I have trouble being happy with the words I use to express how blessed I am by my relationship with M but I simply could not have asked God for anything more. M has been a huge help in adapting to the culture here and not only that but he has been a genuine friend, someone I can simply be with in silence and also someone who has no qualms with joining me in my craziness.
A couple of weeks ago I had decided to visit a ch..ch with an expat friend and let M know what I was up to, inviting him to join. I wasn't sure he would want to, being that he shares the same r.lig..n as most people in this region. He told me that he would be more than happy to join and off we went. I wasn't terribly aware of how wide the culture gap is between C's and M's here until the next day when I had time to chat with M about the experience. He had been nervous at the beginning worrying about what people would think if they found out he didn't share the same r.lig..n. I told him not to worry but I tell him that a lot on our adventures. After the service though we met up with some of the guys of the ch..ch, friends of my expat friend, to go eat. It was as we introduced ourselves that the r.lig..us/cultural divide was made known. All present had C names except my friend M and as he introduced himself the look of shock was more than evident on everyones face. I hadn't noticed it as much at the time but upon recalling the event I was surprised how easy it is to tell someones r.lig..n simply from their name. It's already hard enough to think of C's and M's hanging out here but when you through in the fact that you can tell someones cultural-r.lig..us background from their name, it leaves very little room for conversation, let alone friendship and relationship where God is made known.
In all of this, a good time was had by all and I was happy to see the ch..ch guys receive M well. Who knows? M just might be willing to go on some bigger adventures.