American Football in Mojonera – For the First Time Ever!
Many of our friends from Africa have never seen an American football, let alone touched one, or played the game. Recently they got the chance to do all of this. A couple of guys from America and Joel, along with several of our African friends, met on a Sunday afternoon as part of our sports evangelism ministry. Within about 5-10 minutes, Joel had them playing a "pretty close to the real thing" game. They loved it and were laughing and joking about whether it was 3rd or 4th down. It was great fun and a good release for these guys who work very hard in the extremely hot greenhouses about 6 days a week. It was fun to watch them make touchdowns and have a great time – mostly it is just so great to see them smile – which they actually do almost all of the time even when life is really tough.
The Tabaski Holiday Arrives after Mayhem in Mojonera
December 8, was the Muslim holiday of Tabaski, in which each family who is financially able kills a lamb. Then the men spend much of the day cutting it up, and the women spend much of the day cooking the meat with onions and potatoes and spices of mustard, pepper, hot pepper, and Maggie cubes, then they eat off and on all day. They also find time to pray. The women cover their heads in respect, place their prayer mat on the floor, face towards Mekkah, Saudi Arabia, because that is where Mohammed the prophet was born. Then they begin to pray while kneeling and placing their head on the floor and then standing and then repeating the process several times during the prayer. This holiday is to commemorate the time of Abraham’s sacrifice.
While we were celebrating Tabaski with Kadi and her family, Joel saw on the Spanish news that there had been rioting in La Mojonera. He actually saw the house of our friends who live there and Nguy was talking with the police on the news. The report went on to tell of the riots that had resulted from our friend’s neighbor who is from Mali being robbed and stabbed by a man from Morocco, he later died as a result of the stab wounds. In retaliation many sub-Saharan Africans proceeded to burn cars and trash containers, and break windows of various North African shops on the street next to Demba and Nguy’s house. After Joel saw the news and we had dinner and African tea with Kadi’s family, we left to go to Mojonera to check on our friends there. As we drove into the town of Mojonera, we noticed riot police and television crews on many corners. At the corner of Demba and Nguy’s house there were two riot police; one carrying a large gun. We talked with the guys and they said that everyone in their house, where about 20 guys from Senegal all live, were fine. They said that the tension seemed to be dying down and they thought all of the negative activities would stop. They were cutting up their lamb and preparing to eat the Tabaski dinner as well. We were relieved to find that they were all okay and that things seemed to be calming down.
Please pray for them and their neighbors from Mali, Equatorial Guinea, and Morocco. Pray that even through these violent times God might reveal Jesus to them.