Kuwait

Because of my visa, I occasionally have to leave the country. I decided Monday to go to Kuwait on Tuesday. Such spontaneity.

I stayed just 28 hours, but really enjoyed Kuwait City. It's a lot like Dubai, but more Arab. Everywhere else I've traveled in the Gulf there were enough English speakers that I didn't need to use my Arabic, but Kuwait seems to have few. I had a conversation with a cabbie who said to me (in Arabic) "your arabic is very good. Where are you from?" I was so proud of myself and actually quite surprised that I understood what he was saying to me.

I made the trip there alone, but was joined the next day by Will & Jason. The night I arrived there was a lightning-heavy thunderstorm (which I enjoyed, because Bahrain doesn't have any of those, and neither did the city I lived in the last two years), and the following day the air was dust-filled and humid.

Kuwait City near my Hotel

Kuwait Stock Exchange Building

Souq Vendors Protecting the Nuts & Dates

A Shark & a Spotted Ray at the Aquarium

Sign Reads: Al Masjid Al Kabir (the Grand Mosque)

The Kuwait Towers

The Dusty Skyline from the Tower's Observation Deck

Ongoing Repression

"Around 47 other doctors and nurses, some detained for weeks, are facing trial in a military court after they were yesterday charged for their role in treating anti-government protesters."    - from this article in Amnesty International

Repression continues in Bahrain. The parliament voted yesterday to extend the State of Emergency and Martial law that has been in place since March. This means that the Saudi/Emirati military forces won't be leaving the island for at least another three months. The Sunni-led government is doing a systematic crackdown on those who protested in February by imprisoning them, torturing them, harassing them at checkpoints, raiding their villages, and firing them from jobs. There are few families who do not live in some sort of fear. Historically, the Gospel makes great advances when Muslims fight other Muslims. Please pray that this ongoing political crisis opens doors for Bahrainis to hear about Christ and find answers in Him that their current religious and political system doesn't provide.

A friend of mine said back in late February when protesters had claimed the Pearl a second time amidst violent police force, that if they weren't successful this time, things would get worse than they had ever been. He predicted correctly.