This week has been a four day holiday. The two days before everyone, and I mean everyone has been preparing for it, cleaning the house, getting new clothes, candies and foods. From my limited communication abilities and my knowledge of the religion they were celebrating the pointing of Abraham. If you know your Old Testament really well, you know that Abraham was directed by God to climb a mountain to make a sacrifice. The Old Testament makes a point of not the fact that Abraham was willing to sacrifice a son because the Book later goes on to tell us that Abraham had faith that God could bring him back from the dead. The people here are celebrating the fact that God provided another animal to take the place of the son. How they celebrate it though is not through just giving thanks, the families that can afford to slaughter an animal do so in the morning on any one of the days, and they believe that God is pleased with their distribution of the meat, 1/3 to friends and extended family, 1/3 to the poor and needy and the final 1/3 they can keep for themselves. There are a lot of things that go on during this week of holiday that people do in order to earn favor from God. Among making the sacrifice, people fast up to ten days before the holiday as well as keep a CLEAN house and make a pilgrimage to the holy city. I was told that everyone who makes the pilgrimage automatically goes to heaven. And this broke my heart, please continue to lift up these people in this dark time.
With the holiday I have not been working with my students but have been helping my sisters serve guests and been into a couple homes as a guest as well. It has been good, and I know that I am here to be a light in a very dark place.
Challenge Read the first book chapter 22.
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