Valley of Fossils

A Missionary went to a certain village to preach to the natives. The location of this village was in a valley surrounded by very high cliffs on all sides. This village had somewhat of a landing strip for planes, but the cliffs were so high that planes had to fly in a downward spiral, circling the village from above until they were low enough to land, because they could not come directly into the valley. So transport in and out of the village was very difficult. This missionary, however, had it on her heart to build a medical clinic for the villagers. But while the villagers made everything from straw, this would not do as building material for a medical clinic. The clinic needed to be built from wood. The task seemed impossible. There was no way to transport the wood into the village.

Earnestly, one night, the Missionary stayed awake, praying for God to perform a miracle. And on that particular night, a miracle did occur. A violent earth quake shook the valley, and one entire cliff face was split in half down the middle. It would now be possible to access the village by a road that could be built in the now cleared cliff face. The Missionary was so excited, and shared with the villagers about how this was a miracle from God. It was hard for them to accept that an Earthquake was a good thing, but never the less, the Missionary rejoiced.

However, a second problem was at hand. The Missionaries dream of building a medical clinic was still so far away. The funds to build such a place simply did not exist in the area, and were never likely to be seen. The Missionary despaired, but prayed none the less for yet another miracle.

Work began to clear away the rubble of the fallen cliff. As workers began to move the large boulders that lay on the valley floor, they began to find hundreds and hundreds of fossilised shell animals. Some of the fossils were very large. The Missionary gathered them together, and sent some samples back to America, from where she had come from. She received word that the find was exceptional, and that many buyers were interested in purchasing the fossils. And so it came to pass that a great number of fossils were sold in American museums, often for $2000 each. And so the money was gathered together for the building of a medical clinic, more elaborate than the Missionary had every imagined possible. And the natives came to accept Christ through seeing the miracle that had taken place.