Visiting The Rouza

A couple days ago we finally found time to visit the Rouza - the giant blue mosque at the center of the city.  We pass it almost everyday on our way to the bazaars or to the other side of the city, but we had never actually gone inside the gate to take a look up close.  The Rouza is literally the reason for the existence of our M-town (the name of the city means "tomb of the saint"), and the city's roads are arranged like spokes of a wheel shooting out from the Rouza like a hub.  The Rouza is part mosque and part shrine to the tomb of Ali, a cousin to the prophet Mohammed and one of the first caliphs of Islam.  Local legend holds that because he did not want his grave desecrated by his enemies, his followers placed his body on a camel and let it wander out into the desert.  The Rouza supposedly sits on the spot where the camel stopped - where Ali is buried.

Although that may be a bit of a stretch, the Rouza itself is beautiful and during the local new year celebration it is said to be quite a tourist attraction for both the devout and the curious.

The Rouza itself is a cluster of buildings comprising a mosque, a shrine, and a sort of museum/gift shop, all of which are surrounded by a large park.  The park itself is actually very nice and peaceful, and turns out to be one of the few places in the whole country where there is NOT trash on the ground!  Walking between the fountains and trees and watching families eating on the grass almost made us forget for a minute that we were in an impoverished, oppressive Central Asian country.  It seemed so normal - so American!  Spring hasn't come yet, but we'll have to take pictures again once the flowers and trees bloom. 

The white pigeons of M-town are famous throughout our country, and there are hundreds of them at the Rouza.  Locals say that the pigeons were brown or grey before they came to M-town, but after visiting the shrine they turned white; because of the super-natural power of the place, you can't find white pigeons anywhere else, they say.  Somehow when we point out white pigeons in other cities, that doesn't seem to dissuade them at all....hmm.

The entire structure of the Rouza is covered with individually painted clay tiles fitted together to create larger designs.  It really is quite a site, and it's just as beautiful up close as it is from a distance.

This last picture gets as much of the shrine into the frame as we possible can.  (Many thanks to the gentleman who kindly provided us with scale - the fence he is standing next to is a good 10 ft above the ground on the other side and perhaps 50 ft from the actual door of the shrine)  Beyond this fence you are not allowed to wear shoes, and technically you must be Muslim to enter, although we know many foreigners who were allowed to visit.

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Thoughts From James Fraser

Lately I've been reading Mountain Rain, the biography of James Fraser.  Fraser moved to rural China with the intention that the local Lisu tribe would know the Truth, and - although I haven't finished the book yet - I've been struck by several of his insights into his experiences moving across the world with such a large task.   I was particularly struck by his quote below, perhaps because I've found myself almost subconsciously making the same excuses at one point or another.  It has been somewhat of a kick in the pants...perhaps I should stop waiting around for the perfect situation to present itself and instead get down to the business that I'm here for.

Excerpt from Fraser's diary::

"The temptation I have often had to contend with is persistent under many forms:  If only I were in such and such a position, for example, shouldn't I be able to do a great work!  Yes, I am only studying engineering at present, but when I am in training for CP work things will be different and more helpful.'    Or, 'I am just in preparation at present, taking courses and so on, but when I get to China my work will begin.'  Or, 'Yes I have left home now, but I am only on the voyage; when I am really in China, I shall have a splendid chance of service'.  Or, 'Well here in the Training Home all my time must be given to language study - how can I do God's work?  But when I am settled in my station and able to speak freely, opportunities will be unlimited!' 

"It is all IF and WHEN.  I believe the devil is fond of those conjunctions...the plain truth is that the Scriptures never teach us to wait for opportunities of service, but to serve in just the things that lie next to our hands.  The Lord bids us work, watch, and pray; but Satan suggests that we wait until a good opportunity for working, watching, and praying presents itself  - and needless to say, this opportunity is always in the future.  Since the things that lie in our immediate path have been ordered of God, who shall say that one kind of work is more important and sacred than another?  I am no more doing the Lord's work in giving the Word of God to the Chinese than you are, for example, in wrapping a parcel to send to the tailor.  It is not for us to choose our work.  And if God has chosen it for us, hadn't we better go straight ahead and do it, without waiting for anything greater, better or nobler?"

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A Moment to Savor

There's not much we wanted to say with this post...just sharing this photo with you.  We noticed the sky driving home from some errands, so we ran inside to grab the camera and climb to the roof.  There are very few things about this place that are beautiful, but occasionally we have moments like this that remind us God didn't just "run out of paint" before He got around to creating this part of the world.  Enjoy it - we certainly did :)

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Happy Groundhog Day

As of yet, we haven't figured out if there is an equivalent custom here for determining when winter will end.  There aren't any groundhogs here, so that can't be it.  Currently we're enjoying an unusually warm couple of weeks with highs during the days of 50s and 60s (Fahrenheit), so maybe we'll get lucky and escape with a mild winter.

We've been MIA for the last few weeks not only because we've been battling some head colds, but also because we just welcomed several new teammates to our city.  We've been incredibly busy getting their new houses set up for them, and introducing them to life in Central Asia.  We've watched with empathy as they've begun to struggle through some of the same things we experienced when we first arrived: working out a schedule around inconsistent power, cooking in something that resembles a reasonable amount of time, and keeping a house running with shoddy appliances and faulty plumbing.  Already one family has passed the standard Central Asian rite of passage - they've had to call the plumber out to their house 5 times because each time he shows up, he fails to fix the problem.

Yet to a certain extent, watching them and helping them has been very encouraging for us.  We're certain they will catch on quickly, but they arrived with absolutely no idea of how to live here and not a single word of Persian.  It's very easy for us to only look at how far we still have to go - how many words we don't understand or how much we can't do - and never notice how far we've come.  After only a couple of months, we can easily perform all the basic life functions and carry on full length conversations...in Persian.  Although we're far from where we want to be, we're much farther along than we realized, and we're still making progress.

We were walking home from school today, passing shops selling carrot juice and camels grazing in trash heaps by the roadside, when it struck us how few of these things even strike us as strange anymore. It's no longer unusual to pass a Corolla with 4 women riding the popped trunk because there are already 7 people in the car, or to have to plan the clothes-washing schedule around the times we'll have city power. We wouldn't go so far as to say we feel "at home"....maybe we're just caught off guard less!

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