The Sweetest Sound

You know how when you're talking with somebody you give them little cues to let them know you're tracking with them?  Like maybe you say "yeah" or "uh-huh" or even just nod your head at certain breaks in the conversation?  The way Malians do this is by clicking their tongues, usually accompanied by one quick little nod down and last Thursday that click was the sweetest sound I've ever heard.

We got out the phone and gave it to H-Mama.  We told her that it was for her and then we explained how our work when we lived here had been these Stories from God's Word.  We told her about how they were in her language, Sunny.  And we told her that they were on the phone.  Then Abby began playing the first Story, Creation, as H-Mama focused in on listening.  The first line played...click & head nod.  The second line played...click & head nod.  This was literally the moment that we'd been waiting and praying for for almost 4 years.  A Sunny woman, in the middle of the Malian bush, on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, was hearing God's Word for the first time...and in her heart language.  She couldn't get over that it was in her language!  We asked her if she understood the Story and she said she did.  Then I asked if she understood it really, really, really well and she said, "Yes!  They're in Sunny!"  It was a relief.  Even with all the things these Stories have gone through to be crafted, back-translated, tested, tweaked, re-recorded, re-backtranslated, and tweaked again...even with all of the research and documentation and citing of resources...even with all of that, we still had to know for sure that our village would be able to understand.  There are different dialects and different expressions even just in the Sunny language.  And we weren't able to test the Stories in our specific village...so we just wanted to know for sure.  And those two beautiful clicks were exactly what we were waiting to hear.

While seeing the Stories in H-Mama's hand and being able to see with my own eyes her hearing it for the first time was absolutely the high point of our trip, there was another thing that was a close second.  H-Mama's daughter who we'd never met was there.  She was so excited she could hardly stand it.  She told us that she was so happy to meet us and that she was so thankful for us because we had been able to take care of her mom in ways she couldn't.  She said that she couldn't even eat the rest of the day...all she wanted to do was praise God and thank Him.  Then later she said that we were sisters and that we look just alike. :)

Family Pic

Then it was time for lunch.  It was the craziest thing!  On the way there I mentioned that one of the (few) things I liked to eat in the village was okra sauce.  We hardly ever ate okra sauce and I didn't even know it was okra season, but that's exactly what we had for lunch.  It was such an overwhelming feeling of being home at that point.  We went through the whole meal routine as if we'd been doing it every day for the last 2 years.  Lay a cloth down, put the food bowls on it.  Gather around the food bowl in a circle and pass around the water bowl to wash your right hand.  Then we would pray with our hands facing up to indicate that we were praying a different prayer than the ones they pray 5 times a day facing east.  Then you pour the sauce over the rice and wait for the oldest person to dig in before you start eating.

Praying before lunch.  In other news, check out her arms.  She could definitely beat you up.

Eventually it was time to leave.  We said goodbyes and they said the goodbye blessings.  We walked to the others in the compound and did the same.  Then they all walked us to the truck.  I was seriously struggling to hold it together at this point.  We shook H-Mama's hand again and then we shook her left hand, something that's usually highly offensive.  But when you're leaving somebody, it's customary to do this because it's leaving things "unfinished" so to say.  After that I just couldn't help myself and I grabbed her and hugged her.  Then I started bawling and climbed in the truck.  It really was a perfect day.  Thank you for praying.  God answered in ways that I never even would have thought to ask for.  He was so good to us, so faithful.  And I am so thankful that He has a plan.

She was happy about the left hands.
P.S.  That's Max behind my head.