Missionary Charles Wesco killed while working with family in Africa
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Very sad. I happen to be in Cameroon at this time. The incident took place in another region. There’s been a lot going on there. Still not clear on whether accidental (stray bullet) or intentional.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/10/30/us-missionary-shot-kill…
U.S. missionary shot and killed in front of wife and son amid escalating Cameroon crisis
Dave Halyaman, assistant pastor at Believers Baptist Church in Warsaw, Ind., which sent Wesco and his family on its mission to Cameroon, told The Washington Post that the church “is grieving greatly the murder of Charles Wesco, but we are also trusting God that he has a purpose in all of this.” The congregation’s senior pastor is Wesco’s father-in-law, he said.
The family was living in a suburb of Bamenda, a major town in Cameroon’s northwest Anglophone region, Halyaman said.
Unrest broke out in that region in late 2016 over complaints that the Anglophone community was being marginalized by Cameroon’s central government, which is largely controlled by French speakers. The country is bilingual, but Francophones have historically held more governmental power than English speakers. Security forces stifled peaceful protests in the Anglophone regions, and an armed separatist movement emerged. Around 400 civilians have been killed in violence in the country’s two Anglophone regions. Tens of thousands have fled the country as refugees and others are now internally displaced.
Halyaman said that Wesco, his wife and one of their sons were traveling with another missionary to go shopping on Tuesday morning when at least two shots were fired, striking the windshield and hitting Wesco twice. “He was unconscious,” Halyaman said, adding that Wesco was taken to a nearby clinic for treatment, then transferred to a hospital in Bamenda where “doctors attempted to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful.”
Halyaman described the area they were in as having “a lot of high weeds.” On social media, some placed the blame on government troops and others on armed separatists, but Halyaman said it was not immediately clear who shot at the vehicle.
Cameroonian Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo released a statement saying that “a group of terrorists” shot at Wesco’s vehicle around nine miles from Bamenda, striking him in the temple. Security forces tracked the group, the statement said, then engaged in crossfire with them, killing four. A U.S. State Department official confirmed to The Post that an American citizen died in Bamenda on Tuesday but did not offer further details.
Doctors Without Borders, the international aid group that goes by the initials MSF, told The Post in an email that “an MSF ambulance transported the man” who died in Bamenda, and that he died at a hospital supported by the group.
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/10/30/indiana-missionary-kille…
An American missionary died in northwestern Cameroon after being shot in the head Tuesday amid fighting between armed separatists and soldiers, the director of the regional hospital said.
Charles Trumann Wesco, a missionary from the U.S. state of Indiana who had been in the region for two weeks, was rushed to the hospital in Bamenda after he was gravely wounded while in his car, hospital director Kingue Thomson Njie said.
“He died in our hospital after all attempts to save his life,” Njie told The Associated Press.
Wesco’s wife and eight children were still in Bamenda, he said. It was unclear if any of them were harmed or if someone else was with him in the car.
The missionary’s brother is a state lawmaker in Indiana. Republican Rep. Tim Wesco confirmed his older brother’s death and said, “He loved the Lord. He loved people. The Lord giveth. The Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Charles and the entire Wesco family have been great friends and supporters of Dr. John Whitcomb and Whitcomb Ministries. We grieve with his family at this time of loss, but rejoice that Charles is with the Lord in heaven.
Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/indiana-missionary-gunned-down-camer…
Virgil Wesco, pastor emeritus of Fellowship Baptist Church in South Bend, Indiana, and his wife, Rebecca Wesco, told NBC affiliate WNDU of South Bend that their son Charles was killed as he and his wife were returning from shopping.
Robert Paladino, a spokesman for the State Department, confirmed that a U.S. citizen had been killed in Cameroon, but he said he had no further information. Armed separatists in the region have called for a boycott of local schools, contending that the French-language schools discriminate against English-speaking students.
Wesco’s parents said their son and his family had spent the last two years planning for their mission to Cameroon. Charles and Stephanie Wesco moved to Cameroon with their eight children about two weeks ago, they said.
Wesco served as assistant pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in South Bend, where his father is the pastor emeritus, his parents said.
“My husband has already prayed for his killer,” Rebecca Wesco said. “Charles would want us to do that.”
Virgil Wesco said: “He cared for the people, and he was willing to risk his life to go to them.”
The Wescos were in our church earlier this year. Exceptional, talented family. I was in the extreme north of Cameroon 11 years ago exactly at this time of the year. The country was relatively stable then. The missionaries we supported in the extreme north eventually had to leave because foreigners were being kidnaped for extortion. One of those families will be in our church this Sunday.
Wally Morris
Huntington, IN
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46044404
The Wesco family had spent years raising funds for their move to Cameroon, said Pastor Dave Halyaman of the US-based Believers Baptist Church, which sent the family on the mission.
He told the BBC that Mr Wesco’s wife, Stephanie, had described her husband’s death as a tragedy but she said that she believed God allowed it for a purpose.
He said the church was being assisted by the US State Department in their efforts to bring the Wesco family home to the US “hopefully in a week or less”.
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/11/01/indiana-family-return-ho…
The family of an American missionary who was shot and killed in front of his wife and son in Cameroon will travel back home to Indiana this week, a pastor told IndyStar on Thursday.
Wesco’s wife and their eight children have left the area and as of Thursday morning were headed to the Cameroon capital of Yaoundé, Halyaman said. They plan to fly back to the U.S. on Saturday, he said. The family is from Mishawaka, a city in northern Indiana. They traveled to Cameroon almost two weeks ago , Halyaman said.
Halyaman said the Wescos were aware of the dangers in the region.
“They knew there was fighting,” he told IndyStar. “They didn’t go into it blind.”
Halyaman said the body of Charles Wesco is expected to be flown back to the U.S. by the end of this week for a funeral in Warsaw.
Wesco’s brother is Indiana House Rep. Timothy Wesco. Gov. Holcomb released a statement on Tuesday, saying he and his wife “are thinking of Rep. Tim Wesco and his family as they grieve the death of his brother Charles.”
Halyaman said the church mourns Wesco’s death, but said they believe “God is in perfect control.” He described Wesco as a business owner — he ran a piano tuning service — who “loved God and loved service.”
“He was smart,” Halyaman said, “and he had a good heart, too, “
- I talked with Stephanie’s father today: Pastor Don Williams of http://www.believersbaptistwarsaw.org
- She intends to move to the Warsaw IN area and should arrive this weekend
- The oldest boy witnessed Charles’ death and this has been (as can be imagined) very difficult on him
- Memorial gifts may be sent to the mission board here:
- First Light Baptist Mission, 3030 Witzel Avenue, Oshkosh, WI 54904
- Put “Wesco Relief” in the memo field
Thank you for these continued updates. My former church had a very good relationship with the Williams family, and through them, knew the Wescos.
We are, of course, saddened for the family and children for the abrupt loss.
John B. Lee
“Go and Preach … Five Do and Die”
Worth a look. [I used TinyURL to compress the link]
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