Eid e Khorban

Yesterday we finished a three day holiday called Eid e Khorban.   During this Eid, the  muslims are celebrating that God provided a sacrifice for Abraham so that Abraham didn’t have to sacrifice his son.  They assume that son was Ishmael.  To celebrate, they usually slaughter a goat, sheep, or cow and make all their favorite dishes.  During the other Eids, it is important here in our new city to visit all of our local workers’ houses.  This Eid is more of a family holiday so there is not the expectation of visiting everyone’s house.  The only exception is that if a family has had a death in the past few months then you are expected to visit that family.

Since Basir had lost a family member in the last month, our team went to his house on Thursday afternoon for tea and the little snacks they put out such as nuts, raisins, and dried chickpeas.  Eid visits are one of my favorite things.  It is an opportunity to see afghan women and chat with them.  I ended up sitting next to the wife and her sister in law.  It was fun talking to them even though I am still learning to understand the people here.  The people in our new city have a slightly different accent and use a few different words.  Being new to this city, it was great to get to meet some afghan ladies that were willing to talk with me and my friends.

Since our director was in town, this family wanted us to come back on Saturday for lunch. So on Saturday, we once again headed back to this family’s home.  This time the women went into one room, and the men into another.   As ladies, we talked about our families, about a lady who was expecting her first baby, and what we did for a job.  The ladies of the house had fun teaching our newest team member some Dari .   Since the team has been here before, the kids felt comfortable to go out and play with the other kids.  The family has 5 brothers who all live either in the compound where we were having lunch or  very close.

Since it was my first visit, I didn’t take any pictures of the ladies but here in Bamian, they like lots of color.  It was fun seeing the mom and her daughters all dressed in clothes that were made from the same fabric.  It had bright colors of purple, red, and blue.

Our meal started off with a chicken soup followed by kebobs, a beef and okra dish, a rice pilaf, and naan.  Dessert was apples and bananas.  No matter how much you eat, they always want you to eat more.  I enjoy Afghan food so it was a fun treat to eat really good Afghan food.  Here are a few pictures of our time there.  The little boy is the son of a friend of mine.  He just turned 2 yesterday.  He was the highlight of our room since he is obviously so cute but also a boy.

Pray for our team as we continue to strengthen the relationships with our workers here.   Pray for opportunities for us to speak the truth.  Lastly, pray that we can be a light to this city.