We were walking to the tailor to order our dresses and Moriah asked to ride on Anna's back. We ended up dropping Moriah off at the rehab center to play with a sweet little girl who is receiving therapy for severe burns.
Charlie loves playing on the little trike our friends graciously let us play with. The trike doesn't go anywhere, Charlie just crawls on and off of it and is as happy as can be. Anna is washing her clothes in the shade. The hospital put in a well decades ago when they built the hospital. The villagers buy their water and have to carry it or have it delivered to their house in large barrels. People who work on the compound often ask if they can do their laundry at their employer's house after they finish with their day's work. We are happy to let Anna do this.
Missionaries on the compound are very careful with waste since the people who work for us never waste food. We were told to always offer waste to our house help. Even if she doesn't need it, she likely knows someone who does. For example, I bought nine pounds of beef on Wednesday from a local butcher. It's the kind used for ground beef, but it doesn't come ground. Before it can be cooked, it has to be washed, trimmed, cut into chunks, and ground. I asked Anna to wash, trim, and cut it up for me. I offered her all the trimmings. Most of it is fascia and gristle with some small pieces of meat. She was very happy to have it. If I ask her to buy me laundry soap in town, or some onions, I will often either give her the change or give her a bar of soap or an onion from the bag, which is what the missionaries here have encouraged us to do.
We love having her in our home. She always takes her morning coffee break with us, and this has become a fun part of our routine. We give her some coffee, and she has taught us how to make it Hausa style - lots of milk and sugar! She shares what she brings for breakfast (usually fried dough from beans or boiled flour dumplings with an onion sauce) and we share what we have (usually toast with peanut butter and jelly or granola and yogurt). We chat a little: our Hausa is coming along! And we use LOTS of hand gestures. Charlie usually likes Anna's Hausa breakfast... Moriah not so much :)
Moriah's birthday is on Monday, so we have invited Anna and her husband and their "son" over for dinner and cake. Anna and her husband haven't been able to have children of their own, but it is common in Hausa culture for a relative to give a couple a child if they have not had one. The reason I put son in quotations is because the first time I asked Anna if she had any children, she answered "no" and motioned that she was praying to God for a child. When someone was around later to translate, she explained she was given a son to help him through school. This concept seems similar to adoption, but not the same, which is why I used quotations. For dinner we are also inviting Parker's good friend and translator at the hospital, Oscar. He has come over a couple times, and Moriah has taken to him very quickly! We look forward to having some conversation with Anna and her family since we will have a friend who can translate.
We decided for Moriah's birthday tradition we will tell the story of her name each year. Parker's friend, Oscar, is a Muslim. He is familiar with Jesus since he translates at the hospital when doctors pray for patients or talk about the hope we have in Him. You may know that M's are familiar with the story of Abraham on Mount Moriah. They believe Abraham went up the mountain with Ishmael instead of Isaac. This may seem like a petty detail, but they descend from Ishmael and Jews descend from Isaac. We care that Jews descend from Isaac because God had promised Abraham He would bless the whole world through Abraham's descendants. This promise was fulfilled in Jesus, who descended from Isaac and who offers the hope of salvation to the whole world - whether Jewish or not! What God asks Abraham to do with his son, and then what God provides instead, on Mount Moriah is pretty significant. Please pray with us that Moriah's story will encourage Anna and her family who are Christians, and that God will use it to reveal truth about Jesus to Parker's friend, Oscar. We won't be mentioning the name of the son, just that he's Abraham's son, so as not to unnecessarily offend. But I'm hoping Moriah doesn't mention the name - she knows it! Or if she does, that it doesn't become a big deal. If you don't know the story of Moriah's name, I will tell it when I post about her birthday.
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