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