“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” –Deuteronomy 10: 17-19
I read this verse in a friend’s blog who is living in China right now and it was such a wake up call for me. I don’t ever remember hearing a sermon preached on loving the aliens. It is hard to understand the extent of what it is like to be an alien in a foreign land unless you have been one. Living here I realize how lonely it can be and also how frustrating and confusing. Being unable to understand the language constantly makes me feel stupid and completely inadequate to do anything. I never realized how important it is to be kind to the strangers in our lands. Now I know the impact a friendly smile or a stranger’s help can have on someone who is living in a new land. So here is a little reminder to be extra patient and extra loving to someone who is new to your home town. There is such a large immigration community in America right now so what God told the people of Israel is just as relevant to us as it was to them. After working with an NGO last summer that works with the immigration community in downtown St. Louis I know the amount of people who would die for the chance to have one American friend. I met an older immigrant lady who had moved from Bosnia after the genocide, to America. She had been living in St. Louis for nine years and when we asked her how many American friends she had she said, “Just you”. Trying to buy anything here is always a process, trying to communicate what I need and what price it is. Sometimes it can make or break my day depending on how the shopkeeper treats me. If they get frustrated really fast with my lack of language skills and try to take advantage of me with the price of something it can put me in a bad mood but if they are patient and try to help me (which most of them are like this, the mean ones are the exception) then it leaves me in a completely different mood. Knowing that people are willing to be so kind and so helpful is encouraging. So for my sake, if nothing else, when you find yourself dealing with someone who doesn’t speak English very well or is unfamiliar with American customs go out of your way to be kind and help them. Just think of it as me trying to get around in Morocco.
I can really feel the weight of my blessings when I am here. I don’t really know how else to describe it other than weight. I see just how elite America is in contrast to the rest of the world. That sounds kind of arrogant but I mean it in the way that we are such a well educated country and have so much wealth, not that we have a superior culture. My education and my wealth has given me an immense responsibility and that is why it feels like a heavy weight. It’s a good burden to have but I am still in the process of learning how to give this one over to God. Beggars are something that I have really had to struggle with here. In America there are several organizations and NGOs that help the homeless get off the streets and in my opinion there are several ways for people to work there way out of poverty. Here when one is born into poverty you die in poverty or immigrate to another country. There aren’t really rags to riches stories here. Only the wealthiest can afford a decent education, but even then a decent education here would equate to the worst college in America. Upward of 70% of the economy here is black market or in other words people selling things on the streets. Only around 11% of jobs are secure (these are government jobs that once you get hired you cannot be fired which creates a whole host of other problems but don’t get me started). The beggars I encounter here are children, old women, the disabled or Africans who have left their war torn countries and basically walked here to try and have a better life. In America I have been taught not to give money to beggars b/c they will probably just go buy drugs or alcohol with it, but here it is a completely different story. The government makes it impossible for people to improve their economic standings. I keep trying to reason myself out of why I shouldn’t give but I can’t. God calls us to give. He gave his son so I should be able to give the few durhams in my pocket….the comparison is pathetic. I’ve always thought of myself as pretty generous but I see the depths of my greed and materialism when I am face to face with people who have nothing everyday. There is a man who sits right outside the door of our school. Every morning someone brings him and his chair and sets him there for the day and then at the end of the day they come back and take him home. He has one leg and is mentally retarded and every time we pass him (which is several times a day) he gives us a big smile and wave. I don’t know why but he brings me so much joy just to see his joy. He sits in his chair in the same spot all day everyday and he is always so happy to see us, he doesn’t beg and we don’t give him money but in a strange way we have become friends. On days when he is not there I get kind of worried.
This Saturday we are leaving for our northern excursion. We are going to see some of the cities in the North of Morocco and then we are crossing the border and will be in Spain for 5 days. Crossing the border should be an experience! We are doing it on foot (did you know that part of Spain is actually in North Africa? We have been calling it fake Spain) and then we are taking a ferry over to “real” Spain. It should be somewhat like crossing over from Mexico to America, there will be a lot of people and things going in and out that shouldn’t be. It will be interesting! Thanks everyone for your prayers! We have had a couple instances of theft and one guy in our group was mugged at knife point one night. They took everything his computer, ipod, wallet but threw back his passport as they ran off. The guy is fine except for being shaken up and having a small cut on his neck from the knife. It was a bit of a wakeup call for all of us since we have all become so comfortable here we still need to be smart and cautious. Keep up the prayers b/c they are working :o)
if you want to see pics and aren't on facebook here are the links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014797&id=1305870107&l=5a62c5fee7
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014986&id=1305870107&l=11610f8906
