Sweet Melissa

heidi and i were headed to our first day of Bible storying at okari. just before we reach the church, we stop at the borehole to greet a friend. then a little girl walks our way and says she was told to direct us to a house nearby where coming-out prayers were being held for a newborn baby girl. 

so in true moru fashion, we go with the flow and follow her down the path. as heidi and i switch from moru to arabic, we are confused when they tell us there are two babies. “twins?!” we ask, and they explain again that two women, from the same compound, each had a baby girl a few days apart. 

moru tradition is to hold prayers 4 days after the birth of a baby girl (3 days for a boy). so, today we would have prayers for the first girl, then a few days later would be prayers for the other baby.

we arrived to see many of our friends from okari. we felt better about postponing Bible storying since most of our participants were there, and we were happy to be a part of such a special day with them.

the younger women were busy fetching water and preparing food. grandmothers stretched their legs on a large mat with the children. leaders of the church sat in chairs in a circle. and we all gathered on this large, well-swept compound, under the shade of a tree. 

vida opened us up with a sermon from mark 10 about Jesus and the little children. we sang the moru version of blessed assurance, prayed, and took up offering. then it was time to see the baby!

heidi and i stand with the women as they literally lift up the baby girl in prayer. then they ask the baby’s name... nyobili melissa :)  my namesake!

inside the mud hut, i greet the mother, abao, who was one of our english class regulars. she hands over sweet melissa, and i marvel at such a precious sight as i rub her tiny fingers. 

we continue the day with a meal and talk about south sudan’s independence day, which was on july 9th. heidi asks if anyone went for tribal dancing, and they all point to one of the oldest ladies sitting with us! i hope i’m that old and still going to dance parties :) we all laugh together as they begin to show us the dance styles of different tribes. one looks like a shuffle, another jumping, and one dance is all in the shoulders. 

they ask what our cultural dancing is like. heidi and i look at each other in amusement and explain that most young people in america don’t know the traditional dances of their ancestors. but we decided to entertain them with a demonstration of the waltz to give them an idea :)

a few days pass, and heidi and i head to the same compound with the same people. we read the same scripture and sing the same song. but now we have prayers for another little girl, a cousin to baby melissa. we lift her up in prayer, and when they ask for the name, they say “heidi.” :)

baby melissa and baby heidi will grow up as cousins and hopefully friends. and though it’s unlikely they will have a relationship with their father, we pray that they will grow up to be strong little ladies who know their heavenly Father. 

so happy the Lord changed our plans today. what a special blessing to share with our community.