Friday we went to the beach - my first time in the Mediterranean! It's so beautiful! Everyday we go out to meet people and try to build a relationship to be able to witness to them. Actually, the beach is one place where ladies (the only people us girls will talk to here) will sit and not be on their way somewhere. Unlike elsewhere in the world, even on the beach women are covered here - I mean from head to toe. So we go and try to talk to people who are either sitting along the road or on the beach. We've met several contacts this way. Pray we'll be able to share the gospel with them.

I was really worried about the heat here because I don't do hot very well...but with the constant breeze from the ocean it hasn't been too bad yet. We'll see how it goes.

I haven't had the chance to share the Gospel with anyone yet - I'm praying we'll start to really build some relationships with some ladies this week to be able to witness. So far we've made contacts (to find ladies able to speak English enough for us to really talk to has been somewhat challenging - but God has led some across our path!) but now we really want to begin to step it up. When I say we I mean the team of girls I'm working with. So please pray that God will allow us to do that better. We are supposed to meet a girl this Saturday morning for tea - pray that we can share the Gospel!!

Praise the Lord everything is going well here. Keep praying!

Breaking the Law! (Sunday)

Today I broke the law. I attended a Christian Church Service. Wow - my first illegal church service I've ever been to. There were only 3 who were not from our group at the service. One man is still a Muslim - pray for him. He is searching. The preacher preached in Arabic, so we only understood one word. (The word is the Arabic word for Thank you) I think it's the least I've ever gotten out of a church service before! It was still very interesting. We still sung songs (well...they did ask us to sing one in English for them) and there was preaching. No piano, no choir, no offering (I know - can this REALLY be a Baptist church??? LOL) but it was a church.

That night we had a time of testimony and prayer. We heard the testimonies of 2 believers who live in the city. One of our leaders said that many people who become Christians here have dreams. I was a little unsure of what he meant, but in the testimonies they mentioned dreams. In one person's dream, he saw first (in Arabic) the New Testament. He had the dream again, but this time it was written in English. So He looked up that word and found it was the Bible - God's Word. He began to search. So, what started his search was these dreams. I stand amazed at how God can work in places we think are "closed." God made the earth and is the King of it. No place is closed to Him - PRAISE THE LORD!

Some Morning You'll Find Me Touring That City

I don't always have an internet connection, so I'll try to update several days. Here's Saturday.

Today we just got on buses (groups of 2 girls and one or two guys) and went around the city. Our goal was to meet people, try to talk to them and develop a relationship. Also, we were to try to find our way around the city to get our bearings. WOW! At first, honestly, I was a little skeptical. I really hadn’t met a person here yet and wasn’t sure how they would respond to me (the white skin, strange dress, and blue eyes really gives away the fact that I don’t live here LOL). The other girl and I decided to sit apart to try to get someone to sit next to us. It worked! The ladies here are very nice – they will try to communicate even if it doesn’t go very well. The first lady I was able to talk to spoke English fairly well, and we were able to carry on a conversation for a while. We exchanged e-mail addresses – pray that I can really develop a relationship with her and will be able to tell her the gospel! We also were able to invite some more ladies to English class – pray they will be able to come. I am amazed at how many languages everyone here speaks. More often than not they speak 2, 3 or even 4 languages! I’ve been butchering some French to try and communicate with many people – I think I can get the point across about English class, but I’m not very sure how well.

One thing Saturday taught me is the need for communication. That may sound very obvious, but it put a burden on my heart to learn the language to be able to talk to people. Limited language limits your witness. It brings to mind the scripture in Romans 10:14 “…and how shall they hear without a preacher?” If the preacher can’t speak their language, how shall they hear?

Miracles Happen

Wow! What a journey! I've dubbed a name for the traveling to North Africa - a comedy of errors. One thing after the other happened. We missed our flight out of JFK to Africa. So we were booked on the next flight - 24 hours later. Even in what seems to be bad circumstances, God was good. We were able to stay in Manhattan at a Pastor friend's church - WHAT A BLESSING! We were able to see some of the city and he spoke with us about really studying scripture - eating the meat and not just drinking the milk.

We made it in plenty of time to make our flight to Africa, and it was delayed. We were supposed to leave around 8:20pm. Apparently they combined a couple of flights and we finally took off around 4am or 4:30am. It's kinda crazy on those international flights. The flight crew was French and they speak to you in French and then will switch to English if you don't understand. All those years in French class are definitely paying off!

We landed in Africa around 3pm. We got through the passport stuff just fine and went to baggage claim, only to find out our baggage was not there. We had to go to the counter and describe our bags and stuff. I learned my first lesson in culture: there are no lines. You just push your way to the front and whoever is there goes first. Finally we meet the person who is supposed to travel with us up the city we will be staying in - he had been waiting 2 days! We got on one train, switched trains, then arrived in the city. Total train time: 7 hours. Needless to say, we were exhausted. I honestly think it was better NOT having our luggage on those trains. God was watching out for us - it would have been very hard to handle all that luggage up and down the aisles, on and off, and all that kind of stuff.

We found out where we were all staying, got to take a shower AMEN and slept for about an hour. It was very interesting when we went shopping for clothes and toiletries to last until we got our luggage. It was kinda like a market in Peru. After dinner we had to go back out for somethings we forgot. There were many more people out and about at night than during the day. One thing I saw while we were out shopping was quite interesting. The call to prayer sounds (you can't help but hear it) but no one stops to pray. I expected everyone to stop what they were doing and pray, but that is not the case. From what I've seen so far, there are so many groups of people and everyone does it a little different. For the most part all the women have head coverings, but not all. Some men wear the long robes, but not most. I'm not sure what I expected, but I don't think this is it.

So Praise the Lord, He is still in the business of miracles! Honestly, it's a miracle I'm here: from the health stuff, to the travel comedy of errors. Plus, He knows better than we do and what we need. It was very nice not having massive amounts of luggage on the train. I'm praying God will give me a great love for the people, and allow us to speak boldly for Him. Keep on praying!

14 Days and counting

I can't believe I'm writing this - only 14 days until I leave for North Africa. That's 2 weeks! It's all overwhelming. There is still so much to do before I leave - and now is the first time in about 2 years I get sick. Perfect timing. Actually it's very good that I got sick now, not a week from now. Even during the seeming bad, I must praise the Lord for His goodness to me. It would be awful to be sick on the plane, or perhaps have to postpone my flight.

I have some prayer requests for my trip. I sprained my ankle about a month ago and it still hurts after being on it all day - so pray that it will fully heal because we will be walking A LOT in North Africa. This may sound really silly and funny, but pray for me as I pack. I need to know what to take with me and what to leave behind. Pray for our protection and safety. Most of all, pray for souls to be saved and lives influenced for Christ. We are going to a spiritually dark place - we will be shining our light to those who need it most.

Glory to God!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! I just wanted to share this praise - all of the support for the cost of my trip has come in!! Anymore money that comes in will be used to support me over the summer while I am not working. Well...not working in the States for a salary that is - I will be working, trust me.

I was reading just a little while ago in the Psalms about how Israel limited God. Because of their unbelief, they limited His limitlessness (if that is truly a word). So many times I limit God, the Holy One of Israel, by my unbelief. If He will give me this money for me to go, what else could He do? Anything. I'm overwhelmed by how great God is! And over just a relatively small amount of money. If we were to completely and utterly give ourselves over to God, what could be accomplished? I'll end this post with a quote by Andrew Murray:

"God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him."

The "Untouchables"

I've been reading a book by Ergun and Emir Caner entitled Out of the Crescent Shadows. Basically, they tell about Muslim women and what they believe, compared to what we believe. It's a very eye-opening book. (A very good read for anyone who's interested)

In one section of the book, Muslims are compared to the Samaritans back in Jesus' day. They are almost considered "untouchable." Everything about Muslims, the way they dress, act, eat, worship, etc., is much different than what we're used to, so we don't go near them. We avoid them in fact. The Samaritans were descendants of Jews and Assyrians, so they were considered half-breeds. Jewish people wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with them or their land. In fact, the very devout would travel days out of their way to avoid going near the land of Samaria. These were truly "untouchable."

I want you to keep this in mind while I share a familiar verse with you. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8 KJV) Jesus is giving instructions in this verse. It is a command. Mostly Jews are listening. He tells them to go to Jerusalem (their capital), Judaea (their country), and in Samaria - OH NO! Anything but Samaria!! They were told to go to the people they considered to be the lowest of the low and preach the gospel! Then, He commands to go to the rest of the earth. Jesus specifically tells them to go to these people. As the author puts it, "If you do not go to Samaria, the Lord reasoned, then how shall you go to the rest of the world?"

I considered that was a very intriguing thought. I knew of that verse. I even knew that the Samaritans were considered almost sub-human. I never put the two together. But the audience who was listening to Jesus would have understood the meaning. WOW! I really do see the comparison between the two people groups. If we're not willing to proclaim the name of Christ to those who are in utter darkness, in bondage to this religion, how shall we go to the rest of the world?

It's very interesting how the culture of that day brings new light to a very familiar verse.