Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
John 4:35
Elim Mission Workers (1978)
Guerrilla Onslaught
“On Friday 23 June 1978 is the day and date we reached Ngue Mission on Vumba Area near Matondo Camp in Zimunya District. Time of operation from 6.30 to 9.00 pm… Total number of comrades who were there, 21… Weapons used, axes and knobkerries. Aim: to destroy the enemies. We killed 12 whites including 4 babies…”
This chilling account was recorded in the diary of one of the guerrillas who attacked a Christian mission in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). The killers took the Christians into the bush and killed every one, including the children.
Those martyred were: Catherine Picken, a nurse; Mary Fisher, a teacher; Wendy White, a social worker; Peter McCann, a science teacher at the Elim Secondary School at Caterere; his wife Sandra and baby Joy; Roy Lynn, a maintenance man, and his wife Joyce, the hospital matron, and baby Pamela; Philip and Sue Evans with their three children. Mary Fisher was found alive, but she later died of her wounds. Their funeral was attended by 800 Europeans and Africans.
The world will see that killing one Christian is actually multiplying us. The blood of the Church martyrs is actually the seed for new Christians. In this way the Church will triumph when it is oppressed and progress when it is despised. Now I believe that it is my duty to spread the gospel.
African Christian reflecting on the savage incident