“...For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

        The end of April has been a great time here in the KStan. There hasn’t been a day where Gods presence hasn’t been felt since being here, but lately its been a really good time for me to draw closer to God and to learn a lot about trusting, waiting, and letting Him fight for me. 

A team from Salem came out recently to put on a retreat for the women here in Kstan. I was really excited to see them! I didn’t realize though how dry it is here until I saw them and I wanted to cry. It was like a huge wave of water coming to fill up our dusty and dry streams. I think most of it too was happiness to see a familiar face, and God knowing what that week held for me. 

After we spent the morning they came together as a team doing introductions and time in prayer, we took a break for the afternoon. I went over to Scott and Katie’s and spent a couple hours talking with Katie. It was really good to unload some things I feel like God has been trying to teach me. Katie is so wise and was really encouraging. She challenged me with a few things for that week and I knew that I was going to go to a place with God that I hadn’t been to in a while. 

A main thing I feel like God is trying to teach me is contentment. Before I got here, and even now, I have been wrestling with this idea of possibly living oversea’s the rest of my life, singleness, and trusting that God has the best in store for me. It amazes me how much I thought I was okay with whatever God threw at me, until He brought some of these things to my attention as possibilities. I had dreams of living in America, raising my family and living this idealist American Dream. But when I surrendered my whole life to Jesus, He is showing me that He has different plans for me. 

Katie showed me Philippians 4:13 that says “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” Great verse right? What I never considered before was the context of this verse. Paul is talking about how he has learned to be content whatever the circumstances. He said he knows what it is to be in need, and to know what it is to have plenty. He learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed, or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Then he says he can do all things through Him who gives him strength. This hit me hard that day when Katie showed me this verse. God is really trying to teach me contentment. But its not like he’s going to throw me into this hard, oversea’s, uncomfortable situation and not be there to strengthen me through it. Or, maybe He will send me home to live in America, but being content and living simply is a lot harder than it is oversea’s when your forced to live a simpler life. But he’ll give me the strength to do that. Or, maybe my desire to have a family of my own will be met in ways that I had never expected before. I could work in an orphanage and love on those kids who don’t know what love is because they are scared and alone. Or, be a nanny to a family and show the kids Jesus through loving and taking care of them. The possibilities are endless, and only God knows what my future holds. But I can take comfort in knowing that through learning to be content in all these situations, He will give me the strength I need! 

I was very thankful for that Sunday afternoon with Katie, and the way God used her to speak to me.

The big move

The kitchens here come completely empty,
no sinks, counters or cabinets. This was before
our "kitchen" got moved in.

      When I got here I lived in the basement of one of the others from our team who live here long term. They had a full house upstairs, and turned the basement/garage into an apartment for the girl interns. It was a weird layout, but still a great place to live. Because the family we were living with was headed back to the States for a year, they couldn't keep their house. Therefore, we needed to find a new place to live. It was starting to get closer to the time when we needed to move, and there was still no house for us intern girls. I remember sitting through a prayer time and hearing the news that they had looked at a house. It wasn't the best, but it might have to do. I remember asking God that He would provide a home for us that would best suit what we needed. Later that afternoon they found a place for us!

      Not long after we were painting the upstairs for us interns to move in! The upstairs has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a huge kitchen and a nice sized family room. The down stairs also has a full apartment, and will be Stacy's home in December when the lease runs up for the house she is in now. The move didn't take long because of the help we had from a team who came from Wisconsin to see the center and serve where needed. It was great having them a long, and always so refreshing to have people from the states here to visit.
      Our new place has been great. There is more than enough space for us, and we have one of the best kitchens! I have been learning how to cook and our kitchen has more than enough space for me to spread out and try new things! The location is great! It is within ten minutes of Mark and Kirsten's, the Life Center, a grocery store and the International Chrch. Our house has a great garden out front, and there is a park and very small, but great Doucan (Very small market) on the same street as our house. I am grateful for such a great place to live, and am looking forward to when Stacy will move in downstairs.

Easter Weekend

          Easter weekend was a blast here in the Kstan! There is an International Chrch. here in the city that I go to for fellowship with other foreigners that are believers, and we put together an Easter play for anyone to come and see. Because the planning started taking place before I even arrived, I was pre volunteered to have a speaking line for the drama. I was Martha and my friend Rachel was Mary. Although I only had a few lines, I was having the hardest time remembering what I was to say and butchered the lines during rehearsal almost every time. Thankfully, during the performance it wasn't so bad, and we made it through. The rest of the drama was done to some songs by Newsong. We had Jesus on the cross, guards, crowds, weeping women, the whole bit. Some of our friends came to the production since we were in it, and we had feedback from them that they felt "thirsty" from watching it. How great is that! After the production there was loads of desserts and fellowship with everyone. 

         The next day was Easter. Our friend Michael who lives outside the city came into town and took us hiking. The interns, Stacy, and a guy Matt who lives at the Life Center with Russel, all went on the trek. I'm not sure the name of the mountain we hiked, because our team calls it Stacy Mountain after..well, Stacy! She somehow gets everything named after her ;) 

       During the spring everything is green! It was so pretty walking up the hill and doing a little climbing to get to the top and over look the country side. It was a relaxing and awesome way to spend Easter morning with great friends. 

       Later that afternoon the team met at the center with the Samaritans Purse team for a huge feast! I was beginning to like cooking at this point and volunteered to make the potatoes and candied carrots. I thought not being at home for a magor holiday was going to be difficult. I missed my family for sure, but it was clear to me on Easter that God has blessed me with a family here. 

High Fives apparently aren't acceptable

During my first team here, I have been teaching level 1. My students have been great and getting to know them in class. I try to be energetic and to grab my students attention with examples from life back home, or how with what I am learning about their culture. They seem to like it. I know I have had a successful class when there was lots of smiles and when I’m completely exhausted afterwards.

I teach to both men and women, but mostly men come to the Life Center to take classes. My best student was a male. He was a fast learner and was not afraid to volunteer to practice his English in front of the class when needed. He also helps me a lot by explaining things to the other students if they do not understand. 

Recently, this particular student came to the front of the class and practiced a conversation with me from the book. He did an exceptional job and I was SO excited that he had done so well. Although, my students seem to like my energy and excitement, I learned the hard way that High Fives are probably not the best way to encourage a male student. Thankfully they showed me some grace, but after we were done practicing the conversation I tried to give the student a high five. I knew as soon as I raised my hand to give it to him that what I was about to do was culturally inappropriate. I think I turned bright red and he refused my offer of encouragement. The rest of the class burst into laughter at my mistake. I’m thankful for the smiles though because they could have reacted differently and I would have felt a lot worse. I apologized over and over and over again, and thankfully the student was really understanding and didn’t have a problem with me, he just wasn’t going to touch me. 

I got most of the class to settle down so that we could move on and finish the lesson, except two guys who sat in the back. They would NOT stop giggling over my mistake. At the end of class I apologized to the student again for the mistake I made, and my other favorite/really good student explained to me that its not okay for men to touch women, especially since that student is a married man and following their cultures religious ways, it is better for me to not do that. But he was very nice about it. As he was explaining this to me, the two guys in the back giggled and piped in that if I had tried to give them a high five, they would have been okay with it. These men are also married. I felt a little more creeped out by that comment and was happy that I had made the mistake by trying to give a high five to the student that I did. 

I think my lesson had been learned, but high fives are a common thing back home, so I hope that out of impulse I don’t make this same mistake in the months to come.

Nawroz

  I love it here, and so far my favorite day since being here has been Nawroz! 

This was a sight to see on the street!
Literally everyone gets involved with

this holiday!!

         My second day here we went to the Bazar with the Salem team and I got to pick out my very own, already made Jili Kurdi. I felt like I was going to pass out being in the bazar with all the new smells, having a headache from jet lag and the idea of wearing so much jewelry and sparkly clothing for Nawroz made me especially overwhelmed. Once the holiday rolled around I was more okay with this idea, seeing that it is very customary to dress this way!

        

The guys getting their picture
taken with the guards.

Our team dressed for the occasion!

        Nawroz day everyone goes picnicking outside the city, but the day before a huge pre-party happens downtown on the main street. The road is shut down and seriously everyone gets dressed up and fills the streets! As a team we got together around noon and had pictures. The interns and a couple of other friends went for lunch and then fled for the main street to join the rest of the city. 

      It took us a couple hours to meet up with our local friends who were selling Jewelry they made at a museum because the street was so packed with people! This day was incredible hanging out with so many great people and getting a feel for the culture.

      What I didn't expect, was that so many complete strangers would want a photo with us. It took us so long to walk the streets not only because there were o many people, but because about half of them wanted to take a picture with us! I felt like a celebrity just because I had blonde hair and was American!

One of the many photos take as a celebrity.

        After spending a bunch of time on the streets, we decided to head upstairs to the balcony of one of the largest malls in the city. We waited for a long time to get a seat on the balcony, but once we finally did it was well worth it. The view was spectacular! We waited another hour or so to order ice cream and it was amazing. 

  After the sunset, fireworks were set off over the city, and we started to head back to our house. It took ages to walk back to Stacy's where we got her car and piled 8 people into her small car to drive home! That was an experience in itself and a memory that gets brought up often.

    The real holiday began the next day when we loaded up the center van to go on a picnic up in the gorgeous mountains. We took two local friends with us who have become some of my best local friends since then. The day was filled with walking down to the water, lots of food, lots of dancing and a boat ride around the harbor. This was the first time my local friends had ever been on a boat. 

Nawroz was a great day to get to know so many people and to experience the culture I would be apart of for such a long time. I fell in love with this place instantly, and am felt so blessed that I was surrounded by such gorgeous sites in the Middle East!