Pardon Me! Meet Sophie

Some teenage girls were watching Mariama sweep the front this morning and acted as if they were going to tease her. I asked them to move along to school so that she could finish sweeping. They looked like the girls who came in our house one day without being invited, but I did not want to assume that.

With trying to do school and Rich studying and going out, I kept the front gate locked, so we would not be disturbed. It also worked out since our house helper is still out, and her sister who came in for her does not know who to interrupt us for and who not.  I still feel weird locking the the gate, but I am following our neighbors' example. Rich came back from his visiting, but he forgot to lock the gate.

I came around the corner to find a strange teenage girl in our home. I asked her why she had come in, and I stepped out into the courtyard with her. She said she knocked and knocked but no one answered. I told her she should have waited for an answer. I asked her why she came, when she was obviously on her way home from school for lunch. She said she wanted to be our friend and asked my forgiveness for coming in the house uninvited. I confessed to her that I have a hard time believing her. She is too old to be friends with my children and too young to want to be my friend. I told her that most her age just come here to see the white person and tire us out. I hoped she was telling the truth, but I was having a hard time trusting her. She said she passed by yesterday and wanted to talk with us, unfortunately she thought we spoke French. She does not speak English nor our current local language.

So we communicated in the major trade language.  I asked her name and where she lives. I asked her what grade she is in, which is roughly equivalent to our tenth grade. I asked her how school was going, and she said it was painful. She recently moved here from a town two hours west of us.  She started to leave, but I asked her if I could pray with her before she left. I prayed that God who knows our hearts would reveal what is true and help her in her school work.

I don't know that I will ever see Sophie again. I do not know her heart's intent, but I know there are no accidents. She did not accidentally walk in our home. Pray that God will bless Sophie in her school work and to draw her unto Himself.