Mehndi Stories!

One of the things that I love about this culture is that you can share the gospel in just about every way possible. One of my favorite ways is through "Mehndi," (Mah-hen-di) . In America we are familiar with Henna, it's an orange/brown substance that comes from plants, you draw different designs and it looks like a tattoo but it only stays on for several weeks. We have shared twice through Mehndi and it is so much fun!

You can find women from all ages with Mehndi on, in fact they put it on their finger nails and it looks like orange polish, they put it on their feet, hands and for their weddings they put it on from their fingers all the way up their arms! Little girls to elderly women have it. Some men actually even wear it.. which always looks a little strange. I think the most interesting place that I've seen it is in the mens hair. It looks like a hair dying session went WAY wrong. I have heard muslim men do this after they have trekked to Meca, or because they don't like their gray hair showing... needless to say I am still trying to figure out why they die their hair bright orange.

The first picture below is the story of Joseph and his dream. The 11 starlike shapes represent Joseph's brothers. The designs on the right and left represent Joseph's parents. Joseph had a dream that the sun, moon and 11 stars would bow down it him. His brothers despised him even more because he was already the favorite son. In the picture, the stars, sun and moon are bowing down to him, with Joseph in the middle. His brothers then sold him into slavery, the swirls below Josephs representation are the blood that was shed when he was sold to the Ishmaelites into Egypt. If you know this story you know that their is a happy ending. God used this to bring Him glory, Joseph trusted God even though his brothers had betrayed him. We shared this knowing that the people here go through difficult times. Things that you could never even dream of going through. Hunger, abuse, being neglected by family and friends and many other terrible things. We told them that there is a God who is near to the broken hearted, and even though it seems dark and there's not a way out, there is a God that loves them and adores them, and wants these people to place their trust in Him.

The second Mehndi design is the story of creation. When we shared this one last week we went to 2 houses, the first house we told the story and then drew it on about 10 or so girls. At the second house we walked through a village like neighborhood, as we walked through, people dropped what they were doing and followed us. We had so many people that we couldn't even finish drawing this story on the women and children. It was a blessing though because so many muslim families heard the story of how God created the world. He created land, water and the mountains, He created the plants (on my fingers) and He made the stars (fingertips). He made the sun and the moon, that is shown on the right side of my palm. He made all the animals and the creatures in the sea. But His favorite thing that He made was people, you and me. The people are the design that falls onto my wrist. He made man first out of the dirt from the group, He then breathed life into him. Then He made women out of the man's rib. This Man and woman lived with no shame, no guilt. Sinless. He did all this in 6 days, and on the 7th day He rested.

They loved the stories and really listened. I am excited to share more stories from creation to Christ. We will be going to the same homes so that we can build relationships and tell more. Again, thank you for all of your prayers. Keep them coming!