Our job was to find the bearded men that actually didn’t have beards that wear Aladdin hats, that may not wear hats and that probably speak English, but may not. This was our assignment.
Last week the assignment was given to us to find the Pashtu people. Our job this month is to be ethnographers. We are to study the Pashtu people and learn about their culture and life style. There was no definite that we would be able to find these people, but with God all things are possible.
The Pashtu people are from Afghanistan and Pakistan and have been forced to leave their homes because of wars. There have been people studying the culture of these Pashtus for years. They have learned their language and their culture in order to share with them about God. Since the wars, however, the people who were ready to use all that they had studied had lost contact.
Starting out, we were told that the Pashtu people may not even be in Istanbul. On doing some further research about the Pashtu people we found out that they make up the majority of the people that are in the Taliban. We did have some struggles with this at first but then we began meditating on this verse:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
We heard that they were bearded men with hats and that they probably speak English. Well, being in the middle east, there are many men with beards and hats. Despite this fact, walking down the street if their was a man that had a beard or a hat we would maybe try to start up a conversation with them, or we would just point and say “Pashtu?” Nobody really understood us (I can’t imagine why) and most people just laughed, ignored us, or tried to get us to buy something from them. With a city of approximately 17,000,000 people the task ahead of us seemed very daunting. We walked around the city for six hours for the first few days with nothing. Finally we got a lead. “They aren’t necessarily bearded men after all, and they probably don’t speak English, but they might live in a certain part of the city.”
So the next day we followed that lead, and while walking down the street, our translator went up to some men on a bench who had beards. He asked if they knew anyone who had recently moved from Afghanastan. As they got further into conversation a man stepped out and said he was Pashtu! All 6 of us on the team cheered and smiled so big shaking this man’s hand. He got the hugest grin on his face when he realized how popular he was! As we started asking him questions, men from the street huddled around the little group we had made. I wish I could have taken a picture from God’s perspective above us. The connections between the Pashtu and the Americans had been made! And there were about 20 men from the street circled around us all wanting to see what was going on.
WE MADE CONTACT!
After learning about their culture to a degree (I think the man was a little nervous with all the people around) he lead us to the Afghanistan quarters of that part of town. We were welcomed in by an Afghanistan man fully dressed in his robes. We sat down, women on one couch, men on the other. We were served tea and these little sweets. .
We talked about the stories of Abraham and of the need for sacrifices! We talked about their religious holidays and prayer. They welcomed us back to their home for dinner the next night. We gave them a Bible and are planning to meet with them again for further discussion.
