Just as he navigates the sand sea, Pakistani drivers also have to bend with the waves of cultures coming from all directions in Dubai, hoping that they don’t crash.

Jasmine’s story highlights one of the truths about Dubai. It presents an opportunity to make money and support family, but it is an expensive city. Often an individual comes alone to make money and monthly send it back home to family.

After serving dinner to a family, a waiter and his wife were invited into the home of those they served. This was surprising for them. Most customers barely noticed them. This family though asked to invest in them deeply. They wanted to disciple them.

Urbanization of this corner of the Arabian Desert has brought not only skyscrapers and roads, but also the beautiful areas like neighborhood parks. Here, sand surrounds you up to the edge of the Persian Gulf. Most villa type homes and buildings are sand colored. The absence of a spectrum of colors is something residents mention.

Cheryl had the opportunity to travel to Europe for an evangelism project. The country was beautiful, and many Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula traveled there to escape the heat and enjoy the green scenery. One evening Cheryl was paired with another woman who just happened to be named Cheryl which they found to be humorous. They were both close to the same age and both introverts. They had an enjoyable evening connecting with different Arabs but were finding it difficult moving from social conversations to spiritual conversations.

So, the multiple languages impact corporate worship in the church, and they also impact one-to-one discipleship. Recently, I met a lady who heard the gospel in English and came to faith reading an English Bible. However, English is not her heart language. After coming to faith, she was baptized in an English-speaking church and then discipled in English.  

A month ago, this woman realized that she did not know how to pray in her heart language. She realized she had never shared the gospel in her heart language. She didn’t know how to study the Bible or make disciples in her heart language.