From Colleen--Iraq (all I've got is crayons)

Greetings,
He's a hurricane and I have crayons.

Trying to capture the might and majesty and power and beauty of God with Microsoft Word is like trying to capture the sheer terror of a hurricane with crayons on a piece of paper. It's impossible. No matter how good your words are, or how tightly wrapped your ideas are, on some levels, you are left with a shadow of a shadow of a shadow.
(stuffchristianslike.net)

I realize it has been a while. A strange mixture of things kept me from writing last week. Part of it, I admit, was my own laziness and lack of scheduling. Part of it was busyness. And part of it was discouragement and a feeling that I was tired and had nothing to tell. This week I again didn't feel like writing. As the quote above says, "He's a hurricane and I have crayons". Now I am trying to capture something grand and fantastic with silly words on a page. I know nothing I will write will be able to truly explain what it is I see, what it is I revel in, what it is that daily beg God for.


My students are finishing "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" today and tomorrow. It has provided amazing opportunities to be bold with the gospel. It is amazing how clearly the story portrays the purpose for Christ's death and our need for salvation. Pray that it would go beyond mere understanding of vocabulary and concepts. My team teacher Sh. has been evaluating this specifically. I haven't been able to talk with her much because she took on another class. But next week I hope to get together with her outside of school for some final exam planning and conversation. But the softening of her heart and her understanding have grown in ways I never noticed and in areas I never consciously remember telling her about. My heart aches for her and yet I see God's hand working and cannot deny it.


Probably one of the things I am most excited about doing is a dinner this Friday. I and another girl here are going to be cooking for about 30 Bangladeshi men and maybe as many as 15 Christian workers as 3 homes show the Jesus film to 10 men each. Please pray that God will miraculously turn our food into something that tastes like home to them and that they are blessed. There are people from a couple organizations that are involved in this and the men have seen great softness and eagerness to learn. My teammate Jeremiah has given some of them Bibles and more are on the way; he could easily give away a hundred, I think.


I find it fascinating as I sit back and watch this unfold how God brought these men to the middle of nowhere, to the lowest of conditions, so that these men could hear truth and know Him. And even more astounding is that he brought me and others half way around the world at this time, to this place, and gave us contact with these people. No human would plan such a thing or even conceive of it. But God is so much greater.


I have so much trouble trying to explain all of this. I wish you could have stood in the hallway of the school this past weekend as a prayer conference was held there. The stark contrast between the school as a place of education and lost children and the same location filled with people praising God and praying. The fellowship was sweet and the meeting of new people and friends was a special blessing to me. The time in prayer for all of the Kurds and Northern Iraq was also so wonderful. God fills my cup.


Thank you all. Ask God to show you what is going on here and around you. I cannot describe it well enough. May he speak to you.

Sincerely,
Colleen