Andrew Murray can be very difficult to read; just now during lunch, I struggled through Chapter 12 of his book, Humility.

I had to read each sentence at least twice to get the message and sometimes I think I only got a glimpse of the depth of his writing.

One section really jumped out though, partly because it was easy to understand, but mostly because of the analogy and meaning.

The highest glory of the creature is in being only a vessel, to receive and enjoy and show forth the glory of God. It can do this only as it is willing to be nothing in itself, that God may be all. Water always fills first the lowest places. The lower, the emptier a man lies before God, the speedier and the fuller will be the inflow of the divine glory.

There is a large dose of humility that comes with living in Tehran. We talk like three-year-olds, our sense of humor is lost on Iranians, and the culture often plays tricks on our trusting nature. In the midst of this, I still find myself looking for ways to exalt myself and claim higher ground in my own strength.

We deserve residence permits, we deserve not to be robbed, we deserve the right directions to a store (or a truthful “I don’t know where it is.”), we deserve to be served our food in the order that we requested it.

Thoughts like these are easy to think when I forget that I am just a vessel to hold the water that God pours in. I pray that I will lay low and empty before God so He can fill me up with divine glory. Then I can overflow in a land that is as dry as a desert.

May we all desire to be low-down vessels so God can fill us and get all the glory from our overflow!

The complete chapter is here: http://www.unveiling.org/Articles/humility12.htm

Jeff

I’m beginning to really relate with Iranians in some aspects of life. I feel life is so much more of a challenge here than other places I’ve lived. I’ve been pretty spoiled most of my life with comfort and now I find I’m squirming a bit when faced with even a little discomfort. Tehran is a very metropolitan city and there are definitely harder places to live in this world. But getting around without a car presents a huge challenge to me here. Truth is back in the States, in Tempe or Phoenix getting around without a car is a huge challenge as well (I’ve ridden the public bus there and experienced the frustration). This is just my first experience since my undergrad years where I’ve had to live without a car. And having a toddler along for the “ride” makes it even more challenging. Today I walked uphill about a mile up the main street near our home (Jordan St.). It was rough going particularly because the sidewalks don’t accommodate strollers very well. When we first arrived in Iran I remember finding it strange that I didn’t see more kids in strollers. Now I fully understand. Sometimes it’s just not worth the hassle. However, today the end of our trip uphill resulted in a great reward. I found a cold store that carries brown sugar and pancake syrup!! You have to rejoice over finds like these here. Becky and I have been searching high and low for both of these items. You just never know what you’re going to find when you walk into a little cold store.  Anyhow, there are other aspects of life that seem tougher, but I won’t bore you with those details.  Despite all my squirming under the discomfort, I know in my mind and heart that this is where God wants me and I’m happy to be here because of that.  Plus there are many wonderful and beautiful aspects of the culture and life here that bring joy to each day.  The difficult aspects are hopefully building a deeper character in me and I pray that “my roots” may go deeper during this time (from an analogy my sister reminded me of:  grapevines produce better grapes if their roots are forced to go deeper through a little drought/”discomfort”).

Yesterday I took Tad up to a playground about a mile away and just let him run around and play. Near the end of our time there I was approached by a woman saying she wanted to make a “movie” (probably more like a commercial) of Tad for a toy company. She took my phone number and says she’ll call me later with details. We’ll see if anything comes of it. But keep your eyes peeled for the infamous blond hair, blue eyed, American in an Iranian commercial!

I’m excited to have met a woman that lives down the street from me yesterday. She has a daughter about Tad’s age and I think she’s interested in spending more time with us. She doesn’t speak any English and is very patient with me as she rattles off her Farsi and I frequently have no idea what she is saying. Yesterday I think she was asking if it’s hard on my parents for me to be in Iran. Very thoughtful question and yes it is. I tried to communicate that to her - not sure if I succeeded. She also asked me if it’s hard for me to wear the Iranian clothing…the scarf and manteau. I told her it really wasn’t too bad, and it’s really not. After struggling to communicate a bit more, we said our goodbyes and I prayed for another opportunity to see her again. Today as Tad and I returned from our uphill excursion, we saw her and her daughter again. We tried to communicate back and forth about going to the park that is close by, but I’m not sure we actually set a time to go together, which is what I was trying to do. I think she said she will go tomorrow but I’m not sure what time. You can see how desperately my language skills need to improve! I have started a Farsi course two nights a week that I think I will really enjoy, so that should help a little.

Jeff and I are off on a hunt to find some sort of net to cover up Tad’s bed each night. We have an ongoing war with mosquitos in our apt. and Tad is getting the brunt of the wounds. He must have 20 bites on his body now from the past 2 weeks. We’ve tried everything but the netting….insecticide, bug zapper, covering all our a/c vents, and smashing as many as we can, but they keep coming. It’s a plague of sorts, so we’re praying for a solution! The netting will at least keep Tad safe at night when the majority of them bite.

Until next time….

Debra

For those of you that don’t receive Cody’s blogs, he recently detailed a challenging experience that they went through a few days ago.  Click here to read more…http://eternalforeigner.blogspot.com      I am somewhat saddened by it, but also see that God is receiving glory through it all and for this I have joy.

Yesterday we journeyed up to the mountains (Tochal) accompanied by the son (Ali) of the tour guide we used on our trip to Tehran last September.  Jeff mentioned to him the other day that we were eager to get up into the snow before it all melts and the very next day he called and offered to drive us up there.  This was Tad’s first exposure to snow and he loved it.  He seems meant for cold weather as he gets giddy when a cold wind blows in his face (unless it’s frigidly cold like at the top of the mountain…then he cries).  We took the telecabin half way up the mountain, played in the snow and then decided to brave it up to the top of the mountain in another telecabin.  We got out at the top, walked around for 5 minutes in zero visibility conditions and frigid winds (this is when Tad started crying) and immediately decided to head back down to the midway point for lunch.  At lunch a group of ladies fell in love with Tad.  Click the link below for pictures.  He was quite the hit.  After lunch we returned to the bottom of the mountain and enjoyed a warm walk back to the car.  It was amazing to see the difference in weather between the bottom of the mountain and the top.   We were blessed to enjoy more of
Iran’s beauty. 

Pictures:  http://www.blessingandhonor.com/images/tochal0407

Daily life carries on, becoming more normal each day.  I’m still being challenged in the area of cooking/shopping as I’m having trouble finding a few of my key ingredients.  Tad is picking up a bit of Farsi here and there and says “Samam” (Salam = hello or Peace) on occasion as well as “Hafez” (Khoda Hafez = goodbye or God be with you).  He knows a few other words and we’ve decided he is our role model in language learning…he repeats new words over and over until they stick.  I’m eager to learn more of the language and am praying for a language helper to emerge.  

Until next time….Khoda Hafez!  

As we prepared to leave Bahrain, I did some research and found that sending extra suitcases via air freight was one fourth the cost of taking them on the plane and paying the extra baggage fees. The fees have gotten crazy lately, upwards of $200 per suitcase on the airline we used.

I sent our extra suitcases ahead and was assured that claiming them was as easy as pie.

Apparently pie is very difficult in Iran.

First, an Iranian gal in the office helped me by doing a bunch of calling over a period of five or six days to get the required paperwork sent over via courier.

Then today, Ali, the 27 year-old son of our previous tour guide drove me to the airport to actually pick up the suitcases. After two hours of Ali running around between three buildings getting papers stamped, having different new papers signed, paying various fees, and pleading “Yes we should have brought a passport, we’re bad people. Can you sign this anyway?”, Ali and I drove back to Tehran with luggage in the trunk and compressed-chicken-parts sandwiches in our bellies.

Looking at all the mess to get the suitcases, Ali was a true blessing. I had planned to take a taxi by myself, get my suitcases, and take a taxi back. That just never would have happened.

Ali was in the office today because during our trip to Iran in September 2006, we told our tour guide (Ali’s father) that we would like to meet Ali to see if he would be a good fit as our first new-hire after the company got up and running. Ali is a go-getter and would be an asset to our company. Watch for continuing log entries about him, I think he will be a good friend to Cody and I.

God keeps providing for us in all types of neat ways through the people we meet.

Jeff

Greetings from Iran. We’ve now been in Tehran for nearly a week. In some ways it’s hard to believe we’ve been here that long already. In some ways it’s hard to believe we’re here at all. It’s somewhat surreal. We’ve visited before, but just knowing that our intention is to stay this time makes everything different.

After three nights in a hotel, we found a temporary apartment to house us for a few months until we can stabilize and figure out which part of Tehran would be best for us to live in, and specifically which neighborhood. Our Iranian business partner has helped us out in numerous ways and we’ve greatly enjoyed his hospitality. He and his wife met us at the airport at 2am last Sunday morning with flowers in hand for each family and a rented minibus to get our luggage to the hotel they had arranged for us. They played such a huge role in getting us here and they continue to be such a blessing to us.

We are just beginning to experience some of the many challenges associated with immersion in a new culture. I’m so grateful to have Jeff here to take care of me. He’s doing a great job of getting Tad and I around and providing the things that we need. Of course God is playing a role in that too and He’s taking good care of us as well! Getting groceries is quite the experience. I’m embarrassed to say that I still haven’t learned the Farsi numbers. But I realized at the grocery store that I will need to learn very quickly as I try to compare all the prices. Jeff was there to help me figure out what the prices were, but it definitely took at least twice as long as normal to figure out which brand of….fill in the blank….to buy. Today as I was examining the milk bottle from our fridge I realized I couldn’t figure out the expiration date. I took it to Jeff and he discovered the date is according to the Persian calendar. As if things weren’t confusing enough!! So our milk expires 86/01/21. I’m just hoping we use it up before then, because I have no idea when that is!

We enjoyed having the Steele’s over last night for spaghetti. After our time together I was really impacted by how richly blessed we are to have friends here with us. As they were leaving they asked if this was the first meal I had cooked in Iran and I realized it was. They congratulated me and I realized how good it felt to have someone recognize what an accomplishment that really was for me!! It was missing a bit of spice and flavor, but still!

Tad is undergoing a bit of a rough adjustment. When we arrived in Iran he had a cold and he’s been fighting it all week. I think he’s also feeling the severity of the change that we’ve just made. When we took him to the park today he started naming people that we used to see at the park in Bahrain and I had to keep saying “no, we won’t see them at the park today. We’re going to make new friends.” He’s so young and of course will adapt, but the lack of familiarity is still wearing on him a little. He hasn’t been his normal self. But the Iranians still seem to love him! And of course so do we:)

We enter the weekend of commemorating Christ’s resurrection and it will definitely be a different experience for us here. The weekend has actually just ended as I write this on Friday night. Sunday will be a normal work day here. So we’ll have to figure out some special way to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection as a family. May you remember Jesus’ sacrifice and the miracle that his life continues to be for us today as you spend time with friends and family.

Debra