First Impressions

Normal/Not Normal

Many aspects of life here are very “normal” (as in similar to what I experience in daily life at home).  We have hot water and electricity and wifi.  We have cell phones with texting, calling, and 4G.  We go to a grocery store that sells much of the food I’m used to shopping for.  The city we live in has paved roads, traffic lights, and cars driving on the right side of the street.  The bigger cities around here have Starbucks, McDonalds, and even Ikea.  And we have real, porcelain toilets that flush (praise God!).  So just to clarify…we are not living in tents in the desert! 

At the same time, though, many things are very different here, even before you step into the world of Islam and the effects it has on daily life.  We have observed several things that seem to be “normal” here that would never make it on my list of “Things I Often See in Virginia.”  For example, driving along the highway, you might pass a shepherd out with his flock of sheep.  Or you might see what looks like a horse in the distance but later realize that it’s actually a camel.  While walking down the street, you might catch someone throwing a bag of trash out the third floor window of their house into the street (which would then help you understand why there is litter and trash pretty much everywhere).  Or you might hear children playing outside (very loudly) at 11pm.  These things are strange to me, but I expect that soon they’ll be pretty normal.  It’s quite interesting how life in a new place can be so similar, yet so different.     

and one of the not as nice ones... (notice the litter...)

one of the nicer streets in town

view of the landscape

Feelin’ the Love

     Another surprise has been how welcoming the people here are.  Let me give you an example of a very typical conversation with a stranger.

CH:  Marhaba.  (hello)

Local:  (in English, but usually with an accent) Where are you from?

CH:  We’re from America.

Local:  Ahhh…America!!!  Ahlan wa sahlan!  Welcome!!!  America and my country, we are like brothers! 

     This happens literally all the time, and although I don’t completely understand why, I am thankful that we are loved and not hated by the people in this community.  Oh, and sometimes the conversations have another humorous twist:

Local:  Ahh…America!  But…you…you…?  (gesturing towards CH’s face)

CH:  Yeah…I’m American.  But my family is also Chinese.

Local:  Ohhh!  Yes!  Haha, Welcome, welcome!!

     I guess they don’t get many Asian Americans around here…

History Lessons

This city is very interesting because, at first glance, it seems very Muslim.  Looking out the window at night, the landscape is scattered with the green and blue lights of various mosques spread throughout the town.   In the daytime, women walk around in a wide range of Muslim garb, from relatively Western-looking outfits with colorful head coverings to full-on black burkas.  And several times a day, the call to prayer echoes throughout the town, amplified by loudspeakers attached to the mosques.  Life more or less seems to revolve around Islam.

However, as we visited various sites throughout the city, we discovered that history tells a different story.  While there are a few churches in the city now, there are ruins of many churches from as early as 500A.D.  Elaborate mosaics from various churches fill the museums, and nearly every historical attraction in the area revolves around a church or Christians.  In fact, the city was abandoned for many, many years and then rediscovered by Christians who decided to settle here.  I’m curious about what happened.  Why/how did a city founded by Christians become so consumed by Islam?   

largest mosque in town

remains of a church from around 500 AD

 Lost in Translation…or Lack Thereof

Many aspects of life are fairly close to what I anticipated.  The food is good (hummus, falafel, shawarma, etc.).  It’s pretty hot outside, but not humid, so it’s bearable.  The landscape is much more brown than green due to the desert climate…  All these things were expected.  But what I did not really anticipate was the difficulty of the language.  Having studied Arabic every day for the past month or so, I thought I had at least a decent handle on some of the most basic words and phrases needed for everyday life.  However, very little of this seemed to carry over into actual comprehension or speaking abilities now that we’ve arrived.  The words sound completely different than the way we learned them, and learning the letters and sounds really hasn’t helped much with reading signs since we don’t know the vocabulary. 

It’s okay…we’re going to take Arabic classes, and I know that we’ll learn over time, but it’s a strange feeling to be well educated, yet completely unable to read, communicate, or even understand when someone is talking to me.  But I guess maybe that’s kind of how Jesus felt when he came into the world as a human infant.  Though I often feel foolish trying to piece together the tiny pieces of Arabic that I sort of know, I take comfort in the fact that “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong” (1 Cor 1:27).  It is good to be humbled every once in a while and to know that, if God can bring salvation to the world through an infant, surely He can do something through me, despite my weaknesses.           

attempting conversation in Arabic

A Forward Gospel

It appears as if the message of the Gospel is irrelevant to modern society. Jesus dying on a cross and supposedly resurrecting from the grave happened more than two thousand years ago. The Christian faith, at best, is belief in a historical event with little relevance to modern society. Religious people practice an odd habit of meeting together once a week in a building. If faith in the cross is merely acceptance of a historical event, it is possible to believe (mentally accept the validity) yet have zero motivation to live worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

Too often, the focus of the Church's message is that God has great plans for your life and no matter the obstacles, He will help you achieve great things in this life. I think that this message is totally irrelevant to this wicked generation. There is no need for God because surely I can achieve great things on my own. I can make a positive difference on society. I find that my generation does genuinely care about the world and its communities. People are concerned about important issues like politics, healthcare, poverty, etc. But the idea of God is irrelevant. Why is this the case? Why are more and more people rejecting God and walking away from their faith?

Faith is the substance of things unseen and the evidence of things hoped for. We hope for things that we do not see. I believe that the Gospel message in the Church lacks a forward vision. It lacks hope. Much of the focus is on this age and the issues that plague us now, or our victories and triumphs in this life. The message lacks a forward anchor of hope. Why is there never discussion and exhortation on the hope of eternal life and the resurrection? The return of Jesus? Without the hope of His return, we lack direction and purpose. The Church must take hold of biblical prophecy and eschatological concepts.

The focus on biblical prophecy demands faith. Peter told us that in the days of the end of the age, there would be mockers and scoffers who would ridicule the Lord's return. The implication is that believers at the time would be proclaiming that the Lord is returning soon and that men should repent and believe. However, people would reject this message and scoff. Surely, the world has revolved for thousands of years and it will continue doing so. But as in the days of Noah, the flood came and most were caught off guard. We must preach and exhort one another to believe in the return of Jesus' and to live righteously as the Day of the Lord approaches.

Many times, I ask myself, isn't it crazy to believe that a man is going to descend out of the heavens? Isn't it crazy to hope that one day I will be resurrected out of the ground? Isn't it crazy to believe that I will see the fathers of the faith? All of these things take faith to believe and to many, it is absolutely foolish. But we must meditate on the things that are to come. We must take time to embrace the prophecies that surround the end of the age. We must not shy away from discussing the end of the age and we must return to an apocalyptic message. A forward message.  

Saying Goodbye

“If it doesn’t break your heart, it isn’t love. If it doesn’t break your heart, it isn’t enough.”

           

                                                                                    “Yet” by Switchfoot

It is difficult to put into words all of the things that I am feeling as I am saying goodbye to all of my students, to my classroom, and to a school that I love. For many, the last day of school might be a cause for celebration, but for me, I am overwhelmed with tears and emotion. I do not know if I am supposed to feel this way because I have never seen this happen before. In all of my years as a student, teachers would come and go. Year after year, some would leave to a different city; some would retire. It was a normal occurrence that never brought anyone to tears.

But my heart is broken and shattered, knowing that I will be leaving students that I love. It is perhaps unlikely that I will ever see them in person again. My students are more than students; they are my friends. I know that I love each of them dearly because it breaks my heart to leave. I gave them everything, all of me, and all of my heart, these past two years. I sought to make my classroom a place where all students would feel loved and cared for. I sought to know my students as real people. I sought to love them, even when I felt like I couldn’t love anymore.   

When I started teaching two years ago, I wanted to be an once-in-a-lifetime teacher. I wanted to be the teacher that students would remember twenty years later. I wanted to be the teacher that students tell their grandchildren about. To all of my students, I hope I was that teacher for you. I will always love you. Farewell.