Chapter 18
Bohlale thought about Sentayhu’s words as he waited for his meal to be served at the Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant. Yes, he did feel a tinge of jealousy when he saw Charmaine eating and talking with Pastor Gillespie. He did not hate Pastor Gillespie, but he had had his eyes on Ayana for some time now. In fact, he was saving up his money to build a huge house fully furnished before asking her uncle for her hand in marriage. He could not stop thinking about how he would not be able to compete with Pastor Gillespie who was well-off financially.
“Yes, I will be a man and go and greet the pastor,” Bohlale said to Sentayhu. “But before I do, when do you plan on telling Pastor Gillespie about the plot by Sam and others? From what I can tell, they plan on raising this issue before the whole church this Sunday.”
“Yes,” Sentayhu said. “It seems that Brother Martin is in on it, but I can’t say for sure. We only saw him coming out of the room. The others may be plotting behind his back.”
“He probably is in on it,” Bohlale said. “Remember he gives us the cold shoulder each time we cross paths.”
“We’ll let the pastor enjoy his meal. I’ll make an appointment for us to talk with him on Wednesday before the evening services. The lunch crowd is starting to come in anyway,” Sentayhu said. “Now would not be a good time.”
Bohlale took his plate and hurried over to greet Pastor Gillespie.
“I trust that you are enjoying your meal, Pastor Gillespie,” he said. “Ayana,” he added, addressing Charmaine. “Is it alright if I sit with you two for lunch?”
“Sure, Bohlale,” Pastor Gillespie said. “Ayana was educating me on your culture. I must say it is very interesting. I might even take a trip to Ethiopia some day soon.”
About fifteen minutes after Bohlale joined them at the table, Charmaine excused herself. “If you’ll excuse me, Pastor Gillespie and Bohlale, the lunch crowd is increasing,” she said. “I’m sure Uncle Sentayhu could use my help.”
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On Wednesday afternoon, Sentayhu and Bohlale met with Pastor Gillespie, and with their permission, Deacon Walsh and Sister Mona, the pastor’s secretary, were also present.
Sentayhu and Bohlale informed the pastor of the conversation they had overheard the previous Sunday about some of the prominent church members plotting to either force Pastor Gillespie to resign or be put out by a church vote.
Pastor Gillespie was shocked when he heard what Sentayhu and Bohlale told him. “You said Sam was involved in the conversation?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Yes, the men kept addressing someone named Sam,” Sentayhu affirmed. “We did not get the name of the others.”
“But we did see Brother Martin coming out of the room before we overheard the men talking,” Bohlale added. “We did not hear him talking with the others, but they did mention that he would give them permission to talk with the church family after the services on Sunday.”
“Sentayhu and Bohlale, if you don’t mind, I’d like for you to come back to my office immediately after prayer meeting tonight,” Pastor Gillespie said. He had an idea who the other three men that had been talking with Sam were. The four men he had in mind often questioned many of the decisions he had made in the past. They thought that because they were wealthy and gave large sums of money to the church each week, they could buy his favor and run the church. “Money may talk,” Pastor Gillespie had told them more than once, “but it does not talk loud enough for me to hear.”
Pastor Gillespie confronted the men immediately after the Wednesday night services. None of them could deny the accusations once Sentayhu and Bohlale pointed them out by recognizing their voices. Pastor Gillespie got straight to the point. “If you men still have a problem with my wife and me getting a divorce, and if you do not like the way I am running things here at this church, then you can leave. None of you will be allowed to cause any disturbance here without a fight from me.”
“All we are asking you to do is to step down from your pastoral leadership role for a few months, maybe a year, until you get things resolved between you and your wife. If you have noticed,” Sam continued, “since your wife left, people have been leaving the church each week. In fact, my wife has mentioned that a number of the women have told her that they would be leaving as soon as they find another church to settle down in.”
“Pastor Gillespie, you do not want us to leave,” a man named Emmitt threatened, “because as you know, financially speaking, we are the backbone of the church.”
Pastor Gillespie chuckled. “Yes, you have been giving generously each week, but God does not need your money to keep this church running. Leave and see how well we will do without you.”
Pastor Gillespie gave them a choice: “You can stay and conform and keep your mouths shut, or you can leave if you do not like the decisions I make as pastor of this church.”
The men looked at each other. Three of them rose to leave. “Sorry, but we cannot sit under a divorced pastor,” one of them said as they walked out.
“On top of that, you are bringing in a group of people who are going to bring down the standards of this church. I have invested too much money here to stand by and let this happen,” another said.
“Well, you can go and take your money with you,” Pastor Gillespie said. Sam and Emmitt, even though they had no intentions on leaving the matter alone, decided to stay, but to lay low—at least until they spoke with Brother Martin.
After the men left, Pastor Gillespie turned to thank Sentayhu and Bohlale. “I don’t know how to thank you both enough. You saved my church from going through what would have turned into a nasty fight.”
“You’re welcome, Pastor Gillespie, and you owe us nothing but to keep on preaching the Word of God,” said Sentayhu. “Your letting us come here to freely hear the Word of God is payment enough.”
“I notice you’ve been attending services regularly. I would like you to help out in our new outreach to the immigrants in the area?” Pastor Gillespie asked. “But under one condition.”
“What’s that, Pastor?”
“That you officially join the church.”
Sentayhu and Bohlale smiled. “That can be easily arranged, and we’d love to help out in the new outreach ministry.”
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“You know, Pastor,” Sister Mona said as they locked up the church building that night, “I would not be surprised if Brother Martin is not behind all this. He didn’t seem too excited when we visited the Ethiopian community, and whenever I’ve asked him how things are coming along in the new ministry, he is very abrupt and does not want to talk about it. I don’t know if you noticed, but when we went to the Queen of Sheba Restaurant, he hardly touched his meal and he did not purchase anything from the store even though the church was paying for it.”
“Mmm. You know, Sister Mona, I did notice a certain aloofness about him but I paid it no attention,” Pastor Gillespie said. “Martin is funny like that sometimes. I knew he was disgruntled about my wife leaving, but I thought he had gotten over it. But, I have more important things to deal with than worry about that matter now. Brother Martin has been very faithful for years, and I would hate to jump to conclusions.”
Pastor Gillespie, being the generous man that he was, wanted to do more for the Ethiopian community. “Do you have any suggestions Deacon Walsh and Sister Mona?”
“I know, Pastor,” Deacon Walsh said. “We could give them a couple of buses to use to travel back and forth to the services. I have noticed that Sentayhu has been making two to three trips to get people to church on Sunday mornings.”
“And,” added Sister Mona, “we could set aside one Sunday to let them lead the worship service and allow them to bring in their culture and their type of music. Maybe we could call it ‘Ethiopian Eunuch Celebration Sunday’ and we could encourage people to dress in African attire. That would be good for us all to get to know them better. And don’t forget to encourage our people to visit the restaurant and the shop.”
“Sounds good to me,” Pastor Gillespie said. “Sister Mona, why don’t you begin putting that together. You can work with Ayana and a few of the other ladies to get suggestions.”
“Ayana? Who’s Ayana?” Deacon Walsh asked.
Pastor Gillespie smiled. “Oh, that’s Charmaine. Her Ethiopian name is Ayana.”
“Is she your new love interest, Pastor?” Sister Mona asked with a smile.
“Let’s just say, she’s promising,” Pastor Gillespie answered.
Chapter 19
Brother Martin was angry that his plan had been thwarted by the very people he hated.
“Zelda,” Brother Martin said to his wife after getting off the phone with Sam. “Pastor Gillespie found out about our plan to remove him. Two of those Ethiopians overheard them talking and reported it. We need to put Plan B into action right now.”
“Don’t worry, Martin, there is power in the pen,” Zelda consoled him. “I’ll write the letter, but first I need you to secure the physical addresses and email addresses of the Ethiopian community leaders. That shouldn’t be too hard. Sister Mona has all that information filed away somewhere. Just ask her for it first thing in the morning and email it to me right away. Second, I’ll send out an email as well as a printed letter telling them that the new immigrants’ outreach ministry will no longer include them so they will not be welcomed at the church. We will forge Pastor Gillespie’s signature on everything that’s sent out. They will have to believe it comes from him.”
“Zelda, you’re a genius,” Brother Martin said giving his wife a kiss on her cheek. “You sure know how to make things happen.”
“We’ll get rid of them,” she said confidently.
Despite her reservations and out of respect for his long-standing position in the church, and also so as not to tip him to her suspicions, Sister Mona released the information Brother Martin requested.
Zelda Martin dropped the letters off at the post office. “Doesn’t the signature look authentic?” she bragged to her husband. The letter read:
Dear Mr./Mrs. _______________
Thank you for coming to our church on Sunday and on past Sundays. We have appreciated your attendance. However, we are no longer extending our ministry outreach to the immigrant Ethiopian community. Several reports from my deacons have made me aware of your presence causing a disruption with our church members. Unfortunately, we have had many people leave since your arrival. I am no longer inclined to continue the outreach efforts to your community. I am sure there are other churches in the area where you will feel more comfortable attending. We encourage you to visit those churches this upcoming Sunday.
Thank you,
Pastor Roland Gillespie
Pastor Roland Gillespie
The Ethiopians, including Sentayhu, who received the letter were stunned and disappointed. Sentayhu was shocked to see Pastor Gillespie’s signature at the end of the letter. “I know there are certain people in the church who do not particularly care for us,” he shared with Bohlale and Ayana, “But I never dreamed that Pastor Gillespie felt that way towards us.”
“There must be some mistake,” Ayana said. She was growing to like the pastor.
After studying the contents of the letter, Sentayhu felt within his spirit that something was not right. He also felt within his spirit that just maybe Brother Martin and the men who Pastor Gillespie had dismissed had something to do with it. Perhaps they were trying to cause trouble for the Ethiopians because they were the ones who revealed their plans.
“That’s what I am thinking also,” Bohlale said. “Brother Martin has not shown any interest in wanting to discuss this new ministry with us even though we are supposed to be working together.”
Just to get under his skin, Sentayhu always pulled up each Sunday with a van load of people and made it a point to introduce them to Brother Martin. Sentayhu discussed the contents of the email and letter more with Ayana. He began to think that if Ayana could get close to Pastor Gillespie, maybe she could find out how he really felt about their community being a part of the church.
Brother Martin was not too pleased when he was informed by Pastor Gillespie that he would be working with Sentayhu and Bohlale. What can these people teach me? What help can they be to this church? he fumed. “After I become pastor,” he told his wife, “that ministry will be the first to go.”
Sentayhu was having the time of his life. He bombarded Brother Martin with workable ideas for assimilating the Ethiopian families into the congregation. Brother Martin tried to ignore all of Sentayhu’s and Bohlale’s ideas and suggestions. Sentayhu continued to bring in his brothers and sisters for services. The more people he brought in, the more Brother Martin detested him and his people. Brother Martin had to come up with a workable plan or, as the devil had him thinking, we will become known as the Black Ethiopian Church. He complained to his wife about these “bothersome Ethiopians whose only intention is to infiltrate and take over the church.”
“What did I tell you?” his wife softly chided him. “Just leave everything in my hands. My German name, Zelda, does not mean ‘woman warrior’ for nothing.”
Sentayhu showed the email and letter to Brother Martin. “Do you think it is for real or is someone playing some kind of trick?”
Feigning concern, Brother Martin said, “It seems real to me. I’ll take care of it. I’ll talk it over with Pastor Gillespie. He signed it. If he’s changing his mind about this new ministry, he forgot to tell me.”
“Sure,” Sentayhu said. “Keep me informed.”
Chapter 20
Sister Gillespie remained seated after she got off the phone with Sister Zelda. Another woman, she thought, and like Zelda said, he was probably seeing her before we got separated. No wonder I was led to leave him. I’ll make a visit to this Ethiopian restaurant to see who this woman is…and a foreigner at that. How low can a dirty scoundrel go?
Sister Gillespie Googled ‘Ethiopian restaurants’ in the area and found the address to the Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant. That’s it. Maybe I ought to wait until Mother Louise and Sister Mona take me there for lunch. No, it might be awhile before they get around to it. I wonder if they know about this woman. They sure have shown no signs of it. If they knew about her, why would they keep coming here to pray and to encourage me as they say they are doing? It may be best for me to visit the restaurant by myself.
As soon as her sister, Regina, returned home from her job, Sister Gillespie shared her thoughts with her. “Regina, I can’t believe he is already seeing someone. It has not even been a year yet. How could he?”
“Do I detect some jealousy here?” Regina said with a smile.
“Jealousy? Of course not. He can have whoever he wishes because I am through with him—have been through with him.”
“This Charmaine was–,” said Sister Gillespie.
“Now, how did you find out her name?”
“Sister Zelda told me. She also told me her husband saw my soon-to-be ex-husband with her.”
“Is that so? I told you, Gloria, you need to stop talking with Sister Zelda. She’s only feeding you negative things,” Regina said.
“Well, aren’t you curious about this Charmaine?” Sister Gillespie asked.
“Not really.”
“Well, I am and as of now, you and I are going out to eat our first Ethiopian meal at the Queen of Sheba Restaurant. I’m all set. Let’s go,” she said taking her sister by the arm and heading out the door.
Regina burst out laughing once they were in the car. Sister Gillespie said, “I’m just going to check her out, you know, just to see whether or not she matches up.”
“Sistah, you will have to try harder to convince me that that is all you are going to do and that you are not jealous about your husband seeing another woman,” Regina said.
Once at the restaurant, they took a seat at a table where they had a full view of the entire dining area.
“I must say I am impressed,” Sister Gillespie said. “I thought this was going to be a rinky-dink place. You know a lot of foreigners live in poverty in their homeland and when they come to America they just throw things together. But I must say, I am impressed.”
Their waitress waited on them with class and made them feel as though they were the only ones in the place. Sister Gillespie could not contain herself any longer. “Excuse me, ma’am, does a Charmaine work here? We are friends of hers.”
Regina kicked her under the table for telling that lie.
“Charmaine? Oh, you mean Ayana,” the waitress replied. “Yes, she is. I can get her for you. She is running the register. Give me a minute.”
“Did you hear that? Ayana,” Sister Gillespie said to her sister but was thinking, such a beautiful name.
Regina rolled her eyes. Even at a distance, they both could tell that Charmaine was a natural beauty. She was even more beautiful up close—a true Ethiopian queen.
“Hi, I’m Charmaine. My co-worker told me you wanted to see me. I hope that you are enjoying your meal and that you are being served well.”
“Oh, yes,” Sister Gillespie said. “I am a friend of Mother Louise and Sister Mona from All Peoples Non-denominational Church. They told me about your restaurant and especially about you. I just wanted to meet you, and I must say everything is lovely; the meal is delicious.”
“Thank you,” Charmaine said. “Let me know if you need anything.”
As Charmaine walked back to the register, Sister Gillespie couldn’t help but marvel at the young woman’s sweet spirit. She could clearly see why her husband was interested in her.
Sister Gillespie ate the rest of her meal in silence.