Global Action

We're catching up today for the past three days, which have been quite full indeed.  On Tuesday, we got to meet with our ministry leaders for this region, which was very enlightening, surprising, and encouraging....things you won't hear from the media.  We'll have to share details in person, but suffice it to say that God is doing incredible things!  This is a golden time for outreach, a critical time to take advantage of doors that are opening and the seeking minds of young people especially.  The conference began Tuesday night with great excitement and praise as young women gathered from various towns, outside of Cairo primarily.  Laura was feeling ill, so a couple of us stayed behind with her (we have all had various degrees of tummy ailments, common for international travel).  Thankfully, she was feeling better by the next day, and we were all able to attend the conference for the sessions on Biblical counseling.  Today, Thursday, we returned to the conference for some impacting sessions on realizing who we really are, our identity in Christ, which is especially important for women here.  We had some very special times to pray individually with some of the young women, share personal testimonies, and feel strong bonds with our sisters here.  

Oh, come let us adore Him!  We had the privilege of worshiping last night in  one of the largest evangelical churches in Cairo where about 1,000 people came together for passionate worship and praise.  One of our local women's leaders shared the message about the power of prayer, our desperate need for it, and a challenge to be true pray-ers.  During Ramadan, many believers here, including this entire church, have committed to pray daily for unbelievers to come to know God in a personal way.  Tonight we went to their weekly Monday night prayer meeting; we guessed that there were probably 1,200 people there to pray!  It is especially heartening to see so many men involved in worship and prayer. An enormously gifted man led the worship tonight with a version of the ancient lute, accompanied by traditional drums, cymbals and other instruments.  The songs were so powerful with rich, meaningful words (they have headphones for translation for visitors so we could understand what being said and sung). There was a genuine crying out to God for Him to touch Egypt, fill it with His Spirit and turn the hearts of the people to Him.  There was special prayer for the president and other officials here.  At each point of prayer, we could substitute our own country's name when they were pleading for Egypt.  They were acknowledging their deep need for Him; how we need to do the same.

We are acclimating to Egypt.  Cairo stands in stark contrast to Amman with almost 20 million people versus 3.  We had prepared the group for the intense traffic, noise and congestion that we have experienced in the past, but what a difference to be here during Ramadan!  As we started our descent from the air, we could see that there were only a few cars on the roads!  It looked like a ghost town.  We are realizing how days and nights are exchanged during this fasting month.  Especially on Friday and Saturday, their weekend, we saw very few people out at all.  Since they stay out until the wee hours of the morning, they sleep as much as possible during the day when required to fast.  At night, even though people come out and begin feasting, they meet more often in homes for big family celebrations rather than going out as

 We made a leisurely return to Amman from Petra before attending worship with some of our Jordanian friends.  The wife of the pastor is a woman we have known from several training conferences in the past and is sister to the wife of the seminary president.  They have a lovely church and fellowship center, where they also have a well equipped clinic that is open two days a week for those who cannot afford treatment.  All treatment is free.  They also have a learning center for children, another effective way to reach out to the community, as well as services for Iraqis, Sudanese, and Filipinos various days during the week with their own Arabic services on Thursdays and Sundays.

Up and at 'um early this morning, we boarded our bus to journey to Petra.  Zafer (attended Texas A&M), our guide, is quite the colorful character, though he does seem very knowledgeable about Petra.   We had heard that there was a possibility of canceling schools in Jordan today because of a massive heat wave they feared would arrive from India, but it wasn't too bad when we arrived.  We began the long walk through an enormous gorge, called a siq, with dramatic colors left from mineral deposits.  As the path snakes around, you would see the results of eons of flash floods and erosion.  Once you leave the siq, you enter an open area where the most spectacular structure in Petra is located, The Treasury.  This is the location featured in several movies, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as you might remember a huge temple-like facade chiseled into the massive rock.  From there, you wander on through endless carved out caves used for tombs, amazing aquaduct systems, and some ingenious designs from this ancient civilization, the Nabataens.  We finally made it to the end of the maintained path to have lunch.  It was here that "the fabulous four," Kathy, Kitty, Julie and Laura, decided to take Zafir up on his offer to lead the "adventurous ones" of our group back via another siq path which would require some climbing and navigating through an obstacle course of sorts. Phyllis and I opted to ride the horse drawn cart back to the entrance, which turned out to be an adventure in itself.  We felt as though we were in a chariot race as we careened back and forth over the Roman stone paths.

Today we ventured outside of Amman to a neighboring area to meet with a group of women at the Baptist Church. The meeting began with a time of prayer, then enthusiastic praise and worship. Though we could not understand the words, other than Amen and Hallelujah, we certainly felt the spirit and were blessed by their songs. We were asked to share some teachings on being a wise woman and how to study the Bible, so we spent time on these subjects, which seemed to really encourage the women. We ended our time with prayer groups so that the women could share their prayer concerns and we could pray together for one another. The needs expressed were in some ways not all that different from what we might hear at home: concern for children, family stresses, financial concerns, with the exception of so many parents having their children living in other countries. Being so far away is hard. The increasing cost of living here has driven many young people to look for jobs elsewhere, so the country is losing many of its bright and talented young people who otherwise would be enriching their country and preparing for leadership. This is creating quite a gap in the population here, which also affects the churches.

Life can be hard here, and as we heard the requests of the women, we realize more fully how difficult it is to be a woman here, especially a Christian woman. It was an enormous blessing to pray with them and for them, to share their burdens. One of the women present invited us to her house for some refreshment. While there, she shared that her husband is Egyptian, and since he is has not been granted official residency here, their children are not allowed to attend the public school, and they cannot afford private schooling. We prayed for God to miraculously intervene for them.

Before we left, we visited the medical and dental clinic adjacent to the church, which is a ministry outreach of the church to the community. Many here live in impoverished conditions and have little means of getting health care, so this has been an important way to minister to the people. The clinic is only two years old, a very nice facility well equipped. They have little funds to operate on and are praying for a full time doctor and perhaps a gynecologist. They have teams come occasionally to provide free clinics for those who have no means to pay, and we were invited to bring a group here for ministry. What an opportunity to reach out to people who have come to Jordan from surrounding countries for refuge, but find themselves very poor. Here workers can pray with them and share the gospel as well as meet their physical needs. Truly a significant outreach.

To sit with these women is to wish to be a sponge and absorb all that they are sharing with us. We have so much to learn from each other!

This evening we are going to enjoy a visit with a young woman we met yesterday, another wonderful opportunity to listen, learn, ask questions, and increase our understanding of the needs here.

Tomorrow we will meet with another group of women here in Amman, as well as visit the seminary. Please pray for these women! They have such hearts for the Lord, to serve Him, to minister to people, to pray for not only their country, but the world. They are touching so many lives in many ways, but they need encouragement. May we stand firmly with them.

After what seemed like a "never ending journey:, we made it to Amman at 2:00 AM Sunday morning. The trip was lengthened after a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt,when several of the team members took a train ride out to the country side and enjoyed a nice view of the country along the Rhine River and enjoyed a brief walk around the quaint town of St. Goar. The rest of us stayed around the airport and rested the best we could and did some work. Unfortunately, the only bag that didn't make it was Kitty's, though she has been quite a trooper about it. By the time we made it to the hotel and checked in it was 3:30 a.m. , so we were really pooped and had a very short night's sleep.

One of our local leaders invited us to her family's home for lunch, which is always a special time. Not only did we have delicious traditional food, but a wonderful time of fellowship with her family and several of her friends who took time off from work(Yes, Sunday is a work day) to meet with us. It was an added treat for John and me as they presented us with a delicious cake decorated with candles that set off a small pyrotechnic display i honor of our 40th anniversary (which was Aug. 31, that day). What a great way to celebrate an anniversary!

Later in the day we met with two Jordanian sisters that we meet last year in Tunisia at the conference and had some time to spend with them, which was a particular delight for Kitty who had gotten to know them at the meetings. We are always amazed at the "connections" we find all over the world! One of our friends in Houston had mentioned that she knew a woman in Jordan whose husband was president of a seminary and wondered if we might connect with her at some point. Realizing that Jordan has 6 million people, this seemed rather unlikely, but as John asked one of the women if she knew such a woman (not having her name), she smiled and said, "Yes! My sister!" who was sitting right beside her. It is indeed a very small world!! So this just added another "connection" with us in Jordan. We had a good visit and will be be visiting the seminary later this week and having a meal with them. Everyone was ready for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. As they abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk, the believers here are committing ongoing prayer for them to come to know the Lord, the Bread of Life and source of Living Waters that never run dry. We are humbled by their heart for prayer. May we have such hearts as well!

Already we are feeling very bonded with our "family" here and feel "full" from a very blessed day.

Our team is heading off tomorrow and then to the AW for a couple of weeks of visiting with our partners there.  It will be a great experience for all of us, most have never been to this part of Africa.  We are looking forward to some incredible meetings and seeing some wonderful sites from many years ago.  I hope that you will join us as we travel to ancient cities and places where many have walked before us.