marhuba

Salaama lay koom!
(hello in Hassanyia – a dialect of Arabic, the language that is spoken here in the Sahara)
I have been in Africa for only a few days, and have already been hit with a graceful smack of how big God’s heart truly is. His people are not only white. His people don’t only speak English. His people don’t only sleep in beds in nice houses filled with nice things. His people sleep in the dirt, cold and shaking, His people speak in every tongue, every language, His people are of every race, every color, every tribe, every village, every nation, and what does He ask us to do? To love one another as He has loved us. He requires us to go and walk humbly, act justly and love mercy.
The Saharawi peoples of Smara have made a huge impact on me as I have adjusted to life here in the refugee camps. This place seriously looks like it could be straight up out of the Bible, minus the occasiona satellite dish and solar panels. When I read the Old Testament, this place is what I had always envisioned Jerusalem and other places Biblical events take place in, to look like. Because of that, Sarah (another one of the English teachers – I know, a team of 4 teachers, and half the team has the same name) and I decided to read through the Old Testament during our time here. I always read a Proverb a day, according to the date and I also have been spending a lot of time in Psalms – specifically the Psalms of David. God calls David a man close to His own heart…which is so breathtaking – how could you not want to read the Psalms of David? My prayer though this trip is that my heart would be made more like my Abba’s heart. He is the One who loves perfectly. What an example we have to follow.
We had registration for the second day in a row today at Essalam English center today. Jess (one of the other English teachers, who has been coming for 2 semesters every year for the last 4 years) registered almost 30 in between the 2 classes that she is teaching! I, on the other hand, have only 5 students signed up. Which is just fine with me – more time to develop lasting relationships and more opportunitiess for door to be opened to talk about our Abba. If I could teach only one thing, I would hope to encourage that their Abba or ‘Allah’ is very fond of them and furiously longs for them to be in His kingdom. He love each one of us with a crazy, relentless, all powerful love. What a gift.
When Sarah and I walked home for lunch today, I was greeted by my littlest host sister, Sellama (2 ½) who smiled that cute smile and planted a sloppy wet kiss on my cheek. Our host mother’s name is Embareeka and her other two daughter’s are age 19 and 21. Embareeka has many siblings and nephews who come to visit us and see the ‘foreigners’. In fact, Sarah and I have not been alone once yet…which is a little overwhelming but all the same, we feel loved. The food here is crazy. I think this may be my African fat camp! They eat breakfast…and tea every day around 8AM, lunch…and tea is anytime between 1 and 3 PM and dinner…and tea is anywhere from 11PM – 12:30 AM. Sarah and I have decided to keep track of how many cups of tea we have while here. With each tea, there are 3 rounds. Having tea here in the camps can take anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours. Talking with the people here is a lot like playing mad Gab for me – I am always trying to guess what they are speaking. Just the other day, I met a guy who spoke a little Arabic, Hassanyia, Spanish and English – it was an interesting conversation to say the least.
I am talking with Omar right now – we just climbed up some sort of tower to watch the sun set…there is nothing like an African sunset…God is soooo creative. How can someone watch a sunset and not believe in our sovereign God? His hear t is so big for His people.
If you’ve read this far, thank you…and grace and peace to you,
Love wins,
Sarah
P.S. Omar asked me to teach him some new English words (he already has very good English), so I thought I should teach him some slang – he will now be using, bling bling, holla, up in here, and lawl in his vocabulary. A little harmless fun is going down ‘up in here’. :)