Here is another post in my Conversation Ideas series.
How are you feeling today? (Share how you’re feeling, too). Our feelings can change from day to day. Let’s talk about feelings today. We feel all kinds of emotions: anger, sadness, anxiety, depression, embarrassment, shame, joy, peace, confusion, fear, hope, jealousy, relief, etc. (As you ask her some of the following questions, share how you feel about the same thing).
Questions:
How did you feel when you left your country and came here? (talk about initial culture shock)
When you fly on an airplane do you feel nervous or anxious?
How does a bride feel on her wedding day in your country? (compare to our culture)
What does the bride’s mother usually feel?
How did you feel when you discovered you were pregnant? Delivered your baby?
What does a woman usually feel if she can’t get pregnant?
If a husband and wife fight a lot and then he decides to divorce her how do you think the wife will feel?
How would you feel if your husband took a second wife, besides you?
If a child can’t sleep at night how do you think the mother feels?
When your child gets sick how do you feel?
If your husband would forget your birthday or wedding anniversary how would you feel?
When you are alone in your house how do you feel?
How did you feel when you first saw women wearing shorts?
How do you feel when you listen to the news on TV?
When you see dogs how do you feel? How about cats? Camels?
When you are fasting during Ramadan how do you feel?
Some women visit shrines(ziarat/zee-are-it)in Muslim countries. Have you ever been to one? How do women feel when they visit shrines?
What do people feel when they go on the haj to Mecca?
How do you feel when you are at a women’s party in your community?
When someone dies in your community how do you feel?
When you make a mistake in speaking English how do you feel?
How did you feel when you became a citizen of this country?(or will become in the future)
You could share how you feel joy in your heart and would like to sing a little song to her(or to her children listening in) about joy: “I Have the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in my Heart”. Make actions to the chorus. Tell her why you feel joy in your heart.
Or - depending on your friend’s level of spiritual responsiveness you could tell her the following story:
Do you know what it means to be paralyzed? How would such a person feel? Today such a person might use a wheelchair. (Be aware that often Muslims feel they must have committed sin and are being punished by Allah when sickness comes). There’s a story in the Injeel(Gospels) about a man who was paralyzed for many years and an amazing miracle (mo-ja-sah) happened to him. Would you like to hear about that story? (Read or tell the story found in Luke 5: 17-27). How did the religious teachers feel? How about the paralyzed man? His friends who brought him to Jesus? What did the on-lookers feel? How do you think Isa al Masih felt about the religious teachers? Towards the paralyzed man? What two amazing things happened to the paralyzed man? Do you think the people understood who Jesus was? Jesus understands how we feel.
