16 January 2008
This morning, Allison and Sarah headed to the bookshop. “Why?” you may ask. Well, I underestimated the task ahead of us and well, remember two days ago when I told you that we were close to completing inventory? Yeah, that was a joke – BIG time! So, as I faithfully document the happenings of the day, the other three persevere through the daunting task of recording Titles, ISBN #s, and quantities. Fortunately, this is all handwritten, so when we come across a familiar title, all we have to do is flip through the pages of hundreds and hundreds of titles and numbers to see if we’ve already recorded that specific title. Now, now, there’s no need to be jealous :-)
In all seriousness, it’s so wonderful to be able to help out in practical ways. Some may think, “Why did they travel across the world to organize a bookshop?” Good question. When we figure out the answer, we’ll let you know! :-) Really though, you cannot come on a trip knowing what to expect, so every morning and evening, we spend time focusing and remembering why we’re here. We are here to serve in any capacity. This bookshop provides a non-threatening environment where believers and seekers are invited to flip through pages of literature answering various questions about life, business, education, etc. but most importantly, where people can behold the most important words they can ever read.
The shop owner works endless hours to keep the shop running and, sadly, there aren’t many workers to help him. Being here is an honor and should be nothing less than that. Perhaps some reading this do not understand. I can only encourage you to spend time listening to the stories. Try to understand the heart behind the stories. People do not come across the globe JUST to organize books and survey hospital patients.
There’s always more to the story. In the words of nationally syndicated radio host, Paul Harvey, “And now you know the rest of the story.” May you and many, many more know the rest of the story.
After helping at the shop, we headed to the mall to drop off a few books to the kiosk and then enjoyed some team bonding at…….APPLEBEES! Having been continuously separated these past few days, this was a good time to enjoy each other’s company, sit back, and just relax. The festival began so we went home early and spent about an hour in prayer. Chanting, pleading, yelling, and marching ceaselessly filled the air through the night.
Just prior to tucking in, Sarah and Allison found themselves entertained as Janean and Aaron “rapped” to a few favorites……it was fabulous – ghetto fabulous! “Thuggin it” is the leitmotif of the pictures documenting the evening. But rest assured, of the many things Janean pursues, rap is not one of them….as for Aaron, watch out Emenim, A-Ro is shooting straight for the bull’s-eye!
17 January 2008
This morning, Janean and Sarah began the morning surveying a whopping four patients before being summoned to the director of human resources office. They have requested our help to prepare for an upcoming annual fundraiser to provide the medical equipment needed to keep the hospital up to date. After receiving our new orders, we met up with Aaron and Allison at the bookshop to continue the seemingly endless yet necessary tasks at the shop. After an hour, we headed home for lunch, then to the Souk to look at the shops, and pray through the streets where the people march at night.
Tonight, Aaron and Janean hope to attend a lecture at a tent designated to provide information about the festival to expats. Allison and Sarah are still unsure of their plans. I’ll be sure to let you know how tonight turns out. I can guarantee one thing – tonight will be a night filled with prayer.
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Well, here’s why we journal AFTER events happen: we didn’t go to the lecture; instead, we visited with some friends before they left the island. We had a great time discussing life, the future, and many other important issues……on our way home, the taxi driver dropped us off a few blocks from our flat because the streets were blocked off for the festival.
The marchers were headed in our direction so we stood on the side of the street and waited for them to pass. After they passed, we followed/walked along side them until we reached our flat. After spending some time in prayer and debriefing, we headed for bed.
18 January 2008
The morning we’ve all been waiting for……this morning, we SLEPT IN! That’s right, you heard me….SLEPT IN! Some until 10, others until 11. Fantastic is truly an understatement. After lounging the morning away, we headed off to a friend’s house for lunch with his family. Enjoying cottage pie (also known as shepherd’s pie) and veggies, we began our 30 minute drive to the Tree of Life.
Funny story, the drive turned out to be more like, 1 hour and 30 minutes….after successfully NOT finding any signs or other directions pointing us to The Tree, we pulled into the parking lot of some important looking building to be met by two men running out of the building both fully armed and ready to do whatever it is they’re trained to do when innocent, unsuspecting tourists pull into the wrong parking lot. With a few, vague directions, we were back on the road in no time, and in even less time, had know idea where to go. He said turn right….fortunately, there were 2 rights at the same intersection and following our line of luck, we took the wrong one, which, of course, we didn’t know until driving for about fifteen minutes down a dirt road through a camping village of some sort.
Attempt #2: we take the 2nd right at the same intersection as the 1st right. We find signs saying “Tree of Life”! We must be on the getting closer, right? Ha, joke was on us. We soon found ourselves driving parallel to the freeway on a sandy road. Well, road isn’t the word I’d use…sand, sand, and sand is more like it. Thankfully, the sand wasn’t too soft and we continued on. Still, the Tree wasn’t anywhere to be found. We turn around.
Attempt #3: We ended up at another gate/parking lot with armed soldiers. Are you beginning to see a trend here? At this point, we are convinced that THE tree of life isn’t really THE tree, it’s more A tree of life. You see a sign that says “Tree of Life” and the next tree you see MUST be THE tree. But we persevere and finally find a kind young man on a dirt bike who offers to escort us to The Tree. Him and his friend zoom by on their bikes and lead us to the Tree of Life…..yes, that’s right: WE MADE IT!!!
Allison and Sarah went to the Arabic service at the National Evangelical Church where Sarah ran into her friends from Dubai who were leading worship. Excited to fellowship with Arabic speakers, Sarah wants to return to the Arabic service tomorrow. Since Janean’s ears ache to hear Mosree (Egyptian Arabic), she will join her tomorrow night.
Instead of a Christian church service, Aaron and Janean attended the “lecture” for expats regarding Ashoora. However, this lecture turned out to be more of a Shia “church” service accompanied with songs (suras being chanted) and a very passionate message. Interestingly, Mohammad was mentioned only as Hussein’s grandfather. Other than this mention, Hussein seems to be “the man” of Shia religion. As the speaker graphically described Hussein’s death and the accompanying events, sobs quickly turned to pitiful wailing. The first segment focused on love as completely essential to the Shia’s faith. Without love, faith, belief, religion, and everything else means nothing. Hussein is the ultimate example of this love. It is because of his love for Allah that allowed him to suffer what he suffered. There has never been and never will be anyone like him.
As Christians, we discussed how Jesus has truly turned our mourning into laughing and our sorrow into joy. We have nothing to mourn. We celebrate life and life ABUNDANTLY! Good news is an understatement. We have the best news ever. What keeps us from sharing this? Sometimes I wonder if I’m fully convinced of this. During the message, the speaker focused on three main points:
Know Allah
See Allah
Love Allah
When you spend time knowing Allah, you begin to experience the constant struggle between your own desires and his desires. As you persevere through this struggle, you begin to see Allah in the events, occurrences, and people around you. You don’t see yourself in contrast to Allah, you see Allah and just Allah. This inevitably leads to loving Allah. At this point, the spectrum of pain and pleasure flops. Pain and pleasure are no longer based on the presence or absence of comfort but based on the presence absence of Allah. Separation from Allah is ultimate pain. This is why Hussein is exemplified as love – he loved Allah so much that his gruesome death pails in comparison to the pain he would’ve experience had he not fought for Allah.
Anyway, this was truly an enlightening experience. Ask any of us to share about these past few days during the Ashoora festival.
19 January 2008
Today we drove over the bridge to Saudi Arabia. We stopped at the tourist center before crossing the half-way point. (As far as you can go without a visa, and they don't give tourist visa...bummer for us.) We took pictures, Aaron put is hands in the water, we drank coffee, and prayed for the fog that covered Saudi Arabia ahead of us.
And then it was off to the camel camp. That’s right, we camped with camels. Okay, we restrained ourselves and didn’t stay the night, but we did go on a short ride….and by short, we went around in five little circles. Although a few of us had ridden camels, this was a unique experience because the camels were not saddled. Instead of sitting in front of the hump we sat behind it. Our camel ride was cut short because this mamma camel was trying to feed her babies and wasn’t thrilled by our interruption, understandably.
Janean made friends with a camel who, at one point, rested it’s head on her lap. She named him Camil (Cah-meal). In Mosree, Gah-meal means beautiful. So she suitingly combined Camel and Gamil. Brilliant, I know.
On our way to our friend’s house, we drove through a Shia village followed by another delicious meal at our friend’s house.
While enjoying pleasant conversation during dessert, a very interesting topic surfaced: death of workers in the field. Encouraging for all aspiring long-term workers.
Then Allison and Aaron went out to dinner and Janean went with Sarah to get her Mosree fix. Janean met Sarah’s friends. We met various people – a lady from Greece, a couple from Syria, a few Egyptians, Persians, an MBB, a Bahraini, and a few others. Altogether, it was an enjoyable evening. But it didn’t end there. After we finished our brief debrief, Janean and Sarah stayed up talking until 2am. Luckily we have a busy day tomorrow. :-)
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