Days 2 and 3

Monday morning was the start of our English as a second language (ESL) classes for the week. Half of our team participated in helping the students and the other half worked with the children. The team members in the classes were split into various levels of ESL, the lowest being “ABC” level and the highest being intermediate II. Seeing how much the women in the highest level have progressed from the ABC class was very impressive. And we learned a little Arabic along the way, even some dancing! The girls in childcare met a ten year old girl wearing a hijab; it was shocking to hear that she started wearing it at seven years old!

The afternoon was our “immersion” into the Muslim culture. We went straight to a local mosque, took off our shoes and watched as about 15 men and a little girl (no more than three years old) did afternoon prayers. Prayers were followed by a Q and A session with the imam and some of his students. This was a time purely for asking question, though it was difficult to get a direct answer. After returning from the mosque we debriefed on what had been said, or more appropriately which of our questions had not fully been answered. The whole team was confronted with the realization of how much control the mosque and imam have over the community. We were struck with the conviction of how great a stronghold Islam is and how embedded the lies are in the mind of a Muslim.

On a lighter note we continued our emersion with dinner at an authentic Yemeni restaurant where we sat on a deewan (couch on the floor) and ate food with our hands. The food ranged from lamb broth to saltah, to garlic hummus, and motboha, all eaten with flat bread as our utensil! Some girls were able to visit the kitchen to see how aseed, giant dumpling with gravy (and we still stuck our fingers in to eat it!) was made. We finished the meal with an incredible Yemeni chai and headed back to watch a movie called “Dreams and Visions”, a movie about Muslims having radical encounters with Jesus, and how those encounters lead to salvation. The movie left us feeling assured by the knowledge that nothing is impossible with God!

This morning we learned how to make Arabic qah’wa (coffee) and later we visited the place where it was made! We got to see coffee beans roasting and learn the difference between Turkish and American coffee. A few of our ladies were interviewed in their ESL classes, as the students wondered if we were married and where we were staying. We put our gifts to use in childcare, playing songs and making crafts (or some of us just acting goofy!). The gift utilization continued into the afternoon as we practiced “landscape ministry”—that is, pulling weeds and laying mulch.

Over lunch, we listened to a speaker on contextualization and “the insider movement.” For those who didn’t take the Perspectives course, contextualization is an approach to evangelism that radically adapts certain words in the Bible to make sense in the context of a person’s given religious culture. The insider movement is a more specific technique that says new believers don’t have to reject their old religion in order to embrace new life in Jesus. This idea we continued to discuss throughout the day. While it is certainly a controversial subject, we concluded as a group that God’s truth is supreme, and that the Gospel is the hope of salvation to every fallen man.

Dinner was a real treat as we got out of the heat and into the air-conditioning of a Lebanese restaurant. The food was mind blowing! Chicken, beef and lamb shish kabobs, kafta, kibbi, fatoush, falafel, Lebanese style rice, hummus, stuffed grape leaves and freshly made pitas with garlic and tahini sauce.

Team unity is at an all-time high! Please pray that this continues, and carries over into the arrival of the youth team. Pray God would bring dreams and visions to the Muslims we encounter, He can use anything! Pray for continuing opportunities to have deep conversations with Muslims about spiritual things. Pray that God would supply wisdom and discernment as we face the darkness of Islam.