The Days are quick

It feels as though days fly by here. I legitimately don’t feel like I’ve been here coming on two months, at all. This past weekend was good. Daniel (good friend & intern) and I were able to meet up with Ahmed, a close friend, and study a few verses in the Qur’an and the Bible. It really was helpful and I think we all learned from that time together. We each simply want to know God more and with such desires expressed it proved to be a insightful conversation. Hopefully we’re going to study more together in our last days together. So please be praying about our times together. I know that we can learn from Ahmed and I hope that he sees the fullness of who Christ is.
I’ve been able to spend more time with Aso in the past few days which has been great. I always tell him that my family and friends are praying for him back home. And I continue to ask for your prayers. I know I’ve said it so many times but Aso is a brother to me and I desperately want him to see Jesus for who He really is. That he would glimpse Christ in the fullness of His glory and be consumed with Him.
In other news, tasks are slowly winding down in the office with the last few days approaching; except for the annual banquet that is coming up! We always hold a banquet for all of the kids that have had surgery in the past year and it is a blast. This year we’re having a carnival theme with lots of games for the kids and afterwards we’ll be watching Toy Story 3! Needless to say, its going to be great.

Life and Death

As time draws to a close here again, I was once again reminded of the hardships and cruelty that so many people here grew up with and saw as completely normal. Last night, Alex and I went out with half of our english class to a cafe. It was a great time to be able to know the students better. Many of them are older than us so its great to hear about their professions, their families’, their children and their lives’. After a good time at the cafe a few of the guys took Alex and I out for dinner, to our favorite place, Sara. Its by far our favorite place. Its the king of sada, which is rice, beans and various other vegetables; all of which are cooked in excessive amounts of oil. But its so delicious. They also serve some great kebabs and chicken. I digress. We found out in the course of talking over dinner that one of the guys grew up in Baghdad. His stories cannot be told fully through by weak writing. But they are some of the most powerful comments I’ve heard about living in Baghdad during the invasion. He said he remembers the very night that the U.S. army came. He has pictures of the city from that night. I asked him about life after Sadam’s regime was overthrown. He was glad that he was taken out but he said life didn’t get easier. He said, “we sat around and waited to die”. I cannot even imagine. Eventually, he and his family fled to Syria because one night he received a call in which he was told, if he didn’t leave his job he would be killed. He worked for the Red Crescent (the equivalent of the Red Cross). Another of the guys at dinner grew up in here in the city. He is also knows the pains of death well. His entire extended family lived in Halabja when the Anfal campaign was carried out against the Kurds. All of his uncles, aunts and cousins. Killed. Stories like these seem to be repeated over and again with each having its own personal tinge that hits me in the face. I know nothing of what they’ve experienced. Nothing even close.

On another note, I had some quality time with Aso again tonight. Please continue to pray for him. I asked him what I could pray for him about and he said, pray that he would receive great scores on his tests so that he can go to a good university. Also, please pray that he would know God, through the perfect blood of Jesus Christ. For there is no other way! There are also a few other guys that you can be praying for as well to know Christ in the fullness of who He is.

Three weeks

I’ve had a range different experiences in the past few days. We were able to meet with the Sheik friend of Jeremy’s here. It was definitely an interesting experience and would love to share about it with anyone, in person. Nonetheless, I would ask for prayers for him and those under his leadership. That he would see Christ for all of who He is and worship Him fully. Along with that, that he would lead those around him to Christ as well.

Friday and Saturday were great as well. I was able to spend a lot of time with Joshua, a good friend here, that is working for PLC in the short term. He is a great friend and a brother, he also did the internship last year and then decided to continue working for PLC last fall and then he came back this past spring. Nonetheless, friday we both went out with Aso to an Iranian expo for new products, varying from plant growth to rugs to chess boards. All I have to say is the line system needs to be implemented. Attempting to enter the venue was quite the ordeal. There was a single gate that was only the width for one person at a time. Well, apparently no one wanted to do the whole line thing and instead the mass grouping with people pushing you in the back was implemented in attempts to just push everyone through. Needless to say, getting in was not so fun. Overall, it was great to spend time with Aso. Saturday was nice as well. Josh and I ventured into the blacksmith/carpentry section of the bazaar and could feel the testosterone building in our veins. But seriously, it was a really interesting part of the bazaar that we hadn’t really seen before. The best part about it all was that we were able to spend a significant time together talking about concerns and questions about what it looks like to do cross cultural ministry in different contexts. And how we can use our skills and passions for the glory of God in any context. It was good. Please be praying for him, that the Holy Spirit would guide him in his upcoming decisions. Continue to pray for Aso as well, for boldness in our prayers, actions and words with him. That the glory of Christ would be reflected onto him and he would be consumed with Jesus!

Long Days, Long Nights

The past few days have been packed. Packed with work and packed with seeing friends at night. I don’t think I’ve been back to the house before 11 at least in the past four or five days. Its definitely been good, yet I was reminded of something yesterday. How can I be pouring out the truth of Christ and His unabashed love for these people if I am not first communing with Him? How can I suppose to do these things without first devoting myself to prayer? I’m realizing more and more the paramount importance of prayer and reliance on the Spirit. I need prayer for this because I have been lax in these areas.
On another note, tonight we have the opportunity to meet with the Sheik again. So I’ll be sure to write more about it next time. The last time we met with him was great. The food can’t be explained. It was definitely by far the best food I’ve had since being here. And that wasn’t even the best part. He spoke of the need for peace and cooperation between different groups within Islam as well as between different religious groups. He also spoke of his devotion to Jesus. It was great.
Thats all for now, I’ll be sure to write again soon. May our Father bless you and keep you. May you be fixed upon Christ and Christ alone.

Contrast

We just returned from an afternoon visiting two children in a town about 45 minutes away. We saw Nevar, who is scheduled for surgery next month in Istanbul. As well as, Danar who already had surgery about six months ago. The contrast was great in some ways and similar in others. Nevar’s family is quite poor in material wealth yet full of character and great people. It was immediately noticeable that Nevar is in desperate need of surgery. Her fingers and lips are discolored and becoming more and more blue by the week. Soon after we arrived to their home a few of the interns easily coerced her to play outside. I could hear the laughter from inside, it was great. Yet, within less than ten minutes she was back inside, tired and out of breath sitting next to her dad drinking water and telling him how she couldn’t play any longer. It was almost surreal. You expect her to be a kid, to be full of energy and running around outside all the time, full of life. And I could tell she was full of life yet her body hinders her from fully expressing that and being able to be a kid. Hopefully in just over a month’s time that will change. Danar, on the other hand, is a wild man, according to his parents. They told of how he can hardly sit still and how they can hardly keep track of him because he just runs around all over the place and plays all the time. Surely life has been restored back to his little body. Its amazing to see first hand the contrast between these beautiful children. Both so full of life, yet one is fully hindered by her dis-functioning heart.
In other news, tonight we have the privilege to meet with Sheik Ali. A dear friend of Jeremy’s and a highly regarded Muslim leader in the area. I’ll be sure to give an update of how it goes and hopefully we can meet with him many more times.

Listening & Learning

Its odd to find yourself so at home in one place all the while knowing that you’ll be leaving in just a few short weeks. This is the feeling that I’ve had in the past few days; I am beginning to settle into life here yet I know that before I know it I’ll be boarding a plane to go back life in the U.S. With this in mind, I think it is vital to my time here that I listen to the Spirit (as always), that I learn from those around me, and that I love unhindered for the glory of Christ (all of which I must be doing no matter whether I am here or at home). I suppose these have been even more at the forefront of my mind than usual because I don’t want to look back at my time here and say, I should have done this, or I didn’t listen or I didn’t learn in these particular situations. The aspect of learning has pervaded my thoughts consistently in the past few days. How can I be learning each day that I am here? And learning in such a way that it effects the rest of my time here as well as when I return home? Many of these questions have stemmed from my time with a close friend here. As I’ve said before, we’ve reached a point in our conversations that leaves us both wanting more, yet there seems to be a block. The more I considered this, the more I realized that I need to learn, to learn more about his beliefs instead of simply assuming that since I’ve read a few verses in the Qur’an and heard people talk about it that I am knowledgeable and know what he beliefs. I need to take a posture of learning and listening. With this in mind, we talked about meeting with some local Sheiks (religious teachers/leaders) so that we could both learn more; our first of hopefully many more meetings with a local Sheik is tomorrow morning. I’m quite excited to simply learn more, to take a posture of respect and listening so that I can better understand. I’ll definitely let you know how it goes.
In other news, the world cup has provided for many great times in local tea shops watching futbol with friends. I think the best story yet from the many hours in tea shops happened the other day during the U.S. game. To preface, I already stand out like a sore thumb in this monoethnic city, so I’m used to people staring at me and talking about the american. Well, Aso and I were watching the game in a tea shop, which I already stand out in, and the U.S. wasn’t doing well at all the entire game. So the second half rolls around and the U.S. scores their first goal, yes I was excited, and now only down one goal. Yep, you guessed it, the U.S. scored a second goal and then came the stares. Why you might ask? Well, because before I knew it I was standing with arms raised with exaltations coming from my mouth. Yes, everyone in the shop stopped their domino games and stared at the big, loud American. I never knew I liked soccer so much…well, I’ll leave you with that.

Living Life

The more and more I reflect on my second time here I’ve come to realize certain things. Things that I think necessary and good, though not always easy. I think before it was so easy for me to take a euphoric view on life here, and the culture because of one eight week trip. And I realize this is just another eight or nine week trip. But even the fact of experiencing life here before, I think has allowed me to see certain aspects for what they are and not see everything with a euphoric view simply because it is new. This is, no doubt, helpful because of my desire to live and work in another country throughout my life.
Another realization that I have come to is that community changes and imposing expectations from a past experience onto a present reality can often times lead to disillusionment; which in some ways I think it did to me. I came back expecting certain things to hold true even though it is a whole new group of interns, each with their own personality and background. Yet, the community that is forming here is great, it is different from last year, nonetheless still good. Thats all for now, I would continue to ask for prayers for myself, the interns, friends here and staff that our deepest desire would be to know God more.

Busyness

Well, I think that I’ve dropped the ball somewhat in this whole two times a week blogging schedule; for which I apologize. Many things have happened since the last time I wrote; which is part of the problem because I can’t exactly remember all of happenings since then. Nonetheless, I’ll take my best shot.
This past thursday was jam packed and I didn’t have time to breathe hardly. Fairly early in the morning we ventured down south about an hour and half to see three of the families and kids. We ended up meeting all of them at a restaurant outside of the city for a few hours. It was an unconventional house visit but nonetheless great to see the kids and the progress that they are making. After our time together with the three families, we (Sophie, Jessica, Awara, Joshua & myself) packed back into the beautiful little chevrolet to make it back to the city in time for Joshua and I to meet Aso for lunch at his house. Needless to say, the food for lunch was delicious, homemade Kurdish food is great. But even more than that the time together was good; full of laughter and joking around mostly. I would ask your prayer for Aso and myself. And I would openly share this with him as well. My desire for him is to know God, in the fullness and in the perfect truth that God has reveal Himself to us. So I would ask for prayers that Aso and I would simply know God more and fully, and encourage one another towards that end. Once lunch was done at Aso’s house I had to catch a bus to the bazaar to have a meeting with Aram, the local Klash maker that we work with, about the women’s Klash that just came out along with other ideas for future adaptations to Klash. (Any women looking to buy a cute shoe and help save children should check them out on PLC’s site). The meeting with Aram went well to my knowledge, I actually had to leave early to meet up with Daniel (fellow intern) so that we could have dinner with a close friend of mine, Ahmed. Once again, homemade Kurdish food, welp its just good. We spent time at Ahmed’s house enjoying dinner on the roof with his younger brother. Shortly after which we met Ahmed’s friend and went to a local park. It was surreal talking with Ahmed’s close friend; I’ll write more about it later, but Dilman (the friend) fled with his family (as many thousands of Iraqi Kurds did) to Iran in the early 90’s by simply walking to Iran. Unreal. The rest of the night was great, getting to know Dilman more and hearing his story.
Friday and Saturday are the weekends for us here so we have time to rest and what not. I was able to spend some time with friends and get some rest. My memory is currently failing me from this weekend. Saturday night, Josh and I went to a local park with Aso and another guy to watch the US/England world cup game, which is always a great time to just hang out, laugh, and watch some futbal.
Today was back to work and was another busy day. Daniel and I were able to have lunch with Ahmed and another friend which was good. Enjoyed some Kulera Bakhema and tea afterwards. Once I got back in the office, Preston and I headed out to meet with Aram, Jeremy and Awara at Aram’s shop in the bazaar to discuss the prices for the upcoming women’s Klash, endearingly coined Klashi Lydia because Lydia (an intern) offered her foot for the prototype. We are definitely still working on possible ways of bringing down the prices and various options so that we can maximize our finances towards sending kids to surgery. Later tonight, Awara came over to talk which was great and insightful. Jeremy, he and I talked for a while about the importance of reading and understanding scripture for oneself and communing with God on a personal level instead of being spoonfed ideas or beliefs. He offered helpful insight into reasons this occurs within certain Muslim cultures/circles.
I’ll stay on the whole two posts a week, promise.

Forgetfulness

This whole blogging twice a week deal is harder than I thought it would be. I’ll try to give you a quick glimpse into the last few untold days. The past days have been a mixture for me in various ways. At certain times I feel completely disengaged emotionally and unconnected with my Father through the Spirit. Much of the past few days have been filled with this odd mixture. I have seen a lack of discipline within myself in concern to study, prayer and listening. How easily I am distracted. I would covet prayers for discipline and a consistent pursuit and communion with the Father. I often talk about how if I’m not praying than my work is but toil and if I would but just pray and work from that prayerful communion it would surely be much more effective and honoring to my Father. All that jumble to say, I need prayer and I need to commune with Christ. I pray that all of you would, that you would crave Christ and not be satisfied with anything else. I’ll probably write more about this later, but I’ve thought lately about Christ sending out the disciples and they being filled with the Spirit to do things even greater than He did…..What?! Unreal, right? No. It is what He told them. So I’ve looked at my life and time here as well as at home. Am I living a life full of the Spirit? Do I honestly believe Christ when He says this? We are filled with the Holy Spirit! I’ve considered if I have forsaken the Spirit in my life, simply disregarding Him in attempts to do work or get things done. Can not the Holy Spirit heal this children? He has the power. Christ raised people from the dead, healed the lame, gave sight to the blind. And every time I consider this, my first inclination is to say well that was Jesus, of course He could do that, He’s Jesus. But then I look at the disciples’ lives and did they not do the same? Are not such things occurring even now around the world? Why not for these children? Instead of money being the solution and the only barrier is it perhaps that I lack faith? I’m not quite sure.
Those are my thoughts, prayers are welcome.
In concern to the day to day. I was able to meet a dear friend from last year, Ahmed, the other day; which was great and we actually hung out today and are going to his house tomorrow for dinner. Tomorrow is a full day (I’ll blog about it for sure). We’re going on a house visit to the south about 1.5 hours. After which Joshua and I are having a big lunch with Aso, a dear friend of ours. Later, Preston and I are going to see Aram, the local Klash maker that PLC works with. And after all of that, Daniel and I are hopefully having dinner with Ahmed at his house nearby. So I would love your prayers about those many things. That we would be set on Christ and focused on him throughout. I don’t want a good experience, I don’t want a nice story or a few cool pictures so people can oooo and aawww when I return because I went to Iraq. big deal. I want Christ to be glorified and His gospel proclaimed. For such to be done, I must walk in the Spirit. May we draw near to the throne in confidence as well as humbleness.

Home

Its beginning to feel like home here again. Well, as much as I can feel at home living with 12 other people in one house. Nonetheless, the aspect of adjusting to life here and working again is beginning to set in well. This past week was somewhat hectic because there was a group of 5 guys from the States here to see how PLC runs on the ground. It was nice to have some visitors but having 20 people around is crazy. Wednesday, we ventured out to see the Halabja memorial. It is sobering to return to such an intense memorial. Several thousand Kurds were killed in Halabja shortly after the Iran-Iraq war when Hussein’s regime, namely, a man known as chemical Ali, carried out the horrendous genocidal attack. The city was bombed several times, so as to break any windows and doors of buildings and houses, after which, came the chemical attacks which were even more effective due to the bombing strategy. The man who toured us through the memorial museum was taken for dead and loaded on a truck to be buried, yet he had only passed out due to the chemicals. He eventually came to and was able to get out of the loaded bed of the truck after which he was taken to Iran for medical assistance. Through all of this, it was an incredibly sobering reminder of the effects of sin in this world and the effects of a few men’s actions on an entire people group.

After a somber time at the Halabja museum we decided to show everyone a much different side of Iraq, the beautiful countryside. We travelled up to Ahmed Awa, an absolutely incredible waterfall tucked away in the mountainous border with Iran. On a sidenote, it is the exact same place that the three Americans hiked into Iran last July. And I completely understand how they did it as well. There isn’t anyway that you can know exactly where you are and we could easily see into Iran. Actually, the next mountain over, which wasn’t far, was Iran. So before you might think its completely ridiculous that they hiked into Iran. Maybe it was only, halfway ridiculous. Once we got up to the trail that goes to the waterfall several police officers started talking to us and eventually one came accompanied our group the rest of the way due to last July’s incident. And I digress, but nonetheless, the waterfall was gorgeous and I praise our Father for His beautiful creation. It really was quite spectacular. The mountains were, for the most part, dried out and brown; yet the mouth of the waterfall and the river it formed produced beautiful green life in the valley of the mountains. I am constantly reminded of how completely glorious God is through His creation.

Lastly, I would continue to beg of your prayers for continued time with Aso. He is such a dear friend and I desperately want to worship before the throne with him. He has a desire to know God above all else. Also, I have been able to spend time with a friend, Sirwan, he is an Iranian that has completely left Islam and finds Jesus’ teachings full of peace and hope. Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in him that he may come to the realization that Jesus is more than a great teacher or man. He is Lord of all! Along with this, I’d ask for prayers for the interns. I’m beginning to realize that this summer is a learning experience in leadership, which changes the whole dynamic for my time here, but it is definitely needed. In how best to lead through encouragement, and prayer. May our Father embolden you to live out the gospel through radical abandonment to Jesus, to walk full of the Spirit for the sake of His glory among the people around you and for the sake of His glory among the nations.