A new country, A new home

When we finally arrived to Iraq on May 16, we drove the 1+hour “home” from Erbil just as the pink and orange hues were painting the morning sky (yes, here that is approximately 5AM! No daylight savings time). There was still green (a bit of spring left) mixed in with the brown on the “hills”. In my “Iowa” mind they are mountains….but really hills.

As we bounced along in the jeep along the paved but bumpy road, I was amazed at how “at home” I felt. You know those special places in your life where you are “happy”?! Some people love the ocean, or lakes in Northern Minnesota, or the bustle of the big city. Me – I enjoy (am in my “happy place”) in the rolling green hills of late Iowa summer, the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, plus western Idaho, the lushness of tree-filled Tennessee, the rocky yet green landscape of northeast Iowa (Decorah), my favorite place of all time = on the 120 acres of land along the Skunk River under trees that form a canopy (the Holy Ground of Riverside ), and my new favorite – Kurdistan.
I would say the landscape compares a lot to New Mexico, in fact, I almost mistakenly have thought a few places looked like scenes from HSM?! ;) LOL/JK (sorta).

Pulling up in front of our house, I had the excitement equivalent of moving into my townhouse in Marion, though I knew these were very different circumstances, yet it was as if God was granting me the reassurance that this was my “right” next step. We left all of our 17 bags on our “hosha” (the front gate area) and walked into our new home. If only our internet connection were better, Bethany got it all on video, I could upload it for you all to experience with us. But, you all will just have to wait for that until I come home!

Bethany soon put down the camera and joined D’Andra and I as we set out to explore our home. We were like “kids in a candy store” – excited about everything. We have a great kitchen, 2 living rooms, 3 bedrooms (each of us got our own - though Bethany was my “roomie” the month she was here! I wish she could have stayed!), 2 bathrooms (a washing machine in the downstairs one), a door to the roof, 2 balconies, cute furnishings, and great paint colors (thank you to the team last fall for all the work!). It is wonderful!


1st floor salon (living room)


1st floor salon (living room), again


1st floor salon (living room) with desk area and stairs heading to 2nd floor


The 1st floor bedroom - extra for now. We use it for drying our laundry!


Our "office" (on our 2nd floor - attached to the living room)


Our 2nd floor living room - more like a family room (where we hang out/TV)


My bedroom, its on the 2nd floor


My cute pink curtains, rug in my bedroom


My vanity in my bedroom (notice all the hearts on my mirror!?!)


My bathroom


My shower


Hallway from my bedroom, by bathroom, heading to 2nd floor livingroom


The stairs heading up to the 3rd floor (door to roof and D'Andra's room)


D'Andra's room

We did have to go for the first 2 weeks with no generator (as they had to rewire all 3 houses in order for it to work) or air conditioning in my bedroom (we had to buy a split to install), the first month without a hot water heater, and the first month and a half without internet – but we are all good to go now. And for those of you who know me, my neat/clean-freakishness – you will be glad to know that I attempt to keep that up here too. But it is much harder as we have to dust practically every day. Sometimes I just give up and live with the dirt (but not for too long). It truly is amazing how crazy fast everything can get incredibly dirty. And it also seems like just when one thing gets fixed and seems to be working, something else stops working. It is a vicious cycle. Ah, the joys of living in a foreign country. But I truly can’t complain, things are way above all of my expectations. I am so thankful to have Mohaned (our national Global Hope worker) around to be our fix-it guy. God always provides (thanks again to the Houston church for donating the generator – we love and appreciate you more than you can ever know! Can’t wait to meet some of you “soon”!)


Our house(s) are on a corner – Global Hope rents 3 + a flat. We are in the house on the main street. Next to us on the first level is a print shop. Above the print shop is Heather’s flat (2nd floor). Her door, along with the other 2 houses, is along the side street. All of our roofs connect to each other, so that’s kind of fun. In the middle of the 3 houses, we also have a connecting court yard (really like a few square feet of concrete). We really are blessed.

FAQ
What do you eat?
Well, right now we are cooking for ourselves (vs. hiring a cook) so it is pretty simple, though we are learning to be domestic (our newest favorite creation – Chicken Enchiladas). Breakfasts – cereal (expensive but worth it) or eggs (inexpensive and plentiful), fruit, and yogurt (though the locals make fun of us for putting sugar/splenda or fruit in it; they eat it plain, with bread, or salt). Lunch is lighter – bread, leftovers, fruit, etc. Dinner – lots of chicken, rice, pasta, bread, fresh fruits and veggies (tomatoes, onions, eggplant, cucumbers)…..and of course tea (though we have our coffee in the AM!).
We bring chocolate chips from America – and my mom’s cookies are a hot commodity!
We also have found some “goodies” here – snickers, Diet Pepsi , M&M’s, microwave popcorn, peanut butter, pancake mix/syrup, pizza dough, shredded cheese, nutella (always great to add to most any snack), yumyum yogurt (unfortunately it’s not the low fat kind so in moderation!)……it is weird what random foods excite you when you find them.

When we visit homes – the traditional Kurdish food is dolma (a rice/beef mixture stuffed in grape leaves, tomatoes, or onions), breanni (a rice dish with raisins, almonds, cinnamon, etc. – a mouthful of yum!), LOTS of bread, tomato/cucumber salads, chicken, rice, and sugar with a little tea (I love the tea but could try not to stir in the sugar, too bad I’m not a southern girl!).

The Journey – It really is what our lives are all about!

So, on our journey to our new home, we had a 3 day layover in Amman, Jordan. I didn’t really know what to expect, and going into the layover, to be honest, I wasn’t all that excited to be a “tourist”. I really just wanted to get to our “home” in Iraq. But those were 3 pretty amazing days and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.


Even as we boarded the plane in Nashville, we were unsure of all the details of our travel plans. We didn’t really know how all the logistics were going to work – especially in regards to our 17 pieces of luggage. We hoped and prayed our luggage would be able to be checked all the way through to Iraq – but alas, that did not occur.

So, we weren’t sure of how we were going to get our luggage from the airport, to the guest house, to our “3 day” housing, and back to the airport in Amman. It was a huge blessing –the worker who picked us up from the airport and took us to the guest house for the night, ended up storing all of our luggage in his van during our 3 day layover.

Then, the next day, we met up with another worker whom we stayed with the next three days. We had contemplated going to Petra, but decided against the long trip (time and expense). Instead, we stayed closer to Amman and took a tour of the Biblical sites near the city.


I believe it was God ordained, because as wonderful as Petra would have been to see (and its still on my “Bucket List”), seeing and experiencing what we did was way better. I still am in awe as I look back at my pictures that I actually was physically in places of the Bible!




Swimming in the Dead Sea was quite the experience! It is so crazy that you physically cannot sink! And it is CRAZY salty! If you ever go, don’t get it on your mouth or in your eyes – yuck and ouch!





And I must say, standing by the shores of the Jordan River where it is thought that Jesus was baptized by John, imagining the Holy Spirit Dove descending on him – was truly breath taking. Then walking the paths in the desert where Jesus spent his 40 days tempted by Satan (I have a new appreciation for hot and dry!), made the stories I had only read about come to life. To all my Riverside and Faith friends – the whole experience brought all the wonderful years of the Mime to my mind! The temptation, baptism, and “man hug” scenes all have new found images in my mind!


Out of all the sites we saw, I would have to say I was most impacted by Mt. Nebo – the place where Moses is said to be buried and the place where he stood and “saw” (but never entered) the Promise Land. That was my WOW moment. I pinched myself, bringing home the reality that I was standing and looking out over “THE PROMISED LAND”! There really are no words to describe it. I think it made such an impression on me because I had spent the year studying about Moses in BSF and I have really been learning a lot about leadership through the life of Moses.


While seeing all the sites where miracles occurred thousands of years ago, it was just like God to provide us with a present day miracle of our own. When we made the decision to tour the sites around Amman, we knew we would need a driver for the day (it was easier and cheaper that way – plus then we knew he would be reliable). Divinely sent to us, our driver, Sharsad, was a man who had lived in Jordan all his life, was married and had 3 daughters (whom he boasted about how smart they were), and had a deep love for his country. Being that we were seeing all the Biblical sites, we asked Sharsad if the stories were also in the Quran. He shared a little about the Prophet Musa (Moses), but was quick to add, “But I don’t like Islam.” Really, were we hearing this right? As we continued conversation with him, we prayed for an open door, and God answered. He explained that he was frustrated with Islam because of the strict rules; “It is too hard,” he said. He would be out walking with his wife and she would not have her head covered and people would think down upon them. “This is not freedom!” he commented.
As we continued our day, driving to the baptism site we asked Sharsad about the story of Jesus in the Quran. After he shared we asked him if he had ever read the Injeel of Isa (the Gospel of Jesus). He said he had heard about it from a friend of his who was Christian and occasionally read it to him, but he had always wanted to read it for himself. My friend Bethany had a copy of the Arabic/English Injeel with her and showed it to him. He immediately started reading (yes, while driving on a very windy mountain road!). We told him that he could have the Injeel, but that he should wait to read it until we stopped and he wasn’t driving!
After a bit of silence, he asked the question that made all of us wonder, “Is this really happening!?” He said, “If I want to become a Christian, how would I do it?” We shared the beautiful simplicity of the gospel of salvation – simply having faith in Jesus as the Messiah and what He gave to us as a free gift through his death and resurrection.
“I have so many questions,” he said, “and I want to learn more.” We told him we would love for him to ask any questions he had. Over the next several hours we answered many of his questions, most related to the catholic tradition. We realized that Sharsad was under the impression that Christianity was also about a system of strict rules and regulations. As we shared about a relationship with God that is offered through Jesus, he said that was different than anything he had ever learned. He told us he knew that even before he met us, what his neighbor had told him was not the truth. He wanted to know more about Christianity but was discouraged when his neighbor wouldn’t take the time to answer his questions. He said on multiple occasions he had also tried to get the tourists he was driving around to talk about Christianity so that he could learn more, but they would only briefly answer his question and move on to talking about something else. He said he just wanted to learn but there was no one to encourage him. And then he said something that really hit my heart, "But now I have a second chance through you" he said.
As we got back in the van from the baptism site at the Jordan River, Sharsad told us that he had been reading the Injeel – he had read all of Matthew and was a good way into Mark. And people say miracles don’t happen today! At the very place where the Spirit of God first descended on Jesus, Sharsad, a follower of Islam, was reading the living and active Word of God for the very first time! On our drive back, he asked about Jesus’ death on the cross. We told him the significance of it and how it is the core of our faith – that it is through Christ’s death and resurrection we are able to obtain salvation.
As we parted ways that day we knew he was really pondering with this new found “truth” he had encountered. He still had many questions and asked us to “stand with him” as he sought to find out more; “I have known for a long time that Islam was not the truth and I have been seeking. But I need someone who will stand with me and help me.” He made us promise we would help him through answering his questions; and he also wanted us to talk to his wife and share the Truth with her. We exchanged contact information and assured him we would stand with him. He knew the hardship and difficulty he would be up against as a Muslim seeking truth in Isa (Jesus) – death was even a possibility. But even with all the adversity, Sharsad was fervent in his quest for the truth. He said he would finish reading the Injeel (in 10 days!) and he would watch the Jesus Film we gave him in Arabic.
“I need to understand more. I cannot change my religion in one day. I must believe.” We agreed and shared that the truth of the gospel is its simplicity. It is not about strict rules, but rather a free gift available to all who will believe. It is the truth (Jesus) that sets you free. Christianity is not a hard religion with difficult rules to follow, but when we do believe, Jesus, our Savior carries the burdens of our sin and shame.
We said we would pray for him; that God would reveal himself in a powerful way so that he would understand and know the truth that he was looking for. We also told him we would try and connect him with someone locally who could answer his questions. And he added, “But not like my neighbor!”
Would you lift our friend up in prayer as well? That he has gotten connected with other believers who will stand with him and answer his questions. That God would be moving mightily through his family that his entire household would come to know the Truth. In a land that has a history so rich in miracles and God’s redemptive history, may this also be a story of freedom and redemption.
So, yet again, even on the journey to get to Iraq, God was at work. May we always have our eyes, ears, and hearts open and ready to be a part of the great work God is doing all around us.

FAQ
What are the amenities like where you are living (aka. bathrooms, electricity, water, etc.)?
It is almost like America, ALMOST! In our house we have western toilets; very appreciative of those (though when visiting homes or out-and-about it is 99,9% “squaties”). Like many other foreign countries, we cannot flush our toilet paper – I thought that would be hard to get used to, but actually that has been one of the easiest transitions, I don’t think I’ve forgotten at all! City power (electricity), now in the summer, is on about 4-7 hours a day; so thank you to the Houston church for the $ for the generator! We may have to pay a little more for gas to run the generator, but it is worth it! Our house has 4 air conditioners (2 in living areas and 2 in each of our bedrooms) – like “window” air. Every time power switches or goes out (at least 5-10x’s a day) we have to turn them back on, but they are amazing. For the first (almost) month, we did not have hot water, but that is fixed now! The water tanks on our roof are filled about every other day; and now that we know our water pump works, around 4-6pm. when the water comes, we turn that on and it pumps the water up to our roof to fill the tanks. We’ve only run out a couple of times. And crazy enough, the water (in our house) is safe to drink! I think it’s even better than Adair water ;). We have a gas stove (run by a propane tank that sits next to it), a microwave (those are just new here this year!), refrigerator, just got a blender last week, and our next purchase is going to be a coffee pot (French press everyday gets a little old). We also have a washing machine (no dryers here – just hang up the clothes and in less than 3 hours everything is dry!), satellite dish for television (though we still are not proficient in working it) and a DVD player, and now we have internet access all at our house – amazing!

Let's start at the very beginning.....

I can’t believe that I am now currently residing in the Middle East! Or that I have been here for almost 2 months already….I guess time flies when you are having fun!

As many of you know, I am not the greatest at this whole blogging business……remember my failed attempts in the past? Well, I guess now I have a greater reason to, being that I can’t just have you all over to see my new house or town or meet new friends! I truly want to share this experience with you and want you to be a part of this journey too – so this is where it will happen!

I’m not exactly sure where to begin, because although at times I kind of feel like I haven’t done much, as I reflect back there is so much to tell. So, “let’s start at the very beginning; it’s a very good place to start…”

I will classify the beginning (for sake of the blog post) as Mother’s Day weekend (May 8-10, 2009), as that was my last time to spend with my parents, and the last in the great U.S. of A. for a while. It actually was pretty eventful. D’Andra and I arrived home from a great few days of training in Idaho (my new favorite vacation spot in the US!) on that Friday. That evening Bethany and I were trying to finish up some last minute office work when all of a sudden my computer died, literally! I got to spend the next few hours on the phone with the lovely Dell customer service, only to find out that “Yes, your hard drive is completely gone! But good news, it is under warranty. We can have a new one out to you by Tuesday.” Now that is all well and fine, except for the fact that I was leaving the country on Monday for 15 months and HAD to have a computer. My parents were very gracious about the whole situation (as they are with everything!) and said they would take the old one and figure out what to do with it and get me a new one. So Saturday, in between 2 all-nighters of packing, we spent the afternoon at Best Buy getting a new HP (yes – be proud! No more dells for me….ever!). The situation did cause a bit of additional, unneeded stress for the weekend, but I also came to realize God was teaching me a lesson of patience, His timing, and that it was for the best. I don’t know WHY it happened (do we ever try to understand technology?!), but SO thankful it was while I was still in the states and not already overseas where I could not purchase a new one!

The rest of the weekend in Nashville was a bit wild, crazy, and great. D’Andra, Bethany, and I were all packing (3 girls – 2 leaving for 15 months and another for 1 month, just imagine that in your head!), it was mother’s day, both D’Andra and my parents were around (it was great for them to meet!), plus a friend of hers and Bridget (my cousin/former roommate). Bridget was my “packing Nazi” as usual; after only getting approx. 6 hours sleep from Friday-Monday, I was a wee bit tired Monday as we boarded our plane. But rewind, before leaving we had the “privilege” of getting Heather’s dog Dixie to the vet and on an airplane – now that was an experience! We also took my dad to Buffalo Wild Wings for the first time (oh…how I miss the wings!). Then, Sunday evening, my mom cooked her own Mother’s Day meal – which was the BEST “last supper” anyone could ask for (ham, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, salads, desserts, etc.), I miss my mom’s cooking (already!) – though I am attempting to duplicate the amazingness she always puts out! We had a group of about 20 at Heather’s house that evening (minus Heather – she was already here) – and a wonderful time of prayer and worship after dinner.

Monday morning we loaded my parent’s rental van FULL (17+bags) plus 5 people and went over to our friend Diane’s house for an amazing brunch. Then it was off to the airport to check in our 17 bags – we tried to talk them into making allowances for the overweight and extra baggage charges, but to no avail. Once we got the 3 of us, plus my parents and Bridget (to head back home), all checked in, we had a nice prayer time with all of our families plus Jimmie, Jamal, Brandie, and Jessica. My parents and Bridget were able to see us off all the way to the gate as they had flights out a few hours after us.

Saying goodbye to Bridget and my parents was emotional, I’m not going to lie, but we all did pretty well. The first leg of our trip was from Nashville to Washington Dulles. When we arrived in DC, we had a 6 hour layover, so a friend of Bethany’s came and picked us up and took us out for dinner – it was fun. Then we all used my cell phone and our last hours in America to make some last minute good-bye phone calls. Then we made our flight across the ocean to Frankfurt, Germany.

As we arrived in Frankfurt, I was not feeling the greatest and it was raining, so we spent our 9 hour layover in Germany sleeping in the airport. The lesson we learned there – do not exchange $ until you get to your destination because you totally get ripped off (they exchanged our American Dollars to Euro’s then to Jordanian Dinars – which cost us like $40, bah! well, lesson learned). Finally, we boarded our plane for Amman and made it, at 3am. – with all of our luggage. And praise the Lord we had made connection with a worker there, who was so gracious to us……..he picked us and our 17 pieces of luggage up in the middle of the night, and ended up letting us store all our luggage in his van during our 3 day stay in Jordan, a huge blessing.

Having 3 days to spend in Amman was tiring but wonderful. I will share in detail about our time there in the next post. Then, Friday, May 15, we boarded our Royal Jordanian flight and made it (with all our luggage again – though not without having to pay the overweight and extra baggage fees a second time!), to our new final destination – Erbil, Kurdistan of Iraq.

We had to load all of our luggage on to a bus to be taken out to the parking lot and then we loaded our luggage off the bus and were waiting on the side of the curb, hoping and praying that Heather would be there to pick us up (as we had not contacted her since leaving America). I must say, seeing her in the darkness of the 4am. hour, was the biggest relief of the whole journey – we knew we were “safe” (for lack of a better word!) and sound. Luckily, some friends of Heather’s were picking up their parents at the same time from the airport…and had a pick-up truck, because all of our 17 bags (plus 5 of us) did not come close to fitting in our Jeep J. But, as the sun rose over the “mountains” (big hills) of Kurdistan, we arrived to our new home (yes, the sun comes up at an insanely early hour here – like 4:30am!). We stopped just down the street from our house and got hot, freshly baked bread, and then got the first look at our new home – which is beautiful! Heather then made us some wonderful omelets and we all caught up on the happenings of the previous 2 weeks. After having some great girl talk and full tummies, we all headed for a few hours of some quality sleep (it was wonderful having a “real” bed after our 5 long days of travel)! I think it took me a good week beyond that to truly get caught up and un-jetlagged.

"Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast."

John 21:12

So, there you have it, that is the “beginning” of my journey. Beginnings are a complicated thing though, because there were many “beginnings” to this season of my life. I would say that the true beginning of this journey began on January 2, 2005, with the opening prayer Heather prayed over her breakout session at Passion 05…..or a few days later at the same event when my friend Wendy prayed for me to “go to the nations”…..or at Passion 07 where I first heard about the Freedom Center….or in February 2008 in Dallas where I met Heather and Brandie “by chance” ;) at the Passion Regional I was volunteering at (the newest addition to that story – other workers who are here were there at that event talking to them at the exact same time, and were led here as a result!)…..or in July 2008 when I “officially” decided to “do this”…..or in March when I moved from Iowa and began all the training….or really, I could just say that this is the time and the place and the season that God has created me for – and He knew it before the creation of the world. However you define it, this is the beginning of the rest of my life.

One last thing, I think I am going to include a “FAQ” – Frequently Asked Question – with each post; things that I don’t always think to share but what various people have asked me. So, the first one (the one I get asked the most)……

What is the weather like?

Everything is brown now……hot and dry! The average temperature for May was 95-100 degrees Fahrenheit and June has been 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit. Praise the Lord for a generator and air conditioning (the best $250 I ever invested!). Though we have had a few cloudy days and 2 “thunderstorms” (VERY small; nothing like IA or TN!), which I guess is extremely out of the ordinary. They say it’s not even hot yet, just wait until August – I’ll keep you posted. We can have a contest between here and Iowa, Jlol!

Well friends, I think this might win a record for the world’s longest 1^st blog post. I don’t do anything halfway! Plus, if I do say so myself, I think this was a great way to "begin" my new life of blogging :). Until next time....