In preparation for serving in a country that is almost 90% Muslim, MAF sent several families to a week-long seminar called the Sahara Challenge, or Crescent Project, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The goal of the training is to equip us to be able to build bridges in relating to Muslims and sharing the love of Jesus with them. We spent 6 very intense days sitting through a variety of seminars, from learning about the history of Islam, understanding the basics of how Islam works, learning about the variety of cultures among Muslims, understanding the New Testament in relation to how Muslims interpret it, question and answer times, and a panel of believers who had converted from Islam to Christianity. It was fascinating and a lot of information to take in. Our minds were on overload by the end of the week, but we definitely feel more informed and equipped in our understanding of the religious culture we will soon be living in.
We also were so encouraged and enjoyed spending time with some of our classmates from candidacy in January, as well as meeting a few MAF couples we didn't know who are heading to Indonesia or Central Asia countries. Here is a snapshot of some of our time.
We stayed in the dorms at Bethel University, definitely brought back college memories!
Our classroom all day long
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Footwashing ceremony during our final send-off
A group of us MAF couples headed to Indonesia
Enjoying our small group meeting during lunch, yay cafeteria food!
Tyler must have had a very deep thought going on there....
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