"What language is that anyway?" asked her friend Jill. "Like my grandma always says when she doesn't understand something . . . it sounds like Greek to me!"

Allison laughed. "It's not Greek," she corrected. "It's Hausa. I learned the song from my Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve, who are missionaries in Nigeria."

"What does it mean?" Jill wanted to know.

Allison smiled. "It means, 'Jesus, He loves the children,'" she explained.

"Oh, that's almost the same as one of our songs!" exclaimed Jill. "The tune sounded familiar, too."

Allison nodded. "Aunt Mary teaches a class of Nigerian girls who are the same age as we are. She says one girl reminds her of me, because we act so much alike-and that the neatest part is that both of us love the Lord. We're going to write to each other, and Aunt Mary will translate for us. It'll be fun having a Nigerian pen pal."

"I guess maybe we're not really as different from kids in other countries as we think we are," observed Jill.

Allison shook her head. "Aunt Mary always reminds me that we're all the same to the Lord," she said. "He loves Nigerian children-and all the children in the world-just like He loves us."

"Right," agreed Jill, "just like your song said. How did that go again?" Allison sang the strange words again, and she laughed as Jill tried it, too.

"That's okay. You can laugh at me," said Jill. She grinned and added, "I bet the Nigerians would laugh at you!"

"Probably," agreed Allison. "But who cares? God understands-even when we mispronounce all these words. It's not Greek to Him."

"Let's make it a duet," suggested Jill. And they did.