I am really going to miss Morocco. God moved in so many cool ways last month, and this month is on track to be just as great, if not better! The first half of our month in Morocco consisted of a lot of traveling back and forth between Marrakech and the mountains of Imlil, trying to find exactly what God had in store for us to do there. At times it felt discouraging because we did not have solid ministry opportunities and we were concerned about exactly what we could say, who we could talk to, and what might cause trouble for the people we interacted with and the locals we were meeting. As you might imagine, it would be really damaging to the spreading of the “good news” if anyone you told had to live in fear of being displaced from their home, or worse.
Due to this fear, we were very cautious about who we talked to and the words that we used. Luckily, Shea came across an international church in Marrakech that we were able to visit and make connections with. The pastor of this church and his wife became fast friends of ours and introduced us to other church groups in town. Through these two churches we met many long term workers and were welcomed into people’s homes and lives. We decided to cast a vision for what the rest of our month would look like. This vision consisted of doing everything we could to bless the long term workers in Morocco in whatever ways we were able. As a team we were able to scrape and paint windows at peoples’ homes, reinforce a playground structure at the local church, clean out and organize a church library, fix broken shelving, build additional doorways to provide storage space, and install outdoor lighting on a patio area.
We also were blessed to be able to spend a lot of our time just visiting with the pastor and his wife, who are originally from the area of Illinois that much of my family is from, and poured into us with stories of faith and ministry through the years. I was personally able get a lot of good feedback about what it looks like to be a leader and to be a part of a community like the one we are in now.
The last weekend that we were in Marrakech we offered our (babysitting) services to a few couples so that they could go out for a date night… funny story, there were 3 girls and 3 guys with our team at this time, and they needed 4 babysitters, so guess who showed up at their door…3 bearded guys and one girl, yep, please leave your children with us! They didn’t even hesitate and were so grateful to get out of the house and have a real night out. The kids were really cute and well behaved, and we had a lot of fun. Although when it was bedtime and they told Shea and I that their parents usually sing them to sleep things got a little weird. I’m pretty sure my singing was not the most soothing noise! The next day we were invited to a fall festival way out on a farm. There was a corn maze, a wagon ride, apple cider, caramel apples, and a lot of fun and games. It was cool to see a little bit of home even halfway around the world. Plus the kids we babysat were there, and one of the little girls latched onto me and I had to carry her around the corn maze and play games with her. I say “had to” but I think you all know I enjoyed it. Her parents kept apologizing and laughing, but I told them I have nieces and nephews her age that I miss terribly, so it was nice to get to play with the kids for a while.
God did still provide opportunity for us in Imlil as well. At the end of the month the leadership had planned to have separate retreats for the men and the women on the squad. One of the connections we had made earlier in the month was a Muslim man who had a few places up in the mountains that he rented out to people. I called him and asked if he could help us out, and he was very happy to do so! We worked out a deal that provided a house large enough for all of the girls (18) to stay in, while the guys (10) stayed with him and his family in their home. Personally I was very happy to get back into the mountains and to get to interact with Abdul and his family as well as a few of the shop owners I had met earlier in the month. One shop owner in particular had been teaching me Arabic phrases and I had told him I would help with his English and with setting up his website for his trekking business. I was able to help him out when we went back for the men’s retreat and got to spend some time talking with him and the other people in the community. I am not great with computers or websites by any means, but I was at least able to help him link his site to Facebook and set up his email accounts and things of that nature.
The last night in Morocco, while the rest of the guys went to a hammam (I’ll let you figure out what that is and why I had no desire to join) I went upstairs to talk with Abdul and to pay him for our stay. He invited me into the kitchen where we sat on little stools and had tea with his family. He then offered me dinner, which I politely accepted! It was really nice sitting down with him and talking and enjoying a meal with his wife and oldest son. I was once again blessed by the hospitality of strangers, or those who were once strangers, and experienced God’s goodness and provision throughout the month.
We are now in Northern Cyprus, about halfway through month 4. I will write again soon about the work we are doing here and the new ways that God is working in and through our team. I am also going to make more of an effort to blog at least once a week so there is not as much to cover each time! So please hold me accountable to this and get onto me if too much time goes by without a post!
