Things slowed down a bit after the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Which allowed Christy’s colleague Marc (originally from Aberdeen, Scotland) to host a belated Robbert Burns Night. He had an array of Scottish Gin and Scotch Whiskeys, as well as some helpful literature on their regional roots. He also had several Burns poems in Scots, Swedish, German and Arabic.

The following morning, Christy’s church was graced by a contingent of Norwegian students (and their chaperones) who are traveling through Jordan and the Holy Land as part of their school’s mission to be better global citizens.

“Freedom and whisky gang thegither” – Robert Burns

“Gie me ae spark o’ nature’s fire / That’s a’ the learning I desire.” – Robert Burns

Sadie getting pronunciation pointers from Marc as she reads Burns’ “To a Mouse”, from which the phrase “the best laid schemes o’ Mice and Men” came into the cultural parlance.

Christy preaching to the congregation and Norwegian guests.

The students singing a hymn at the end of the worship service.

A popular Norwegian proverb is Ut på tur, aldri sur!, which translates as “Out on a trip, never sulky!” This is generally understood to relate to a cultural love of the outdoors, but it was also applicable to the groups openness to travel and being in new cultural contexts.