Like I said in my last blog, things are crazy. I want to clear up something before I dive into this blog though.
I won’t be posting either the city or country I am in for the duration of the Race. This is for my safety and more importantly the safety of the ministry hosts I will be working with. Physical harm is not my concern, but a lot of the ministries World Race teams partner with do not advertise their religious beliefs in order to obtain building permits or licenses for various businesses. I will refer to regions instead.
Now I arrived in a predominantly Muslim country in Southeast Asia a week ago. My first impression was that there are a lot of people here. The second was that Houston traffic isn’t so bad!
If I had a camera and filmed the way people here drive you would think there was a pile-up every few minutes. Lanes are merely a suggestion, pedestrians don’t have the right of way (which makes sense. Cars beat people in a fight every time.), and two wheeled vehicles rule the road. I can count on one hand the number of traffic lights I’ve seen, and people still get where they need to be. The people here roll with the punches in all aspects of life. Be it traffic or weddings but I’ll get back to that.
A little about the scenery. I’m around a lot of water technically, but within 2 days of arrival I was camping on the side of a small mountain surrounded by pine trees! This place is beautiful. I woke up in the mornings when it’s cool and I am able to look into the distance and see mountains shrouded in fog. These aren’t typical American mountains though. Every inch of space here is used for something. The sides of the mountains are terraced and huge tea plantations cover the slopes. lower down you find broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, string beans, kale, rice and roses. The soil here is a beautiful brown so dark it’s almost black, and you can grow almost anything.
Now for the people. As I mentioned before, this is a predominantly Muslim country. I wake up briefly to the 4:30 call to prayer from dozens of mosques every morning. In the American view this must mean that everyone I see hates Christians, walks about scowling and is generally angry. This view couldn’t be any further from the truth. The people here are incredibly friendly, and laugh all day. I could give a hundred examples from my first week, but I’ll stick to one. On my first day with my ministry host he got my team invited to a Muslim wedding! We already saw how friendly the people could be and are amazed at how good the food is, so we accepted without hesitation.
Fast forward to the next morning. We wake up around 5:30 get in some time with the Lord and wait for our bus to the wedding. Things are a little awkward when we arrive. 8 white people (it’s assumed we are christian) just rolled up to a Muslim wedding where the bride and groom are waiting in a carriage pushed by a traditional escort. As we watch the traditional dance before the ceremony commences the bride calls us over. She wants the Americans to be in the wedding. As groomsmen and bridesmaids.
That’s right. On the first full day of the race we were in a local wedding with local dress and all (see Ben Towne’s blog for pictures). Muslims are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. They know how to eat and they want you to be blessed through your interaction with them. I’d be happy to answer any questions in the comments, but I want to close with this. The next time you see someone you believe might be Muslim walk up and introduce yourself. Invite them over for a meal or have a conversation without looking at them like an angry dog. They want to be hospitable, but we have backed them into a corner where they feel like they are stereotyped from the get go.
