For the record, when an Arab says, "Tomorrow," he doesn't mean, "24 hours from now." He means, "Sometime after today." So, for example, if you're waiting for a package, or for the vehicle you shipped over to clear customs, or for someone to come to your house to measure the stairs for carpeting, and you call to find out when it will happen, you will probably be told, "Tomorrow." As long as you understand what "tomorrow" really means, you won't be disillusioned or disappointed.
Also for the record, when the Qatar government talks about "religious freedom," what they're actually talking about is a limited right for non-Muslims to practice their religion, as long as they don't get too serious about it and they keep quiet about it. Muslims are allowed to practice their religion as loudly as they wish, including but not limited to broadcasting the daily calls to prayer over loudspeakers (with multiple mosques blaring a call simultaneously, the cacophony is rather impressive), and leaving the loudspeakers on--in fact, turning the volume up a notch or two--to deliver a sermon (in Arabic) at any hour of the day. Preferably very early in the morning, when things are quiet and rational human beings are still asleep. Check the "Mosque Noise" video at our Qatar Pics website to hear a couple of examples.
They actually have a radio station over here that broadcasts silence all day, except during the calls to prayer, when a professional singer delivers the call. This service is used in many public places, like shopping malls, where they want an easy way to deliver calls to prayer that are as pleasing to the ear as possible.
We finally took delivery of our car, after three months of waiting! I dropped it off in Houston just before we left at the beginning of December, and they handed me the keys on March 2. There was a delay on the front end when Triways missed the boat (literally), and a delay on the back-end while our sponsor hassled with the customs and inspection folks. Customs wanted to go through all of the boxes etc. that we had packed in the vehicle, and the inspections folks didn't like the dark factory window tinting. They wanted me to scrape it off. I told them it couldn't be scraped off, because it was factory-tinted glass, so they came up with a form letter (in Arabic) for me to sign that said--so I am told--something to the effect that I would do something about the tinted windows. Apparently I don't actually have to do anything about them, I just had to sign the letter. Go figure.
I need to go back out to the desert to visit Abdullah, the bedouin who was so hospitable and led us to the camel bones. I told him I'd come back sometime ("tomorrow," maybe?) with the camel bones and play some music in his tent. I find that there are many opportunities for service within the local fellowship, but the deeper needs tend to lie outside of those walls--and take much more time and effort to address. Keep those needs, and our ability to address them, in your prayers for us.