Traitor for Tea??

I hosted a public meeting for Operation Hope today so we could inform supporters of upcoming projects and brainstorm ideas for community service. We need to focus on some fundraisers and hope to engage more volunteers. It was a scramble after finishing at the shelter last night at 9pm, baking for Ethan till 11pm, and waking up at 4:30am to get Robert & Ethan off to Qatar for their Boy Scout camporee. I decided to serve finger sandwiches, sweets, & tea; so I got out the miscellaneous china collection everyone seems to love. My plan for the meeting was to re-cast the vision of Operation Hope, then break people up into interest area to work on specific projects.

For some reason, all the new ladies came with me to discuss "Trash to Treasure." I had 3 educators (from India, Poland & the UK) and one young Kuwaiti lady who is starting a community website. After a few minutes it seemed obvious that everyone in the group was likely Christian and operating off the "same sheet of music," even though all faiths are perfectly welcome at this level in the organization. One lady attending did continue to bring in her desire to communicate Christ through our work.

After about 45 minutes I was summoned to the kitchen by a long time OH volunteer who wanted to caution me that the Kuwaiti lady was highly suspected of being a "CIB" ---a what? "like the CIA" she patiently explained...a spy! She went on to explain why the Christian community held her in such regard and it did really raise my naive eyebrows to my hairline! I went from disbelief to denial to shock and anger...if indeed it's true...which we will probably never know. The girl's story of adoption in Kuwait, loss of her Kuwaiti dad, and growing up in California where her mother "passed" (do they say that in CA?) sounded a bit irregular. Her conversion at age 9 when she met a Christian family who modeled the love of Christ to her sounded almost too perfect...at least in retrospect.

Did I host a bright young lady full of questions & interested in supporting OH, or did I just have a traitor to my tea party? "Freedom of Religion" seems to come in degrees. We're thankful for the privilege of worship and assembly here, but I cannot digest the idea that Robert has always acknowledged: "assume you are being watched." I always thought societies moved toward more freedoms, not less. It's obvious there are many in this country who'd be happy to tighten the controls and reverse progress by becoming even less tolerant of democratic ideas. There have been many commentaries in the papers recently about the press getting squeezed by new regulations. Both girls have encountered the textbook police at their school removing material they find that doesn't portray the Prophet how they like, or makes reference to something in history they want to pretend does not exist. Yet in the midst of this, deep dialogue on important matters continues to take place in the classrooms where young minds from all over the world wrestle with topics like ethics & morality in high school honors English class. My kids may have a chance to influence the thinking of the upcoming generation of ruling Kuwaitis...there are plenty from the royal families their classes.