George and Naomi came back to the Clinic to give devotions this morning before they fly home to Buckinghamshire. They spoke about the armor of God and encouraged patients to put their trust in God for strength. I’m glad they understand that sickness is not a punishment, just a part of life. I wish we could have talked before they left but they had to get to the airport in Abuja by the afternoon and it is quite a long drive.
It was a much quieter morning at the Clinic so after a few hours at the pharmacy (where I counted pills, talked to Peju, and played with a coworker’s baby) I got to talk a while with Jon and Kristen. They are such amazing people and I feel they are wise beyond their years. We talked about how being here helps put life as a whole in perspective and asked a lot of questions of each other and God. I think it’s good to be in a spot where everything isn’t spelled out for us--I have a feeling this is what walking with the Lord looks like most of the time!
After lunch Biana decided it was time for us to go grocery shopping so we drove down to the Tamerash Market, the only market that specializes in American products on this side of Jos. It was funny walking the aisles and finding Pringles for $5.50 a can and Frosted Flakes for just over $10. I guess these are quite a rare commodity around here! Luckily I found hair gel so I will look a little more presentable as the wind continues to pick up. None of us have had ice cream(or dessert of any kind) in the past two weeks so we hit the Net Cafe for Tiramisu gelato, which really hit the spot. The afternoon at Faith Alive was even quieter than the morning so I got the chance to think through my discussion for tomorrow. I’m surprisingly not stressed about it.
Dinner was fabulous (I could eat my weight in fried plantains!) and shortly after we finished Pastor Ben stopped by for an unexpected visit. He told us to start getting used to that, Nigerians don’t have any sense of business or time. The next two hours turned into one of the greatest conversations I have had the chance to be a part of in my life thus far. What started as a nice talk about what the Church in Nigeria is focusing on turned into a real life game of Battle of the Sexes! Ben is very interested in what different aspects of America looks like and asked about the institution of marriage. We pulled apart every aspect of it; polygamy, intercultural unions, legal issues, and, most importantly, the role of the man and the role of the woman. Divorce is frowned upon in the Nigerian culture but on the rare occasions it does happen the man gets custody of the children and his wife must live with a bad reputation. What that means is that a woman basically gives up her entire family and future in a divorce, one reason Ben thinks divorce rates are so low here. Back in the States divorce does not spell disaster for a wife but Ben believes not enough Americans take the time to work out their problems before turning to drastic measures. He also talked about how the man needs to lead his family because women are “weaker vessels.” The sparks began to fly... That debate never got settled, but to summarize the Americans believe God sees men and women as equals and the Nigerians hold to the belief that God ordered Adam to rule over his wife because she was not as intelligent. After all SHE was the greater sinner, she ate the apple first. I spent a lot of time laughing and left the arguing to the rest of the group. He ended the night thanking God for Jon and Kristin’s strong relationship and then praying for the future spouses of Adrie and myself. I thought that was really neat.
Jon and Kristin found photobooth on my laptop so we closed off the night laughing until we couldn’t breathe. We all agreed it still wasn’t as funny as the conversations we just had.
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