God's Majlis (Living Room)
My country in the Middle East is known as one of the most hospitable and friendly in the region. The local people are known to welcome foreigners into their home and invite them to participate in their culture. A common way to do this here is to invite someone into your home, but specifically the front living room known in Arabic as the majlis. In a typical majlis, there are cushions on the floor that line the walls of the room. There might be a small table or ottoman in the middle for serving food. Guests take their shoes off before entering the majlis and make themselves… Read more >>
Fasting For His Return
After a year and a half of preparation, I made it to my placement! I arrived in the Middle East almost two weeks ago and since then, I’ve been acclimating to my new home. I spent most of my first week here sleeping to help my body adjust to the new time zone. But now that my sleep schedule is in order, I’ve been itching to get out and explore. I’ve been able to explore some since being here, but most of it will have to be put on hold until the month of Ramadan is over. I arrived in the Middle East during Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month on the Islamic lunar calendar, and during this month… Read more >>
Hard, But Worth It
I arrived back home in Michigan a few days ago after two weeks of pre-field training in Chicago. Pre-field training was the last big thing on my to-do list before packing my bags and heading to my placement. These past two weeks have laid a foundation for what my time overseas hopefully will be: hard, but worth it. One of the things the leader of my sending organization repeatedly told us was “it’s going to be hard.” Moving overseas naturally brings a level of difficulty to daily life. Grocery shopping will be hard when I don’t know the language and have to do currency conversions in my… Read more >>
Memorial Stones from Fundraising
My twelve weeks of full-time fundraising are officially behind me. I’m not quite fully funded yet, but I am far enough along where I can look back and see what God was showing me in the process. Consider my takeaways my memorial stones of my fundraising season; reminders of God’s help and goodness. Like memorial stones in the Bible, it’s important for me to stop and recognize all that God has done to get me to this point and give Him praise for it. Here are my three main takeaways from my fundraising experience: God honors obedience. He called you to go overseas with GoCorps and preach the… Read more >>