March is the beginning of spring in many places in the world, but in the UAE it is the beginning of summer! Temps are beginning to rise, but the evenings are still pleasant. UAE is excited about their first astronaut, Sultan AlNeyadi, to work in the International Space Station. He will be onboard the orbiting laboratory for 180 days conducting experiments. The space mission will launch on March 2.

Michael and Ahmed meet up for coffee regularly.  As they were catching up over their espressos, Ahmed opened a conversation topic that they had never discussed before – WITCHCRAFT!  A manager in his company, while they were eating lunch, warned Ahmed to watch his relationships with colleagues. 

Abedi is from a nearby country of the UAE where most of the local population are Muslim.   He became a Christian outside of his country and then moved to Dubai.  He found a solid evangelical church and began to grow in his faith.  He went through an intentional discipleship program that lasted about a year.   When the year was finished, he understood what it meant to be a follower of Christ.

Rob and Martina often have neighbor families and families from their children’s school over for holidays, birthday parties, and dinners. They’ve found by inviting families into their home to share family life, these friends will naturally pick up on the differences in their own families. 

The desert is blooming! The drive from Dubai to Ras al Khaimah was green with grass growing along the side of the road reaching into the desert. Palm trees are also green instead of their usual dusty brown. The unusual downpour lasted about three days causing a bit of chaos.

Blessing used to spend her weekends mixing melodies for her local church choir in Nigeria, but now she barely has a day off much less a weekend to go to church.