Laurel's Visit in Abu Dhabi

In Abu Dhabi Laurel and Willie visited friends who pastor a Christian church in the city. Following is Laurel’s account of their visit.

On Thursday Willie and I had the privilege to visit the Christian Church in Abu Dhabi. Sixty nationalities worship on 26 different churches that share the campus, which is on land allocated by the government. The government even pays their utilities! The services are held on Friday, the national holy day, and held in more than 12 languages. And you think your church has administrative and space challenges! The English church has two services and about 900 attendees. My friends, the pastor and his wife, have seen a 45% growth in the expatriates who attend in the past year.
The epitome of luxury – the Emirates Palace Hotel! We were not allowed to enter through the VIP entrance, but that did not take away from the delightful Arabic afternoon tea with the sweets of the area. To ensure we kept up tradition we also had the goodies of an English tea as well. It is impossible to describe the grandeur of the 6-story center dome, the 100-foot long / 20-foot high carpets on the wall, the marble floors and columns. A delightful afternoon with our friends.