a day with amber.

Our church sent us on this trip to North Africa both to connect with the mission agency we partner with, and to visit our friend Amber. She’s been a member of our church for several years, and was a faithful servant, friend, and Life Group leader, before moving overseas eight months ago.

This was a highlight of the trip for us. We planned two days and two nights with her, but sadly the flights kept getting delayed over and over in the weeks leading up to our trip, until in the end we had only one day — 18 hours to be exact — with her. And so I asked people to specifically pray that God would multiply the time we had together.

And He did just that.

Amber and an American friend picked us up at the airport bright and early at 6:30 am.

One interesting thing we discovered about this part of the world is it’s blazing bright outside at about 5:00 am, then it seems like the sun begins its descent at around 4:00 pm, and things cool off. So even after staying awake all night in the airport, the bright sky helped jar us awake a bit.

 

 

 

Amber’s friend dropped us at her apartment, which is the top floor of a several-story house owned by a local family. It’s clean, bright, and spacious.

She served us a delicious breakfast frittata, fruit, yogurt, and coffee.

It felt amazing just to be able to spread out in someone’s home, even for one day. We were able to use her guest room to unpack a bit and re-organize our things, throw in a load of laundry and take showers. We felt like new people.

Then, it was time to explore.

 

 

The city is very old with lots of fascinating ruins that I would’ve loved to visit after last year’s study of Ancient History with my kids, but because time was of the essence, Amber decided to take us straight to a historic clifftop village just out of town overlooking the Mediterranean Sea that she’d been wanting to see.

We loved hearing her Arabic as she caught us a cab and navigated our way.

One thing we noticed right away during our drive through the city is that while the plumes of dust still rose everywhere, there’s a lot more green.

It has a quieter feel than the other places we’d been in North Africa. In fact, on some streets, the whitewashed stone walls and apartments, stately palm trees, and bright tropical plants were reminiscent of Barbados.

Something that stood out to us from the moment we reached the airport, is that here the Arabic is sprinkled with French, rather than with English. It sounds very sophisticated.

While this country is still conservative, we didn’t see any burkas. There was a larger mix of dress and a few more women out and about.

 

 

Our taxi driver turned off one of the main roads and wound around a bend that led us to a tiny old town that seemed straight out of a storybook, with its shady, cobbled streets, climbing vines, blinding whites and brilliant blues.

We were utterly charmed, and when Amber paid our fare, we set out to see it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the randomness of tourist areas in other countries. Someone is always wanting money from you. This is true in the United States too; we just have different ways of going about it.

As the three of us strolled to a look-out spot to see the view, a man marched up to us and before we knew what was happening, put a baby falcon on David’s shoulder.

That’s right. A baby falcon.

 

 

 

He wanted money, obviously, so he chattered away in Arabic while perching it on both our shoulders, but the coins we offered him were apparently so offensive to him that he wouldn’t take a dime, and went looking for other unsuspecting victims.

Here’s the view we wanted to see:

 

 

Isn’t it stunning?

The pictures simply do not do the color of the water justice.

We decided to find a cafe and just sit and sip espresso and take in this astounding view. Thankfully, there were plenty of options.

 

 

 

 

 

It was very, very hot, but we were all so happy to be reunited, sitting at that magical cafe on the cliff, drinking velvety, bitter coffee overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, talking a mile-a-minute.

It made every tearful moment in Terminal One worth it.

I sort of imagine heaven like this, only without the back sweat.

 

 

After coffee, it was only natural that we prolong the experience by ordering lunch.

David got his new favorite, “Mixed Grill,” while Amber and I opted for Nutella crepes. Yum. Nutella crepes are perfect for a queasy stomach.

 

 

 

After lunch, it was time for some shopping.

I was determined during our stay in North Africa to find something for our new kitchen back home, but we’d struck out in our last country. This area was much more my style, with woven Turkish rugs, brightly painted ceramic dishes, tiny vases, and lots and lots of jewelry.

We ducked into a shop, where the owner greeted us with open arms like long-lost friends. While he grabbed his father to introduce to us, Amber and David both told me in hushed tones that when it came time for bargaining, I should just keep my mouth shut.

I know this drill. I have a terrible poker face. Shop owners can smell my hesitation, I learned this living in India. So I try to melt into the background and let others do the talking.

Our new shop owner friend snapped his fingers and we were given mugs of steaming hot mint tea while we browsed.

See? Don’t you want to live here?

 

 

I chose a few things I liked, and then the real work began.

The price he quoted us was about four times what Amber whispered that we could get the same items for in the downtown market near her house. I pointedly looked around and sipped my tea while David talked to him. Argued with him.

This went on for awhile. David stood his ground.

There was a particularly memorable moment when our friend wouldn’t budge any lower on his price, and David and Amber set their half-drunk tea cups down on his counter and turned and looked at me. Head down, I sadly returned my cup too.

The three of us headed to the door. And then he stuck out his hand to David. We had a deal.

He rattled off to Amber in Arabic that she must bring all her guests to his shop in the future, and we said our good-byes.

He still got a very generous price, and I was a happy woman, with pretty bowls for my new kitchen, and a coral bracelet for Amie.

And I was so proud of Amber for learning how to stand her ground and bargain like a true North African!

 

 

 

 

As we took a taxi back to her flat that afternoon, I was struck by the contrast. Brilliant paint colors and gray dirt. Clean cobbled streets and garbage. The sparkling Mediterranean Sea, and traffic-clogged streets. Blue doors and white, graffitied doors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at Amber’s, David and I laid down for a nap, while she worked on language study.

We had plans to meet up with some of her American friends that evening for dinner, but I was still not feeling well at all. We invited them over to her apartment instead, but they ended up not making it. And it all worked out. Because the three of us just talked and talked.

God truly multiplied our hours together.

I’d specifically prayed for laughter during our visit — because I know how lonely and arduous the daily grind of making a life in another country is — and He answered. We laughed all day long as we talked and explored and took in the culture around us. A culture that God knows intimately and delights in.

We also had sweet times of prayer. And Amber asked so many good questions about church and ministry, as only someone who knows and loves our church deeply can. I felt touched that as busy as she is so far away, with studies and culture shock and lots of decisions to make about her life, she thinks of us all back home with love and prays for us and cares how we’re doing.

As with all the parts of this trip, David and I came wanting to bless others, but found that we ourselves were greatly blessed.

 

 

 

 

After a delicious dinner of leftovers, it was time to try to Stay Awake until the next airport run, so at around 9:30 at night, David said, “Okay! We’re taking a walk now!”

So we did.

Amber said she enjoyed it particularly because she’s not able to go out alone at night much as a woman, so she got to see a different side of her neighborhood.

See why it’s always in your best interest to take long walks in foreign countries? You might stumble upon this:

 

 

This is the neighborhood butcher. Complete with hooves.

The streets of North Africa come alive at night. We passed countless tiny cafes packed with men sipping coffee, smoking cigarettes, and laughing. There were fruit stands, supermarkets with their fluorescent lights shining brightly at 10:00 pm, children playing on the streets. And the occasional woman out shopping with friends.

It smelled like dust and stale urine and cigarette smoke and ripe fruit.

We’re so very proud of our friend Amber.

Many of you are praying faithfully for her, and I arrived in her city a bit anxious, longing to see for myself (as you probably are), if she’s really okay.

What a privilege to be with her in her new home. And I truly feel that it’s becoming — slowly but surely — just that. A home.

She’s working hard studying a very difficult language. I know she says she has a long ways to go, and she does, but as someone who was with her in the U.S. a mere 8 months ago, I feel like she’s made incredible strides.

My favorite part of our whole day together was when the three of us were out and about, rather conspicuous with our light skin. Amber would start speaking Arabic to the taxi driver or shop keeper or waiter, and their whole face would just light up. And they said, “You speak Arabic!?”

She was confident and talkative and funny. We had the best time together, the three of us.

I can happily report to you that God is answering your prayers: she’s thriving.

Please don’t stop praying.

I can’t wait to see how He’ll keep using her in North Africa, and using North Africa in her.