We arranged with Abu Muhammed’s family that we would bring some foreign friends and paint their living room and ceiling for them. Many of the walls in the house were peeling and stained, and we wanted to bless the family with a fresh coat of paint.
We invited three young men from a short term team to help us with the project. As is typical in this part of the world, our morning got started later than we had hoped. Along the way to Abu Muhammed’s house we snacked on breakfast foods and drank a lot of water, unsure if we would be allowed to eat or drink inside the house once we arrived, as the month of Ramadan had already begun.
Abu Muhammed was glad to see us. We brought the paint and the equipment up the stairs and set everything down on the floor. Before we could even get started, however, Abu Muhammed offered us coffee, and they began making it without even waiting for our answer. Shortly thereafter we were offered cold water and Coca-Cola. They made it quite obvious that they did not expect us to fast from liquids while we worked in their house!
After a few mis-starts (as none of us are expert painters), we found a good system and began painting the ceiling a bright clean white. A few minutes later, as we were still trying to finish drinking our coffee, they began making tea for us.
We continued working, trying to balance displaying gratefulness for the tea and coffee while not getting distracted from the task at hand.
Just when we thought we were in the clear… they made another round of tea for all of us! I whispered to Bishara that we needed to finish the painting project quickly before we completely emptied out the family’s supply of tea!
The younger kids were running around barefoot, curious and shy. Some of them were singing little snatches of the worship songs that we have been teaching them over the last few weeks. I tried to remind them of all the words, but they just giggled and ran away.
We did finish the project, around lunchtime, and we took pictures in the finished living room soon thereafter. We had to make our escape quickly, so the family would not feel obliged to feed us lunch.
We all enjoyed the opportunity to bless Abu Muhammed’s family in this very practical way. We trust that God will use even this humble gesture in His continued work on the hearts and minds of this family.