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| Hi everybody! I'm writing for the first time in a while because I've been on the road, so to speak, but now I've finally found a place to hang my hat here in Iraq. I left Mississippi last Wednesday, and it took me nearly 38 hours of travel time to arrive in Kuwait; with the time change, that meant it was after midnight on Good Friday when I landed. So I missed both Maundy Thursday and Good Friday worship, sadly, but I was thinking about you and hope your services at ULC went well.
In Kuwait I experienced my first sandstorm. They are every bit as rotten as they look in the movies. The wind is like a blizzard (no windchill, though, when the temp is 102), but the sand stings worse than sleet. It gets in every part of your body and stays there; my eyes were scratched and raw for hours afterward. If you're caught outside, as I was, your only choice is to walk in a straight line and hope you find a building, because you cannot see anything past your own nose. And they tell me that this was a pretty weak storm. They'll get worse as we get into the summer months. Anyway, I've arrived at my location, which is Al Taqqadum in Iraq, a Marine base just outside the town of Fallujah in the Al Anbar province. Tell all the Marines back at ULC that my unit is working with and for the Corps (in fact, we are helping protect them!). Al Taqqadum, known as TQ, is a former Iraq air base, and I'll be sending pictures some time of me standing next to former Soviet bomber aircraft that were part of the Iraqi airforce under Saddam. The base has a couple main roads, and otherwise is a mixture of desert, tents, and plywood/tin buildings. There are a few Saddam-era bunkers, but otherwise it's pretty barren. Most of my troops are here, although some are working in the city of Fallujah itself. We have a plywood chapel, and the flag from my last service in January is proudly flying over it. I have a small room to myself, roughly constructed from plywood and tin and duct-tape to keep out the dust (a losing effort -- I have to clean my air conditioner filter EVERY DAY). Tomorrow are my first services at the chapel. We have church at 9, 10, and 7 PM (aka 1900 hrs). We already have small groups or Bible study planned for every single night of the week. That's along with my regular staff meetings with the other officers, and the counseling I do during the day. It's full, but fulfilling. There is an openness to Christ among these soldiers, but many are still very rough and raw. I'm enjoying the challenge. Feel free to look up Fallujah or the Al Anbar province and learn more about where I am. It's been in the news almost as much as Baghdad, and for all the same reasons -- it's a dangerous place. But I hope to share some other news with you, too, about the great things we are doing to stop that violence and help the rest of the people here get on with their lives. God be good to you! |