My Weekend in Ispland

WOW!!! What an amazingly long weekend. I seriously feel like it was one of the hardest of my life, yet I also feel like it was one of the best. God was faithful in my weakness to be my strength, and through my trials to teach me and bless me. I honestly feel like I will never be the same. I know sometimes, ok most the time, I'm really dramatic and overexaggerate, but I'm for real when I say that I feel like I had really left the country this weekend and I learned so much. Quick run down of the highlights, because I know it might not be as meaningful to all of you as it was to me, I will be quick. Saturday highlight- Playing Bafu Bafu. This is a game where there are two teams, each are taught a new culture and then get an oppurtunity to visit a new culture. Lesson: We are so easily attached to our culture and are very quick to label anything uncomfortable as wrong. What a lesson to learn, especially as an intercultural studies major. Something to pray about for sure. Please pray for me guys as I prepare to go to "South Asia" I want to love the culture and the people. Sunday highlight: Muslim day. This could also be labeled as the worst day of my life. But I learned a lot, a lot I needed to learn. Basically the premise of the day was everyone became Muslim (except we did not worship Allah, but we did worship Christ accourding to Muslim culture). We all woke up to the call to prayer, as a woman I was forced to wear a heavy black veil all day, and be treated pretty much like dirt. I don't think anyone could understand what life is really like for Muslim women around the world without a simiulation like this and even now I have just seen the tip of the iceberg. I gained an appreciation for Muslim dedication, respect for the submissive nature of Muslim women and a deep hurt for Muslim women who suffer this everyday, who cannot at the end of the day take off the veil and be reminded that they are valuable because Christ made them. It made me want to go find a Muslim woman and just scream about how much she is loved and how much she is worth. But it also allowed me to see the cost involved in being a woman in a Muslim culture even an American like me would face some (not nearly as many as Muslim women though) of these trial if I were to move to a country like this. Since my heart is for Muslim women it has invoked a great sense of prayer in me for the women to know their worth and for me to be so content in Christ that I can go with no worries. And it made me thankful for the men in America (well the Christian ones at least) and called me to pray that God would raise up more Godly men to go to the Muslims and show them how to love too. Other huge plus bonding with my team, I love them a lot, and I'm super excited. I'm also super tired still, haha.