Day 26: Sunrise in the Gulf

Aug 24

We dragged our tired Canadian bodies out of bed at 4am this morning. Zab’s father drove us to the beach and watched as the hazy golden sun rose over the beautiful Persian Gulf. There is something special about watching the sunrise in a different country. We spent time sitting in silence, wading in the warm salty water, and taking pictures. I will remember this moment for a long time. We then drove back to Ahmadi to go to a Prayer Meeting at 6am. Five of us were there, and we prayed together until 7:00. Then we came back home, had breakfast and went back to bed until 9:00.

Zab’s mother cooked a remarkable meal for us with some fish caught in the Arabian Sea. Hamour is the name, and tasty is its game. This is Zab’s favorite fish.

We packed our things and then were surprised by Zab’s friends coming to visit us again. They brought us to the pool hall to play another game. We had a great time until the power went out and we were left playing pool in the dark. =) They refunded our money and we left to go walk the malls. We talked over some amazing coffees and then went back to one of their homes to look at pictures. I was glad to spend this time with Zab’s friends. They were fun to be around; I wish we would have been able to spend more time with them.

This evening we went to a Bible Study group with Zab’s parents. The songs, Bible readings, the message, and the prayers were all in Malayalam. It felt like I was back in India. It was good to be with them for this time, although it went from 9:00-11:30 and I was very tired from an extremely long day. At the end, they asked Zab and me to share a little about our lives. We got to share our testimonies and a little of what God is doing in our lives. They fed us our last Indian meal for the trip. It was delicious, but very late. It is very hard to get used to eating large meals so close to bed time.

We came home and are now packing and getting all our last minute things in order. We will leave the house at 9am and our flight leaves at 12:30pm. I cannot believe that our trip is already over! The camera is packed away in our luggage as it will not be allowed in our carry on baggage this time, so there will be no more images until we are back in Canada. I hope we do not meet anyone famous!

It is midnight, so I must go get some sleep! It will be a very long journey. Wish us luck through all the airport drama. We will let you know how it all went when we are back in beautiful Alberta.