Malta AOG Welcomes Blessing As Pastor

The Malta Assembly of God Church can truly attest to their church having a special "Blessing," as they recently welcomed their new pastor, Pr. Tonya Blessing. Pr. Blessing and her husband, Chris, bring a renewed and strengthened bond to the community and are looking forward to meeting more people in the community.

The Blessings moved to Malta, having spent some time in Columbus, Montana, so the transition hasn't been too much of a change. She said they have experienced the Montana winters so Malta will not be much of an adjustment.

Born in Ohio, she met her husband when he was finishing college in Colorado and they lived there for many years. Chris decided to retire early after 30 years of work so that they could go overseas. This adventure took them to Africa for 11 years. They formed a non-profit organization and their time, energy and work was directed to assisting in villages where the unemployment was 80-90%. Their work consisted of helping the pastors in the small churches assuring the children were fed and had the basics.

Blessing did most of her credentialing while working among the impoverished villages. Spending 11 years in the environment that surrounded them provided opportunities that many may dream of, yet few have the opportunity to live in, grow in and experience. Living in a third world country enlightens one and provides an entirely new perspective and appreciation for. Experiencing "life" in the rough settings makes one aware of the opportunities that they take for granted.

In Africa, where the Blessings were with 11 different languages they had to hire an interpreter. Blessing said, "The language would vary from village to village. How do you learn one tribal language where the noises are made that our American tongues don't know how to do, let alone so many languages?"

She added, "It was quite an adventure."

One adventure she shared was getting bit by a Mozambique...both a spitting and deadly snake. She had her hand tucked under her pillow and felt the bite. She said she got up and told Chris she thought she had been bitten. She said she didn't scream (so obviously remained MUCH calmer than people I know!) and they had to find the snake to know how to treat it. When it was identified it was necessary to get anti-venom within half an hour.

"It took three hours to get to the hospital. This is a crazy thing, but we had had some problems with the witch doctors in the village. Some of the ladies were finding dead chickens in their yard, just crazy things that happen when you co-mingle Christianity with witchcraft. I had been telling the ladies, you know that the Bible tells us we can be bitten by snakes and scorpions and someone will protect us and keep us fine...so it was a testimony to those women...'look she got bit by a snake and is good to go'...!" She added that the snake was eliminated, or as we locals hear..."humanely euthanized."

While the work was interesting, it was challenging and enjoyable. The Blessing's formed "Strong Cross Ministries" which is for the benefit and growth of the missionary work. Even though they are no longer in the jungles of Africa, there are individuals continuing their ministerial work.

Blessing said as to things that were bothersome to her, "There were a couple things in the area that bothered me...for one, they still practice female circumcision and that is really bothersome to me...that is just devastating, to see that young girls are mutilated. That was the biggest issue for me. The government has outlawed that but in rural areas it is still practiced."

Girls as young as newly birthed to about 13 have long been subjected to the barbaric procedure, usually conducted without any medication and often with unsterilized tools ranging from razors, scalpels and even broken glass as instruments.

"Another thing that is still happening is bride prices are still being paid, and so it really sets women up for failure. Sometimes it will take 10 years for a man to pay a bride price, so during that time a young woman is having children...she is in a relationship for 10 years, they are not married, not living together, and she is having children. A lot of times those children don't have substance for food, nourishment or clothing."

Blessing said she is the only one in her family that is in the ministry profession, stating she has a brother and sister, they live in Ohio and Michigan. Even though Chris was "retired" when they went to Africa, Blessing said it wasn't really retirement! This is his first time to enjoy resting and enjoying life.

Also, Blessing is a published author, she has written "The Whispering of the Willows" and "The Melody of the Mulberries." She based her books around the life of her mom. She states her family were pig farmers and lived in the Appalachians. She spent time in the area where her mom grew up, called "Big Creek" meeting people, getting to know about their life and traditions to make her writings as accurate as possible. Blessing wanted to make sure she included the folklores in her writings.

Definitely not ready for retirement, Blessing is enjoying the call to minister in Malta, which works well as she has plans to continue her interest in writing while Chris enjoys retirement. Within the community she has become active in the Ministerial Association and is looking over other ways to be useful. With her talents, personality, initiative and talents she is going to be kept busy.

Welcome to Malta, Blessing's, and we hope this chapter of your book of life is an enjoyable and memorable one here.