Bahrain

District Conference in Bahrain

We recently made our first road trip.  We decided that we would attend district conference in Bahrain.  The church is recognized and we are allowed to have a building in Bahrain.  It was nice to be able to go and worship freely.

We have had FatBurger may times in the US.  Too bad we had already eaten when we found this one!

The desert

We left Wednesday early evening on our 5 hour excursion to the Fraser Suite Seef Hotel.  The drive was crazy.  We were driving 120 km/h (around 80 mph) and we had cars passing us like we were sitting still.  Poor AJ, he had been up since 5 am, had to do all of the driving and I couldn't relieve him of duties while in the Kingdom.

One thing I learned was that we needed to have permission to take the car into Bahrain.  Luckily, AJ knew this and had the proper paperwork done prior to leaving.  Second, you need to purchase insurance at the border in order to drive in the new country.  We were under the misconception that we had already purchased the insurance when we did the paperwork.  So, when we were at the border we didn't understand what we needed and passed into the country.  We were grateful that when we left and had to show all the paperwork again, that we were able to make up for not paying on entering by paying at the exit.

While getting "lost", we found this.

Official building in Bahrain

Finally, we arrived around 10 pm that night at the hotel.  We were very glad to be there.  The hotel is connected to the Seef Mall, so we were able to go into the mall and find something to eat.  We ended up having burgers at Elevation Burgers.  The burgers there were very good.  I would say that the even rivaled In-N-Out!  In the Middle East, meat has to meet religious standards (halal) so restaurants serve real, fresh meat instead of the frozen, "I'm not sure it is meat" meat.

Another advantage of being in Bahrain, I didn't need to wear my abaya around!  It was nice to take a break from wearing.  Don't get me wrong.  I bear no ill-will toward my abaya, we are dear friends!  But, when you are the only one who has to dress up to leave the house, it is nice to take a break from it.  

Yes, please!

Oh, the shopping!  I don't know why it still amazes me, but there is so much high end shopping here in the Middle East.  Versace, Prada, Burberry, Massimo Dutti ... and so on.  Lots of pretty clothes and shoes to see.  I am not a big shopper, but one can't help but be in awe with the luxury they see!  One thing that still some what surprises me, is that the women here buy these fancy clothes, but never get to wear them in public where people can see.  And the dresses .... WOW!  I thought seeing dresses at Oscar time were pretty amazing, but you see dresses like those in shops here!  I hear that they wear these fancy dresses at the Bride's wedding festivities.  I guess I will find out at the end of the month!

Camels

Friday was spent going to district conference.  The meeting was held at a school's cafeteria because we were unsure how many people would be able to attend.  The meeting house there (an actual house) would be too small to accommodate such a large group of people.  We were privileged to hear from a member of the seventy, Elder Bruce A. Carlson.  I really needed this time to feel uplifted and strengthened.  I remember bits and pieces of what was talked about, but what I got most out of it was that when I encounter particularly challenging days, there is always a brightness to follow.  I need to find that brightness and not dwell on the challenge.

This was the inspection point going back into Saudi Arabia.

We stayed Friday night in Bahrain and left Saturday morning for our home back in Riyadh.  Now that we know the drive we plan on doing this more often!