from bullets to bazookas

bedtime stories

This jaw situation is a bit strange. It gets better and then worse. Sometimes I can't chew or turn my neck, and then at other times, it feels like it's getting back to normal. There is definitely much improvement since Monday. A few hours ago, it almost felt like it was all over with, but now I feel it swelling again. My bones feel much better, and the temperature is back to normal.

Bro. Samuel has been moved to my room so it's a bit tight now as the room is smaller in comparison to my previous room.

Today I met Aunty Jenny. Aunty Jenny had personal experiences with the underworld and the Mermaid spirits and she shared her story with me. It was just a few years ago on Thanksgiving Day (not the same as in the States), she went to join a march past (parade) going along the main road. There was a throng of people parading by and she was among them. One man reached out and grabbed her and pulled her aside and asked her if she remembered him. She responded that she did not, and the man said that he knew her for a long time and that he used to give her a lift home when she was in school and knew where she lived, the school she attended etc. The woman still perplexed said that she could not recall him, and that many men have given her a lift back home during her schooling days. He said that she lived in Wellington and that he knew her parents. Jenny was getting impatient now and wanted to join the parade and so she agreed with him and went off.

That evening, when she returned home, she found the man sitting outside her house. She had made plans to go out with her uncle and did not have much time to chat and told the man that he would have to come back another time. When she returned home that night, she ran into the man again and he wanted her to take a walk with him. It was 10:30 at night and the man wanted to walk towards the sea. Jenny told him that there would not be any vendors around the sea at this time selling clams or lobsters and tried to persuade him out of taking this walk. Somehow, she found herself following the man to the water, and she had no control of herself. Near the sea, there is a field that is being watched over by a man. When the man saw her wandering towards the sea he asked who it was and why she was here alone at this time. She could not answer though she was puzzled that she was alone, but continued on as the man was guiding her by her arm. Somehow she recalls, by the mercy of God, she came to herself and ran back home.

The next morning, she was very tired and could not wake up at 5AM as she normally does. She wakes up early prepare a meal, bathe, get her child ready for school, and get to work. Her neighbour came to her and asked her what was wrong and she explained that she was absolutely tired and asked if the neighbour could cook something for the child and get him ready for school. At 9AM, as she was still fast asleep, she felt someone tapping her arm asking her to wake up and go with him to Bo to meet his parents. Though she wanted to know how he got into her house, she just could not ask that question. She woke up, did not shower, threw on the same clothes she woke the previous day and followed him to the main road to catch a cab to Bo. The man had taken her clothes off the shelf and had folded them for her and asked her to pack. She did not have a small suitcase, and had to borrow one from her neighbour. When the neighbours asked her what was going on, she said that she had to go visit her sick father in Bo. She does not have any family in Bo, and she has never been there before. She gave the neighbour some money and asked her if she could take care of her child for a few days till she returns.

Along with him, she boarded a cab full of men. Somewhere in between the four hour ride to Bo, the man pulled out a large envelop and handed it to her and said that he will meet her in front of the Bo Medical Center, and that he had to get off and take care of other things. He had given her an envelop of money in Le5000 denomination for cab fare. When she arrived at Bo, she found him sitting in front of the hospital. She had a change of heart and turned back around narrowly missing a UN jeep driving by. She boarded another cab heading back to Waterloo. En route, she checked her purse and the money was no longer there. Something told her to get off and she asked the driver to let her off. She was let off but was never asked to pay. As she got off, she saw the man standing at the side of the road and he was very upset at her and reminded her that she had promised him that she would go with him to Bo. She said that she could not go and he asked her to return his money. When she explained to him that she did not have the money anymore, he laughed an evil laugh. She asked him how much money was owed, and asked that he give her some time to get the money together to repay him. He continued to laugh and said she had no choice and that she should go to Bo with him.

She persuaded him that she would go with him another day and that she had to go home to check up on her child. When she arrived home, she told her neighbours that if anyone were to ask for her, tell them that she is not home. When she opened the door to enter in, she found him sitting on the table. Again she just could not ask how he got there. This time he did not look the same. He had a demonic semblance. She ran out and went to her neighbour for help. One minute she was talking to her neighbour, the next minute, it wasn't her neighbour anymore. The face had changed to that of the man. She ran to the next house. The same thing happened. She ran from house to house only to go through the same experience. All of her neighbours thought that she had lost it. They summoned her mother who immediately recognized that it was a demonic attack. She took her to the local juju men to seek deliverance. They covered her face with all sorts of paints and powders but their mystic powers could not help her.

Someone suggested that she visit one of the local pastors. They took her to see a pastor Joe and two other pastors with him. Pastor Joe along with the other two pastors decided to pray continuously for three days. While the prayers began, Jenny went into a coma and had no idea what was going on with her physical body for those three days. Spiritually however, she was traveling with this man that has constantly been seeking her company. She followed him to a beautiful land underwater. She saw beautiful trees, wonderfully paved and clean roads, and glorious looking houses. The beings that inhabited this city however, were odd looking. Some were short, some tall, and some giants. For two days, she had been traveling around this city in the spiritual realm, while physically, her body lay motionless and without breath. On the third day, at one exquisite looking house, on the porch, there stood a beautiful woman who was of the same complexion as her. She did not have long flowing hair as you would expect on a mermaid. She had bobbed, kinky black hair. She stood there calling for Jenny to come to her. She then heard a soft, gentle voice of a man behind her calling out her name and asking her to go towards him. She looked behind and saw a man dressed in a robe. As she turned around to run towards him, her physical body began to breathe. The body was levitated and then slammed to the ground; levitated, then drawn towards and slammed against the window. While she continued to run towards the man, her body began to writhe on the floor. When she reached the man, she finally came to herself. The pastor later explained to her all what had happened since she had gone into coma. Since then, she explained to me, she has never had such an attack.

Still in disbelief, I told her that I could not honestly believe that all of this could be true. She was emphatic in convincing me that this underworld is real. "I'am hard to convenience," she said. "I used to be a skeptic myself. I did not believe any of it until I went through the experience myself. Now when I hear stories about the underworld, witchcraft, secret societies, etc., I hear it, and then walk away. I don't discredit what I hear. I am not in fear. I just walk away. It's terrible, and it's real." She then suggested that I listen to the very popular testimony of a Nigerian woman who had come out of such evils.

Oh Africa! Her stories almost always leave you feeling disconsolate.

posted by bthomas24 @ 1:09 PM