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...