Africa Hope VBS 2010

The adaptation rewind

Welcome back to the american culture it has been. We are living it out in a transition period at my dad's while traveling back and forth to see family and friends all over Texas. We have missed our family and friends dearly. I thought I would give you a brief update on what this month in Texas has looked like for us....

Adaptation number 1. Bubbles and ribbon galore!!!! I guess I forgot what I made my bridesmaids do last year as I stare at a yellow paint pen and 200 bubble containers. My beautiful sister married her best friend Blake two weeks after we arrived.

Adaptation number 2. Hello BMW! There is a great story that goes behind this. Lets just say all is well with driving this thing. My dad graciously gave up his car for us for 6 weeks. It is so great, Ben likes to pretend we are apparently in WW3 in Colleyville, while he shoots "missiles?" at the other cars with the emergency brake.

Ben and I celebrated our first year of marriage on May 15th. What a year it has been. If you are a newly wed I honestly suggest you sell everything and move overseas. It is awesome.

Nope, it doesn't get much better than this.

Adaptation number 3. Bella was forced to wear a pink mini skirt while I was gone that may or may not have compromised her dignity.......

My mom has lovingly kept and cared for Bella this year, BUT, we have now be reacquainted after 10 months, so the whole pink skirt incident won't happen again. Only of course if we can get her on our plane back home.....my mom may fight to not let that happen. :)

An ordinary busted up clay pot

Today, I returned from the most incredible weekend, spent with women who love Christ. I don't use incredible loosely here. It was that good. I built relationships with women who serve and love our Father. We were away from the busyness of our lives where we just prayed and worshipped for 3 days. The second I walked back through our flat door I was reminded of how much our world is broken. The second I open my computer I am reminded of the brokenness of human beings hearts. And once again, as I try to take a shower, I am reminded that our water heater is broken. Reality. Brokenness. Oh how my heart is hurting and longing for Him to bust out of the sky and remove it all.

I was asked to talk at the women's retreat, and we focused on being an ordinary clay pot, whose treasure pours out of us. 2 corinth. 4:7. “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us”.

While preparing, I was faced with just how broken and busted up this clay pot is. I found that I was beginning to become prideful and boastful of working with my Sudanese kiddos. I had to step out of the school for a couple of weeks for the Lord to bring me back down. Why? Because my apathy had been revealed. I cared more about my refugees hearts than those who are lost. One does not deserve the Kingdom over the other. We are all in desperate need of a savior. This is how it all begins. My human sinfulness asking and getting a smidgen of the glory of His works, and God breaking me down. It is now a continuous pattern. I wrestle with him and struggle with one particular thing, weeks, maybe months later I feel His glory and my understanding mold together, only for Him to reveal some other piece of brokenness about myself and then we wrestle all over again.

The most beautiful aspect about God and the thing I treasure most about Him right now is that in His sovereignty, he never leaves me to do something on my own, because I would fail at doing anything on my own, and on top of that try to take some of the glory! The reason that Paul uses the analogy of a clay pot is because in his lifetime a clay pot was used to store food, water and other goods. But they were not durable and would crack and break easily. But with a little water, they (we) are moldable. These past 9 months I have come to a deep understanding of how badly I want to be the pot, because we just discovered I can’t do anything on my own. That doesn’t mean I don’t hear Paul in my ear saying, “who’s the pot to question the Potter?” Oh, believe me I question Him! But after we wrestle and I beg Him to break my heart all over again, I fall to my knees and thank Him for molding me into the image of His son, because I would fail at molding my self. This is why the passage says we have this treasure in a jar of clay, not in a beautiful glass vase. Because the beautiful glass vase would take away from the treasure that is inside of it!

I so badly want to work with the poor and oppressed, but God is saying no, not until you show that same grief for those who are spiritually dead, poor and oppressed. He is molding me, his jar of clay. There is no better news in this world than the gospel. And obedience to God’s calling will be painful and difficult, it already has been. The end of the verse says we will be afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Struck down, but not destroyed. And this is what draws us nearer and nearer to Christ. John Piper says “God purposely permits the clay pots to be struck down so that He can exhibit His supernatural power in the situation.” This truth sets me free from my own brokenness and of this world. Without Christ, nothing would ever be reconciled. Jesus is enough to cover all our brokenness.

With that said, watch this video of what satan does in our lives.

On a lighter note, picture of the day from Cairo. Please, no barking.

Spring Break @ the Red Sea

Being that I'm still a student after 17 years, I still get a spring break!!! AUC recognizes western and eastern holidays, so it works out that I get two weeks off for the break. So...Sarah and I took advantage of this time and took off to Dahab for a little time away from the craziness of Cairo. It was great! We spent four days of just beachin, snorkeling, swimming, and an all you can eat buffet!!! It did take an adventuresome nine hour bus ride across the Sinai, but it was worth it. Apparently this place is famous worldwide for its diving, but Sarah and I took it easy with just a snorkel. It was plenty for us to see all the crazy fish.

This is a famous diving location called the Blue Hole. It was rather amazing, but somewhat eery.

My beautiful wife getting her snorkel on. She was a little hesitant at first to go in, but after I convinced her there are no sharks in the Red Sea she jumped right in. But, we found out when we got home there are actually many kinds of sharks in there, whoops.

Enjoying a little coffee on the balcony. Well actually we were enjoying the scenery more than the coffee. If you've ever had NesCafe you know what I'm talking about. We also did a lot of people watching. The hotel we were at had many people from all over Europe. So... lets just say we saw some rather interesting swimsuits that showed us more than we wanted to see.

I caught Sarah here messing with this camel trying to sleep. It's become one of her favorite animals. She does a great impression of a how a camel eats, ask her about it.

We got a Kindle (an electronic book for those who are wondering what that is) for Christmas this year. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes to read, especially if they travel alot. And the books are cheaper. I think I'm demonstrating it nicely here, I might send this pic into Amazon.

Enjoying a nice dinner by the sea, bedouin style.

Be inspired

Vacation Bible School is coming in July. Get pumped up and pray- we could use you.

Psalm 145

These past two weeks have been pretty crazy and overwhelming. Apologies for not blogging in a while, but with a big break comes tons and tons of news! First up, my husband is awesome. I don't often boast about him to other people, but I have watched him develop into this incredible man of God. We don't ever see ALL the pressures he is faced with everyday in the field he is in. I would bet there is 1 Christian out of every 30 at his school, and in his program, he is the 1 in 30. International Relations is extremely competitive, especially in the Graduate program. He works so hard, and our prayer is always for him to seek the Lords plans first, and then see how he can be used in poli-sci. He read a whole book yesterday, and is at school right now writing a paper. With all this said, he still makes time to hang out and be a part of the youth program. He spoke last month to them and plays music every week at youth. This past week the worship pastor, Mark, asked Ben to lead service again while he was at a worship conference. He graciously accepted. I snagged a clip of him and one of our youth girls Courtney, singing Shane and Shane, Psalm 145.

A song of Praise-Psalm 145

4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts

On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate

They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness

They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love

The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Psalm 145 has been on my mind all week. A few weeks ago I heard of a job opening at the American private school here. It sounded like a good salary, but my heart was not all in. I knew it would have been a good job for us, but it was going to be difficult to continue what I am doing now, and do this job. We prayed and prayed about it. I applied and had an interview, hoping for God to direct us where he wanted us, and if that was in an American school and not in the slums, then I would submit. I just asked God to make it very clear, so I could have peace. 3 people who are affiliated with the church coached at this school. They were all told they could no longer work there last week because the government said they did not have work visas, which is true. But they have never had them, nor do any other coaches/part time employees. A few days after, I got a call saying I could not work there either b/c I did not have a work visa. Crystal clear to me. So we continue to be part student-part volunteer, but that equals unbelievably happiness because we know God has other plans!!! The Lord is gracious, slow to anger, rich in love, He is good to all. Are Christians discriminated against? Absolutely. But what Paul told the people of Rome about God's everlasting love sits well on my heart today. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us".

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect (believers in Christ)?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution...

"For your sake we are being killed all the days long, we are regarded as sheep led to the slaughter".

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39

On a lighter note, we have plane tickets home!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!! Thanks pops :) We will be home in the middle of May till the first of July. When we return, I have been asked to head up a VBS (vacation bible school for us non church kids) for African Hope. It is going to be awesome. I am planning now, but will need about 10 volunteers from the states. I will have more info soon, but just put that in your head and let it marinate.

Arabic is still going well. We have a tutor now who we love, so slowly but surely we will be able to have conversations. We are also in the process of possibly moving to a more egyptian area by an awesome friend. We just need a stove, fridge, washing machine, bed, couch....so if any of you have an extra fridge....nah i'm just kidding. :)

Sarah

Storm yesterday and John Piper

Yesterday was possibly the first and only storm that has ever passed over Egypt. It maybe only rains in Cairo 5 times the whole year, and it has usually only been a light drizzle. Ben called me in the living room where he was reading and said do you hear that? We automatically knocked thunder off the list (because it never happens), our guess was wind or military jets. I opened the window to find lightning. About 5 minutes later it began to hail (definitely never happens) and side ways rain. Unbelievable! I have been anxiously looking forward to visiting the states in May, and one of the reasons is seeing thunderstorms again! Of course that is after family and Bella on the list. :)

Ben and I are HUGE fans of John Piper and would put him right up there with C.S. Lewis and Paul in his theological teachings. Well, I may be facebook friends with him and his wife, and may have seen that they were in Egypt meeting with people getting ready for the Lausanne conference in Capetown, South Africa. I had the opportunity to go hear him speak at an Egyptian church about 45 minutes away. You can almost guess what he spoke on, but the scripture was 2 Corinthians 4:4-6. He gave hope to Christians living in the Middle East. It was incredible. I have a short clip of him teaching, just to give you an idea. He has a wonderful resource website called Desiring God.

Still no news about the job, but He is faithful. I had the opportunity of speaking to about 30 high schoolers at Youth wednesday. I was pretty nervous about it for about 2 weeks. But the Holy Spirit consumed me and the night went great. It was pretty cool. I talked to them about idolatry and having other gods in our lives. We talked about the failure of Israel and Judah's kings who were faithless, so pray that God would be stirred up in their hearts this week, for their own good, but also because we need them. Two people were denied access into the country this week. One was a member of our church who has been here for ten years. The other is the author Josh McDowell. God in his sovereignty is good. But we are human and I just ask to pray for our selfishness when people are forced to leave. We have friends returning in a couple of days, and man, we really want to see them again.

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