The girls, there were only 5 us, got to clean and paint. Now, I am not talking cleaning like you clean your house every spring. No, I am talking some former tenants hadn't cleaned their apartments ever. One man had lived in the same apartment for over 8 years and never once cleaned his bathroom. Grace and I had the opportunity to clean this apartment. Let me tell you that never cleaning a shower for over 8 years leaves it extremely nasty. The word we used was "sicknasty". I mean we probably should have been in hazmat suits. It was gross. The staff even thought this tub was hopeless and they would have to install a new one. Well, Grace and I started out not wanting to clean this tub. I will admit we both had bad attitudes mine probably 10x's worse. But, we pressed on anyway. We sprayed the tub down and then went and prayed for the project. And then we started cleaning. We worked for the last 2 hours of the first day on this tub. We continued on it the next morning for another 2 hours. We repeated the process of spraying with bleach, going outside to pray, scrubbing it down, rinsing and repeating. So, 4 total work hours later, this tub is spotless. We grab a few of the staffers that were close by. They were shocked and overjoyed because it was a success. We had cleaned the tub and saved them a lot of money. Grace and I are so very excited about this and then the lesson dawned on us. We as sinners are like that tub; dirty, filthy messes and not worth the work its going to take to clean it, but thank goodness that God loves us because He comes in and cleans us up. He makes us spotless. Thank you Lord that You love me enough to come in and clean me up.
That same day that we finished cleaning the tub we took the teens to a mosque in Fayetteville. It was a difficult experience and one I don't think any of us will ever forget. After we finish cleaning for the day, we all clean ourselves up, have dinner and then drive over to the mosque. On the way there, we pray. When we get there, we are asked to remove our shoes and then the girls are sent upstairs while the boys remained down stairs. That was the first of the difficult experiences for the night. We are so used to worshipping with our brother and sisters in Christ. It made all of us girls feel like second class citizens. Upstairs, we see a huge one wait mirror wall the creates the balcony. We can see down to the guys and everything going on below us but they cannot see us. There are no pews, chairs or benches to sit on. When their prayer time starts we quickly learn why. They stand, bow, bow on their knees and kiss the ground. It was very ritualistic to say the least. There was no passion or emotion to it, they just went through the motions. After prayers, the men started a powerpoint downstairs that was difficult for the girls to see and we were having a hard time seeing. We broke off into groups and began asking the women questions so that we could learn. Pretty soon the man giving the presentation starts chastising us and telling us we are distracting the "brothers" and that us "sisters" should be quiet and listen. We all instantly stopped talking and kind of just sat there looking around. A little later we start asking questions again. In listening to this one woman, I never heard her say assurance of salvation or words like faith, grace and love. When asked how they get to heaven, she said they had a fear of Allah and a hope that their actions and good deeds would be enough to get them there. It was so overwhelming oppressing for me. Several of our girls were visible upset by what the women were saying. Many said that when we left all they wanted to do was to listen to praise and worship music. I have to admit, I even had to leave the room and go to the bathroom to clear my head for a minute. The fact that we were kept separate from the men, the fact that there was no emotion in their prayers, the fact that the women believed that they had tons of freedom and that all the things they as women had to do was enough to make anyone want to cry, but add in the fact that they meet 5 times a day, everyday believing that this will get them to heaven and I can't imagine how they could serve their "Allah or God" without loving him. It breaks my heart. They never said words like love, faith, assurance of salvation. There was nothing positive about it. The women were covered top to bottom in dark colors, nothing pretty.
It was definitely a difficult night but a lesson no of us will soon forget. In fact, for me, I have a new desire to see them "saved" from these oppression. Praise the Lord that I serve a risen Savior and that He loves me and desires a relationship with me. A relationship that was bought by His Son's death and resurrection.
The rest of the week was more cleaning and painting and helping out around the Lightbearers apartment complex. It was amazing to be with them for the week. Their mission is fantastic and I was so blessed to be there and to be able to help in a small way. The other great factor is that the new Executive Director was/is a friend of mine. Kevin McCollum and his family now operate those apartments. It was great getting to see him and several other friends from Fayetteville. I hadn't seen them in years and to work alongside them for a whole week was great! I have been praying for them now and will continue to pray that their work be blessed and that they reach many, many lives for Christ. I even made several new friends like Kristi and Joy. We don't yet know the true impact of all that was done last week, but we know that God was glorified and that everything we did was all for Him.
