<\/p>\n
When we last left our story, the missionaries\u00a0in Soddo were\u00a0seeing new converts\u00a0under the looming threat of war. \u00a0What had once been a stronghold of Satan worship and paganism, was beginning to see its first evangelical church!<\/p>\n
In February of 1935, the missionaries began building the first mission hospital in Soddo. \u00a0Only eight months later, the Italian General de Bono marched into Ethiopia with troops without even a declaration of war. \u00a0The occupation was underway, but in remote Wolaitta Soddo, the missionary work continued on. \u00a0 News came to the missionaries in Soddo as various events unfolded. \u00a0They worked ever harder to win more and more converts to Christ, knowing that their time in the country may be limited.<\/p>\n
On May 5, 1937, Addis Ababa fell to the Italian invaders. \u00a0It was not known how long, or even if, the invaders would make their way to the southern regions. \u00a0But they did, and on January 19, 1937, Soddo itself was occupied with Italian troops. \u00a0Just three months later, the missionaries were forced to leave. \u00a0Nineteen adults and seven children boarded an Italian army convoy which took them to Addis to depart the country.<\/p>\n
In those two years between the first rumblings of war and the evacuation, God added several dozen new converts to the young Soddo church. \u00a0It was not known what would happen in the years that followed. \u00a0What ensued was a vigorous persecution of the new Christians. \u00a0Wandaro himself was jailed and beaten almost to the point of death. \u00a0As other leaders were imprisoned, and yet stayed strong in their faith, it only gave credibility to the young church. \u00a0The gospel spread like a wildfire, and converts were added by the hundreds, and then thousands.<\/p>\n
In 1945, as World War II ended and the Italians had been defeated, missionaries started to return to Ethiopia. \u00a0Upon arriving to Soddo, they were greeted and welcomed back by the\u00a0thousands\u00a0of Christian believers in Wolaitta. \u00a0 Over 150 churches had sprung up in their absence. \u00a0They rejoiced to see what God had done in the midst of the suffering that had taken place. \u00a0A huge vibrant church had been\u00a0born!<\/p>\n
The new converts had done the best they could with no missionaries around. \u00a0Some rather humorous practices had developed. \u00a0Some of them recalled seeing only believers at Communion. \u00a0So the first Wolaittan church adopted the custom of dismissing all non-Christians when the Lord’s Supper was served. \u00a0And they swore the participants to secrecy – not to describe the Lord’s supper to anyone. \u00a0They had also stopped raising goats – due to Jesus’s warning that the “goats” would be sent to eternal damnation in Matthew 25!<\/p>\n
They had to wait until the fall of 1946 before they were permitted to move back onto the old mission station. \u00a0At that point, all of the hospital and the residences had been occupied by squatters and their animals. \u00a0 The Ohmans, now with Dr. and Mrs. Nathan Barlow, began taking possession of the hospital back, and gradually restored the place to a usable condition. \u00a0Even though it would be a while before they could start doing surgery again, the word of their return traveled fast, and already patients were lining up to be seen.<\/p>\n
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When we last left our story, the missionaries\u00a0in Soddo were\u00a0seeing new converts\u00a0under the looming threat of war. \u00a0What had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-missionary-medicine","category-soddo"],"yoast_head":"\n