Cyprus was beautiful! Almost everyday the weather was a perfect 70 degrees, light shining all around, with the occasional thunderstorm just when I started to miss a bit of rain. We lived a short walk from the Mediterranean Sea, & were able to spend some of our free time walking down the roads of our quiet little village, snagging pomegranates from trees & hoping to avoid the snails that seemed to be everywhere.
Our village was far enough away from any major town that if we did want to go anywhere, we would hitchhike, which is perfectly acceptable in our part of the country. Once when hitchhiking, we were actually picked up by an ice-cream truck driver, who chatted in Turkish almost the entire time as we all snacked on sweet churros he provided upon hopping in his truck. The second man who picked us up stopped to get us coffee’s & proceeded to drive us all around the town we were going to, showing us the main sites before dropping us off at his favorite. That being said, the people are very kind, & quick to go out of their way to spend some time with us.
One of our main jobs in Cyprus was to help our host with his seminars. He would host anywhere from 40-90 children to give them lessons on Cyprus culture, cuisine, dress & traditions. They would learn about pressing olive oil, making bread or pasta, & even roasting coffee beans. We would help bake the bread, watch the kids, & wash lots & lots of dishes. When we weren’t helping with the events, we were doing hands on projects around his vineyard & hotel. We repaired fences, laid out cement for walkways, fixed roofs, picked olives, painted, weeded, pruned, & many other odd jobs.
We also had the opportunity to head into town to meet with university students who gathered weekly to pray, read the bible, & worship together. One of my favorite moments during my month in Cyprus was getting to watch a young woman from Iran read the Bible during our study. She was ecstatic about every word she read, & couldn’t wait to continue reading for all of us. I so often take for granted that I even have a bible, let alone the freedom to read it whenever I choose. To this woman, the bible was a precious resource, & seen as a prized possession. She read it with gratefulness, each word spoken aloud was permeated with elation & passion. I will never forget it!
From our little village in Northern Cyprus, we traveled down to AiyaNapa to meet together as a squad before heading to Jordan! During this last week in Jordan I was invited to be a squad leader with Matt, one of the guys on our squad who launched for the first time in August, & Emily, who was alumni & launched her first race in 2016! When our squad launched in August, six alumni who had been on a race before us came along! Three were squad leaders, who would travel from team to team to serve the squad, and three were team leaders, who serve as a support for each team. This month all of the alumni except one left to go support new racers in their first five months! So a big part of this month for me was squad leader training, visiting the teams in Mafraq & Amman, Jordan & building vision for the squad with my new co-leaders Matt & Emily. I am super excited to fill this new role & serve my team!
Aside from training this month in Jordan, we have also been visiting the homes of Syrian refugees, having bible studies, & delivering home essentials as Jordan transitions into its winter months. We have spent the last week teaching Jordanians & Syrians english, painting lots of butterflies & cats on little boys & girls, & hosting Christmas parties for school classes full of children. It has been such an amazing way to spend the holidays!
Merry Christmas to you all! Be in touch soon!
Love, Emily
