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Killer Bees
One year at Christmastime, John and Lucille Mazurek and their sons, Bobby and Jim, gathered in the living room of their home in Clinton, Iowa, to pray before going to bed. Grandma Berndt was with them. Suddenly six-year-old Bobby piped up with, "Daddy! Daddy! Pray for the people in the boat!"
What people? What boat? Nobody knew, not even Bobby. But he spoke with such urgency that the family unitedly prayed for "the people in the boat."
Two-and-a-half years passed. That summer, Grandma Berndt attended the Nebraska State Camp Meeting. Norman Correll, a missionary from Tanzania, Africa, was also there. When he spoke, he told this story of God's deliverance.
At Christmastime in Tanzania, the Norman Corrells and the Delmar Kingsriters, another missionary family, packed a picnic lunch, took two African pastors, and went up the river in their Speed the Light boat to have a baptismal service in a nearby village.
On their way back, they decided to go ashore to eat their lunch. A crowd of curious Africans gathered to watch these strange white people as they ate. Suddenly the villagers began to cry, "Nyuki, nyuki.bees, bees!" Frantically they raced toward their huts where the smoke of their fires would protect them from these lethal insects.
The missionary group was immediately surrounded in a cloud of killer bees. Where their bodies were not covered with clothing, the bees began to sting them. Delmar Kingsriter ran to get the motor started on the boat, while Norman Correll waded into the river, carrying and pushing the women and children into the boat.
At this exact moment, half a world away, the Mazurek family was praying over Bobby's urgent request.
At first the missionaries tried to outrun the bees down the river. Seeing that this was impossible, they stopped near a village on the opposite bank and ran toward the huts. When the villagers saw them coming, they screamed, "Nyuki, nyuki!" and threw green leaves on the fires to create more smoke. The smoke was effective in repelling the bees.
Both of the African ministers, as well as all the Americans, were covered with stings. Delmar Kingsriter could understand the language used in this part of Tanzania. The villagers were saying that those who had been stung would quickly die. The death wail began to rise from the villagers.
Mrs. Correll felt she was dying. She became unconscious, and the others laid her on a mat. They gathered around and began to pray.
Suddenly, the Spirit of God fell on the missionaries and the African pastors. They quoted the promise in Mark 16:18. As they prayed, color came back into Mrs. Correll's cheeks, and she sat up. The children stopped crying.
In amazement, the villagers saw that the strangers had not died. They brought warm water and soap to wash their tortured bodies and rubbed crumpled leaves over the fiery stings.
When the visitors felt better, they began to walk down to the riverbank. Mr. Kingsriter checked for any bees that might still be swarming there. Then everyone got back into the boat to return to camp. Soon the children were talking, laughing, and singing choruses.
Later, a missionary doctor told them their recovery was as miraculous as if they had been bitten by a cobra. The venom of those killer bees is so poisonous that just one or two stings can be fatal and cause death.
As Grandma Berndt listened to this story that day at the Nebraska State Camp meeting, her excitement mounted. She had often wondered about Bobby's strange request. After the service she spoke to Mr. Correll. When they compared the time of their experiences, they discovered that Bobby Mazurek's urgency to pray for "the people in the boat" had been at the very time these missionaries and their families were being attacked by killer bees.
Because six-year-old Bobby was obedient to the spirit of God and he prayed, the lives of these missionaries were saved. When God places a missionary or a special prayer request on your heart, be sure to pray. You never know what could be happening in another part of the world and whose life will be saved because you prayed. The information from this story came from Moving Mountains and is used with permission from Assemblies of God World Missions.
©2002 The General Council of the Assemblies of God. All rights reserved. Permission granted to reproduce and adapt lesson components for exclusive use in the local church. Any other use requires written permission.
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