Thoughts on Sudan

I found these drawing that children in Darfur had made on BBC.

One young artist named Aisha said: "It is very kind to send us food, but this is Africa and we are used to being hungry. What I ask is that you please take the guns away from the people who are killing us."

Bakhid was eight years old when he saw his village being attacked and burned by Janjaweed forces on horse back and Sudanese forces in vehicles and tanks.

Today is a nerve wrecking day for people scattered all over the world, who all share one thing together, the hope that their home country of Sudan would be restored and leaders brought to justice. Last year an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was issued by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Today, the Hague will decide if Bashir will be charged with the genocide of three groups in Darfur, Sudan, the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa people groups. He has avoided the arrest warrant, with the help of his Arab supporters. If today he is in fact charged with genocide, it is at least hope for the people of Sudan, that they will no longer have a leader that states he has no control of the actions of the janjaweed and what they do in Darfur, as well as a leader who housed and supported Osama bin Laden. Lord willing, he shall step down. In 2011, the people in south Sudan are voting to have their own sovereign nation of Southern Sudan. Bashir has given them hope of a sovereign nation, but decades of conflict between the north and south over oil and religion has taken the lives of thousands, I'm not convinced in his false attempts at restoring his name.

Everyday I get to witness the aftermath of war and the effects it has on family's. I have the opportunity of talking to Sudanese kids who's parents have be killed, or have illegally ran across bordering countries to try and find work for there families. Most of whom are shot at. The kids put their hope in their education they are receiving, and learning english. I want them to embrace Arabic, but westerners have convinced them english is the way to success. I had the opportunity of helping one girl write her college acceptance essay in the US. We have no idea if she will get in, but she deserves it over me. With all this said, I do not know the plans God has for each person and family. I do not know why I was blessed with a free college education, I do not know if the violence in Sudan will ever be resolved. The only thing I am certain of is that God will triumph in the end, and that He is not "shocked" at everything I have written about. It has all passed through His hands, for His glory and our good. I have hope in a sovereign God, and this is the hope I can celebrate.

Grace,

Sarah

جبل موسى (Jabala Musa) Translation-Mountain of Moses

We are extremely undeserving to have a God that loves us enough to give us the tablets of the law. To show how unbelievably sinful we are and how we run from Him, just look at what God's first commandment was/is. "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me...". But as we read a few chapters later in Exodus, it didn't take long for the people of Israel to lose their patience, gather all their jewelry, and form a golden calf in their camp fire. I guess it kinda shows us how ridiculous some of the gods we put before God. But, undeservingly we have the gift of grace.

Location of the town of Saint Katherine where Mt. Sinai is located

Here we are at one of the stops Moses made while going to Mount Sinai. When the people were wining, again, Moses, poor guy, pleaded with the Lord to provide water, and he did. Supposedly in this spot.

Before we begin I would just like to note that nobody warned me this would be the most strenuous "walk" I would ever take. I was nowhere near being mentally prepared for what was coming. I may be over exaggerating just a little, but still, I have done a lot of athletic things in my life, but this was tough. I feel bad for Moses for climbing that everyday for quite sometime (well, and the fact that he had to deal with the Israelites). As soon as we got back to Maadi and I found our friends Dave and Julie (who had just gotten back from there), and my first words were why didn't you warn me I would be in pain the whole time going up? They actually thought it was funny because nobody warned them either, so now we all have this "thing" going that if you hear someone is going to climb Mt. Sinai, we don't tell them it is hard, and see what their reaction is when they get back.

This is the beginning of our hike. The guy in front is our "tour guide". When we were walking up, the tourist police stopped us and asked us where we were from. We responded, "America", and they said, "Oh yes, you need a guide". Of course we thought they were just ripping us off, but he ended up not being so bad.

Just some camels enjoying the day, hoping that we don't mess it up by riding them.

I remember this was about 10 minutes into the hike and I was already feeling my state of not being in any kind of shape. Thats what a semester of sitting in a chair and studying will do to you. I am trying to work on that this semester. I finally went and saw where the gym is, just haven't actually gone yet....BL

This guy was being a little shy. His name is Edward, and although he has an attitude problem he is one of the best camels on the mountain. Actually none of that is true, but I think Edward would be a good name for a camel. BL

My mom making a friend on the way. We were stopping to take this picture, but actually I was stopping to catch my breath.

Getting closer to the top.

A little something we like to call "steps of repentance"... 700 of them. Not a good way to end a hike.

At the top!!! We finally made it to the top for sunset. It was a great experience, not only for the biblical history behind it, but for the scenery as well. But, if any other family comes over here and wants to climb this, you will have to do it alone. We think once is good for us.

Grace,

Sarah and Ben

Family has arrived-First stop, Cairo, Egypt

If you didn't already know, Ben's parents came to see us January 1st and I cannot describe how wonderful it was to see family, especially them. In 9 days we traveled to the Sinai, Israel and Palestinian territories. We have an enormous amount of photos and stories of where Jesus spent his life, and I cannot wait to share them. I will do my best to share a town a day :)

Cairo, Egypt:

My sweet mom and Ben's parents partnered together to give us a Christmas suitcase and cooler full of food, coffee, clothes, bacon, steak, chicken and dumplings....pretty much anything we cannot get easy here. It was unbelievable. Also, my dad got us a kindle, which is an electronic book that you download books onto.

Our first stop, the pyramids of Giza.

This picture was taken while we were waiting on Ben to walk ALL THE WAY back down to the bottom to get us tickets to enter inside the pyramid. The tickets were actually being sold on the other side of the pyramid. We always joke about how foreigners get stuck or suckered into buying something from an Egyptian. Like when Ben asked for directions and ended up in this man's oil perfume shop. Well needless to say, Ben came back on a horse, with a tour guide. Haha.

That night, Amy took us all out to a good family friend of hers in a village in Sakara. We all felt really bad for this donkey because he had two men on his back.

The camel must have known he was having his picture taken :)

After all the riding and seeing the Sakara pyramids, we were graciously welcomed into their home where the sweet women Noel, Sumaya, and Ibtisam fed us dinner. This is one of my favorite families we have met here.

Matthew 2:13-15

13. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." 14. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, 15. and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son."

Although we did not go to any sites that document Jesus living in Egypt when he was a toddler. We are not sure if there is any existing evidence, but we still think it is worth mentioning.

I'm sorry it has taken so long for us to make a post about our trip, but I have been recovering from strep throat. Since we have lived in Egypt, I have acquired swine flu, the regular flu twice, an upper respiratory infection with some kind of horrible cough, and this week, strep throat. We sought out God's plan for us for many months, and after all the illness and prayer, we have decided that I do not need to be working at my preschool anymore. We continuously strive to seek our purpose here, and until we do, this is an opportunity, by God's grace alone, for me to have more and more time with African Hope. Ben finished his first semester very VERY well. He has been super-husband this week with cooking every meal, doing ALL the laundry and he doesn't start his second semester until Feb 1st! I am so undeserving of him, but so very thankful.

Until next time....

Grace,

SL

Christmas in Egypt!!!

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest , and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" Luke 2: 13-14

As my own life demonstrates mankind is in rebellion with God, whether or not it is spoken or intentional. We are all in desperate need of a savior which brings us to the purpose of Christmas, the birth of Christ, the arrival of God in human form, the purpose of Easter, which is the crucifixion, and then the resurrection of Christ.

Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, put to death, and resurrected for God to reconcile his people with himself, his people with each other, and his creation with himself. It is hard to separate Christmas and Easter, because the two go hand in hand. Because from him and through him and to him are ALL things. And “all things” includes God sending his son and sending him to die.

We hope that this Christmas God brought forth more joy and peace in your hearts, and the desire to glorify the One who sent his son to save the world, for His glory and our good.

First of all, December is Melissa's birthday month, so Happy Birthday Melissa!!!! :)

This sweet girl is one of the many reasons I love my job. She teaches me arabic, and she is 3. And when I say teaches, I mean translates back and forth from to english to arabic...amazing.

Christmas eve service at Maadi Community Church

At first, we were not going to spend money on our own stocking, so we borrowed two from the lady I work for. As the spirit of Christmas began to sink in we no longer wanted to be Jerry and Caroline. I found this talented, nice egyptian man named Mahmoud Farag, and he hand stitched stockings for our first Christmas together. Names in English on top, Arabic on bottom.

Unwrapping presents. Ben got a tabla!!! (egyptian drum)

And I got a bike!!!!! I had been wanting one since we moved here, but I forgot about it when Christmas came around. Ben hid it with our boab, Hassan, and surprised me on Christmas morning!!! It now has a basket on the front so I can put groceries in it!!!

However, we will be investing in a helmet. On my first day to ride it around, I got lost in a village for 2 1/2 hours trying to find my arabic school, I rode by an all girls school and a mean one threw a rock out the window at me, and then as I go around the microbus that stopped right in my path, a car comes flying from around the bus and almost hits my front tire, I jump off.

For Christmas dinner we went over to Skip and Bonnie's. AND we had ham, it was amazingly delicious! They graciously opened their home again to about 5 or 6 family's who had nowhere else to go for Christmas. Here we all played white elephant.

This picture represents Team Long. The gift I chose was this skirt in the picture, and I loved it!!! Ben happened to open a toy scorpion, haha. So if anyone stole my skirt in the game, I would steal Ben's scorpion and he would steal my skirt back. We ended up with it. Team Long.

We now have a new Christmas tradition, bottomless chips and salsa from Chili's. Man, do we miss mexican food. Chili's is the only place with bottomless chips AND they actually taste like tortilla chips! :)

I have saved the best for last. My sister and her fiance sent us a Christmas package filled with skittles, starburst, beef jerky, pringles, candles, christmas socks and the list goes on and on. I cannot describe to you in writing how excited we were and are when this happens. We consider ourselves extremely lucky that we have family that goes through the trouble of doing this for us.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Ben's parents on Friday. They are going to be the first family members we have seen in 4 months!!! We are going to show them all around our town and then travel to where Moses received the ten commandments, and then to where Jesus spent most of his life on earth...eek!!!! T-minus 48 hours!!!!

Merry Christmas,

Sarah

Update on Matt Chandler: http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/

John Piper teaching on hope, at the village church: http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/200912271115FMWC21ASAAA_JohnPiper-SubjectedInHope.mp3

We have been counted worthy to fight and suffer this battle. Suffer well church.

Thanksgiving at the Red Sea

Thanksgiving in Egypt was new, different, but overall an awesome time for Sarah and I. Being here for nearly 4 months now, God has gone beyond answering our prayers in finding friends to walk through life with. He has given us friends who feel more and more like family in each passing day. As the pictures display below, we got to enjoy an awesome Thanksgiving dinner with great company. A few weeks before we were trying to think up some ideas for food to eat on Thanksgiving to try to make it feel like home. But fortunately we were welcomed into this home where turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, and all the other Thanksgiving food items where there for us. Following our meal, 17 of us headed out to the Ain Sukna, a small town on the Red Sea, for four days of nothing but board games, football on the beach, and an occasional game of reverse hide and go seek (i'll explain later). Its always great to get away from the loudness of Cairo. It doesn't matter how much you love it, everybody needs a break from the unique elements of Cairo.

I don't care where I'm at in the world, nothing beats throwing the football around.

Caleb and my beautiful wife enjoying the sand.

One of the great games we played while at the beach was reverse hide and go seek. Basically one person hides. Then everyone goes and looks for that person, and once they find them they hide with them. This goes on until there is just one person left wandering around by themselves. Its hilarious, well if your not that person. If you listen to the video below, you can hear Amy explain the rules in a blues like fashion as I play the guitar and Caleb displays a few of his dance moves.

Caleb, Sofia, Annie, and Sarah getting ready to play the game.

Here we have 6 of us trying to hide behind one little flower pot as a few have yet to find us. Gets a little uncomfortable after awhile. I would like to take a moment and brag about my hide and go seek skills. When I hid, my spot was so good after 30 minutes of not finding me Sarah was beginning to think I was kidnapped. I was extremely proud of my hide and go seek skills, but unfortunately I had to feel the pain of laying in a ball under a bush for nearly an hour.

Sarah and I enjoying the sea. Looking at a map, I'm almost positive this is where Moses had to have parted and crossed the sea. To bad he didn't have a GPS or mapquest, he would have known he could have walked a few miles north and gone around, crazy Moses.

One of the hundred ships we saw a day headed out of Egypt.

Even a relaxing weekend can wear some out.

This is a separate occasion. My wonderful Sister and Brother-in-law sent Sarah and I an awesome care package. It was filled with numerous items. Things we just can't get here in Egypt. As you see, Sarah was excited about the beef jerkey. Lets just say it made both of our days.

Pray for The Chandler family

I was saved and reborn three years ago in June, while sitting in the 2nd to last row at a baptistism service, at The Village Church. I am confident in the teachings of the scriptures that God called me to His kingdom, in His time, and not by any acts of my own doing, but by His grace alone. It was not The Village Church, or Matt Chandler that saved me, but Jesus Christ. All glory be given to His name.

Matt Chandler and Beau Hughes have been our lead teachers of God's word and have pastored us from day one all the way to our move to Egypt.

On Thursday, Matt suffered a seizure and was taken to the hospital. He spoke with a Neurologist yesterday and as a church body we anxiously awaited the results. Matt will have surgery Friday afternoon to remove a tumor located in the frontal lobe of his brain. The surgery will be performed by Dr. David Barnett. Dr. Barnett told Matt that he was positive about recovery but won’t know the full results until the surgery is performed. The doctor was uncertain about the malignancy of the tumor, and a biopsy will be performed as part of the surgery.

Here is part of a letter written from the elders concerning prayer for Matt and his family.

The outpouring of support and prayers from all over the world has been overwhelming to Matt and Lauren. Continue to pray and fast on behalf of the family. The church’s monthly prayer service will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Highland Village, Denton and Dallas Northway worship centers. We encourage you to fast throughout that day and join us to pray that evening. If you cannot join us, pray wherever you are.

We continue to rest in the knowledge that Matt is in the sovereign hand of our heavenly Father who loves him immensely more than we can comprehend, and He alone understands the reasons for this trial. Along with your prayers, continue to give Matt and Lauren and their family time and space for their continued rest.

Certainly pray for Matt’s healing, and pray that he and his family would experience great peace during this time. But don’t stop there. Ask God to reveal what work he plans to do in you, in Matt and in our church through this trial. Although it may be easy to see the hand of the enemy in a situation like this, remember that God is sovereign that he may ordain trials to deepen our faith, draw us closer to him or to accomplish some other purpose. Therefore do not fear.

One thing to consider would be to send Matt a written note. His words and actions faithfully point to how lives are changed through the gospel of Christ so it always encourages him to hear what God is doing in you. The time and effort to reflect and write out your thoughts on God’s goodness in your life could warm your soul and allow Matt to hear, see and celebrate the work and blessings of Jesus. Bring your notes with you on Wednesday night. If you cannot be there, mail them to 2101 FM 407, Flower Mound, TX 75028.

Lauren Chandler has been a reminder to me....

The Sunday before the "event," I opened my Bible intending to study a specific text in John. When the pages fell open, the title page of the book of Job stared me squarely in the face. I'm not normally one to play the magic eight ball game with the Bible but I'm also not one to believe in mere coincidence. The Lord--in His sure presence--was readying my heart. He was reminding me that nothing, absolutely nothing, can happen to Matt, the kids, other loved ones, or me without first passing through His hands. Satan had to ask permission to sift Job. The prince of this world is but a pawn in the Lord's plan. Them Chandlers

Father, You are worthy of our affections, in the presence of sorrow and joy. Let your Will be done. You are our great reward, our only portion, Lord. Our hope and trust is found only in You. We are trusting You...

Those who deny Christ do not Love, Honor or Know God

For the sake of forthright, honest, biblically faithful, Christ-exalting, trust-preserving dialogue, and for the sake of truth-based, durable peace. Jesus said, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5:22-23). When Jesus says, “Honor the Son who sent him, he means honor the Son for who he really is as the divine, eternal Son of God who laid down his life for the sheep and took it up again in three days. The person who does not honor him in this way, Jesus says, does not honor God. -John Piper

For obvious reasons of where we live, I think it would be in everyones best interest to let John Piper explain the flaws behind the Yale written document, "A Common Word", that states a shared love for God, between two religions.

http://ow.ly/EGvB

This weekend is the muslim holiday, Eid Al-Adha. ("The Feast of the Sacrifice") commemorates Abraham's willingness and obedience to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God (and God's mercy in substituting a lamb for Ishmael). The day begins with the sacrifice of an animal (in their front yard or the street, or our back porch ). One-third of the meat is given to the poor, and the remainder shared with neighbors and family members. SOOO we will be celebrating thanksgiving with a group from the church, at the Red Sea. We will be praying for all of you as you gather and celebrate with your families. I hope you have sweet, sweet moments worshiping Christ together. We wish we could be there. Happy Thanksgiving :)

SL