Sunshine in My Soul: Exploring the World without Leaving Massachusetts Avenue

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am fascinated by learning about new people and new cultures. There are very few things I would rather do more than learn about how other people live and experience life. Luckily I married someone who either shares this passion or pretends that he does (I haven't figured which one it is in our short three months of marriage). Mitch and I have set a goal that while we are in DC we are going to learn as much about other people as we can, we are going to explore different cultures and we are going to say yes to everything (as long as we can afford it and it doesn't go against the commandments or our beliefs). We don't want to miss out on anything!

Saturday there was the annual open house of the embassies, so Mitch and I took a bus to the South African embassy to explore. We waited in line for about an hour and then we got to go in and try some South African food and drink and look around the embassy. Mitch was in heaven eating South African food again - and for good reason - it was delicious! After we toured the South African embassy we were able to go to the Venezuelan embassy and the Belize embassy. It was such a neat experience to get a little flavor of these countries and it made me want to explore the world even more.

Mitch with the statue of Nelson Mandela outside of the embassy

We don't know who this guy is but we didn't want to miss out on getting a picture with him...
and I got to speak to him in Spanish!

On the same street of the embassies was the Islamic Center. There was a line to get in so we decided there must be something we needed to see! Mitch and I had the great opportunity to go into the DC Mosque. They gave me a veil to cover my head and a long skirt to wear over my clothes. The inside was beautiful! Everything inside the building was donated by Islamic countries across the world, which added to the feeling I had of leaving the US and exploring a place I may never visit.

Mitch and I made it to the Mosque at the perfect time because it was right before the third call to prayer of the day. I felt like the luckiest person in the world because we just happened to walk into a mosque and we just happened to be there at the time of prayer. A man in the mosque explained more about the Islamic religion to us and more about the call to prayer. Everyone that wasn't Islamic and wasn't participating in the prayer was invited to stay and sit in the back of the room and observe what the call to prayer was. Mitch and I were super grateful that we were able to be there for this moment. I don't know when I will ever be able to have that opportunity again. It was a very moving experience for me and I was grateful to be able to witness first hand how the Islamic people in DC (and across the world) profess their belief in God. I was so touched by their reverence towards prayer and their devotion.

This experience allowed me to really reflect on my reverence and attitude towards what I believe is sacred. I believe that prayer is the most powerful tool we have to worship our Father in Heaven and it is important that we take advantage of the opportunities we have to really communicate with Him throughout the day and throughout our lives. I believe we can learn so much from the way others choose to worship God and this was a beautiful opportunity for me to do that.