“Amayi Mavuto!” I heard Mercy yelling.
When I turned my head to look, there was one of the ladies at the church holding Mercy’s arm and her little tote bag while Mercy struggled to get away from her.
What does “mavuto” mean? Trouble. Mercy was calling this lady “Mother Trouble, or Mrs. Trouble”.
Why? Well, we had a verse memorization contest that particular Sunday. Those who could say all 17 of the memory verses that we had been working on earned little bags of chips and lollipops.
Immediately after coming from class, I was surrounded by mothers telling me to give their child some. This happens every time I give something out. I always explain that they need to say their memory verse in order to receive it, but they always try anyways.
So there I was surrounded by mothers asking for chips and sweeties. I was trying to pull myself away from them to go help those who were asking me to help them bandage their wounds when I heard Mercy yell out, “Amayi Mavuto!”
I looked at Sammy quickly and said, “Sammy, go help Mercy!”
But by that time, Mercy had escaped from her captor.
When we got home, Mercy told us the story…she was teasing Mercy and telling her to give her chips. (Though she might have been somewhat serious.)
This particular lady, Joyce, is very faithful. She always enjoys teasing Mercy by trying out new phrases and questions on her.
Ever since then, anytime Joyce greeted Mercy she would run and yell out, “Amayi Mavuto!”
Joyce has been working to win Mercy back so Wednesday she brought Mercy something that they call a cucumber (though it is huge and tastes more like an unsweetened melon).
Mercy came to me the other day and asked if she could earn a little bag of chips to give to Amayi Joyce. She was so excited to secretly give it to her today…definitely secretly because she didn’t want 10 other ladies chasing her!
fromtheheartofmrsmissionary.com 