Welcome to Iran!

Book excerpt: During their four years of living in Iran and sharing their lives with the Iranian people, Evelyn and Wallace Shellenberger encountered and experienced God many times and in many ways. In Welcome to Iran! they narrate how their years in Iran transformed their thinking on religion, politics, and the cultural differences between the Middle East and the West. Shortly after arriving an Iranian woman challenged the Shellenbergers: Arent the Iranians enemies of the Americans? Why did you choose to live with your enemies? This book opens to you this challenge of being where you are not expected. Beginning in 2001, the Shellenbergers had the opportunity to live among the Iranian people as part of a student-exchange program sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee, a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches involved in relief, development, and peacebuilding efforts. Welcome to Iran! describes how they were welcomed as strangers in a foreign land and how they came to know a people seeking peace and justice. Focusing on the positive outcomes of their experiences as they witnessed firsthand the beauty and contrast of Iran, this personal narrative reveals a vastly different picture of Iran and its people than the media portrays. The Shellenbergers share the aspects of Iran they were able to see by the candlelight of their eyes and hearts.