Two and a half weeks in...

Hi again!

Hope everyone is doing well over there! I have been here in my place of service for two and a half weeks now and am adjusting pretty well I'd say. The heat is a little difficult to adjust to and Ramadan has severely altered the schedule over here (and peoples' moods too...turns out you get a little cranky if you don't eat in 115 degree weather for a month!) Anyway, Ramadan is almost over, Eid is about to start, and I'm getting used to customs, security issues, and the weekly schedule over here. Sadly, i haven't been able to start teaching yet! Our job description has changed a little and we will now be tutoring ladies one-on-one. This will be a great move as far as allowing us to easily build relationships with them, however, because things are so crazy with Ramadan and Eid, none of the ladies want to start until next week. Though we were frustrated at first, we are now using this time to prepare, to learn language (we started language classes last week), and start a d-ship group with our supervisors' and language teacher's teenage daughters and some of their friends! It's amazing how i was taken out of the US and put into another country only to find out that i'm still passionate about the same thing: d-ing teenage girls! We had our first group on Sunday night and the results were so overwhelming. They loved the group and the study, learned so much, and asked if we could have it every week! Please continue to pray for this group as we'll meet every week. Pray for me as i teach and the girls as they learn, grow, and change. Also, please be praying that we would learn the language well so that we will be able to better communicate with the ladies we will be teaching, and pray for our students, as we will begin teaching in (hopefully) a week or two.

One last request before i go. I'm sure many of you have heard of the pastor in Florida who will be burning Qur'ans on Saturday. As a person and a Christian, i am appalled that fellow believers would preach such hate and drag the name of our Lord through the dust in this way. As a worker in this part of the world, however, i am shocked by the foolishness of this act. Does he even realize what danger he's putting his fellow Americans overseas in? Please keep me and all the workers in this part of the world in your prayers these next few days. I am not as much worried about the danger as i am the rift that will be formed because of this one act. For people like me, who are trying to establish peace with Muslims, this could really hurt any headway that has already been made, or any attempts in the future. Please pray for safety, wisdom, and peace for us these next few days.

Everything is going really here; i'm enjoying the change and really love where i am living. Thank you all for praying for me thus far. I love you all!

Erin