love wins

What a whirlwind couple of weeks it’s been since I last wrote! The American team(s) are here and gone, and we English teachers are in our last days of finishing up the semester and our time here. I think I was starting to make up my own language with the little bits of Arabic, Thai and Spanish I know…so it was great to have the team here and speak English continually and fluently for about a week.
We all went out to the sand dunes where sadly, I was tackled into the sand with my camera in hand and now alas, it is broken. We also got to participate in the religious dialogues and the young women’s seminar. Both events have been held every year for the last 4 years. The dialogues are a time where Muslims and Christians gather and discuss commonalities and differences of our beliefs in an order to bring an understanding of love and peace to one another. The goal is to show that Muslims and Christians really can gather together and discuss these topics in a civilized manner. The young women’s seminar was a one day gathering in a large tent that discussed the topic of rape and identity. It was a powerful day for sure. The team also had the honor of being invited to the president’s house for lunch in another nearby refugee camp where we enjoyed lots of fresh fruit and (very) fresh chicken. One of my favorite parts about the team being here, is that some of the guys knew how to play the guitar…so we had ourselves some church up in the desert! We sang one of my favorite songs called love can change the world. The words in it are so promising – ‘May we never stop this dreaming of a better world, may we never stop believing in the impossible – God is love, our God is love, and Love can change the world.’ It was one of those moments you know you aren’t going to forget for a long time. Many other memories and stories about the team being here I will save for another time. Ohhh, and they brought chocolate…lots of chocolate.
For the two people that read this blog (hi Mom) – I need your help. We have had an ongoing debate for the last two months in the desert – is it TRAIL mix or TRAILS mix? I truly believe to the bottom of my heart it is TRAILS mix. All the almonds and cashews and peanuts and raisins and M&M’s come from many different trails, yes? In other news, I have fallen in love with the little packets of kiwi strawberry Propel mixes. After you pour the Propel powder in, the water stays clear. I forgot about that when I brushed my teeth a few nights ago…and when I washed my face the following morning. I smelled like a walking kiwi strawberry for a while after that shenanigan.
I have shared this with a few of you through some quick e-mails that I feel like God has and is using this trip to confirm my place back home, expanding His kingdom. I love being here, but Africa is not my thing. God must be thinking He’s pretty funny bringing me halfway around the world for three months to show me that. But, God will and is always using us wherever we’re at in our lives and walk with Him. We all have a crucial role to play in whatever community we’re in. Unifying the world through relationships and maximizing the redemptive potential of the community we’re in is the best way to love God and love people. And I’m thrilled to be a part.
Prayer Requests:
- ‘Eide’ is coming up here in the Sahara – it’s a three day celebration where you eat goat, goat and more goat with the lovely side dish of sandy bread. I have a hard time stomaching these things, so prayers would be most appreciated! The last thing I want to do is offend my host family by not eating (an extremely offensive action here). I truly want to enjoy this time with our host family and leave here on a good note, so what may seem like a silly thing to pray for, is actually vital for me this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thanks in advance, all my prayer warriors…
- Najla, Salama, Omar, Talib, Ghalia, Rhebab – all names of our Saharawi friends who currently are or will be studying the common ground between the Qur’an and the Bible with one of us on the team
- The entire Muslim community – in Islam, our friends believe that allah isn’t coming for you; that he’s watching to see if you can live up to his standards and you can’t. Let’s pray that they would come to know you can’t earn God’s love. He’s already crazy in love with us, we just need to accept that we’re accepted and commit to the One way, Jesus... ‘may we live in His love’. 1st John 1:4
- That we (you & me) as followers of Jesus would prefer honesty and promote love and do so in a way that seems ridiculous to the world, but not to Jesus
- May we really believe that God is Love and Love can change the world because after all…Love wins. :)
Thanksgiving blessings and love,
Sarah