(Way past) Easter play

Cath worked up a little more drama magic and has a handful of the village children and a couple church folk putting on a neat little drama in each of the villages—one each day this week.
Martin—an amazing drama guy—is Satan. And Kim plays Mary, mother of Craig (aka: Jesus).
Then there’s baby Jesus.
Cath bought a little baby doll on our last trip out. It’s suspiciously small and almost glowingly white, but it does the job, I guess. Kim straps it to her back just like the locals here to do their babies.
Kim did the Lopit mourning with the best of them (waling “lulululululululululu”) and Craig was convincing enough on the cross (though it’s rumored that he at first simply said “oww” as they pounded in the nails), but plastic baby Jesus really stole the show.
They can’t get enough of him.
On the other hand, I’m quite sick of him.
Now, hold off on the blasphemy charges for a second.
You see, baby Jesus has a built in annoyance feature. If you “tickle” its foot, it giggles and says, “That tickles, Mommy!” over and over again.
And I do mean over and over. The people can’t get enough of him. Davitica came by this morning for the sole purpose of tickling baby Jesus’ foot. I’m trying to work through Hebrews and all I can hear is, “More, Mommy, more! Hehehehe.”
I pray my view of baby Jesus isn’t forever ruined. ;)
Anyway, last night we had the play in Husa, our village. It was great. A ton of our women friends came, and a whole swarm of kids. Martin said to me that he can tell we live and work there because so many people came. That was a big encouragement for our sometimes-weary household.
The men on the mangot clapped for the kids’ songs and when Kimmie presented baby Jesus. Kim was a little worried they wouldn’t get it when she came back in a scene later with Craig (grown up Jesus), but her fears were calmed when this guy, upon seeing Craig and Mary/Kim, shouted with glee, “Ibolo Jesus!” (Jesus is BIG!) They laughed at Satan and his attempts to tempt Jesus. They clapped and cheered when he was shooed away.
Unfortunately, lots of people also laughed at the crucifixion. The problem is, this happens a lot—whether you’re doing a play or the Jesus Film or what—because that’s what the Lopit do, it seems, when they’re uncomfortable or don’t know how to handle a situation. Rarely do they shed tears. So, yes, that takes a lot to get over.
(And, yes, they might have been laughing a bit at Kimmie’s lulululu-ing. They always get a kick out of it when we pick up on their habits.)
Anyway, despite all that, I think the message of the play did get through. The Gospel was presented; God was glorified.
And it’s the talk of the villages, that’s for sure. This morning, I kept hearing the boys talking about Jesus and Satan and quoting Craig, “Ibeti Satani!” (Get the heck out of here, Satan!)