Final Day in Egypt

Glory to God!! We arrived in Atlanta Saturday morning about 5:30 am after a non-stop 12 1/2 hour flight from Tel Aviv. It is sooooo good to be home.

We thought you'd want to know, so here is our final day in Egypt and some final thoughts prior to traveling to Israel.

Monday May 25
Egyptian Museum. We had a bit of an adventure on the way to the museum. The journey required riding the Metro, which is the subway system of Cairo. The Metro is set up so that 2 of the train cars are "women only" and all the others are for the men (and any women who dare to enter). They do this to limit the amount of harassment the women have to endure.

So, I get on the "men's" car next to the "women only" car, so that the rendezvous at our destination point would run more smoothly. Well, I get off at the proper destination, look over to see where the women should be getting off and don't see them as I expected. I panicked, then quickly looked for the train station name (which aren't marked very well), and zeroed in on the first name I saw, which happened to be a station name indicating the direction of the train, and rushed back on. Oops!! As the doors were closing, our host yells through the train window, "Brent, you should have gotten off".

I get off at the next station and attempt to make my way back to the previous station, thinking that it would just be a matter of getting on a train going the other direction. Not so easy. Unfortunately, it required exiting the arriving side and re-entering the departure side, which meant buying another ticket. Yikes!! Strange land, don't speak the language, and don't have any local currency in hand. Real bummer. As I was figuring out that I needed to buy another ticket without any money, mind you, I see our host on the other side of the tracks coming to rescue me. Whoa!! God is soooo very good. This adventure could have really turned out much worse than it did, but God was faithful (as was so evident throughout the trip).

Unfortunately, the adventure was not quite over. Our host and I returned to the proper station where she yelled across the tracks to June, Sandra, and Jennifer to exit the turnstiles and wait for us there. They misunderstood, exited the station, and went up to the street level to wait for us. Needless to say, when we arrived on the other side, they were nowhere to be found. After about 15-20 minutes of looking, they were led back down to look for us and we were finally brought together once again.

The museum was very interesting and Egyptian history is so rich, but there is so much death and worship of death and the dead in this country. Think about it, the pyramids are dead pharaohs tombs that are worshiped by many. The Coptic Christian church essentially worships it's dead Saints (especially St. George the dragon slayer) and ignores the power of a risen Savior and the Holy Spirit. And, of course there is only death in the religion of the land...their prophet is worshiped, but is still dead. There is no risen Savior. Death was undoubtedly the most prevalent theme observed by our team while in Egypt. Now we understand why our hosts had us praying life into the land and into the people. Thank you for praying us through Egypt. I assure you we could not have survived without them. God Bless you.

A Little Catch Up...

Where do we start when so much is going on?

It has been a most eventful several days.  Hope you haven't given up and quit checking our progress.  We are now in Israel.   All is well and never boring.  Our God is surprising us every step of the way.  Thank you for your continued prayers.

Today we are in Jaffa on the most blue Mediterranean Sea.  As I sit here typing I heard a horse clomping through the street probably pulling a cart.  We have gotten comfortable here and there is always old mixed with the new.  

Our time ended in Cairo all too soon.   To bring you up to speed a bit, Friday we attended church (Egypt's Friday is our Sunday) and it was youth Friday (man, that really sounds weird), so it was a lively service and most enjoyable.  After lunch with our host we went to a beautiful villa and met a lovely widow from the church.  To be in her presence was a treat, I throughly enjoyed her exquisite gardens but praying with her was a true gift from God.  We all sensed we had been in the presence of royalty but trusted God used us to encourage her along her journey. 

Much encouragement is needed for even seasoned believers in this land.  It is a difficult place to labor.  It seems so many are growing tired but there is refreshment and renewal with fellowship of brothers and sisters.  We were able to have prayer with both young and old, but the needs seemed quite similar.  All along the way God has arranged  many opportunities for us to give ourselves in prayer but we have received so much as well.

After our appointment, we hit some shops and scooped up some amazing treasures.  

On Saturday we walked through Islamic Cairo and found ourselves experiencing sensory overload.  The sights, smells, sounds, and all of it packed so tightly together was far beyond anything I could have expected.  We have so much to show and to tell when we return.  

Then, on Sunday we all packed into a van and began the long trip to The Land of Goshen.  No one seemed to know exactly where that might be.  After consulting maps and calculating the course we headed toward some ancient ruins in the Delta Region NE of Cairo.  We moved out of the city across some desert and then it was as if we did the proverbial step back in time.  We shared the road mile after mile with teams of oxen, donkey carts, horses, mules, bicycles.  All heavy loaded with the harvest.  The farming is probably much the same as it was 3000 years ago.  We were able to put our feet on the land and scoop up treasure in the form of pictures and memories.  God let us see  the real people, families, pains, joys, hopes.  We did our best to capture God's heart for this land and will bring home much treasure from that adventure.  

All is Well...

Hello fellow prayers. A lot has happened since the last posting. Our time here has been awesome. And though it may sound like we're having a lot of fun (which we are), there have definitely been many intense times of prayer and ministry, which makes us ever more thankful for all your prayers.

Just wanted to let you know that all is well in spite of the lack of postings.

More later...

Hungry

After a pretty intense day in Coptic Cairo (getting a brief history lesson on the Coptic Church, and walking through Coptic Cairo), prayer, pouring, and more pouring out, we finally settled in for dinner.

Our hearts began to leap as we saw the Papa John boxes come in the door. The food has been wonderful, but right now we were getting a yearning for some "home" food.

So the German host chose to order our pizzas.
First pizza opened was a small cheese pizza.
So our mouths began to water....."what's next?"
Next box was opened and it was a chicken florintine...
little weird, but exceptible.
The last pizza was a tuna pizza.
You saw that right, a tuna pizza.
WHO DOES THAT?

We had a great laugh over the tuna pizza and believe it or not, the folks that ate it said it wasn't bad. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

This has been an experience of a lifetime.

Pyramids and Prayer

So good to be able to share our journey with friends back home. We are taking a break out of the heat of the day and I get a turn to blog. Yesterday we met some young folks from Texas A&M and prayed with them and their leaders. These kids and their leaders were very quiet and reserved. At first, only we were sharing and the regulars from our host church. But, we really wanted for these to be able to join in the fun. With a little encouragement the group began to participate and it became clear they were on a firm foundation and building their faith. When they leave Cairo they will be going on to Kenya. Please keep them lifted up as well as us, plus the church here is undergoing some major transitions.

That was the end of the calm for Wednesday. Quickly, we scrambled into a air conditioned van and zipped through the city running up on the cars ahead changing lanes, well not exactly...they just kind of make a lane wherever they need one and if the lane is in front of you, too bad. You play dodge car and dodge pedestrians as well. It's much more fun than playing dodge car when trying to cross the roads. But by the time we leave we'll be professionals. I've only been stranded on the median once with traffic speeding by on both sides.

But the pyramids were worth the effort for sure. We got amazing pictures and the most fun of all is we all rode camels. The facial expressions in those pictures are hysterical. How can I describe that with words? Let's just say if Jennifer had been screaming with her mouth that wide open, you would have heard her back home. But she was speechless. Not so with June.....only June would dare turn to our host when uncertain of a particular animal and ask, "What is that donkey ass thing?" We laughed until we cried but the good news is you'll get to see all ALL A L L L L THE PICTURES when we get home. And we could have gotten to bed earlier last night if we hadn't had to see the pictures of our day.

Last night we got a few minutes to play with the most adorable little blonde, curley-haired girl (our host's 3 year old daughter). We taught her a new song and she taught Jennifer to dance! Today is a school holiday so we are enjoying the kids. They are delightful.

Adventures and fun with cars

Soooo, today was our 1st official day here in Cairo. We were determined to brush off jet lag and get moving this morning. So we surprised our host by being ready to go to prayer at their church early this morning. It was only a 20 minute sprint across Cairo, through the crowded streets filled with interesting sights and smells. There was even a bridge that is known for everyone peeing off of it. You can imagine how that smelled. The morning rendevous of prayer at the church was quite invigorating! Then for the afternoon, we chilled at our host's house, had lunch, and rested a bit.

Then the most exciting adventure was our trip down the Nile River. It wasn't a very far walk but we had to cross this crazy road. BTW there are no stop lights, signs, or crosswalks here! Woohoo! It's every man and woman for themselves while crossing traffic! So our ride on the Nile starts out very slow...there was no wind and we were in a sail boat. It picked up though towards the end of the ride when a sand storm blew in! Our boat guide had to quickly pull the boat to the side of the river and we had to all be rescued by a tiny little paddle boat.

The good news is we got some really amazing storm pictures and the sand storm broke our heat wave, so the temperature dropped to the 70s tonite. You have no idea how welcome that wind was!

That was a pretty incredible first day and that wasn't even everything! Tomorrow we will go to see the pyramids. Can't wait to fill you all in. Thanks for your prayers. They are felt.

The Eagle has landed...

Yes, we arrived in Cairo Monday evening around 7:20 local time (that's noon:20 Eastern). After filling out some forms and going through customs, we met up with our host who promptly led us to the awaiting taxi. The cab ride to the host's house was 40 minutes of pure adventure. Imagine a city of 18 million people where lanes on the street are merely suggestions, crossing pedestrians are considered targets, and no traffic lights of any kind exist. Now, that's a real faith builder...Whew!!

Soon after arriving at our destination, we were greeted to a wonderful dinner of lentil soup, an assortment of middle eastern dishes, and bread. Yummy!! After eating, we were all pretty beat with so little sleep the previous 30 hours, so we retired to bed. In spite of our tiredness, we were all still very excited about what God was going to do during our stay here.

Tomorrow will be somewhat of a recovery day, but we hope to see some of the city. Please continue to pray for us. We just want to be faithful to God's leading.

Packing for the Trip...

Well, as we finish our packing and prepare for tomorrow's journey, we want to thank you for being an integral part of this trip. Your prayers, love, and support surround us and are crucial for success. We hope that you partner with us (Brent, June, Sandra & Jennifer) in praying for Egypt and Israel.

We will blog as often as possible.

Heading out tomorrow evening at 8:30 and arriving in Cairo some 16 hours later.

We have no idea what this voyage has in store. No idea what God has planned at each stop, but we do know that it will be an adventure that you might not want to miss.

So as we zip the bags, kiss the family and thank God for the love and support of each of you.......here we go. Thanks for joining us.