Greetings from North Africa! We must be getting used to the N African culture because I (Sarah) am writing this blog at 12:20 am WHILE WAITING FOR DINNER TO BE SERVED. Yes, dinner is an after-midnight affair, and bedtime is usually 2 or 3 am. We are told it's because N Africans like to be outside when the sun is down and the weather is cooler, so they shift their "daytime" to include most of the night, and wow is it a huge change for us! How we Texans are managing is simply God's grace because we are all operating on about 5 hours' sleep, and a couple of us have battled nausea. But the short sleep and vitamin B-6 shots are undoubtedly worth it as we are using time we would normally be snoozin' to be-bop around this beautiful, bustling city of 20 million people spreading the Lord's love. Yee haw!
We have visited two different churches in the few days since we arrived, both small by American standards (around 60 or 75 people) but huge in Spirit by any human gauge -- the congregants are so welcoming and warm! This morning, Danielle and Louisa shared their stories about how God has protected them in their lives (a local friend translated into Arabic), and afterward we all sang a song ("Amazing Grace") to the church, distributed cookies and hot tea, and prayed for people in need of intercession. That we could travel 5,300 miles across this vast planet and find a pocket of family here in N Africa -- it's just like the song says: only by His amazing grace! It reminded us of that part of the Book of Revelation, which Lynn read during the service:
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'" (Revelation 7:9-10)
We also visited a gorgeous park here in town. It's a spacious oasis of towering palm trees, fountains, and rolling hills amid an otherwise parch, sandy desert, and as you can imagine, folks are eager to go outside and enjoy the cool breezes once the sun goes down. We all feared the language barrier would be difficult to surmount, and indeed, only about a third of the people we meet speak English well enough to converse, but guess what? It turns out that a big smile and a friendly hello are universal. We have been both humbled and exhilarated by the open arms and open hearts we've encountered here.
We've also met some food we really lurve (aka love). Shawerma was an instant favorite; it's a sandwich of either chicken or lamb wrapped in a tortilla and pressed panini-style so it's piping-hot and toasted. We also ordered dessert for lunch today (because we didn't want to make the same mistake we did yesterday in eating so much shawerma that we didn't have room for dessert) in the form of fruit salad (figs, apples, bananas, and mangoes) topped with ice cream, milk, and strawberry syrup. We are STILL jittery from the sugar high.
Speaking of dinner, ours is about ready so I'm signing off. (Fresh mangoes we bought at a corner market are beckoning like a siren song.) Please continue praying for us as we manuever crazy traffic, difficulty with the language, and not enough sleep -- we can definitely feel your support from here.
Much love to y'all!
We have visited two different churches in the few days since we arrived, both small by American standards (around 60 or 75 people) but huge in Spirit by any human gauge -- the congregants are so welcoming and warm! This morning, Danielle and Louisa shared their stories about how God has protected them in their lives (a local friend translated into Arabic), and afterward we all sang a song ("Amazing Grace") to the church, distributed cookies and hot tea, and prayed for people in need of intercession. That we could travel 5,300 miles across this vast planet and find a pocket of family here in N Africa -- it's just like the song says: only by His amazing grace! It reminded us of that part of the Book of Revelation, which Lynn read during the service:
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'" (Revelation 7:9-10)
We also visited a gorgeous park here in town. It's a spacious oasis of towering palm trees, fountains, and rolling hills amid an otherwise parch, sandy desert, and as you can imagine, folks are eager to go outside and enjoy the cool breezes once the sun goes down. We all feared the language barrier would be difficult to surmount, and indeed, only about a third of the people we meet speak English well enough to converse, but guess what? It turns out that a big smile and a friendly hello are universal. We have been both humbled and exhilarated by the open arms and open hearts we've encountered here.
We've also met some food we really lurve (aka love). Shawerma was an instant favorite; it's a sandwich of either chicken or lamb wrapped in a tortilla and pressed panini-style so it's piping-hot and toasted. We also ordered dessert for lunch today (because we didn't want to make the same mistake we did yesterday in eating so much shawerma that we didn't have room for dessert) in the form of fruit salad (figs, apples, bananas, and mangoes) topped with ice cream, milk, and strawberry syrup. We are STILL jittery from the sugar high.
Speaking of dinner, ours is about ready so I'm signing off. (Fresh mangoes we bought at a corner market are beckoning like a siren song.) Please continue praying for us as we manuever crazy traffic, difficulty with the language, and not enough sleep -- we can definitely feel your support from here.
Much love to y'all!
No comments:
Post a Comment