“What happened when they cut off the head of your chicken?” asked Mary.

“It fluttered wildly in the right direction.  The witch doctor said I was innocent.  But the strain had been so great I fainted and had to be carried to my hut.  But many of the other wives were killed.”

“You do not believe in the witch doctors, do you?” asked Mary.

Ma Eme looked all around.  Then she stepped close to Mary and whispered, “No, but I would not tell anyone else.  They are too strong and tricky.  They could cause me much trouble if they knew I was against them.”

“I shall fight the witch doctors as long as God gives me strength.  God is against the witch doctors who do such evil things.”

Chief Edem had promised Mary a house, and the people of the village had said they would build it.  But whenever Mary wanted to start, they would say, “Tomorrow, we will start, Ma.”  But tomorrow just did not come.

At last Mary and the children she had adopted and the native children cleared the ground.  They stuck sticks in the ground for the wall.  They began to make the roof.  Then some of the lazy people of the village began to help, and at last the house was built.

Mary also wanted to build a church and school at Ifako.  The chief there had promised to help.  But the people of that village were lazy, too.  They were always putting off doing the building.  One morning a man came from Ifako.

“My master wants you,” he said.

Mary went to Ifako.  The chiefs were together at a cleared piece of ground.

“See, Ma, here is your ground.  Here are the sticks, and mud, and palm leaves and other things we need to build.  Shall we build the church today?”

It did not take long for Mary to say yes.  The people of the village forgot to be lazy.  They were having fun building the church.  When it was finally finished it was twenty-five feet wide by thirty feet long.  We would not think that was a very big building, but it was the biggest in the village.

“See,” said the Chief of Ifako, “it is much better than the house at Ekenge.”

“It is a fine church,” said Mary.  “Now we must keep it clean and nice.  There should be no dirty things in or around God’s house.”

We would not think it was such a fine church.  The walls were made of dry mud and sticks.  The roof was made of palm-leaf mats.  The floors were made of mud and so were the seats.  But everything was polished and rubbed as smooth as possible.  There were no windows or doors in the building.  There were just holes in the wall to let in the light for windows and a larger hole to serve as an entrance.  But Mary thought it was a fine church because it was the best in that part of the country and because it was a place where people could hear about the Saviour and learn “book.”

“We will hold our first service in the new church next Sunday,” said Mary.  “I want you all to come.”