I'm back to blogging!!!!!!

Hi you guys!!! I'm finally back on my blog! What a disappointment it's been to not be able to blog and post pics like I had planned. I'm hoping to get back on track now that I'm at my aunt and uncle's house. I safely arrived here day before yesterday. I'm not going to mention what country I'm in just to be safe.

When I arrived my aunt and cousin picked me up from the airport. On the way home we stopped at a little fruit and vegetable shop to get some veggies. I was taking all kinds of pics, and my cousin laughed and said, "I can't imagine THIS being new to someone to where they would want to take pictures!" Their everyday shopping experience is exotic and eye-opening for me! All the men who worked there and who were hanging out on the street were chewing quat, the daily ritual for about 80% of men here. Quat hour starts around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and the various stages of the drug's effects take them through chatty and energetic, to mellow and dazed, to no appetite, to the inability to sleep. Their cheeks were bloated like chipmunks and eyes bloodshot red.

After that we went home and had tea and cookies in the muffrage, or communal living area with the couch cushions and pillows on the floor. We caught up for a couple hours and then had a nice spaghetti dinner. It was nice to have home cooking and a mellow evening at home with family! My uncle has been in another part of the country helping because one of their coworkers died unexpectedly a few weeks ago. He'll be back today. Two of their other kids are at a boarding school in Kenya near where all the riots and violence is happening. Please pray for their safety, that the school can get the food and supplies it needs, and of course for God to bring peace and forgiveness to the region.

Fridays are holy days here, so yesterday we went to a fellowship at a home. It was neat to experience that first-hand in a country where the Truth is not widely known or celebrated. Afterward we went to the old town square to do some sight-seeing but there were many armed soldiers out everywhere not letting cars in where they can normally go. So we decided not to get out and to just drive around the city. Today or tomorrow we will try again. My aunt thinks maybe a dignitary or some important person was in town. There did not seem to be any violence, thank God. Pray for extreme tribal violence that is currently taking place in another region of the country.

Today we will be visiting the home of a local believer. This is a huge deal and an experience so few get to be a part of! I feel blessed to have the opportunity to get to know this person, and to be able to convey prayer requests to you guys at a later time on their behalf. God is at work here bringing people to Himself, and it's exciting to see the fruit firsthand!!

Monday afternoon I will get to volunteer at a local outreach program for street kids. Please pray for me to have grace and sensitivity to their collective situation and individual needs. Pray that God's light will shine through me and that I will be able to live out His love for them by being the hands and feet of JC. Pray that I will have one-on-one heart connections with these kids and that my visit will be eternally meaningful to them.

This country is very poor, so there are lots of beggars and street kids here. Last night during dinner a beggar rang the doorbell looking for money. It's hard to turn them away, but my aunt and uncle give in so many other ways that they can't give to every beggar that rings the doorbell. They do keep bags of rice and lentils in the front seat of their car to give to beggars who come up to the windows at intersections. It's kind-of like Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in that way, although I think it was actually worse in Addis, with lots more crippled and maimed people coming up and knocking incessantly on the car windows. Granted, I've only been here two days!

I am sleeping in one of my cousin's rooms (while he's away at boarding school) which is what would otherwise be the guard-house outside by the gate. It's kind-of nice having some privacy. I have my own little bathroom with a "squatty potty" (i.e. hole in the floor toilet). Each night around 4am I am awakened by the local mosque's call to prayer over loud speakers. The do it at 4am, 11:30am, 3:30pm, dusk, and an hour after dark each day. That being said, there's one going right now and it's 12:30pm, so they almost an hour late (being on-time is relative here...if you are a punctual person it would drive you crazy, but I feel right at home in that way!!!). The call to prayer is a really creepy sound, although I'm getting used to it, and my aunt and uncle barely even notice it anymore other than to signal what time of day it is. Our hotel room in Oman had a mosque right outside, so I got woken up by that some nights, but here it's louder since I'm right out by the street, so I anticipate that this will be a nightly ritual for me. I just say a quick prayer to JC and then doze back to sleep!

Yesterday morning I was awakened by the sound of birds I've never heard before. It reminded me of being in Africa last year. It's weird to be on the other side of the planet and hear and see so many new sights and sounds. It can be sensory overload, so I'm really happy to be here relaxing with family for Week 3 of my nine-week adventure!

My main goal in the next few weeks with family is to have more down-time to experience growing intimacy with God. We were so on-the-go in Oman that my personal quiet time suffered. We did a group devotional daily and lots of prayer, but it's not the same as spending one-on-one time with God myself. This morning's devotional brought the message home that my personal love relationship with God is the single most important thing, and everything else will flow out as it should from there. When I get busy and stressed I start relying on self-sufficiency and works instead of relying on God's promises of future grace to get me through. I thank God for continually reminding me that he created me for an intimate and personal love relationship with Him!!!

Love to all, more soon,
Sooz