Phil, a medical doctor, and Linda, a registered nurse, found themselves doing unexpected things – like devotionals and medical call-in broadcasts – after their anticipated work at the Kei Health Center was abruptly terminated following the murder of their Africa Inland Mission co-workers, Donna and Warren Pett. Photo provided by Twila Charles.
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Finding strength in 'the valley of the shadow of death'
ARUA, Uganda – When Phil and Linda Byler settled into the Kei Health Center, in a remote region near the Sudan border, they had no idea of the tragedy looming before them.
Linda says, “After only three weeks, we walked through the valley of the shadow of death.” Phil explains, “Our shadow of death was the shocking reality of the death of our missionary colleagues, Donna and Warren Pett.” Workers with Africa Inland Mission, they had been brutally murdered on the evening of March 17, 2004, by ten armed men.
As the Bylers watched the blood-soaked bodies of their co-workers being loaded into the airplane, the reality of death gripped them. They evacuated to Arua while authorities investigated the murders. The Bylers were filled with questions about their own future: Who had done this? Why had it happened?
Phil says, “I struggled with why two such lovely people would be killed by the very people that they were giving their all to love and to serve. I was drawn to Jesus, and the even worse incongruity of his innocent death at the hands of those whom he came to love and to serve. I glimpsed anew the total relevance of the cross to our lives, two thousand years later. And thus, from the Scriptures, 'a table was prepared for us, in the presence of our unidentified enemies.'”
During the next months the Bylers struggled to find their next assignment. They went to Kenya for a seminar. One day, they wandered out into the semi-arid region where they were staying and suddenly came upon an old British farmstead that was covered with green grass, brilliant tropical flowers, and pools of water. Phil says, “There we stayed for hours, absorbing the marvelous beauty.” Linda says, “And the Lord, who is our shepherd, restored our souls.”
After spending some time praying, meditating on Psalm 23, and waiting, Phil says, “The unanswered questions seemed far less pressing. And the looming possibility of service in Sudan seemed permeated with a wonder of peace and possibility.”
With a new sense of clarity, the Bylers accepted an invitation to serve as team leaders for an AIM team in southern Sudan, still associated missionaries with EMM. They are embracing this new call and all its unknowns with joy because "surely goodness and mercy will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
For the next year the Bylers will live in Lokichogio, Kenya, with plans to move into Torit, Sudan, as soon as that becomes possible.
Pray that the Bylers will sense God’s presence, and that they may make favorable connections with the Sudanese.
