Foreign and Familiar

So apparently, Erline has a foreign name.  Everyone we meet needs her to repeat her name in order for them to get it.  Today was another long day, but in a good way.  This morning at worship, there were notebooks of a long list of songs and lyrics of things I actually knew.  We sung "Amazing Love" and Draw me close to You.  Felt like home. 

The training today went very well.  We learned about the differences in the way of thinking between the Greek world and the Hebrew world.  We are part of the greek world, since we are so heavily influenced by them. Most of the world is influenced by Hebrew thought, which means while we think logically, they think alogically.  They are more story oriented, while we are more formula oriented.  This is important, because someone from the Hebrew world of thinking will not draw conclusions from a logical and formulaic Gospel presentation.  We need to know our audience.  But as 1 Cor. 1:18-25 says, God makes logic seem like foolishness and miracles a stumbling block.   The battle is not intellectual, it is spiritual.

Throughout the day I have had great conversations with the people we are taking this class with.  We have had great discussions about the material and applying it, but also learning about each other.  One thing Ryan pointed out was that there are many cultural similarities between Muslims and hispanics.  For example, Arabs are known for their tardiness (sounds familiar...).  Arabs are also very big on the family being the center of a person's life.  One of our speakers even pointed out that the spanish language has at least 6,000 words from Arabic origins!  That's comforting because God will use all of my background with Hispanics and my broken Spanish somehow for His glory.

The more I learn about Islam, the more I see the bondage that these people are in.  There are so many lies that they believe.  So many truths that are twisted and perverted.

Today was one of the guys' birthday.  His name is Josh.  We all went out and had a great time together.  In talking to him and a few others, the burden for the Muslim world is a recent one with many in our group.  One of the guys with us, Steve, is leaving next month to go to Tajikistan!  Others are going next year, while others are still in college, seeking God's will.  It is amazing that God would seek to use people so undeserving and so ordinary to do extraordinary things in His name.  That is what makes Him so good.

Along with Tajikistan, there are people in the group planning to go to London, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Philadelphia, and another place I can't remember. We were reminded to not only pray for those who go, but pray for those they are going to.  Please pray for the unreached among these groups.

-Tony