2:00am, the call comes to wake up and begin cooking breakfast. They go through the streets yelling "wake up, wake up!" and bang things together so that no one misses it. 4:00am, there are three or four mosques within ear shot of our house that, for the next 30 minutes, remind the residents of their peaceful little neighborhoods that it is time to pray. 5:30am, the fireworks (more-or-less just loud confetti bombs) begin in the neighboring soccer field and in the streets, after all the sun is coming up and a long day of fasting has just begun. For the duration of Ramadan, our town's sleep schedule is a little off kilter. But Alex, Jack and I can usually sneak a nap in most afternoons too, so it's alright. This 30 day ritual ends with the Eid al-Fitri celebration which, much like Christmas in America (and also much different), is a time for family to gather from far away and neighbors to visit each other. I can't say I don't see the beauty in it. But I can say that I am so grateful Jesus answers our prayers whenever we call to him, not once a year. I am grateful that in Christ there is no earning affection, His love is a matter of fact. In Christ there is no "if I do enough...", there is only my name written in the Lambs Book of life promised with the seal of the Spirit. ------------------------------ The end of Ramadan brought with it a number of exciting things for us this year. Our close friends came to visit that week. As we got to show them our city and the surrounding area we were able to explore much more of it for ourselves too. They bought with them plenty of encouragement along with plenty of gifts from our parents for Jack's second birthday! While they were here we did woefully little studding. That lead to a week of working extra so we were prepared to pass our unit 4 exam on Tuesday this week. We are now officially past the half way mark of language school and only two months away from baby boy #2's due date!
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AuthorsWe are just a couple of kids from Iowa learning to trust Christ daily and aiming to serve Him though mission aviation. Archives
August 2023
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