Aamilah’s Dream

Aamilah is not her real name for to tell her name would likely mean death for Aamilah or her children.    She’s from a village called Akutuh which again is not the real village for to tell the real name of Akutuh would be double jeapardy.   She’s from a region nearly 4,500 miles away from where I heard of her.    But that’s the even stranger part of the story.    I was in a village where Men wear grass loin clothes and women wear grass skirts yet Aamilah wore full mulsim attire.    What was she doing in this place?   Even more important why was she in our Adventist Church worshiping with us?

On July 28th, 2014 Ramadan had drawn to an end.   During this month - long fast Aamilah had petitioned Allah 5 times a day for help.   Aamilah’s husband had died from an unknown cause just 2 months earlier leaving her a widow of 26 years old  with a 3 and 5 year old.   Fortunately, for Aamilah, her husbands businesses has left her with enough money to provide for their needs.   But for a Muslim woman in Akutuh to be single was not considered to be an option.   Likely the teacher in the Mosque would try to arrange a second marriage for one of the already married older men in Akutuh.    She dreaded that day.   

“Oh Allah hear my cry.   Can I not just remain single?    Show me your ways Allah!”   She cried.

As a very faithful Muslim woman she determined to read the Quran from cover to cover over Ramadan.    She had large sections of the Quran memorized and had read the Quran more than 40 times but this time she determined to dig deeper and learn more.   One day she noticed a verse in the Qur’an that says, “The people of the Book know this as they know their own sons; but some of them conceal the truth which they themselves know.” 2:146   She for some reason was bothered by this text.     She contemplated it all day as she fasted.    When the sun went down that night she hurried to her fathers house to ask him what he thought it meant.    She knew that Muslims long interpreted that the “people of the book” were those who believed in the first five books of the Bible.  Jews and followers of Abrahams ways.    “Who are these people and what is this truth that they are concealing, Daddy?”   

“Don’t worry about it my little Aamilah!”   her father had said.    “Just be a good Muslim and let the men determine this.”

But that night she whispered a prayer that would change her life forever.    “Allah of heaven and earth, the one and only God, show me what this hidden truth is so that my son and daughter can know just what it is.”

Aamilah drifted off to sleep.   Around 3 am she dreamed an amazing dream.     In her dream she saw Allah’s Angel pointing to a certain spot on the map of Papua.    The map zoomed in until she saw the very village the Angel was pointing at.   Then she saw people studying the Torah, those first 5 books that the Qur’an refers to again and again.    Her eyes were then drawn to a section on the page that they were studying.    The words seemed to be highlighted or glowing.    The angel said, “Memorize this dream and the words of this passage and I will show you Allah’s ways.  Now go with your son and daughter to this place in Papua. These people will teach you all the words of the People of the Book.”

Aamilah awoke to the sounds of people still celebrating the end of Ramadan.    Mosques blared, from their speakers, a continual prayer of thanksgiving to Allah.   “Aamilah, Aamilah come lets go to the womens prayers.”   Her mother said.    Obediently even though she was a Widow and 26 years old she followed.
It took Aamilah several months to gain courage to leave Akutuh.    Money was not the issue but how as a single mom could she leave.    Then one day the bankers from her husbands business dealings called with a settlement statement for one of the businesses that had sold.   They asked her to travel to Jakarta.    Aamilah asked, “I am a widow. . . May I bring my children, too?”    Of course she could have left her children with her parents but she wasn’t thinking of the parents.   She was thinking of her dream and prayer she had continually been praying since.”  “Show me your ways Allah! and Help me to find a way to get to the village in Papua.”

November 12, 2014 She and her now 4 and 6 year old boarded the boat bound for Jakarta.    “Mommy why can’t we stay with grandma?”  her daughter asked.    Aamilah nervously changed the subject.    So far she had managed the impossible which was,  Traveling alone as a widow with her 2 children.    But then Jatung her teenage cousin boarded the ship just a few minutes before departure.    Aamilah could see him coming up the ramp.   He texted her.    “Aamilah, I need to give you something you forgot.”    She was worried to answer the text lest it was a trap.    How did the family even know?    She had told them a few stories to throw them off.    “She’d be back in a month or so.”     “She has another cousin going with her once she reached the nearby city” she lied.     Aamilah didn’t answer the text and Jatung jumped off the ship just as the ramp was being raised.   Evidently, he had not wanted to go along and perhaps had a letter for a friend of family in the main town 3 hours away.    She would never know because Jatung never did text again.

Aamilah made it to Jakarta just fine and went directly to the Bank.    The settlement of the funds was sent to a new bank account that had branches in Papua, too.  She made sure of that.     Aamilah then arranged to continue on to Papua by ship.   Papua is perhaps another 2,500 miles further to the east.    After more than 2 continual weeks on a boat with only a half day break in Jakarta Aamilah arrived in southern Papua.    She asked local Muslims about the area she had seen in her dream.     They said, “Oh you can’t go there because those are just native people.   There is no mosque there.”

But persistently Aamilah with her 2 children pressed on.   By now she had told her children of her dream at the end of Ramadan.     They readily embraced their mothers search for more truth.   Then her son came running up from his new Papuan friend.    “Mommy, that boy, my new friend, is going with his parents to Digul.   Do you think its near the place of your dream?”    

Immediately Aamilah recognized the name of the place as a place near to the village she was seeking.    She had somehow seen this name on the map near to where the Angel of Allah had pointed.    She boarded the small ship and together they rode for another 2 days.    After a day they turned up a large river.    Her children sat glued to the windows.    “Mommy, what’s that big lizard over there at the edge of the river?”  her son had asked.    She shuttered as she watched a 4 meter long Crocodile sink out of site beneath the muddied waters of the river.    Later a man rode a speed boat up close beside their ship and one of its passengers jumped aboard the ship with a large sack.    Out of the sack was produces a 4 1/2 meter long Python that the man wanted to sell to the passengers.   Aamilah prayed, “Oh Allah protect my children from this harsh land.”   At night mosquitoes swarmed their bodies.    “Allah protect us from Malaria.”

Then around 5 am at the end of the 2nd night she awoke to  hear sailors preparing to dock their ship.    On the dock were lines of men with toothy grins walking around spitting Bettlenut and smoking home rolled cigarettes.    She asked,  “where can I find a boat going to Felo?”     She knew this place was not far away yet know one seemed to know of the place she was asking about.   Suddenly a man approached her.    “How can I help you?”     She immediately recognized him as a man who had stood behind the Angel of Allah in her dream.   

Aamilah asked,   “Do know where Felo village is and how I can get there?”    

“Yes!   I am from the next village up the river from Felo.    But you don’t want to go to that village because those people study the Word of God and worship on a what they call the Sabbath!”     The man said.

Aamilah immediately thought of the text the angel had highlighted.    “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

“Yes I do want to go there! “   She said in a sudden blurt.   “I’ll pay for your gas and oil to take me there on your boat.”

The man agreed but soon it was evident he didn’t really know the village she was talking about so Aamilah asked him to stop at every village so she could inspect it to see if it was the place she had dreamed of.   The big Papuan man started to look nervous as they kept going from village to village.  His Papuan wife who was with them on the boat kept complaining that he was just flirting.   Finally, they arrived at the district village where the district head was and they found him at his home around noon.   “Do you know where Felo is?”   Aamilah asked.

“Yes,   Its not an official village but we allowed them to start a new village so that the people from another village nearby would not kill them.    They are very serious about God and their original village is not so serious.”   The district head said.

Aamilah asked,  “Do they worship on a certain day like Friday for example?”

“No they worship on Saturday.   Strange isn’t it?”   The district head asked.   “I mean you worship on Friday and I worship on Sunday but no one except these people and the Jews insist on worshipping on Saturday.   But one thing about them is they are amazing folks.    I went there recently to study building a school for them and discovered they had already built a school and church.   Then I sent a team from the local clinic and the nurses all came back in a couple of hours to say everyone was healthy and didn’t need them.   Then I sent the Agriculture man and discovered that every home had huge gardens and they didn’t need the agriculture department.   So I went again and discovered their name is Seven days and they’ve built a church.    Their leader has taught the village to read and write and how to compost and when they are sick he’s got a team of prayer folks who go and prays for the sick person and they get well within a few minutes.   Strange folks.   If you can promise me you won’t stir up trouble I’ll give you a letter to allow you to go there.”

Aamilah promised and soon she had the all important letter.    Within 45 minutes she was at the dock leading to the village.    A small boy was there but no one else.   He ran ahead to inform the Seven-days leader.

Aamilah has been in this small village for just over 3 1/2 months and together with a Bible and the Quran she has been on an amazing journey.    She has written letters back to her family and they have just sent reply messages that she is no longer their family member.    Aamilah cheerfully says, “My new family is even better than my birth family, but I’d sure like to have my birth family know this truth I am learning.”

Aamilah is helping to teach students math, reading and writing.   This is  greatly red ucing the work load of our Global Pioneer to help disciple the Adults of the village.    Aamilah is praying for a way to take this Truth from the “last day people of the Book” back to Aku one day.   Pray for Aamilah!

* The names of villages and people and locations have been changed to protect the innocent but the essential details of the story are as they were relayed to me a few days ago.