Journal Entry from January 5, 2009

Today the girls went to the royal palace to visit with the President of the UAE’s mother and they apparently had a great time…meanwhile the guys went to the zoo wasn’t quite as interesting but was good nonetheless. We toured with Mr. Donald who works with the zoo and plays a big part in its expansion that will be happening soon. We then met up with the women for lunch at some friends of Gerald’s parents, Fahd and Fatima and their extended family. The women had visited other homes than just the President’s mother and by the time we had lunch it was their 4th or 5th meal! We visited with Fahd and Fatima’s family which was quite large! All the children still live with them even when they get married…except for the women who go live with their husband’s family. Fahd had 13 or 14 children and almost all of them lived with him in his LARGE house that cost him millions of dollars. Lunch was again on the ground but more extravagant then at Abrahim’s because of Fahd’s wealth. We also ate with our hands again a meal of rice, goat meat, bread, carrots in yogurt, and Pepsi. They served us WAY too much food and we couldn’t possibly eat it all! As Westerners we think that eating everything on your plate is polite and needs to be done but in the Arab culture if you do that then they just give you more because you must be hungry to be able to finish what they gave you! So by now we knew that and left enough on our plate for them to let them know we were full. It helped that they didn’t eat with us. Even though it would have been nice to eat with them it was nice just to eat by ourselves without having to be careful to do everything right because here all the traditions and rules applied! I had some of the goat meat…which I didn’t really care for because of the texture. It was very tender but also smooth almost like fat and my mind couldn’t get past it no matter how hard I tried to tell myself it was fine! I had to cover up the texture with a LOT of Nan (pronounced “non”)…Arabic bread. After the meal, more visiting and a tour of their house, we parted with gifts being given to us from the family and headed to their “garden”. Upon arrival we realized that a “garden” is where you keep all your stock animals and has nothing to do with lush greenery and plants…especially in the dessert. We got to see their goats (many different kinds), camels, bulls, cows and a VERY beautiful and trained horse. It was half Arabian and half English and was pretty small but it was powerful, responsive and obedient. James was on it before a minute passed after our arrival. He, Owen and Micah all got to ride the horse. The family was extremely nice and hospitable. Then we drove all the way to Fujairah to stay with the Johnsons for the night. Mrs. Johnson is Gerald’s cousin and they are a lovely Mennonite family with 9 kids. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them playing basketball, four square, SPUD, Navy and the Army as well as heading to a fruit drink shop later that night where James talked the guy who delivered drinks for the shop to let him ride his motorcycle. It was pretty late when we got back and we headed off to bed. For the first time on the trip I finally got my OWN bed and slept very well!

Journal Entry from January 3, 2009

Today we got up and went to meet with Bossi and Taylor (not his real name) about business and media. We were provided with food and I had 2 small subs and a latte and then headed with Taylor to his work place. So many great things are on the brink of happening there and already have as God is using him in the mainstream media in Dubai as he seeks to train local Emirates to excel in Media and also put programs into the mainstream that have Christian principles and beliefs behind them but that are not overtly Christian but are telling of the Kingdom. He has cartoons on Al Jazera and MTV Arabia! How awesome is that?! Thank you Jesus! Then we went and picked up our luggage for 3 days and headed out for Al Ain. We met up with Kyle, Brick, and another friend of the Longjohns who were also going to Al Ain. Kyle is our age and heading to Al Ain for some intense language training in Arabic and then possibly to Yemen as a missionary. He seemed like a great guy and someone ready to do whatever it takes to serve the LORD. God bless him and make his strong in You! Then we made it to our Hilton hotel and had dinner with Gerald’s parents and some friends at the house of Abrahim, the man who was the gardener of the hospital Gerald’s parents started when they came to Dubai in 1964. We ate Arabic food from real Boshi (sp?) people who came from the land between Iran and one of its neighbors but is not actually a country anymore which leaves them country-less and without a passport. We ate in classic Arab tradition on the floor and took our shoes off at the door. We didn’t use our left hand for eating because that is the unclean hand used for…well unclean things. We sat cross-legged or with one knee up and one down so as not to show the bottom of our feet as that is a GREAT offense. We did this even though Abrahim and his family would have been all right with it since they were to Western ways. Abrahim had 5 or 6 daughters who were there with their children as well…and one had 7 or 8 children! Then after our HUGE meal (Arab families are never satisfied that you have had enough to eat and will always say, “Eat! You have had nothing to eat!”) we were served 2 rounds sweet Chai tea and his son came during that time after the dinner and the men sat in one room and the women in another room and talked for a great while. Then we headed back to the hotel after briefly playing keep away with some of the young kids and a soccer ball. Back in our room there was a lot on the news about Israel entering Gaza. We heard 2 different news reports and both were quite biased, one towards Israel and other towards Hamas in Gaza. Both sides definitely have their faults. Lord God, please bring peace between Israel and Gaza and really the Muslim world and around the world, but more importantly may Your will be done. Amen.

January 1, 2009

We slept in from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM and then went to talk to Michelle and his wife and daughter at the Summer’s. He is a business man in the Middle East and at the same time a sort of missionary, only they don’t call themselves missionaries but rather tentmakers like Paul does in the New Testament. He simply seeks to live out his faith among those he works with and people naturally ask him about what he believes because his life is so different! He only talks to people one-on-one about Christ because it is dangerous to do otherwise as it is illegal to proselytize or evangelize in the Middle East and it is illegal for Muslims to convert to anything else. Depending on where they live, if Muslims convert they are either very secret about it, are imprisoned for it, or in some cases killed for it either by family members or the government. Michelle had had AMAZING opportunities in the work place and at home to lead people to Christ and to hand out Bibles. His wife has people literally knocking on her asking her to lead Bible studies in her compound! We had a great time talking to them and were greatly encouraged to hear what our brothers and sisters are doing in the Middle East and how much God is at work there! For supper we had shwarmas which is a kind of bread wrap with chicken, fries, pickles and a special sauce in it. Either that or you can have lamb in it if you fancy…I prefer the chicken personally. We were pretty tired after all that and were glad to go to bed.

December 31, 2008

This morning I woke up 5 minutes before my alarm went off but I didn’t mind, because God provided a beautiful songbird outside our window somewhere in the courtyard outside Jaco’s apartment. It’s foggy today, but I suspect it won’t last long in the sun of Dubai. Surprisingly, when I stepped out on the porch I could see my breath, yet it was 63.5 degrees F, 17.5 degrees C. We actually met Jaco this morning! He’s a great guy and offered us anything in his refrigerator. Jaco is a quantity surveyor for various projects in Dubai including the islands in the shape of palm trees and also the island in the shape of the universe! When he left for work he said to us, “Enjoy the day.” There’s something profound about that. Simply enjoy this day that God has given us! Amen! The rest of the day was spent at the Spice Souk and the Gold Souk where we met up with Beth Longjohn’s best friend who is from Kenya along with her two boys and the daughter of one of her friends. All three kids hung all over me asking for piggy back rides and to be thrown into the air and ride on my shoulders. It was a lot of fun to be around young kids but I also had to be quite firm because they always wanted “one more” turn…so it was good training if I ever have kids someday. At one of the Souks I bought my sister, Katie, a souvenir spoon with a camel attached to it. Nancy Gavina and Katie Beachy bought some Pashminas and James Bjorlie bought a tradition head covering and a fake 8GB iPod that was clearly a cheap version of the real thing but still worked well, and was only 100 Durham…or $25. I bought a long dishdash, a skull-cap head covering, a scarf-like head covering (think Yasser Arafat), and another religious hat and ALL for 110 Durham which is like $27.50! Good buy eh? I didn’t even have to haggle with the guy to get a better price and he threw in the hat for free. Of course he still got a profit because they won’t sell you something there if they lose anything on it. I’ve been taking a lot of pictures so far so I can show what I am talking about here. We then went to a museum and got to investigate Dubai’s relatively short history. It was a very interesting and educational place. Then we headed back to Jaco’s place for a nap for a few hours until 8:30 PM in preparation for the all night lock-in at the church, DECC (Dubai Evangelical Church Center). What a blast we had at the lock-in! At first it was rather awkward being an outsider yet having been put in a leadership position at the lock-in, but we all made friends quickly. We were all split into groups and each group had to make a short 5 minute film that loosely followed a children’s book that each group was given. The event was called the “Orville Awards” after the Oscar Awards and a little trophy is given away to the best supporting actor and the best director. My group got the book Cinderella…yeah…and I was all about giving them ideas and supporting but then the youth in my group asked me to Cinderella! I was a little hesitant but agreed to do so…if we changed a lot of the story.
So I changed my name to C-Dog and then proceeded to turn Cinderella into a gangster story of a guy with 3 studly-step brothers who were merciless against their brother C-Dog in the “dart game” (those at Cornerstone will for most likely understand this game). So news reaches C-Dog that there is to be a dance off at the town dance floor but before he can go his brothers dart him and leave him on the floor while they head off to the dance floor. However, C-Dog’s Fairy Moo Mother appears in the form of a plush toy cow and not only pulls the dart out of his neck but gives him an Alpaca Sweatshirt that repels all darts and gives him some sweet dancing skills! So C-Dog goes to the dance off where no one recognizes this gangsta and everyone is simply amazed at his dance moves. I had thought to myself that this was already going to be embarrassing so I thought I might as well go all out with the final “dance”. So I start my hip hop routine spinning around a little and then getting down with one shoulder to the ground and my feet in the air, push myself up to my feet and got on my back to flip myself to my feet by pushing off with my hands and fling my legs up so I landed on my feet. I then did a cartwheel into the splits (I definitely pulled a muscle when I did that) and stand to everyone’s cheers on the dance floor and everyone loved C-Dog from then on out…and he never got shot with those darts again either.
It was a lot of fun and got to know a lot of people during the process and even won the Orville Award (which was a porcelain statue of a fat Arab man with sunglasses and arms folded across his chest) for the best supporting actor! Nancy got a trophy for best director which was named Ahmed and was a little bobble head bearded Arab man. We stayed up until 8 AM before we went to bed and during that time Shehan and I went on a 5-0 winning streak in ping-pong before finally being defeated by Johnny and Jamaila. Leslie, Wes and I went to the gas station nearby and cleaned out all 48 of their Dunkin Donuts along with many croissants for everyone’s breakfast at 4 AM…nutritious I know. It was great getting to know people and making friends. The youth here are so friendly and make friends quickly and easily because they have to. Pretty much everyone in the church comes in and out of Dubai within 2 years and so they have learned to develop friendships quickly as well.

December 30, 2008

Today was quite interesting. After leaving Chicago to Manchester, England at 5:30 PM we arrived in Manchester at 7:30 AM which would be 2:30 AM in MI and OH and I didn't sleep at all on the flight. The headrests were too short for me and with no leg room I found it most difficult to sleep and very uncomfortable. In Manchester, we did some researching and then headed via train to go eat some breakfast away from the airport. I had a classic English breakfast called the Breakfast Special which was made up of toast, a fried egg, baked beans, sausage, mushrooms (didn't eat those...sick), something else I can't remember and all that will some English coffee. We stopped at a bakery for some pastries and drinks and then headed back to the airport. Another looooong 8 hour flight ensued leaving Manchester at 1:30 PM and arriving in Dubai at 12:45 AM Dubai time, 10:45 PM Manchester time and 5:45 PM Ohio time! I stayed up more than 24 hours but it was much more comfortable on Emirate Airlines than American Airlines! I watched Eagle Eye on my personal movie screen and even got some sleep with the increased legroom and a headrest that actually could be adjusted to my head height! We finally got into Dubai and into bed by 4 AM at the place we stayed in with our new friend Jaco. We woke up at 10 AM very much refreshed by the much needed sleep. Upon entering the van which became our second home because we traveled so much, we ventured to the church and met with the youth pastor, John, and some of the other people that would be helping with the youth group's lock-in for New Year's that we too would be helping with. We met Wes, Johnny, Shehan and Jamaila who were our co-leaders and then headed off to Al Safa park to play ultimate Frisbee with the youth group. It was so much fun but most of us got very sweaty and ... "a-stinky". James (the other Cornerstone male student) got his lips busted open pretty deep with a Frisbee during the game but wanted no stitches or pity!

So before we got to Dubai, we had all joked about how James and I would have to end up sleeping together...then we got to the place we were staying and sure enough we were sharing a nice big queen sized bed which we found quite humorous. It's quite comfortable and nothing awkward happened so all is good! After Ultimate Frisbee we showered up and then went out to eat with Sharri and Leandi who were from South Africa, as is Jaco, with whom we are staying. It is truly amazing how different cultures are! Leandi was very inquisitive about out lives in the US and the way of life there: schools, churches, politics, accents, etc. I'd never had the opportunity or the need to really explain our culture and way of life and it really makes you think about the things we do and why we do them. Then we met Leandi's brother Solomon and his first girlfriend Leslie. Solomon is a passionate believer at age 22 and is VERY passionate about music and even has a CD out which I now have! For the first time he has considered dating I guess and his girlfriend Leslie is a flight attendant for Emirate Airlines. We looked around the restaurant we ate at, Dome, and looked in several shops in the area. They had lots of wood furniture along with clothing and old trinkets. Then James and I went back to Jaco's apartment in the Gardens, whom we had yet to even meet and went to bed! We went to bed at 11:20 PM and had a 7:ooAM rise! Good night!