Modern Miracles

"But I'm just talking to a satellite
Twenty thousand miles up in the sky each night
Yeah, we're living in,
In a modern world." - Electric Light Orchestra

About a week ago I helped organize something I think was pretty amazing.  We had a youth fireside for church and about 80 kids showed up.  That is pretty cool because we are in the middle of an Islamic country where not too long ago it could have been dangerous to admit you were Christian.  Plus, we had youth traveling hours from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and all over the UAE to participate.  The youth here are impressive.

But, that is not the amazing part.  What I thought was incredible, was the fact that the fireside was web-conferenced (is that a term?) to youth in the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar!  It was not just broadcast, but the other youth were actually able to participate, comment, and share musical numbers with each other.  The youth in all of these countries could see and communicate with each other.  It was fun to watch.  I mean, we thought it was cool growing up when we had a youth fireside where we got to meet some of the youth from Sugar City instead of just Rexburg.  Here we had youth from 4 different countries!  All of which are Islamic and 10-15 years ago probably had laws against Mormon firesides (ok, probably not specifically Mormon... but you get the idea).  It was cool.

Another small miracle was the refreshments served.  I asked the youth in our ward (we were in charge of hosting this fireside) what they wanted and the vote was unanimous for Root Beer Floats.  I didn't think much of it until I started to try and track down some root beer.  You can find most things in this country, but apparently, root beer is a rare commodity.  Fortunately, the Spinney's in Mirdif had some.  I had to buy all the root beer in the entire store, but it was just enough to feed our 80 youth.  Success!