Easter

Friday is holy day here, but last weekend we decided to do House Church on Sunday to celebrate Christ's resurrection. Our "church" is comprised of a few other like-minded families who meet regularly in homes, and occasionally we are joined by locals.

After our time of worship, we had a good ole Southern potluck - and yes, I made something. Be proud: broccoli in a soy garlic butter. Someone even asked me for the recipe.

A good friend of mine, who I've mentioned before, had agreed to come to celebrate with us, but canceled at the last minute to attend to her mother who had been discharged from the hospital that morning. I packed up some food from the potluck and took it over to her house. While sitting with her, she asked me to tell her about what we were celebrating, so I had the wonderful opportunity to share about the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection. This conversation eventually led to scripture, and she asked me for a Bible! I have since acquired an Arabic/English copy and will take it to her this week. You can be praying for this relationship, that the Lord would strengthen it and continue to work in her life, building on the openness she has exhibited so far. Alhamdulilah! (Praise be to God!)

Muscat, Dubai, Manama

Although all this travelling around has been great in a variety of ways, but I am looking forward to being settled back in Bahrain. The last weekend at language school we drove a few hours to Muscat, Oman's coastal capital for three days. It is really beautiful, especially in comparison to the flat and vegetation-free Bahrain. 

The night before I left Oman for Dubai, I went with another worker to visit some of her friends (home visits are a common practice for Arabs). This room was filled with women ranging in age from two to eighty, totaling about 15 in all. We spoke in Arabic for the entire 90 minutes, something I didn't know I could do, and even looked at engagement party pictures. In Gulf culture, the engagement party is often as big as, or even bigger than the wedding party itself. There are fancy dresses, a big meal, dancing and pictures. 

Our team has spent a few days in Dubai debriefing and regrouping for our return to Bahrain (and visiting Ikea, where miraculously, I only spent 4 dollars). We discussed our expectations and goals of the past, how they had or hadn't been met, and ways to meet the new goals we created for the remaining few months of our stay. I am excited to return so I can continue to foster the relationships I've started thus far and point these women to Christ. 

My closest friend on the island informed me that her uncle has been arrested, is held in prison, and is no doubt being tortured. While us foreigners can live in safety, the Bahraini Shi'a are in no way safe. Their villages are still filled with tanks and military forces, and nighttime arrests and raids are far too common. 

points for prayer: 

 - a renewed energy for relationship development 

 - boldness to proclaim Christ and speak His truth into my friend's lives

 - open and softened hearts to Jesus because of the political instability that persists (great progress for The Kingdom is made when Muslims are fighting other Muslims)

Hiking the Omani Desert

The desert here is mostly flat, dusty and sandy, but spread throughout these parts are huge rock formations that we got to hike yesterday for a few hours. 

our destination: a cave at the top

cave overlooking the desert

hike back down from the cave

what they call the "hanging gardens"

the bottom, start of the riverbed

the dried riverbed

learning Arabic

We've been here at language school for a week and it's going really well. I enjoy learning Arabic and having this optimal environment just makes it that much easier. I'm staying with a family (who is from our same 'company') that has two of the cutest little girls. She is Arab and he is from the States, so they have great insight into our work here in the Gulf.

Every morning we have classes for 4-5 hours and then I review for a little bit in the evening. I have already gotten much better at Arabic, but am still a bit shy about speaking it to Arabs. The town we're living in is small, but extremely conservative. It makes me appreciate the modernity in Bahrain and the freedom I have there as a single woman. I am not able to move about at will here quite as easily.

This morning we had house church (holy day is Friday) that is comprised of other workers from all over the States, Germany and Switzerland. The language school is secular, but there happens to be a lot of workers like us who are students. They are from Korea, China, Western and Southern Africa, Europe and the States, so our common language is often Arabic. It's great to have a community of people who support us and do all sorts of things to help us. Since arriving here, we have places to stay, a car to drive, and many invitations to dinner.

Tomorrow we are going out to the mountains for a little hiking, which is nice since there is nothing like that in Bahrain!