Birthday in Iraq

Hello everyone!

My birthday weekend has come and gone, but I had an awesome time with all the new people I've met from PLC.

In the morning we had a time of prayer with the staff. One of the staff members introduced us to Syria and its current situation. Syria is full of corruption and strife, to the point that the local men cannot move from village to village without being shot at. We spent the entire morning in prayer for Syria and it was inspiring. The very thought that we can talk directly with God still makes me gape in wonder at His immense grace. Afterwards, we all headed to the local bazaar, which is a whole bunch of street side shops, full of the most awesome sights you'll see in all Iraq. From small goldsmith shops to butcher shops next to children's clothes, it's amazing anyone can find their way around. After wandering around for a few hours, we stopped to get some ice cream where we met a mid-20's shopkeeper who insisted we see his shop. So we headed out across the street into a mall building, right in the middle of the bazaar! While we were talking, he told us we could take some clothes for free. Now, one thing about the culture here is that everyone tries to give you something, usually to be polite, but occasionally people here will literally not let you pay for things. So we refused his gift as politely as we could and convinced him that we didn't want to take his wares for free, but it was an odd experience especially given America's traditional "out for #1" attitude. Then Tyler heard back from his friends I thought we were meeting at a local park, so we headed over to the park to hang out and chat with our local friends. Imagine my surprise however when instead it was the staff and interns from PLC with a surprise birthday picnic! Best office ever, I'm telling you. We were at Park Azadi which means freedom park. It's a place of both happiness and sadness. It's built over a place of devastation, where hundreds of people were executed and buried around the area over the last couple decades, but now it's a beautiful park full of flowers, families, and fun. I think it's a beautiful picture of recovery and growth. So after dinner the rest of the interns and I went to go ride some amusement park rides, located in the park itself! We hung out for a little while longer to relax with some chai tea and when it got late, we headed back to the house. A pretty awesome birthday in Iraq!

Work is going well, we're starting a new newsletter which I got to write and some more blog posts from the rest of the interns. It seems a little slow, but Matt assures me that we'll really start picking up when we start our summer Remedy Missions. I'm so excited for the Missions and I can't wait until we start covering them. Keep updated with our goings on at the PLC blog page!

One last thing before I go: all the interns have decided to make our conversations with everyone, including ourselves, more personal and impactful. I want to challenge you all to do the same and try to make every meeting with others significant.

Until next time,
Craig

1 Shower, 10 people – Not all at the same time

Our hammam. This summer I will be getting some strong thighs!

As Craig mentioned earlier this week we have a few more people living at our house and that brings the total to 10! For having that amount of people living under the same roof and only one shower, things are surprisingly calm. We all seem to get along pretty well and no major issues have broken out. Please pray for God's continued grace in this area because we will add one more to the crew in about a week and a half.

It has been nice to have Jeremy back from out of town this week and everyone in the office.  Jeremy and the rest of the staff have been very open with us about how PLC is run, the issues they run into, and how they make decisions. It has allowed me to take ownership of this internship and really become a member of PLC, which is exactly what they want. They also want us to become a part of the culture and one way they help us do that is with a couple of rules for making friends. One rule they have is say yes to EVERYTHING.

Some of my new Kurdish friends. 

Because of this rule and a crazy mountain climb I got to take part in last weekend I made my first Kurdish friend!  I met him at the bottom of the mountain I had just spent the last 12 long hours on and we hit it off right away. He speaks really good English and that day we were able to exchange numbers.  This past Tuesday he invited me to go hang out with his friends at a park so I took Craig along.  It was a great time hanging out and getting to learn about his life and the Kurdish culture. Please keep this relationship in your prayers.

Tonight we have another opportunity to meet local Kurds who speak English at a coffee night where we will help teach conversational English.  We have the opportunity to do this every Thursday night and it is a great way to make friends and exchange numbers. We would all appreciate your prayers on our behalf!

Lastly, I wanted to share a praise with all of you.  I know many of you have followed the story of my cousin’s baby, Madi. She was born with Congenital Heart Disease and has been battling for her life all of her life.  For the last 4 months she has been on top of the heart transplant list in Houston.  Earlier this week Madi received her new heart and she has been recovering nicely from a very intense surgery.  Praise God for her new heart and keep her in your prayers as well as the donor family. To follow her story check out her moms blog here.

I thank all of you for joining Craig and me on this journey.  It would not have been possible to get here without your support nor will it be possible to be effective without your support. 

Tyler

An awesome silhouette from halfway up the mountain. Can you guess which one I am?
Photo Credit - Matt Willingham

Industrious in Iraq!

Hello everyone,

It's been a wonderful week and a half in Iraq! I can hardly believe it's already been a week, everything just seems to fly by here. Working in the office is lots of fun; the staff is amazing, the other interns are the bees' knees, and the actual work material is awesome.

The staff members are all excited to have interns around for the summer and I'm excited because I get to work with these awesome people. The two founders of PLC are very well-spoken, have tremendous drive to do what needs to be done, and share a passion for healing children. Jeremy is often telling us about his stories about spreading PLC's work far and wide. I can't wait to hear more of what he's doing. Cody is the other face of PLC, working to help people understand what PLC is all about and how we accomplish everything. His wife Michelle is our financial advisor and helps the office get the resources it needs to save lives. Matt is the press secretary here and my direct supervisor, so I better not say much about him. He knows so much more than I could have imagined possibly even existing about social media, photography, and design. I don't know how I'll keep up with all this new stuff like blogging and the like. According to the PLC website, Matt's wife Cayla is the Remedy Mission coordinator, but it seems like she coordinates everything around the office. From intern duties to making sure everyone has everything they need, Cayla's the one who does what needs to be done. Awara is our culture guide, ensuring we don't do anything wrong this summer. I finally got to meet him this week because he was out with two of the other interns for a project, but now he's here and I can't wait to get to know him better. This summer is going to be amazing and the staff is a huge part of that. 

Some of us interns being goofy at lunch

I recently met two more of the interns, Alicia and Kendelyn! They were both in another town screening children for heart defects this last week and now they're back with all sorts of neat things to say. Kendelyn was there taking photos and she has some awesome photos from Iraq, which you can check out here on her blog. Alicia is a doctor-in-training and we've found her to be a great resource to have around. When you read all day about odd things like the tetralogy of fallot, it's great to be able to ask a person and not have to look it up on wikipedia.

I'm really excited because I've been given a project to work on! Matt has asked me to work on the biweekly newsletter PLC sends out and I'm stoked! I love all the stories of generosity I get to read about while I work and every part of PLC combines to make one amazing whole.

One week down, 9 more glorious ones to go! Until next time,

Craig

First Week Adventures

Choni? Bashi?


That is a common greeting here in Iraq and one we use often while meeting people on the streets, in the bazaar (market), or in stores.  Craig and I have already learned a lot of the language because on our first full day here we went out and did a scavenger hunt in the bazaar to get a few things we needed. It was also intended for us to learn how to ask for help and to learn useful phrases in the Kurdish language.

http://preemptivelove.org/

Our typical day looks something like this. We wake up and get ready in our sweet shower where we conserve water by turning on the water only to get wet and rinse off. Then we head out the door and walk to  the PLC office which is about 12.5 minutes away. After we get to work we start on our tasks for the day which for Craig and I have mostly consisted of writing, editing, and sending out press releases for us and the other interns. Yesterday the interns went out on our first lunch adventure without staff which proved to be very interesting and consisted of a lot of pointing and head nods. After lunch we head back to work until 5 and walk back to the house to start dinner.  Once we enjoy an amazing dinner there are many things we can do. Some of our nights have consisted of enjoying tea on the rooftop, hanging out in "common grounds" (a sitting area upstairs), or tonight we are going to meet friends at a local tea shop with a staff member Matt.

Craig and Tyler checking out "what's below" --Photo credit to Monique Ching

Living and working in Iraq has proven to be challenging and fun. I don't think I will ever fully adjust to the culture but it seems like everyday I learn something new about the culture that is different from our own, as well as something that we have in common. Thank you all for supporting me in this life changing experience.

Check out the Preemptive Love Coalition's blog here to see what they've been doing!

We're here!

Hey guys!

I'm done traveling and now I'm finally in Iraq! I've been here for only a couple of days, but I've already seen so many different things. The first day we arrived at the airport and went through security. I braced myself for the worst thinking the trip past customs and passport checks would be a trial, but instead I found myself walking through the airport, handing my passport to an officer and getting a polite nod to move along with no trouble at all.

Outside the airport Tyler and I met our gracious hosts for the summer, the Courtney family. We headed out to their home and chatted during the car ride about PLC's history and their vision for the future of the company. Once I got to the house, I met some of the other interns. David is a student from Texas who studies journalism and has been on many trips overseas. Monique is a recent graduate from New Zealand, Hong-Kong, and various other places. After going over the house ground rules, I went straight to bed and got ready for our next exciting day in Iraq.

Most of what I've experienced in Iraq has completely challenged my views about their culture, so this will be a tough first couple of days. I'm really excited though for the opportunity to be overseas and I'm having a great time meeting all the new people here.

Until next time,
Craig

First post!

Hello everyone!

Preparations are almost done and we're heading out in less than 3 days! We've been anticipating this week for the longest time and now it's finally here! In preparation for our trip, we've both been really busy. Tyler has been attending an Arabic class on top of all his other school work. I've been working on the language too, but at a much slower rate due to school. Everything from the past five months are finally coming together and I'm super excited for Saturday. Finals are wrapping up for both of us and it's only a matter of time before we're off for the summer. Thanks to everyone who have been giving support and encouragement as we've been planning for our trip.

Just a few more days!

Craig