Creativity!

A friend of ours took these pictures while he was here visiting. I thought it was pretty cool how he creatively put this together. It reminds me of how it is working here. Since we can't do the door to door thing, or the advertising, or any of the normal public ways to stir up interest we need to come up with newer ways of discreetly getting the word out. So far, even though we are just getting started we are getting some response! Another reason why I like this picture is because I love artwork. Artwork is always suppose to have a message or meaning behind it. So this picture probably says to me exactly what our friend intended it to. It symbolizes the doors of the hearts of the people here. We are praying that God will open these doors. You can read about some of the creative ways we are sending the message out on my husband's blog. Pray that God will use these creative ideas!

GREAT TIME

I would like to ask everyone reading this to please pray about something with me.

My friends here are all very different. I always have a wonderful time hanging out with each one of them. I practice my Arabic with them, go shopping with them, learn about the culture from them, and learn about their religion from them. - That last point is where the problem begins. I learn by asking questions. I listen to their answers and then I always try to share things about what I believe with them. I share with them about the freedoms I have in Christ. They have a very hard time listening to this. I was questioning one of my friends a very strongly about why she changed only during Ramadan. Why the head covering and long sleeves during the day and then hair down with a sleeveless dress at night. Why only pray faithfully one month out of the year.? Etc. I have shared with many of my friends that true believers and followers of Jesus Christ are always the same. If I think it is right to do I need to do it everyday all day long. They see the obvious contradiction and just shrug their shoulders. They feel obligated to do everything they do. They all say the LOVE Ramadan. Hmmmmmm. I find that really hard to believe.
Anyway, I would like to ask you pray that the Lord would open up more doors for me to talk to them about Him. I always have fun with them. They are great people. I just hate thinking about their eternity. It would be easy for me to just hang out with them, but I know hanging out will leave blood on my hands. It can be intimating to say the least to bring up conversations that single me out. That magnify our differences. But it is true our differences go far beyond my blue eyes. Please pray with me about this.

You mean you can't stay for dinner??????

On Saturday one of my closest friends here invited me to her house to eat the meal at sunset. I agreed to go and I was excited to be invited to eat with her and some of her cousins who are also friends of mine. We were out shopping half the day on Saturday to prepare for the meal. We also stopped by the tailors to pick up our new djellabas we had made. I always have a great time with her.(*More on having a GREAT TIME in a few minutes.)
Anyway, last night after we got home form our church which is an hour and a half away, I went to her house. It was very close to the time to eat and everyone was already sitting in around the table with Harira in their bowls. I think it is hilarious, as soon as they her hear the first part of the word "Allah....." they already have their food in their mouths. I hid my smile and reached for my spoon. So we ate....and we ate.....and we ate some more. The word you say when you are telling someone to eat is "kul" like "cool". SO, I think I heard them telling me to "kul" about 100 times. I think I said "Safie" which means "enough" about 200 times. One way or another I was still left with that never ending bowl of soup!!!
After we were all stuffed they all got up to go pray. One at a time they went into the dark living room and wrapped blankets around themselves and read the Quran and prayed. They had to do it that way so I wasn't left alone. I could tell my friend was a little nervous about leaving me but her Mom told her she would sit with me. After about 20 minutes of this everyone had finished and they were laying all over the couches. I tucked my feet up under me and watched a ridiculous TV program in Arabic. I was glad it was in this dialect of Arabic. I understood enough to know it was a really cheesy comedy. After what I thought was long enough I stood up and stretched my arms up over my head, and stating how tired I was I told my friends I had to go. It was after 9:00. Then the protests began....."You mean you are not staying for dinner???? My mom is about to begin preparing it." I didn't know what to do. Quickly remembering the honor shame culture here, I told them "You must understand my children are with my husband and it is a shame to me to have him caring for them for such a long time!" They began to nod reluctantly. I apologized for having to leave the extremely exciting nap time and then I left. As you can see I am applying what I am learning about the culture here. :)

Playing Mosque.......

Or should I say "playing Imam." Tonight right before the call to pray at sunset, I heard two of our young neighbors (maybe 10 years old or so) out on their balcony screaming the call to prayer. "Allah hoo Akbar" They where screaming it, and then cracking up. Their screaming was quickly followed by their mother screaming at them to stop. I heard her saying, "You boys have to stop now. Now!! Stop it now!!" I couldn't help but laugh. I quickly ducked behind the clothes I was hanging so no one could see the foreign lady laughing at this little innocent mocking of their precious call to one of their mandatory duties! I found the whole situation quite funny!

Bad Timing.

Last night we had a few people over for dinner.(People not from here.) So we were finishing up and I noticed that we had a lot of chocolate cake left over. I put it on a plate and thought it would be really nice to share it with my friends who live down stairs. They love our American desserts because they are sweeter than their traditional ones. So I grabbed the plate and headed down the elevator. I left my husband and everyone else talking at the table knowing I would only be a few minutes. (My friends knew we had guests.) I rang the doorbell and our friend's maid answered the door. Their house was very dark and quiet in a strange kind of way. She invited me in. She looked very hesitant, like she didn't know what to do, where to take me. Normally I would have been warmly greeted a few moments after entering by a few members of the family. I looked around...I quickly saw everyone......there they were, all of them, all the women of the family completely covered being lead in prayer by their father. To make it a little stranger for me, when Muslims pray they must pray in the direction of Mecca, so they were all facing the doorway I was standing in. I am sure they saw me, but they didn't even lift one eye in my direction. I stood still for a few awkward minutes and then I turned to the maid ( I am not sure if I forced her to interrupt her prayers or not.)and told her I was needed to go. I wishing she had never opened the door. This morning my friend called me and thanked me for the cake. She didn't mention my untimely visit. Before Ramadan this particular friend almost never spoke about Islam. I am not even sure sure if she prayed, but during Ramadan their prayers "count" for more points. *you can read about the points on my husbands blog.
Anyway, now all the stores are starting advertise all the traditional clothing and party type foods, because Ramadan will be over in a little more than a week and everyone is getting ready for the big bash they have to celebrate the end of fasting. Believe me I will be celebrating too, because I will be sooooo glad when Ramadan is OVER!!!!

Spices and things.

I was just thinking you women might want to know where we do our grocery shopping. I remember when my husband came here to visit before we came, one of my first questions was....."So how's the shopping?" I wanted to know how modern the markets were. Well.........

It turns out here we have one extreme to the other. Below our apartment on the first floor of the apartment building across form ours is a supermarket much like an American grocery store. Our other option ( the more exciting and interesting option) is to walk a few blocks to the suk. A "suk" is an open air market. Or to be more exact is a very crowded street that transforms into a market. It is packed with carts with fresh vegetables and fruits. Then little stores line the street selling live chickens, spices, beans, toiletry items, and.....really just about anything you can think of. There are little whole in the wall stores packed with imported stuff from Europe. Things are only sometimes cheaper in the "suk". Still the majority of the people do there shopping there, I guess out of tradition. I do about half and half. When it rains the suk becomes one nasty place. The particular suk we go to is on a hill. The area where the sell the fish is near the top of the hill, when you buy fish they gut it for you....throwing the guts on the ground. When it rains everything washes down stream! SO you can smell and see fish guts all threw the fruit and vegetable section! Obviously here there are no clean ups on isle 5!!Pretty gross! On a good day however, the smells and colors are beautiful. This is a picture of a little spice stand. Everything is always fresh. These spices make our little glass bottled ones taste so dull and stale.
Anyway, just thought you might enjoy a little knowing a little more about everyday life here in Northern Africa.

Thank You!!

Hey, I just wanted to write a quick post to say thank you to all my friends who called and e-mailed or posted comments in this time while my husband was away. I feel very blessed to have so many true friends. Thank you for your prayers and concern for me. I know people are honestly praying for us and that is such an awesome thing!! Thank you very much!!