B.达林顿·提 在一个基督教会里长大，父亲是教会的执事，母亲经常为生病的教友祷告。

他母亲在信仰上很有奉献精神，但是父亲不是很忠诚。他父亲是一个秘密社团的成员，当达林顿7岁的时候，他还邀请达林顿加入。

“儿子，你的祖父以及我们的祖祖辈辈都是其中的成员，”他说，“你也应该加入进来，这样我死后你就可以接替我了。”

但是达林顿对加入秘密社团没有一点兴趣，知道他们会在利比里亚的山上祭拜死去的先祖。每隔一段时间，父亲就会从村子走四小时到山上去祭拜先祖。要种庄稼的时候，父亲祈祷道：“哦，先祖们，今天我们来到你们的面前，因为我们要种田了，并且我们想获得丰收。”当母亲怀孕的时候，父亲祈祷道：“哦，先祖们，我们来到你们面前把我们怀孕的女儿交给你。”在疾病席卷全村的时候，他祈祷道：“哦，先祖们，我们来到你们面前，因为村中的疾病。”

每次他都会献上一只鸡和一碗白米饭给先祖。他把碗和鸡留在地上，然后回家。 之后他再回来取盘子的时候，食物都不见了，所以他坚信先祖已经应允他的祈祷。

对于加入这个秘密社团，达林顿没有任何选择的权力，既不能说接受，也不能说拒绝。但是他母亲有话语权，并且她坦白地拒绝了。每当父亲准备上山的时候，她都会带着儿子去另一个村庄。

“我想让他成为一个基督徒。”她告诉父亲。

达林顿每周都会去教堂参加主日学，但是他一点也不懂《圣经》。

当他成年的时候，一位安息日会的传道人来这个村庄，并且宣讲第七日为安息日的道理。达林顿第一次在《圣经》中读到安息日，然后他就请星期天教会的牧师解释到底哪一天是正确的安息日。星期天教会的牧师没法用任何《圣经》经文来证明应该在周日敬拜。

“孩子，第七日是安息日，”这位牧师说， “但我们在周日敬拜，是为了纪念耶稣的复活。”

达林顿想按着《圣经》所写的来行，之后他受洗加入了复临教会。他父亲对于他的决定很不开心，因为他知道这样他的儿子就再也不会祭拜他们的先祖了。母亲却很开心，因为她的儿子爱上帝。

达林顿渴望成为一位牧师，所以他一直为此事祷告。利比里亚的复临教会并没有神学院，所以他必须去加纳或者尼日利亚学习神学。他深知他的父母没有钱帮助他，所以他十分努力地工作来攒学费。但内战打断了他的努力。在九十年代，他进入了政界并当选成为国会成员。

他想到，“如果不能攒够钱去国外学神学，我最起码能在利比里亚建立一所复临神学院，然后年轻人就能在这里学习了。”

在他当选一年后，他发起了一个在蒙罗维亚建立西非复临大学的提案，蒙罗维亚是利比里亚的首都。

在国会任职六年后，他在收受贿赂以及加入秘密社团的强压下卸任了。之后，他报名学习西非复临大学的神学课程。

如今，达林顿成为了一位牧师，并且还是利比里亚东南联合会的主席，他们将会收到这个季度第十三个安息日乐意捐的一部分，用于建立一所位于布坎南的从幼儿园到小学6年级的学校。

“我十分感谢上帝呼召我为他做工，预备人们迎接他的即将来临。”达林顿说。

A School for Liberia

B.Darlington Teah grew up in a Christian church where his father was a deacon and his mother prayed for ill members.

Mother was very dedicated to the church, but Father was not so committed. He belonged to a secret society and, when Darlington was 7, he invited the boy to become a member.

“Son, your great-grandfather and other ancestors were members,” he said. “You should join so you can replace me when I die.”

But Darlington wasn’t interested in joining the secret society. He knew that members worshipped dead ancestors in the mountains of Liberia. Every so often, Father walked four hours from the village to the mountains to pray and make sacrifices to the ancestors. When it was time to plant crops, Father prayed, “O ancestors, we have come to you today because we want to plant our farm, and we want the farm to prosper.” When Mother was pregnant, Father prayed, “O ancestors, we have come to you to give our daughter who is bearing a child.” When an illness swept the village, he prayed, “O ancestors, we have come to you because of the sickness in our village.”

Every time, he sacrificed a chicken and offered plates of white rice to the ancestors. He left the plates and chicken on the ground and returned home. Later, he went back for the plates and, seeing that the food was gone, believed that the ancestors had agreed to honor his prayers.

Darlington didn’t have any choice about joining the secret society. He couldn’t say yes or no. But Mother had a say, and she bluntly refused. Whenever Father prepared to go to the mountains, she took the boy to another village.

“I want him to become a Christian,” she told Father.

Darlington attended Sunday School everyweek, but he didn’t understand the Bible.

When he was a young man, a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist came to the village and spoke about the seventh-day Sabbath. Darlington read about the Sabbath in the Bible for the first time, and he asked the Sunday pastor to explain whether Saturday or Sunday was the correct day. The Sunday pastor could not show any Bible verses that supported Sunday worship.

“My son, the seventh day is the Sabbath,” the pastor said. “We worship on Sunday to remember Christ’s resurrection.”

Darlington wanted to follow the Bible, and he was baptized into the Adventist Church. Father wasn’t pleased with the decision because he knew that it meant his son would never worship their ancestors. Mother was happy that her son loved God.

Darlington longed to become a pastor, and he prayed about it constantly. The Adventist Church didn’t have a seminary in Liberia, so he would have to travel to Ghana or Nigeria to study theology. Knowing that his parents didn’t have money to help him, he worked hard to save money for tuition. Civil war interrupted his efforts and, in the 1990s, he entered politics and was elected to the national parliament.

He thought, “If I can’t save money to study theology abroad, I can at least establish an Adventist seminary in Liberia so young people can study here.”

A year after his election, he sponsored a bill creating the Adventist University of West Africa in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.

After six years in parliament, he left amid strong pressure to accept bribes and to join secret societies. He enrolled in theology classes at the Adventist University of West Africa.

Today, Darlington is a pastor and the president of the South-East Liberia Mission,which will receive part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering to construct aK-6 school in the city of Buchanan.

“I am very thankful that the Lord has called me to work in His service in preparing people for His soon coming,” Darlington said.