Ongoing {and new!} adventures

This has been such a good week.

On Monday a few of my roommates & I got invited to eat dinner with a Kurdish woman from one of our ESL classes. There was chicken, homemade bread, & dolma {a traditional Iraqi dish} galore. We all ate our fill plus some. The entire meal reflected all of the time & care this sweet woman poured into preparing it; she had no idea what parsley is, but she bought some to go with our meal because she knew it was American. To her it was merely a small gesture, but it touched my heart in the deepest way.

I visited my Iraqi family yesterday, & I'm convinced that I fall more in love with them each time I visit. We've been having some really good {& DEEP} conversations about Jesus & faith lately. Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, began Sunday, & my friend shared a lot of details about it with me while I was there. During Ramadan, Muslims {who are physically able to do so} fast from all food & drink from dawn to sunset. The main purpose is to focus on God & strengthen their relationship with Him, while allowing their physical hunger to remind them of the poor.

So, please be praying that while Muslims {& this family in particular} are spending this time intentionally searching for God, they will find Him & He'll change their lives forever.

I've been helping one of my roommates teach a ladies' ESL class, & it has been SO fun. Most of the women are either Muslim or Kurdish, & I've fallen in love with each of them. I've especially bonded with one woman in particular. She is a 56 year old Muslim woman who travels partway to class by bus & walks the rest of the way. She's always the first woman to arrive, usually 15 to 20 minutes before class even starts. She is so eager to learn & I've enjoyed getting to help her. Today there was an empty seat next to her; she looked up at me & smiled {as always} & said, "Sit down, Teacher Rachel!" Y'all, my heart melted. I feel so blessed. Continue to pray for all of the seeds that are being planted, watered, & harvested. It has been so exciting to watch God work & move. Even greater things are still to come. :)