Naw Ruz Mobarak

Happy New Year!!  This week we celebrated the Persian New Year.  The actual New Year was on Tuesday but true to form the government took Wednesday off too.

Monday afternoon I received a text from Noel that he would be stuck in Herat for the night due to the dust storm that was going on in Kabul.  I had my windows and doors all shut but still had layers of dust and you could smell the dust in the air.  The snow is almost melted and the green is still to arrive making more dust than usual.  The kids and I invited over one of my single teacher friends and fed and entertained her.  One thing I have found here is that people can easily feel isolated and alone.  It is like you need a good network to keep going strong.  So we have been trying to reach out more to the teachers I work with.

Tuesday Noel made it home safely.  He enjoyed seeing Herat a bit but was glad to be home.  Most of our day was spent at the International School.  It started after lunch with an ice cream social.  This is our first ice cream in a while since it has been so cold and it was yummy.  I think David had two bowls.  Then we headed to another part of campus to participate in the Annual Wiffleball game followed by a meal of hamburgers and the goodies everyone brought.  It was a relaxing day of being outside and hanging with friends.  It also gave Noel a chance to get to know better the people I work with everyday.

Wednesday Noel headed back to work for short flight day.  The kids and I had a lazy morning and I put away some winter things in hope we are done with winter for this year.   In the afternoon David and I went to my friend Aquilla’s home.  Aquilla and I share a classroom at school.  She is the Dari teacher.  We enjoyed chatting with her, her daughter and her daughter in law.  They fed us Haft Mewah which is a drink that you eat that has seven fruits in it.  It was good but I couldn’t eat it all.  This is a traditional drink for Naw Ruz.  Our conversation would switch back and forth between English and Dari.  They answered my questions about why my chaikidor was taking fish to his fiancé’s family.  I also learned more why the wedding dresses here are green.  The green signifies luck for the new couple.   I appreciate Aquilla a lot.  We help each other out at school.  We pray for each other’s families.  She is a good friend.  One thing that has been hard here is finding an Afghan friend where you feel like you are truly friends not that they want something from you.  I would say Aquilla just wants to be my friend and for this I am thankful.  Everywhere we go David is loved on.  I guess it is a boy thing.  We left with a big box of cookies that were for David.  So feel free to stop by and have a few.  We have plenty left.   We will even serve you some tea to go with them.

Happy New Year!!  Teresa

Prayer Requests:

Noel’s health.  He has a lot of congestion which is not good for a pilot.  Pray that the antibiotic he is taking will work and he can get rested up this weekend.

Continue to pray for Rahmat our national worker who lost many family members in a house fire.  Pray for his wife’s continued recovery and for their surviving son.

Pray for Amy and Jonathon who are arriving today and will be a part of our team.  Jonathon will fly and fix planes.  Amy will be a teacher at ISK.  She is a math teacher too.

Praise: The weather is warming up.  Spirits are lifting.  God is good.