Page 302 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

Easter in Amarah, 1929
Mrs. W. L. Moicrdyk
:
A T this blessed Easter time in America I am constantly reminded of
that other Easter in Amarah a year ago. At that service could Wc
boast of twenty to thirty of those who confessed their faith in
Christ as their Savior as so many churches in America did at
this Easter time? No, but there was one lone woman who did confess
Christ her Savior in that land of Islam.
How our hearts were stirred with emotions, joy and praise, as she
stood and answered the questions of the form of Holy Communion which J
Mr. Moerdyk put to her before all that Moslem congregation that was
gathered there that Sunday morning. She was so anxious to answer the
questions she could not wait until all had been asked, but kept saying,
"Yes," "Yes,” and her final reply was, "I have left all of Islam and now
believe in Jesus Girist, my Savior.” Then she knelt to receive baptism,
which was very impressive. What a happiness shone in her face, what a
joy in her heart Irecause she had confessed her Savior whom she loved
and had been trying to serve for over a year.
;
Hasana, meaning in Arabic the beautiful one, first came to the notice
of the missionaries about five years before this event. She came as the
result of a dream. She had had a dream in which she saw Mrs. Dykstra
sitting under a tree and she had gone up to her and embraced her. The
next day she, with her three-year-old son, Bedaiwee, went to Mrs. Dykstra.
She requested the missionary to buy her son since she was poor, almost
blind and couldn’t take care of him. We found out she was a widow with
no support except what little she could earn by carrying water, washing I
dishes, etc , and for this she would only receive her food. She told us
something of her history which rather cleared the mystery that her son
looked more like an Indian than an Arab. During the war she had been
married to an Indian, who was in government employ. His work was to
give out rations to the soldiers. When asked more about her husband she
said he was a Christian, at least he was rated as such by the Moslems, ft
was a strange thing that she, a Moslem, should have married a Christian,
but these things did happen during the war occasionally and was allowed
in her case since her brother consented to the marriage. She. of course,
was warned by family and relatives to be careful and not become of hisv
religion. She gives a fine testimony to his character, saying he was|
different from Moslem men, for he was kind, good and thoughtful of her.
But her life with him was very short, hardly a year, when one daj
she received word that he had l>een killed. He was with a company oil
soldiers en route from Basrah to Bagdad when Bedouin of the tleseri
attacked them and he was one of the slain. Shortly after this incident sht
became a mother and called her son Bedaiwee, little Bedu, because tht
Bedouin had killed his father.
She suffered another sorrow in the death of her sister about the time
she first came to the missionaries. She was a pitiful picture of nee*L
hungry, destitute, ragged, almost blind, ready to give us her son becau*
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