Church, friends and Cairo. (in that order)

I left one other experience in church out by accident, although I did mention it. It was about the day my Dad converted to a 7th Day Adventist......

I was 1998......my parents were having major problems in their marriage and would soon divorce.....my father started becoming friendly with a man who had been in and out of our lives for years....an older solitary man who had done everything you could name in his life. A wandering soul, a leftover from the 70's, always high on marijuana with his two german shephards in tow. I heard he got a free makeover from his church. Anyways, he convinced my Dad to go to church with him. I don't know how he did it, cuz like I told you before, Dad wasn't very church going. But he did go, and the week after and the week after. I found out later, that after the service they had a buffet lunch...AHA! My Dad loves food, I bet the free buffet kept him going. He tried to get Mom to go, but they were already having lots of problems.....there's no way she'd go. So after about 3 mos of going to this church, he decides to convert to them.....and calls me and asks that I stand as his representative, (it's supposed to be family and there really was only me) so after discussing it with my hubby, he agrees for me to go. Did it ever feel weird to be in a church again.....I sat at the back...looked around for the snorers....nope, there weren't any......and listened to the service....quite interesting actually, I still remember it. It was about how Prophet David had a transparent line between him and God. How his faith was so strong, that even ravenous lions did not eat him. I remember listening to the service and wondering if my line between me and God was transparent?

Anyways, along came the time for the baptizing.....they get out the big blow up pool, fill it up with water, and then call up my Dad. The priest makes a speech and then asks my dad to say something......I thought it very funny what came out of his mouth....he said, "I just wanna thank my friend A++ who brought me to this church, if it wasn't for him being here, I never would have come" LOL! So then the priest asked if anyone stands up for him, and I stood and said, "I stand for him"......who is he to you, they asked....My father. Of course u know that everyone who hadn't seen me before, noticed me now. It was embarassing, but I really felt like I was a representative for my religion. They dipped him in the water, and it was time for the buffet.

The 7th Day Adventists don't eat meat I think, cause all the buffet stuff was vegetarian or made with soya protein. It was weird, but good, cuz I pretty well didn't have to be too picky when eating. My Dad was glowing and I gave him a small present. I can't explain to you how I wished he was converting to Islam instead. The priest came and sat down with me, I have to say I was somewhat expecting that. In fact, the night before, I had got out a couple of books and did some revision so that I'd be prepared for anything. He got into a discussion with me....and I started meeting him point for point....but then I noticed a look on my Dad's face, and I politely excused myself from the priest explaining, "I'm really here for my father, I need to show him some support." I also invited him to get in contact with my father if he ever wanted to discuss things further. He never did.

So there u go....all nice and complete. How I was involved with the church...how it affected my life......where and when it poked it's nose......and how it never stuck with me.

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Now there was something else I wanted to share with you all, and forgot about it as well. (old age, I presume) It was about the Khan family. Remember how I told you that as a child I had muslims around me and I never knew it? Even across the hall? Well, the family who lived across the hall were the Khan's. I told you how the mother had two boys, and I was like a daughter to her? Well, that family lived across from us for about 12 yrs. When my parents did move, we just move a bldg away from them. When I went to high school, her sons were there. She was such a nice kind woman, masha Allah.

Well, after I became muslim, I though about her a couple of times and about how they were muslim but I never really knew it. SubhanAllah. I really wished that I might see her, but had no idea if they had moved or anything about them. So come 1997, we moved to Egypt...only to come back again in 1998. The winter of 1998 was the worst winter I have ever had. I was constantly sick from one thing to another, it was so draining and tiring, I thought I'd never have relief from the pain. So I made an appt with my family DR, who I hadn't seen since 1997 and went to my appt. Now who should be in the DR's office? Yep, Mrs. Khan and her two sons!!! NO KIDDING!! I sat in front of her, and I said...
"Assalaamu alaikum."
And she looked over at me surprised, "wa alaykumus salaam".
"Do you not know who I am?" I asked.
"You look familiar" she said.
"It's me **** ur neighbour, remember ur daughter? I converted to islam!" I told her.
"SUBHANALLAH! Come hug me, my daughter....I always knew u were my daughter...alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah!"

We cried in that DR's office.....she told me that she had liver cancer and was dying....but that I made her so very happy to see me. She thanked Allah for having the chance to find out that I was a muslim. And I was thanking Allah for seeing her. Alhamdulillah.

I miss you, Mrs Khan. May Allah have mercy on ur soul. Ameen.

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Well, I'm going to Cairo tomorrow. I was really hoping to get out of it, but it looks like I'm stuck in it. My hubby's bro is inviting us for iftar. U know at the family bldg? There are 3 bro's living in the bldg, 4th bro across the street........sheesh. Oh yeah and the sister is invited for iftar, too. I'm expecting to get asked 1001 questions......I have no idea how I'm going to wiggle out of them. I think if anyone brings up MM, and asks me if I met her, did the kids meet her, etc etc. I'm just gonna have to think of a way to get out of it.....maybe I'll say something like....I came to have a nice family dinner, and don't really want to think about MM right now. Or say, oooo, u want to make me sad then, do you? What do you guys think? How can I stay away from the Q's. As it is, we aren't going to sleep over, I'm gonna have iftar...stay till about 10pm and then hit the road. I pray Allah makes it easy on me. Ameen.