Departing.....

I cannot believe that this trip is over! These past 5 weeks have been an incredible journey that I wouldn't change one single part of (except maybe actually going on the dragster at Cedar Point). I have learned more than I ever thought possible, with a lot of laughter and a few tears along the way. I have made some awesome friends on my team and some very dear friends in the D. The women I have met will forever be in my heart and Insha Allah (if God wills) I will see them again. We have already made plans to return next April for a wedding, so hopefully that will work out. For now we will keep in touch with them through e-mails and the awesome invention called Facebook. I look forward to seeing everyone when I return home!

New Friends

So yesterday was an absolute blast! We got to hang out with this cool chick named Ammerah. She took us to see the Arab American Museum which was pretty interesting. Then we went and walked some trails on the Henry Ford Estate. After that we met up with another girl, Effy, and went to buy umptah which are elastic headpieces worn under hijabs. Then it was off to the taste fest where we samples A LOT of food. We had pizza, chicken fingers, fries, lemonade, caramel popcorn, cheesecake, and hummus. Then we had some authentic arabic coffee at a Lebanese restaurant. After that we headed out to bd's Mongolian BBQ, which if you have never been there, I highly recommend it. Its actually more stir-fry than BBQ but still very good. A girl named Elyse met us for dinner. Then Ammerah took us out for dessert, we had baklava and a sweet cheesy dessert called Kanufah (If you ever try it, you have to eat it hot or its GROSS!) Then it was too Ammerah's for a fun fun sleepover. We had so much fun!!! It was just like hanging out with girls we had known forever. We stayed up till 2 am just hanging out and watching a movie called Paradise Now. Then this morning we went out for bfast and then went finally to an english speaking mosque. Over breakfast the morning, we were able to get into a more serious spiritual conversation with Ammerah, she brought it up and it just flowed naturally. We were able to explain to her exactly what it is we believe and were even able to share the Kingdom circles illustration. At no time was it awkward and neither side was trying to pressure the other. We were just able to talk freely, it was such a blessing. Then it was time for the mosque which cut our conversation short but we were able to just get in the car and go back to normal conversation without it being awkward at all. Thanks to all who have been praying for opportunities like this, God is really opening doors.

Cedar Point Craziness!!!!

So on our day off this week we took a journey to Cedar Point! It was an absolute blast! The lines were long and it was very tiring but it was definitely worth it. We were able to put Miss Mary Jones onto her first roller coaster. My favorite roller coaster was The Maverick, which starts off with a 95 degree angle drop. There is also a roller coaster there called the Dragster or something like that, which pretty much shoots you straight up over and then straight down in a cork screw, it goes 120 mph and takes about 15 seconds. We did not make it onto this ride, sadly but I'm told that its pretty awesome. Insha Allah (If God Wills) I will return to Cedar Point someday soon and take on this terrifying coaster!

The Wedding

So our third week is coming to a close so I'm going to update you on a few different things. The wedding was an absolute blast! I'm going to use real names because if you have been on my facebook you have seen that I have a few new friends. Khadigah is the one who invited us to the wedding and we hung out with her at the wedding. There were two separate rooms, one for men and one for women. We were not really sure what to wear so we dressed modestly, however, all the women were just wearing normal dresses you would see them wear to any wedding. Also none of them were wearing hijabs and everyone was just eating, dancing, and having a good time. There were SOOOO many people there, it was crazy but I loved it. We were taught a dance called the debkah which is a very simple dance that reminded me of greek style dancing. We also did a little bit of "freestyle" which was fun. After the wedding we went to a coffee shop called Tim Horton's, if you are living in a state that borders Canada, you will know what a Tim Horton's is. But its a good coffee place, a lot of which stay open 24 hours. It was so relaxing just to sit and talk with Khadigah and a couple of her friends. There was no pressure to convert or awkward conversations. It was just like sitting with a group of friends and talking. We were able to ask them questions and they asked us questions and by the end we were laughing and just having a good time. This was only the beginning........