to bring the message that they can have a different life, a wonderful life — even after they leave this earth. I teach them how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which leads to a life in heaven with Him.”
A Jasper native and 1985 Judson College graduate, Newsom felt a calling as a teenager and promised God that she would work as an international missionary. Family problems changed her focus, and it would be years before she came to the point of committing her life to serving others abroad.
“God brought me through times of pain, grief and healing before He brought me to the point of surrender, where I said, ‘OK, I’m ready to fulfill my promise,’” said Newsom, a member of Eastside Baptist Church, Jasper, in Walker Baptist Association. “I felt like He was saying, ‘You lived the first 40 years of your life for yourself. Now I’ll take the next 40.’”
She has been on the field since April 2003. During her first years on the field, Newsom learned the language and culture. She began to discern what God was doing in this place and what part she would play in that work. “I was shocked somewhat to realize that my neighbors, the people who I had befriended, were HIV positive. These (women) are not prostitutes … . Some of these women contracted the HIV virus from their husbands. Others were infected while caring for family members. No one really knows what the numbers are there because most have not been tested.”
Newsom’s job is to educate the women of the village about HIV/AIDS. She meets with small groups in homes to tell them how to avoid contracting the virus and spreading it to their children and other family members.
“It is also an opportunity for me to spread the message of hope. According to the (local culture’s) religious teachings, if they get AIDS, it is a curse from God and a clear sign that they are not going to heaven. Of course, they are devastated. I can meet them in that time of need and explain that our hope is in Christ Jesus and teach them the plan of salvation,” Newsom said.
She often goes with the women to the clinic to be tested for HIV. Newsom also helps them find ways to earn money to support themselves. Some earn a meager living by baking bread for other women in the community.
“As soon as it is known that they are HIV positive, no one will come to their homes or buy their bread,” Newsom said. “I help them find other things to make and sell. And as we are going about these everyday activities, I am forming relationships and using objects and opportunities to talk to them about Jesus.”
Easter is one of those opportunities when Newsom invites her neighbors to a feast and shows the “Jesus” film. She said the women wail and talk back to the video but most don’t realize it has anything to do with them.
“The Christianity they are taught is one of traditions and works — earning your way into heaven,” Newsom said. “They believe you are born into it. There is never a personal choice or a personal relationship with God. They pray to Mary, Gabriel and everyone else, just to be sure they have it covered.”
Newsom and those she leads to a personal relationship with God through Christ must be careful not to offend the church and civic leaders of the region. There is always the possibility of persecution, particularly when baptism is involved. The believer’s family may ostracize him or her, a spouse may leave and take the children or, in extreme cases, the believer may be stoned.
Newsom attends the Orthodox Christian church weekly, kneeling and praying just as the villagers do. She encourages believers to remain in the church and be a light there and to begin small group meetings in their homes, as did the early Christians of the New Testament.
Newsom distributes Bibles both in English and their native “heart language.” She tells Bible stories and teaches other believers to tell the stories. “I teach them that sin is the same in each culture and that forgiveness is available to us all through the cross.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Name has been changed due to security concerns.
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