Today I met with my tutor to start again with my time with her. I was excited to see how her holiday was and to ask about our friend Julia. To refresh your memory my friend Julia is the one who got a divorce and then got pregnant through an affair with a married man. My friend had talked her out of it. I really wasn't expecting the outcome of my question about how she was doing. I was unable to meet with Julia before we left so I had just heard that she was going to go and live her with her aunt. They celebrate the big holiday here for a month and usually everyone goes home. My friend wasn't going to return to this city after the holiday. My guess was that by that time she would have been really showing and she didn't want people to know of her situation. I was sad that I wasn't going to be able to see her again but I was very curious if in fact she ended up going to her aunts. But unfortunately that wasn't the case. When my friend was able to contact her and she told her she was in the hospital. My heart sunk. I think I went numb there and I was so caught off guard by what was coming next. My friend had an abortion and she was in the hospital for 4 days before the baby came out. I couldn't believe it. The baby was somewhere around 5 months along. My tutor and I quickly changed the conversation. Showing emotion is not something they do in their culture so it took a lot for me to push back everything to move onto my lesson. It all came out when I got home and told Todd. As I was grieving over the reality of what my friend did, she succumbed to the pressures, the unknown and the difficulties that where ahead of her, I thought that God is glorified in the killing of this unborn baby. He knew this was going to happen. It shows me more of the reality of why people need Him. Maybe she will come to know Him through this difficult season of life? She may not realize that her hard journey is not over. She may have not thought through the emotions she will probably feel later down the road. Wouldn't it be wonderful for her to run to Jesus for forgiveness? When women give birth here they and the baby stay inside the home for a month. Ironically part of the staying in is for bonding with your baby. I guess even after an abortion ladies still do the seclusion for a month. So I am going to give my friend a week or two and then try to contact her.

On my refrigerator are some pictures of friends back home. One of the pictures we have is of a sweet little girl from this country who was adopted by dear friends of ours. Every time I have opened the fridge I see this bright smiling face looking at me. I am so thankful that her mom went through pregnancy and gave birth to her. I am thankful that our friends were able to adopt her as their own child.