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| Hello everybody! Here's a quick little picture of when we went to the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi! The scarf is mine, but the rest is a little outfit they gave us girls to cover us. |
And
just like that our time in the Middle East is over. My team and I just returned
to Ireland a few days ago, and we’re happy. Like we like being back here and
some of us even missed the rain and cold. Still, leaving for me was a very
heart-wrenching experience. We had the chance to meet so many amazing,
inspiring, and generous people. We were all inspired by the communities who
have been persecuted Catholics for generations. We were spoiled by many of our
contact people… like one lady even took us out to the Dubai Mall and the Aquarium!!!!
The generosity we’ve experienced in general has been absolutely astonishing,
but we saw it in a whole new way in the Middle East. Then of course, it was
incredible hosting a retreat for 800 teens and showing them what Mercy and Love
mean! Based on the number that flocked to confession, I know they were impacted
in an amazing way. And we even had social media there in the form of Evangesoul! Look them up… they’re great!!!!!
Yet we
faced many logistical challenges just being in a Muslim country. There’s the
obvious one of not being allowed to talk about the faith outside church
compounds, and so needing to host TUFF at a church. The thing is, I think we
could have filled a larger facility if it was legal to do that. Furthermore,
which I only realized this after talking with family, friends, and the team
yesterday, but we had a lot of days off. Why? Well the weekend in the UAE is
Friday and Saturday. So obviously, we could work with catechism classes and
have a crowd. Or we could have a retreat and expect people to show up. Other
than that, we were working on the church grounds on week days and nights, which
did work. We had great turnouts at night. However, in Ireland most of our
ministry is based in Catholic schools. For obvious reasons, there are not as
many Catholic schools in the UAE. And even if there was a Catholic school to go
to, even if a school could hold a mini-retreat for the day, they had to have an
alternate activity for non-Christian students. As in there would be government
troubles if they did not.
What a
completely different perspective from the United States! While we’re not supposed
to have too many religious functions at public schools, most states let us have
them. Then schools of any religious affiliation are allowed to have events that
are specific to their own faith without being forced to go through hoops.
I
imagine most people reading this blog live in a country where they can speak
out about Jesus. We’re allowed to talk about him on the street. So, why don’t
we? It can be scary. Like sometimes I’m afraid to do that. We’re afraid of
offending somebody. The thing is, I just came from a country where we could not
openly grace ourselves before meals in public. Jesus is the best thing we can
possibly talk to people about, and we should be doing that! We have the freedom;
we have the liberty. We need to do it with gentleness, probably more in context
of describing a reason for our joy than just narrating the events of the
gospel, but we need to do it!
How can
we start? Let’s just start saying grace before meals in public. Like when you
go out for lunch, pause and say a prayer. Make a Sign of the Cross, especially
if you’re Catholic. It’s very small and very simple, but it’s something I’m so
thankful to be able to do again.
Again, thank you for reading!!!! If you haven't yet, I invite you to follow the NET Ireland Road Team Facebook page. We're a bit better at updating that than I am at updating this blog. However, don't forget to follow this blog! You do that by scrolling all the way down and typing your email in the provided box. As well, if you haven't partnered with me yet, consider that too! It is through the generosity of everybody that all of this is possible!!!!!
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