The hail storm . . . and a Christian Pakistani Church

Last night it rained! And . . . I mean it rained HARD with hail included (around a nickel to quarter sized). Although a very hard rain, this morning it just felt like everything had been cooled off - - - so refreshing! It was overcast and much, much cooler than it has been for the last 2.5 weeks! However, the hail did do some damage to the plants, shrubs and trees around the area. Stripped leaves were everywhere! The guest house workers were out early this morning beginning to clean up the debris from the night's hail storm. I'm so glad I took pictures of the beautiful landscape a few days ago. It looks much different now!

But, we were so excited for this Sunday morning because this morning . . . we attended a Christian Pakistani church - Saint Thomas Church. It was very close to the guest house, just 5 minutes by car. We attended the 11:00 English service and saw many, many different nationalities. We were among the few Caucasians, but we still felt right at home. We aren't quite sure exactly what denomination the church is, but it truly doesn't matter. Just being in the midst of the spirit of a Christian church was such a refreshing, spirit-lifting experience. The songs/hymns were very familiar and I just smiled as I sang along with others singing in broken English or a definite accent. It made me feel so at home! How I have missed this worship time!

The church was a small, beautiful brick church, somewhat "open air" (meaning the doors & windows were kept wide open). The entire ceiling was covered with fans that kept the air circulating. The coolness of the day-after-the-storm made it even more enjoyable. It was the perfect temperature - around 80-85 degrees! Before we entered the courtyard of the church, the security/police scanned everyone with a metal detector security wand and Uppa D had to open the diaper bag for inspection. Another subtle reminder of where we are and that we are Christians in a Muslim world!

There was a sweet Nigerian family sitting in front of us. They had the sweetest little boy, about 3 years old. He kept looking back at Sweet Pea and just kept smiling at her. Sweet Pea got the giggles and smiled back at him. His mother finally turned around and when she saw Sweet Pea, she just had to hold her! The mother reached back and literally snatched Sweet Pea up, out of my arms, clucking her tongue at the beauty of this baby girl (LOL!)! And . . . if I do say so myself, Sweet Pea was just dressed like an angel (Aunt MJ, the sweet pink/white dress was gorgeous on her!) There was no way I could have said No (and I wouldn't have wanted to anyway - it was all done in such a sweet, loving way!) After about 10 minutes, once this mother was finished holding her, the Pakistani mother next to me wanted to hold SP as well! It was such a joy to show off my sweet daughter! I was just such a very, very proud Mama!

In the midst of all the "baby holding" the service did continue! :) The pastors were Pakistani and we were able to take in most of it. The broken English didn't phase us at all, we were just so glad to be worshipping in God's house, enjoying the music and praying with other believers. What I got out of the message was "making time for Jesus". In Pakistan, the work week is usually 6 days a week, so the message was about how to make time for God, even though there is just 1 day of holiday in the week, God still needs us to make time for Him. The scriptures came from Ephesians and Luke.

At the end of the service, we were able to take communion. The best word I can describe the experience of communion in Pakistan is - "Rich". It was such a "rich" experience. One that I will always remember. I knelt at the alter . . . holding my new, baby daughter, with tears, thanking God for this opportunity of adoption, of travel to Pakistan, of opening my heart, mind and soul! Nothing compares to knowing you are doing the will of God! My heart, spirit and soul were so at peace this morning.

After the service, tea was served and everyone mingled. I finally was able to visit with the Nigerian mother - her name is Laurie (not sure if the spelling is correct, but that is how she pronounced it). She was just clucking her tongue and saying over and over what a beautiful, precious child Sweet Pea is! We also met a couple from Australia and had a wonderful conversation with them. Our time went so quickly and then Sadeem was there ready to take us back to the guest house.

Such a wonderful, wonderful experience - We can't wait to attend next Sunday.

Here are some pictures of our Sunday in Pakistan!

Dressed in our "Sunday Best"!

Outside the church . . . Uppa D, Sweet Pea & Mama.

Our new friend, "Laurie" from Nigeria!

We ended the day with lunch with Sadeem and the discussion of the Embassy appointment tomorrow morning, making sure I understood what the objective of the meeting needed to be and the documents that I needed to discuss with the embassy official. Sadeem can only take us so far into the US Embassy and then we are on our own. I'm not worried at all. Sadeem has prepared us well!

Sweet Pea and Uppa D were so tired they took a long nap! Sweet Pea slept for 3 hours, then woke up for a bottle, then went back to sleep for another 3 hours! Mama had a lot of time to catch up on computer work! :)

Love to ALL!

~Hugs

Mama, Uppa D & Sweet Pea