Thank you for continuing to read my blog! I am eternally grateful for your support.
This morning, we headed out for the first time with the entire team in tow to Al Ain, another emirate 2 hours east of Abu Dhabi. Once we got there, we first met Pastor D, who works at the ECC and who also used the work at a church back home in Toronto. He welcomed us with open arms. We visited with him and he practiced his sermon that he was preaching the next day on us.
Then, we met T, who took us to visit the Oasis Hospital. The Oasis Hospital has a museum and an fascinating history. It was originally started by TEAM with the support of the royal family. The church we visited earlier was actually a part of the hospital. It was a miracle that the royal family was so supportive of the Christian organization. Before they found oil, the royal family wanted healthcare and a hospital because they had nothing back then, and the only people that were willing to come were the Christian doctors from TEAM. TEAM doctors have since delivered many royal babies and the royal family is very grateful towards them. Yet another inspiring story for our team to work with.
Our other friends also taught us on what not to do when we talked to the locals. Certain parts of religion are extremely sensitive and we had to make it clear that we are merely sharing our beliefs with them, and not trying to convert them.
After this great hospital tour, we went to an oasis. Our tour guide took us through the oasis and showed us the running water, which apparently was safe to drink. It had lots of shade and was very nice to walk through, although it was very sandy and dusty. They actually have a bunch of watch towers from at least a century ago stationed every kilometre. These towers have "windows" in them for rifles to peek out through and were used to protect the oasis from people stealing the water. This part was the culture part of the day. The locals were very welcoming and treated us to local foods, including a brown sugar concoction that is quite expensive and takes multiple hours to make. We also made our way through the heritage souk, where we met Emirati craftspeople. My favourite was the tully, silvery weaved embroidery. The lady who was making it gifted bracelets and little frankincense containers to us. We felt so bad taking it but it would have been an insult to try to pay her.
We learned today that contrary to common belief, the locals are actually very accepting of our religion. They like that we believe in Jesus, as they believe that he was a great prophet, but discussions on the Trinity result in argument. They also have not heard Jesus' whole story. They think it is insulting that we believe that Jesus died as they have not heard of our belief of the Resurrection. As a result, they are in reality quite easy to talk to, even about religion, as long as certain elements are not mentioned.
Well, that certainly was a long day! We are all exhausted!
Tomorrow, we are heading off to church at the ECC, as well as the Chinese church. Once again, please pray for us, as some of us will be sharing at the churches, and the art show, that we may be able to raise awareness about our art show as we present our arts, both performing and visual, at the churches between services.
Thanks again for all your ongoing support!
-Lydia :)
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