Gazette September 19
19 September, 2006
Hi Everybody!! We have finished unpacking!! Temperatures are falling, a little—108 down to 100---and now there’s a refreshing breeze in the evening--what an improvement!! We were able to get tickets for Christmas and our granddaughter’s baptism, Waldo (well, Ford) had the best month in the history of the region in August, Cay has successfully put the house together, enrolled for her last class (at Weber State University, no less), and is all set to take the MTTC (teacher’s certification test) in October. Things are progressing.
We experienced our first sandstorm the other day…we’re about 2 blocks from the “sail hotel” and it disappeared!
Cay was asked to lead the Young Women’s group at church, and is busy deciding who will be asked to help her. Waldo is still waiting for a calling, so we’re hoping that after Stake Conference Sept. 29 they’ll know what to do with him! The stake leaders go to the different countries and hold individual meetings, instead of the usual large gathering. For Youth Conference all the youth from the whole Arabian Peninsula Stake (Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, and the UAE) are flown to Bahrain. They have High Council meeting there too. Crazy, huh? We meet in a large house every Friday (the Sabbath here), with no sign outside identifying us as a church. It’s illegal to proselyte to Muslims, but we have investigators from all over at church frequently. The members are mostly from the US, Australia, the UK, and the Philippines, with others from Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, South Africa and Peru. And services are in English!
Its very interesting, as I walk my dogs about 6:30 pm everyday, and at that hour all the mosques start broadcasting their call to prayer. There is a mosque on every block, and they all start singing at about the same time. It occurred to me that my own faith would be strengthened if I dropped everything and prayed 5 times a day! The atmosphere here encourages the people to live their religion, by making it easy to follow the tenets of the faith. Liquor is not sold in stores, but there are many choices available for juices, and pork is only available in certain areas. These are clearly marked, “not for Muslims”.
All the stores and businesses are getting ready for Ramadan, which starts next week. This looks like it will be festive, and outside the mosque by our house they have set up a tent, and some of the bigger houses are all decked out with lights (a la Christmas) and it looks like the mosque is going to be decorated too. At this time Muslims will fast from sunrise to sunset. Most restaurants close during the day, and stay open all night. At sunset we have been told things get a little crazy on the roads because everyone is trying to get home and eat, and people actually do gain weight because they spend all night eating. It is illegal to be seen eating or drinking water in the car or in public. Next month we’ll let you know more of what we see. We’ve included some pictures
(I still have to figure out how to put pictures in the post...sorry about that)
This is the scene from our bedroom window. It is really beautiful; it gets sparkly lights on it and changes color. The hotel to the right is supposed to resemble a wave, and all down the road in front there is metal fencing that continues the wave motif. One thing about Dubai…they don’t do things half-way. One thing that I can’t really explain is the fact that you can be sitting in a restaurant and watch people skiing!! This is a huge shopping mall, with a sort of amusement park inside, and ski runs! Waldo took this picture about a year ago
Well, more next month! We love and miss you all! - Cay & Waldo
Hi Everybody!! We have finished unpacking!! Temperatures are falling, a little—108 down to 100---and now there’s a refreshing breeze in the evening--what an improvement!! We were able to get tickets for Christmas and our granddaughter’s baptism, Waldo (well, Ford) had the best month in the history of the region in August, Cay has successfully put the house together, enrolled for her last class (at Weber State University, no less), and is all set to take the MTTC (teacher’s certification test) in October. Things are progressing.
We experienced our first sandstorm the other day…we’re about 2 blocks from the “sail hotel” and it disappeared!
Cay was asked to lead the Young Women’s group at church, and is busy deciding who will be asked to help her. Waldo is still waiting for a calling, so we’re hoping that after Stake Conference Sept. 29 they’ll know what to do with him! The stake leaders go to the different countries and hold individual meetings, instead of the usual large gathering. For Youth Conference all the youth from the whole Arabian Peninsula Stake (Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, and the UAE) are flown to Bahrain. They have High Council meeting there too. Crazy, huh? We meet in a large house every Friday (the Sabbath here), with no sign outside identifying us as a church. It’s illegal to proselyte to Muslims, but we have investigators from all over at church frequently. The members are mostly from the US, Australia, the UK, and the Philippines, with others from Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, South Africa and Peru. And services are in English!
Its very interesting, as I walk my dogs about 6:30 pm everyday, and at that hour all the mosques start broadcasting their call to prayer. There is a mosque on every block, and they all start singing at about the same time. It occurred to me that my own faith would be strengthened if I dropped everything and prayed 5 times a day! The atmosphere here encourages the people to live their religion, by making it easy to follow the tenets of the faith. Liquor is not sold in stores, but there are many choices available for juices, and pork is only available in certain areas. These are clearly marked, “not for Muslims”.
All the stores and businesses are getting ready for Ramadan, which starts next week. This looks like it will be festive, and outside the mosque by our house they have set up a tent, and some of the bigger houses are all decked out with lights (a la Christmas) and it looks like the mosque is going to be decorated too. At this time Muslims will fast from sunrise to sunset. Most restaurants close during the day, and stay open all night. At sunset we have been told things get a little crazy on the roads because everyone is trying to get home and eat, and people actually do gain weight because they spend all night eating. It is illegal to be seen eating or drinking water in the car or in public. Next month we’ll let you know more of what we see. We’ve included some pictures
(I still have to figure out how to put pictures in the post...sorry about that)
This is the scene from our bedroom window. It is really beautiful; it gets sparkly lights on it and changes color. The hotel to the right is supposed to resemble a wave, and all down the road in front there is metal fencing that continues the wave motif. One thing about Dubai…they don’t do things half-way. One thing that I can’t really explain is the fact that you can be sitting in a restaurant and watch people skiing!! This is a huge shopping mall, with a sort of amusement park inside, and ski runs! Waldo took this picture about a year ago
Well, more next month! We love and miss you all! - Cay & Waldo
posted by waldo and cay at 3:01 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home