Hey Everyone! Well we had two wonderful weeks in Oman! It was amazing to fly into a country and see everyone driving on the right side of the road... :) It was definetly a culture shock going to a place like that after India. It was interesting driving on roads that were not full of chaos, and in cars, not rickshaws ;)
We spent our first few days there just talking to our Dad and asking Him what it is we were supposed to do there. We felt like we were there to encourage the body, where there was a lot of disunity, work with the youth, and encourage a specific couple that was there, Sparky and Renuka.
We got to work with Junior High and High School kids. We basically worked within the ex-patriot community, so the people that weren't actually from Oman. A majority of the people that we worked with were from the States, England, India, South Africa, and New Zealand. It was pretty cool. The students were awesome! It was interesting to work with kids who have such a different lifestyle I had. Because of their parents jobs they are constantly moving around. I met one 11 year old girl who had already lived in 13 different countries! It was a lot of fun working with the students and sharing with them what we were doing.
We also got to be part of a home group. We were expecting to be working with people our own age, but we ended up being with a group of upper class middle aged people. Dad definetly spoke through us there though, and we made some good friends! It's interesting how it doesnt matter how old you are, or where you come from, Dad can speak through you and into people that you have nothing in commen with. He's cool like that :)
Sparky and Renuka became amazing friends! We ended up hanging out with them a majority of the time that we were there. They were around our age and had just gotten married. They worked with the youth and Renuka had gone through the same program we're doing. They were in the middle of some disunity within their church and so it was good to be able to encourage them a bit and hang out with them and get their minds off of what was happening for awhile. It was an awesome time, and we will have friends in Oman now forever!
So all in all Oman was incredible! I really loved it there and I would love to go back one day. We got a chance to see the country a bit. We went up into the mountains for an afternoon and saw tons of Omani goats! They live up in the mountains because it isnt so hot... and oh billy... its hot in Oman. It was near 120 degrees almost everyday that we were there. But up in the mountains it was around 90. the goats would come up and let you pet them. We named one Matilda. Interesting goat. While Justin was walking down the mountain he stepped on a stick and it went through his sandle. His foot was profusly bleeding, so he stopped the bleeding with a tissue and then threw the tissue in the garbage... Well Matilda ate the tissue. Yes, very gross. Josie saw Matilda eating the tissue which in turn made her gag, which of course made us all laugh and it was just a whole dibocle. Intersting times in Oman.
But my favorite part... I got to see a sea turtle! Actually I got to see several sea turtles! I had been asking Dad to see sea turtles the whole time we were there... On one our last days we took a boat ride and I had mentioned something about turtles. The guy giving us the tour wanted more money to take us to see the turtles, but another guy said he would take us for free, and that he did! Sea turtles are cool, I'm pretty sure they're my favorite. But our Dad loves us that much. He heard me talking about the sea turtles, so he decided to show them to me.
A cool place Oman is... I loved it there!
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