Worshipping in the Middle East

One of the top questions we got before moving to Oman was whether we could go to church here in the Middle East.  The answer was yes, although we didn't know much about it at all. 

Since moving here, we discovered that there is the PCO "campus" which is a collection of small buildings right next to the school.  It stands for Protestant Church in Oman, and you can look at their website at www.churchinoman.com

The Christian church here is so different from home.  Not in value and belief, but in feeling and experience.  White people are the minority here.  When you walk into Friday morning service (Friday is holy day here), you see a sea of black hair and primarily dark skin.  Indians, Africans, and Asians make up the majority of the congregation.  Congregants come in their traditional clothes and Sunday best.  How awesome it is to worship in a multicultural setting.  I realized that sometimes I think of Christianity as an American religion.  Being surrounded by all these people reminds me that Jesus is Lord in every country. 

I love singing the most at church.  I always have.  I would say that singing is my "worship language" at church.  I love worshiping with this congregation that is wholeheartedly worshiping too.   When we sing and worship, people WORSHIP.  They don't stand and mumble the songs.  The praise, they move, they lift their hands, they worship God.  Sometimes, banners come out and are waved in the aisles.  Today we had a Korean dance group performing to two of the songs.  Not to say this doesn't happen in the states, but most often, Americans sit through the experience of church instead of being a part of the experience with Christ. 

I was talking to another teacher at the school after church and she made the best comment.  She said, "Isn't it like being in heaven?  This is what it will be like when we are there.  All cultures together worshiping God."

I'll admit, I don't get a lot out of the preaching here (there are good things said but it's more generic and I miss Syd's preaching back home).  I don't like "passing the peace".  I wish there was a toddlers Sunday school for Aberly. 

But those things don't matter that much to me in the end.  I get to be a part of a people who are there because they love Jesus.  They connect with Jesus during church.  They shed tears, they dance and sway, they pray honestly and intensely, they love on each other, and they have true joy.  They are there worshiping with their entirety because being able to worship freely is a gift, and they cherish that gift. 

New paint!

Our house has been painted!  All the old colors are gone and the walls are clean!  The guys (two Indian men who spoke practically no English so that made things interesting) were here the last two days working hard.  The school pays for all the labor and cost of white paint, so any color we chose we pay the difference (about 20 rials for our place which is about $50 US).  

It looks so much better.  

The previous colors someone chose for our apartment, if you've seen some photos from earlier posts, were yellow (living/dining/hallway), violet purple (Abery's room), and this funky light green (master).  We've changed it to teal/gray blue (living/dining) and white (hallway/master).  Aberly's room is staying the same but with a fresh coat.  It was the one good color in the house.  

Our master bedroom looks so much brighter and cleaner.  I usually find white boring but I wanted to have a clean slate to work with when it came to decorating.  We haven't found a bedspread yet and I don't want to be limited in our choices because it doesn't match the walls.  We are hoping to use color in our decor to spice up our room.  You can see in the picture that our room is bare bones right now!  

 

I never thought I'd like blue for my main house color.  At home, we painted our guest room/office a gray-blue, but that was Colin's space and it suited him.  I'll admit, the blue we picked works really well.  Our space looks bright but cozy.  I think the blue is a good "Middle East home by the ocean" color.  We aren't literally by the ocean but we're in a city by the ocean.  Sorry about the window glare but the sun comes in that way and our curtains are sheer white.

Our next step is to get carpet put down in the living room and bedrooms.  The school also pays for that as well.  I think we'll have a nice beige with flecking in it (to help mask dirt) put down.  It will make the floors so much nicer for Aberly to play on and help reduce my need for sweeping and mopping!  Seriously, I sweep every day and mop a couple days a week.  

And speaking of mopping.  I decided to mop while the photos were loading a few minutes ago.  I decided that it would be a GOOD idea to use a mop head from yesterday that I used to clean up the wet floors in the guest bathroom left behind by the workers.  Hey, the mop head was barely dirty looking at all.  Well, it wasn't a good idea.  Our house smells a bit like pee now despite using floor cleaner.  I'm sure they did not urinate on my bathroom floor, but that's kinda the smell effect I'm getting.  Gross.  Okay, off to re-mop with a clean mop head with water with more cleaner in it....

I'm lovin it

Last week Aberly got up from her afternoon nap earlier than usual.  I think she went down earlier too.  Anyways, we needed to fill some time before Colin was home and of course, Aberly was full of energy.  Since it was blazing hot outside I needed something else to entertain my child.  I decided to sell my soul and went to McDonalds.  Hey, a sundae treat and a playroom, I figured Aberly would be in heaven.

She was. 

I wasn't so much.  Okay, the double cheeseburger I decided to get since I had a small lunch did taste amazing, and the caramel sundae also hit the spot (for both of us).  However, the kids play area was DIRTY.  I don't think it had been cleaned in months.  Dried fries, lint/dirt in the cracks, scuff marks, loose dirt, hair....  ugh ugh ugh.  And Aberly was in heaven.  If you are a mom, you know my pain.  Luckily, Aberly was happy enough with about 10 minutes of playtime and I was able to get her to go with minimal fuss.