It’s almost Christmas! I had a delightful African Birthday and was totally spoiled by all our new friends. We had dinner with one family on my birthday, then the next morning we went on a picnic up on a big rocky area with our adopted parents. On top of all that, that night they kept the boys while another family made a candlelight dinner for Aaron and me. It was wonderful!

Last week we were privileged to have a family over who is Nigerian and living in our town. They are amazing and are doing some awesome things in ministry, equipping the people to making a living by raising meat rabbits, growing soybeans and other things. This man is so wise and interesting and we learned many things from him. Then Monday we had another great time of learning with a Christian man who is from the people group we have come to explore. He gave us some really good information and we shared a meal with him and then he stayed and we picked his brain for a few hours. It was most enlightening.

Today we took Ruth and her parents to Jos. Ruth’s elder sister, Auntie Susie, has been very sick and in and out of the SIM hospital. This family is very strong in their faith and we have gotten to witness them rise up in the power of the Lord despite hard times. Ruth came over early this morning to tell us they just got word that Auntie Susie died. We all cried together. We had visited her in the hospital and prayed for her. They brought her home and we had been keeping up with her recovery, but then she took a turn for the worse and was back in the hospital for two days before her death.

After much sickness, they finally discovered she had HIV which is so common here. She was actually an HIV nurse and somehow got the disease from years of contact with patients. Ruth’s family is so blessed by our taking part in this time with them. They keep thanking us and thanking us and we keep telling them that they are our friends and this is how we do things in our part of the world! I think the fact that we are white and still loving them through this is the strange part to them. It has been a privilege to share this time with them and Baba (Ruth’s father, David Weze) keeps telling us to write home and greet our family and church for him and his family and to remember how we have touched their lives. It is you back home who are making it possible! What a gift.

Ruth’s father gave Aaron a name from his tribe. Aaron is now Wado and I am Mrs. Wado. They introduce him to all their family and friends as their son and Mr. Wado, and they say that we are Ruth’s parents! It is delightful. Concerning how they are handling the loss of Auntie Susie, life here is so different and death is so common. I wish I could describe how people view life and death and trials in this culture. They almost embrace it and expect hardship. They are especially grateful when things go well, because they are always ready for the worst.

When I go into town I always think of you back home and how I wish you could see what I see: everyone walking with great loads on their heads; beautiful people in beautiful bright colors; millions of flip-flop shod, dusty feet; men holding live chickens on the side of the road trying to sell them to you; barely functioning cars filled with people; millions of motorcycles and no traffic rules; all the children with wide smiles waving at us; countless babies tied on their momma’s backs. . .beauty all around. This is Africa.