Namako
it’s the Malagasy word for friend.
It was used the first week of ministry as I joked around with one of the girls named Tony from our new ministry host at our church Rhefi. Little did I know that the sharing of my sunglasses would ignite a friendship full of joy and laughter with my new friend Tony.
I spent countless hours walking and doing ministry alongside this friend of mine, when it finally hit me that we would no longer be doing ministry with her the following week. For our third and final week of ministry, we would be teaching English instead of working with the church Rhefi.
At our final church service with the church Rhefi, my teammate Dana and I did children’s ministry. Afterwards my friend Tony spotted me from afar and waved and smiled at me. I could see that she was excited to see me. After children’s ministry we stayed for the churches service. Tony sings in the church choir, so I didn’t get to talk to her during the service. When the pastor finished the sermon, my translator turned to me suddenly and told me it was time to leave to go back to our host home.
Staring at Tony in the pew in front of me, I tried communicating to her that I had to go. A look of confusion and sadness came across her face. The translator kept nudging me telling me it was time to go. I became frustrated and sad because I was unable to give my friend a proper goodbye. We walked outside of the church to the rest of my team and the other translators when I said: “ You do realize this is our last time at this church, right? This is the last time we will get to say goodbye to them”.
The pastors family and a few other people who also live with the pastor came outside. Tony came out a few minutes later. I said my goodbye’s to everyone else and finally found Tony. As Tony was telling me goodbye, she started crying. It hurt my heart to see her cry so I grabbed her and hugged her. I sat there fighting off tears myself. My heart was so sad. I didn’t know how I could possibly say goodbye to this dear friend of mine. I didn’t realize how close I had become to her. I wished that I could have more time to spend with her.
Right before leaving the translators were sharing with Tony what we would be doing the previous week. We would be teaching English the next day. Tony told me that she would see me tomorrow. I was confused, and could hardly believe that I would see her the next day. On the way home, my translators explained that she planned to sign up for our English Club. I still hardly believed it was true.
The next morning, I woke up not feeling well. I tried to pull myself through ministry that day but before lunch, I found myself desiring sleep and lacking motivation because I was becoming sick. My team let me sleep for four hours that afternoon. I asked my team if Tony came by to let me know so I could say hi. Around 4 p.m. my team leader Jenny told me that Tony was looking for me. I was so happy to see her even though I wasn’t feeling well. I spent the next two hours talking with my friend.
