Came to the Middle East And I'm Surrounded By Indians

It has been rather interesting, you would think that you would hang out and meet lots of Arabs if you came to the Middle East, but instead, I've done that with lots of people from India. Odd how these things are. They come here to work, and considering it is only a 3 hour plane ride to here, I think, it makes sense. So pretty well everyone I've meet is Indian. Yesterday, after church, they took me out to an Indian buffet. People certainly gave me strange looks. It was almost as they didn't expect to see a white guy hanging out with Indians in an Indian ethnic restaurant. I actually get lots of funny looks when I'm out with them, and I think I'm starting to get to understand what visible minorities feel. I'm not sure if it would feel different in Canada, but its defiantly a different feeling. So far, I just find it amusing. So there I was at this buffet, and lets just say that the people at the table had a chuckle at my expense. I'm really not used to the food here. Apparently my face got rather red and I had a few tears coming down my face from the spices. Good food, but a bit hot for what I'm used to. I have a feeling that in a month's or so time I'll have quite the hankering for a grilled cheese sandwich. Where I'm staying I get African food, which is also quite good, but different. Thats the thing, it is good food, but I find myself just a little offset from it for the reason that it is different from what I normally eat. I hope that I will get passed that and be able to completely enjoy it. But yes, it is rather interesting knowing that I always stick out in a crowd. The one white fellow in the midst of everyone else. Defiantly a good understanding for me to get.

Later on that day I went with the R11 team to a church that was full of Indian laborers. These people work intense hours and I'm really not quite sure how a human can carry on at that pace for so long. But anyways, we get to this church, and you can go to the flicker site to see some pictures of where they had church. It was a hall they had built next to a villa. Apparently next door was another church where they had converted the house into a church, it's the only way they can have a place for the churches. There are something like 100 odd churches in Bahrain, and Christians make up 9% of the total population, something like that. It has been interesting because many of the Christians that I have talked to have this desire to see the churches united in some form, to get rid of their divisions in some way. So that is all kinds of exciting. And as a further side note, at the flicker site you can see a picture of the church times for the NEC, but thats not all the services held. Those are the official service times, there are still further services that are done by different groups that rent the building. Its nuts. Apparently services straight, with about 20 minutes in between, from something like 630 in the morning all the way to 9 at night. And then theres the education building next door thats full of people all day long... Gets a bit nuts. So anyways, back to the Indian church service. When the congregates come in, they all kneel (if they arrive before the service, they kneel in a circle behind the chairs, if after, they kneel in front of their chair) and pray. They pray that the presence of God would come to the service, and they pray for the service, and things like that. Thats what was explained to me. I thought that was just fantastic and that North America could really learn from their lead. It was just refreshing to see people take church so seriously and importantly. They were a loud bunch, mostly new believers with a pentecostal twist. Though instead of yelling 'amen', they would raise their hand instead. Kinda cool. They would also say amen and raise their hand. Neat way of doing things I thought. I didn't really know much of what went on, as it was done in a different language. Some of the songs were done in English, though others were done in .... can't remember the name of the language. One from southern India. And I understood the message because it was done in English with an interpretor. All and all, a great experience. I was encouraged to see a church like this existing. Between the new believers, the different cultures, and the enthusiasm of those involved. I can also now understand more why people would want to start ethnic churches. Between being more comfortable because of being with those who are like you, to things being done in your own language.

After this, I went to a small group that was composed of mostly older Indian couples (it was a long day, like 17 hours, oh yes and I got 4 hours of sleep the night before... I slept well last night). It was neat to spent time with them and as with everyone so far in the church, they treated me very warmly, which has just been great. They are doing a series on 1 Corinthians. Though I can see that the theological training of laypeople is just as important here as anywhere else. Not that they were heretics, but that just did not have the understanding of the scripture that I take for granted. Many of them had been Christians their entire lives, but they had never pushed their understanding past the basic. I can see why Pastor Westra pushes so much for the classes that he does. It was neat to sit in on their study, with the women wearing their traditional clothing (or as they would call it, their normal everyday clothing) and just as a group of believers that was my family just as the church at home is my family. That unitedness of all believers is just amazing to think of. I have been instantly welcomed because I am a believer. Crazy good times. Its been interesting though, those my age, a bit older and all younger are quite western. They may like their Indian food, but thats because they were raised with it. Though in how they talk, what they like, what they think, they are quite western, though with a twist of otherness. It has been described to me that sometimes they don't quite know what they are. They don't like it all that much in India, but the western world is also something that they quite click with. The 3rd culture kids. I know this has been a rather A.D.D. post, but just so much has been going on the last little bit that its hard to keep in all straight and coherent. God has been very good to me and people have been fantastic to me. Week one is done and I know there are plenty of experiences to come still.

More photos posted: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthew_chute/

will put up some videos to youtube soon