An Unusual Visit

Melissa and I adventuring through the camp

On Saturday my teammate Melissa and I were invited to visit a young teenage girl, probably about 17, whom I will call Teresa. She just started coming to our Saturday Bible study in the Yusif Batil camp and we were excited to have her, especially when we heard that she was from an influential family in the camp. Teresa is a very spirited, fun young lady and I feel like she took to me right away. Last weekend while we were sipping tea together in a tea shop she asked if I would come to visit her the following Saturday. I decided it would be possible because I could drop Eli at the church for Bible study and I could go on to her house. So Saturday afternoon we dropped Eli and two of the boys at the Yusif Batil church while Melissa, Joshua and I set out on what would later prove to be quite the wild goose hunt. I had a general idea of where in the camp she was from and I figured that since she was from a well-known family, I'd be able to find her house no problem. One issue: I didn't know her father's name. Just her first name. So for the next hour and a half, Melissa and I traipsed through the camp, first going in one direction, and then in another. We ended up coming to houses where someone with a similar or same name lived but found that it was not the right place. Finally we decided to head back to the church and see if someone there could help us find the way.

At the church, Sam, another young teenager, said he knew where Teresa lived so we got back in the car, heading back in the direction where we'd first been looking. He said he knew where she lived but as we started searching from one house to the next, Melissa and I realized that he knew the general area but not her exact house. :) We had to keep chuckling and smiling at each other because at this point it was just comical! Finally around 3:30 we ended up at the right house of the right girl. We met her mother who warmly invited us into a freshly mudded hut. After guzzling a big cup of water we found out from Teresa's mother that Teresa wasn't home! She had gone to market. She wanted to make us a cup of tea so we stayed, hoping that maybe Teresa would show up, but once we got to 20 minutes past the time we were supposed to meet back up with Eli at the church, we said we would try to come back another day and said our farewells.

I don't think people in that part of the camp have khawaja (foreign) visitors very often so we had quite a crowd of neighbors and children come by to greet and stare at us.

Children staring in at us

As we drove away from Teresa's house, honestly tired out and a bit frazzled from the wild goose hunt, I chose to believe that the afternoon trek and visit were not a waste. I hope it meant a lot to Teresa that we kept our word and showed up even though she forgot. I hope our determination to find her house spoke love to those who were helping us find the way. And I hope God will lead us back to that little hut someday soon to share His love and Truth.