Saturday, May 26, 2007 

"Huh. That's weird."

I met a couple of guys at a cafe the other day, and as we talked, the conversation turned to God and religion. They asked me if I was a Christian, and I told them I was. Then they asked me what type. People over here know some about Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants, but they figure all 3 are the same.

As I began to explain some of the differences, they asked me the question I love to hear: "So what do you guys (Protestants) believe?"

God allowed me to share the gospel with them. Basically, I just took them through the Romans Road and showed them a few other passages, explaining things as best I could with the language. When I explained how Jesus paid the penalty for our sins for us, one guy just looked at me and said, "Huh. That's weird."

That's the best response I've heard to the gospel so far. It is weird. The Son of God came to Earth and died for us? He paid our penalty for us? That guy, at least on a basic level, understood the gospel. And it was weird.

11:43 AM | |

 

Trip to the Market

We had a couple of vol groups in town for a week or so, and I had the joy of taking a couple of the guys to the open bazaar here. I don't usually go there much, everyone just wants to sell you stuff more than talk to you, but with a couple of rich Americans out for souvenirs and gifts, there's no better place on earth.


Can you guess which country I'm in =)?



We wandered around the winding streets, stopping every now and then to look at some wares or gawk at some of the more enthusiastic salesmen. As we wandered around and the 2 guys started buying stuff, I had 1 goal in mind: Haggle...

1st Stop: Authentic Football Jerseys
The guys wanted to get some jerseys of the reigning champion of the football league here, so we stopped at a fancy looking shop a little off the main street. The guy wouldn't budge. I tried arguing for a while, but he stood firm. I told the guys we should leave and find somewhere else, but they said they didn't mind and bought a few jerseys.

2nd Stop: Tea Glasses
Next they wanted some tea glasses to take home to the ladies. We found a shop, and the glasses were like 50 cents apiece. (Alright, I'm exaggerating a little, but seriously, they were cheap.) No haggling here...



3rd Stop: Girl Shirts
One guy wanted to get his daughters some local clothes. So, we found a place with some stuff he liked, and talked to the seller guy. Again, he wouldn't budge. The price wasn't that bad, but I figured I could get him to go down a little. No luck, and the guy bought at the full price, roughly 6 or 7 bucks apiece.

Amid all these stops and attempts at haggling, we had a great time. Salespeople came up to us and invited us to their shops for cay and conversation (and to buy stuff). We got to share the gospel with 4 or 5 people, and we gave a Bible to a guy. But I still had an itching to haggle...



Last Stop: Leather Shop
As evening came upon as, we headed for a leather jacket shop. The guys didn't really want leather jackets, but a salesguy came up and invited us in, so we followed him into his posh, 2-floor shop. For some reason, one of the guys wanted a water pipe. So, he found a small metal pipe he liked and asked the guy how much it was.

"That's 60, it's handmade" replied the sales guy. Handmade my butt. I proceeded to call the sales guy out on that one, and we went back and forth for a while, but he stood firm. I wasn't about to give the guy 60 for that cheapo thing, though, and I told the guys we'd just go to a different shop. As we were walking out, we passed the owner of the shop, who seemed a little put out when he saw us walking out empty-handed. The owner asked the other sales guy what happened, then offered 30. Booyah! I finally had some success in the wide world of haggling. The guy bought it, and we went home and smoked some sweet pipe. (Not really, but that would've been a good ending)

10:36 AM | |

 

Local Hospitality

To know what it's like to live here, you have to know about the hospitality. These ungodly, heathen people are some of the most friendly and hospitable you will ever meet. I saw this a couple of times this past week.

A few nights ago I was minding my own business, eating some cereal in the apartment and catching up on the NBA playoffs from yahoo sports when I heard a knock. I opened the door to find one of my neighbors standing there with a plate of food in her hand. She said she knew I was single and probably not eating too well (though the cereal I was eating does have vitamins and minerals) and that I'd probably enjoy this. I said thanks and proceeded to eat some scrumptious meat, beans, and tomatoes.

A little while later I cleaned up the plate and went down to return it. But in this country, you don't show up at someone's door and not come in. So, she invited me in and I ended up spending the evening with her, her husband, and her 2 (my age) kids. They taught me how to cook what they brought me, and then gave me the rest of the pot.


Yesterday I was out at a place called "Little Park" after school. It's not really a park, it's more just a little street with a bunch of cafes on either side where all the students hang out. I did see a couple of trees, though...

Wanting to meet some new people, I got out some homework and walked up to a couple of guys sitting at a table and asked for some help. They immediately invited me to sit down and bought me some tea. (Guests here don't pay. And when you're a foreigner, you're always a guest.) After a couple hours of sitting around and talking, they invited me to their apartment and we watched some football and played some backgammon.

Can you imagine walking up to people you don't know in the States and seeing that kind of response? These people are the friendliest, most hospitable people I have ever met in my life.

9:32 AM | |

Sunday, May 13, 2007 

Bombs, Rallies, a Park Bench, and a Good Conversation


So things have gotten a little heated over in these parts the past few weeks. It all started when the prime minister nominated a guy to be the next president. Most of the country got seriously ticked off and started holding giant protest rallies against this guy and his political party. Then some people who do like the guy decided to start blowing stuff up with bombs to show their support.

Though it sounds like it's time to run for the hills, my daily life hasn't changed all that much. I still go to school, still hang out with people, still fail at most of my cooking attempts. The only difference now is that I read about rallies and bombs going off in the country.

So with that out of the way, a few weeks ago a group of students came from Louisiana to help out for a week or so, and we ended up meeting a bunch of guys here and even got to go to class with them. To make a long story short, I met with one of those guys a couple of weeks ago and got to share the gospel with him. He said he disagreed with me, but he wants to meet again and talk some more about it.

There may be political unrest, rallies, bombs, whatever, but daily life stays pretty much the same. Let's hope it stays that way.

10:27 AM | |

Friday, May 04, 2007 

Field Trip!!

There are some good stories from this week that I need to post, but that'll have to wait...I'm headed on a field trip! My language class and I are headed up north for the weekend. I've packed my brown bag lunch, put on some clean socks, and I'm ready to ship out tomorrow morning.

9:33 AM | |