One day, a little boy named Jiji was playing with his toys. He felt lonely, so he went to go look for his brother, Johnny. After a few moments of searching the house, he found Johnny in the study with a big book that spelled out R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N. Not knowing what it was, Jiji asked, “What's rel-i-gion?” struggling to say the word. 

Johnny looked at him and laughed. 

“Religion means we believe in specific ways and teachings, that help lead us through life " (Britannica).

(Exposition)

Suddenly the room shook. 

    A black swirl formed on a page of the book. The book fell on the floor pulling Jiji in. Jiji screamed for Johnny, who quickly grabbed his hand, trying to save him. Sadly, the portal was too strong that Johnny got pulled in too!

(Conflict Introduced)

Jiji!!!

    Opening his eyes confused, Johnny looked around at the ground; all he saw was yellow sand and Jiji was nowhere to be found. He had lost his brother! He looked around to see footsteps and a note. The note read "Meet me at the door!" Johnny followed the footsteps to find his brother.

    Johnny came to a city with a lot of people. He asked if they had seen his brother, but no one saw anything. After a few more tries, a man interrupted and said, “If anyone can help you, it’s them.” 

The man pointed at a big building with a round top in the middle of two poles. Johnny thanked the man and walked to the building.

(Rising Action)

    A man in all black with a white cap greeted him.  “Welcome to the mosque, what brings you here,” said the man. 

“I’m looking for my little brother, I was wondering if you can help me?”

“Sure!” said the man. 

As they went inside, Johnny asked, “What’s a mosque?” 

“A mosque is where we Muslims come and pray to our God" ("The Mosque").

"And what are you supposed to be...?"

"I'm what they call a muezzin, I say the prayers!” ("Muezzin"). 

Johnny smiled, looking around amazed.

"So what does your brother look like?” said Mr. Muezzin.

“He's short, has brown hair, brown eyes, and he was wearing an orange shirt, around 6 years old."

The muezzin stood in silence for a while, thinking.  “Ah yes! However, I think he is long gone, he went towards the Taoist Temples!” 

    Before Johnny left, Mr. Muezzin turned around to grab a few things, giving Johnny a bag full of goods.

“For the road, here it is important as a Muslim that we share and give to those in need as part of the 5 pillars in Sunni Islam” (“The Five Pillars of Islam")

The muezzin shows the kindness of Zakah, meaning to give to others  ("Zakat"). He also left money with some food and drinks for Johnny's journey. Johnny thanked the muezzin and ran off.

    It’s been a whole day and Johnny has been walking in cold weather up the mountains to reach the temples. He used the supplies given by Mr. Muezzin to keep himself warm.

    Along the way, he takes out the note left by his brother. He wonders what it could mean. What's the door? Where could it lead to? Johnny thought. Where could Jiji be? 

After lots of thinking, he finally made it to the top of the mountain, but there were no temples in sight. He looked once more and saw a sign that read, “Go with the flow.” Confused, he kept walking.

    It had been another five minutes of walking in the cold until the sun came out, and that's when he found the temples! He was so happy! An elderly man saw Johnny standing outside and welcomed him in. “Welcome to the Taoist temple, or what we call gong. Come, we were just about to pray.” Everyone sat in front of the mantle, closed their eyes, and started praying.

    During the prayers, a man said “...a life’s journey of going with the flow.” Johnny looked at the monk and asked what it meant. One man overheard and said it meant to let our lives unfold and make decisions along the way (Gehrmann). 

    Still confused, the monk told Johnny to think of his life as if it were a river. A river runs freely and smoothly. Along the way, there are some hard waves, but the river keeps going, in other words, keep going, and don’t let something small stop you from finishing your journey" (Gehrmann).