Wai wai, awan keo, naawitenaae! It’s sorta a mouthful, but after repeating it over and over, I think I’ve got it down. 🙂 Saying sorry is almost nonexistant in the Moi culture, but this phrase seems close. Literal meaning is, "my, my, what did I do, go ahead and dislike me"
Some things like asking forgiveness and forgiving others seem like basic concepts but since the Moi aren’t used to dealing with one another in this manner, they’re learning it. It’s been exciting to see progress. Last week during literacy class one of my students who’s about 16 years old (Ayaioma, top pic) was irritating one of the other teen boys in the class. Before I knew it, Ayaioma got a beetlenut whipped at him. I didn’t really see all this going on until I noticed Ayaioma had tears in his eyes. The other students started snickering. Even though I told them it wasn’t loving to do that, they kept snickering. Soon Ayaioma stormed off, grabbed his bag down at the hut he sleeps in, and headed off in the direction of his hometown (hamlet’s about 10 hour hike away for them). Ugh. I felt sad about it and reprimanded the class, but didn’t really sense that they cared too much. They just said he was too old to cry. Sorta true, but none the less, they didn’t need to mock him.
So neat, cause the next day, a group of the guys headed out after him to apologize and get him to come back. Amazing, really, for the Moi to show that sort of love. They didn’t catch up to him, but news got up to his hamlet pretty fast about their attempts to meet up with him, and he showed back up yesterday.
In order to pass on the baton for teaching God’s Word to other Moi, Steve and Rich have been asking different individuals who can read to be a part of teaching God’s Word on Sundays and Wednesdays by getting them to either read Scripture or ask questions from the previous lesson. Well, for today’s church service, Steve had asked Kendaya to be the question guy. Steve told him he really needed to read the questions over and over again ahead of time and be familiar with the answers so that he’s not reading real slow in church. Sooooo, this morning (Sunday morning) early, Kendaya comes over to our house all eager with anticipation and says to Steve (who’s still sorta waking up), "Ummm, what did the elders say to Peter and John after he healed the lame man." Well, Steve thought, "Great, he didn’t spend enough time reading the answers now he’s having to ask me the answer." So, Steve tries to act patient and tells him the answer one more time and says, "The elders told Peter and John not speak Jesus name or they’d be punished." Kendaya says, "You are right, Steve, you answered that question with a straight talk!!" He was ready after all!
So, yes, we are thrilled to see these young believers growing in their Christian faith. Please pray that God will raise up faithful men and women among the Moi to build His church here in Moi and be a testimony to the many neighboring tribes around us.
He is able!
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