From our correspondent
3 minute read
My husband, Glenn*, and I, with our two children, have been in the Arabian Peninsula for thirteen years and we’ve been in our current country, as part of an AWM-Pioneers team, for seven years. We started with two years of full-time language school which equated to a full-time job, so between studying the Arabic language in a formal school setting, homework and going out on local visits it was probably about forty hours language learning each week for two years.
We’ll never be fluent in Arabic – especially in spiritual Arabic where the words are completely different – a different style, different dialogue to what we would normally speak. But we are confident without the use of English, that’s what we would say.
We’ve both got professional tentmaking jobs so we go to work, once we’ve dropped the kids off to school. We mix with a bunch of locals, expats, expat Arabs at work, it’s a real mixed bunch; but we really try to press into relationships, and opportunities that local friends may offer us, such as to come and see their home, come to their farm, come and join their family for a special occasion, such as Ramadan or Eid – we really make a point of doing that. Engaging in social activities and doing things that locals may do have given us lots of opportunities and contacts with locals in a country where locals are generally a little less willing to interact with foreigners.
The thing is, like most of the countries in the Arabian Peninsula, the majority of the people here are expats. The actual language on the street really depends on what area you’re in – and who it is! Everyone speaks English regardless of where they’re from – whether it be Pakistan, Afghanistan, Philippines or India; but you’ll also hear Tagalog for Filipinos, Hindi, Urdu, Baluch, as well as different Arabic dialects from various parts of the Arab world.
It’s very international, and I think for many people coming here initially hoping to do a lot of ministry and meet a lot of local people, it’s actually very difficult and very much a culture shock. Not because of the atmosphere – it’s a very easy place to live as an expat, with all the amenities, but if you want to minister to local people there are few of them and you really really need to seek them out! That having been said, our focus is the local people.
May God move in response to a movement of prayer, to stir the hearts of unbelievers to search online, and realise their emptiness despite their material wealth.
As I mentioned, we’re always trying to make contacts with local people, to get to know them, but it’s a very spiritually dry region. There is a lot of fear, a lot of spiritual oppression, and followers of Jesus from Muslim backgrounds can really suffer.
Lots of workers serve for two to five years but they can get very discouraged as people do struggle to make local contacts.
For the past year, I have been working with a local believer who came through media ministry – rare in our area as most media follow-ups here tend to be with expat Arabs. Please pray with me that I will be able to integrate her with a larger group of believers. There are a lot of safety concerns on both sides as to what that might look like. It would be a big step going forward. She would like fellowship but there are so many risks involved. Everyone in her family and her wider workplace – other than her mum – thinks she is a Muslim.
Pray for more team members, specifically pray that God will speak to more people for them to come to this region. It really needs to be a very strong calling because it is a very barren and sometimes discouraging place – pray for a specific call to reach the locals.
Please also pray for the Arabian Peninsula as a whole. May God move in response to a movement of prayer, to stir the hearts of unbelievers to search online, and realise their emptiness despite their material wealth. We can tell people the good news a thousand times over but unless God works in them, nothing’s going to change.
*Names changed to protect identities.
